Ryder Levine lives in a nice apartment, has a great group of friends, and works at a well-paying job. The only thing he wants, though, is something money can’t buy—a family. His nearly perfect life is turned upside down by a pretty redhead at the club he attends one night with his friends. She, however, only seemed to want to use him to make the guy she was with jealous.
Mara Caldwell has some major problems. Her boyfriend is the worst, and her coven is trying to convince her to aid in killing the most powerful witch in the city. But when a man tries to chat her up at the club, she uses the opportunity to give her cheating boyfriend a taste of his own medicine.
A couple of days later, after a chance second meeting and a pursuit, Ryder and newly single Mara end up sleeping together. Come morning, however, Mara disappears. While they grapple with feelings for each other, Mara’s coven turns up the heat in their harassment. When Ryder’s daily checking-in at the shop she works at is finally successful, she tries to reiterate that none of this is his problem, that it’s dangerous for him to be with her. He insists she needs people in her corner, and he wants to be that person for her.
As they give into the feelings they’ve been fighting when it comes to the other, they realize this is something bigger than either of them accounted for. When Ryder’s only desire is to see Mara safe, happy, and cared for, how can she keep putting him in danger as the coven now has the leverage to make her comply with their wishes?
Tropes: she can’t tell him what she’s running from, he likes to take care of her, orgasmic lightshow, golden retriever x black cat, found family group of friends, he just wants to love her, she’s afraid to let him, witch on the run from her coven, falling hard and falling fast
Available: Kindle – Kindle Unlimited – Paperback
Content Warnings
Car Accident/Family Member Deaths- The FMC’s parents both died in a car accident twelve years prior, when she was seventeen. Her aunt died of a stroke five years ago. Both of these deaths take place off-page. It is revealed that the aunt had a hand in the FMC’s parents’ deaths. One of the villains—the aunt’s daughter—killed her mother, using magic to cause the stroke.
Unhealthy D/s Dynamic- There is a very unhealthy dynamic between the FMC at the beginning of the story with her then-boyfriend—one of the villains of the story. He inflicts pain on her, holding her in the dark, on edge, for hours without relief after pinching her sensitive areas. He is often controlling, taking away her phone and telling her where she’s spending the night. He often punishes her, uses degrading words. His punishments are frequently sexual in nature, including spanking, gagging, orgasm denial, use of his magic to restrain her while punishing her. Despite his possessive behavior, he’s cheating on her with the leader of the coven and often neglects her in favor of fawning over the coven leader.
Abduction- There is an attempted abduction, as well as a successful one. The successful one involves a home invasion.
Discussion of Suicide/Ideation- There is discussion between the MMC and another character about a dark period in her life and how it’s the way she met her current mate, as he stopped her from jumping from the building she used to live in. The FMC in this story contemplates if she can dehydrate to the point of death before the villains retrieve the MMC to torture him and bring her to comply with their wishes. She also vows to herself to make them kill her before she’ll let them put her back in the cage, if she can get free. There is some discussion on the incorrect assumption that the priest from the first book killed himself, when it was actually the MMC of that book protecting the FMC by murdering him.
Coercion- Most of this story centers around how the FMC’s coven is trying to make her join them to kill the most powerful witch in the city. The FMC doesn’t want to harm anyone. The attempts to get her to do it escalate from harassment to abduction and threats of torture/light torture (food, water, and sleep withheld). The FMC is kept in a spelled cage and told she can come out once she agrees to help them. One of the villains comes into her job and threatens that she will be getting on board for the coven’s plans. When the FMC spends days hiding in her apartment, members of the coven stop by knocking, banging, and trying to enter through her door. She barely sleeps due to the noise and stress of it all. There is some mention of the FMC from the first book and how the son of her previous employer tried to coerce her into sleeping with him and got her fired when she turned him down. MMC is trying to exonerate her for what the guy did, but his own employment is threatened for digging for answers. FMC is constantly running from/ducking a stalking ex-boyfriend, one of the villains.
Lies About STI/Birth Control Status- FMC tells MMC she was tested for STIs this past week and on birth control, but really, she has a magic ring that guards against both. She can’t tell him she’s a witch and so she lies about getting tested.
Violence and Threats on Life- Punches are thrown between MMC and one of the villains. One of the villains makes threats to torture the FMC and the MMC to get the FMC to comply. The villain strangles the FMC when she throws urine on him and tries to escape as he enters her cage to punish her. It is interrupted by another event happening in the building. The MMC is knocked unconscious by magic. The FMC and the MMC are held and threatened at knifepoint. The MMC is nicked to send a message to the FMC. The FMC returns home to find a dead raven pinned to her door with a threatening message written in blood after avoiding one of the villains. Mentions of the MMC from the first book murdering a priest to keep the priest from hurting the FMC from that book, as he was obsessed with her and determined to see her made to be his wife.
Degradation- The villain presses on the bladder of the FMC when she tries to resist urinating in a bucket at his command, all while mocking her.
Unhealthy Relationship Habits- A secondary relationship is exhibiting signs of potential control/abuse. The female stops hugging her closest male friends, makes excuses for them leaving early or skipping plans, and rarely lets her get together with her friends on her own. Her friends fear broaching the subject to have her pull away from them in response.
Alcohol- The FMC drinks heavily so as to not be present for the night out with her coven.
Explicit Sex
Shonna Preston 