My name is Vinna, and I've been keeping a lot of secrets. You would too if you'd experienced some of the weird shit I have: red-eyed monsters chasing me, markings on my body appearing out of nowhere, a strange power that crackles colorfully over my skin from time to time, and don't get me started on the weapons I can conjure up almost out of nowhere.

I never thought in a million years that the bones would choose me. The power, the magic, was supposed to go to someone else in the family. I was counting on it. But now my Grammy Ruby is gone, and here the bones sit on my kitchen table. I thought bitter relatives would be my biggest problem. But I’ve barely had time to find a familiar before trouble comes a-knocking. The kind that possesses smoldering green eyes and a smile that can turn any woman dumb. His name is Rogan Kendrick, and he’s certain that someone is hunting down and taking my kind. According to him, I’m next.

It’s never a good combo to be broke and desperate. You do stupid things. Like accidentally sign your soul over to hell. When I interviewed for a new security job, I didn’t bat an eye that it was for a literal graveyard shift...headstones and all. I mean, at the hourly rate they were offering, who cares? I got this. Turns out, I’m not guarding a graveyard like I thought. It seems I’ve just walked my broke ass into protecting a gate to hell. Yeah...I don’t got this.

Every beat of my heart is the tick of a time bomb, reminding me to squeeze as many thrills out of life as I can. A horde of nightmarish monsters jumping me in the middle of the night? Nope, that's too much even for me. So when three demonic figures leap out of the shadows to my defense, my choices are trust my unexpected champions... or die. Not exactly a tough decision. The beastly men wrench me away from my home, claiming they'll keep me safe. They say there's something special about me—something the others want to devour and they mean to protect.

Don't get me wrong, waking up to discover my ex-husband finally killed me wasn't fun. Finding out I had to get a job and pay Afterlife taxes about 10 minutes later? Let's just say, this wasn't exactly the eternal reward I was hoping for. But beggars can't be choosers, and being a demon sure as hell beats my last occupation. I’m well on my way to retirement behind the pearly gates when the impossible happens. The Risk Witches have a vision.

When mages slaughter my parents in front of me, I’m allowed no time to mourn. It turns out I’m the long-lost heir to a royal family of dark magic - and the four scorching hot guys I’m meant to rule beside have no patience for my grief. They expect me to fall in line. Learn my lessons at this college of magical villainy. Cultivate a power that feeds off people’s pain. Take my proper place as a vicious queen among ruthless kings.

You'd think that basically being in charge of love would be an epic job, right? Wrong. Sure, I can blow some Lust into people's faces and watch the show, but I can't actually participate. It gets old, trust me. Same goes for love. I can pass it out like sugar-free lollipops at a dentist's office, but I can't get any love for myself. It totally sucks. I used to consider myself a hopeless romantic, so why wouldn't I choose to become a cupid? Sounds like a good idea, right? Wrong again. They don't call us stupid cupids for nothing.

"Happily Ever After" wasn't supposed to come with a do-over option. But when my husband of 20 years packs up and heads for greener pastures, and my son heads away to college, that's exactly what my midlife becomes. A do-over. This time, though, I plan to do things differently. Age is just a number, after all, and at 40 I'm ready to carve my own path. Eager for a fresh start, I make a somewhat unorthodox decision and move to a tiny town in the Sierra foothills.

Real wolves bite...I was taught my whole life about the importance of true mates, how when you find that one wolf for you, everything falls into place. Everyone who taught me that was a liar. When I found my true mate, happily ever after sure as hell didn't start, but hell definitely began. I ran away, and now I've been searching for peace for weeks as I drive around the country. I didn't mean to take the wrong road. I didn't mean to make it to that small town. And I didn't mean to meet two men, who set me and my wolf on fire.

Unfortunately, not all people from magical bloodlines have powers, and at 22, I’m several years past the age they usually appear. So I’ve resigned myself to a boring, magic-less life. Then something strange happens. I get stuck in the middle of a bar fight, and instead of just punching the guy back, I blow a hole in the wall. So...I guess I do have powers. But they’re unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. This shit is definitely not normal. And it seems the magical authorities agree. I can go to school, learn to control my magic. Or they’ll take it away. Permanently.

Nightmare Penitentiary is no joke. The worst of the worst in the paranormal world end up at NP, and I just got sentenced there. For others, this might be cause for freaking the hell out. But for me, it’s a f--king relief. You see, I’ve been sold off to the big bad asshole, Alpha Bowen - thanks Mom and Dad! But if they think I’m going to go quietly, or at all, they haven’t been paying attention to how I roll.

After surviving childhood at the snooty, stuck-up boarding school for budding omegas, I have everyone convinced I'm a dud. My awakening? Never gonna happen. Heat, mates, and a fairytale pack life? Maybe next reincarnation. All I want is to be left alone. I'm invisible, and headed to a blissful solo future until the Wyvern Pack destroys my dream of independence. But Atlas, Hunter, Finn, Jett, and Orion are poison candy. They don't want an omega, but they need one, even if there will never be a real spot for me in their pack.

Three years ago, a darkly handsome stranger stole my heart. After one night together, I was certain I’d found my fated mate—until he rejected me and disappeared like a shadow. I never told anyone about that night. I shoved the shattered pieces of my soul into a locked box and pretended I'd never met Kian. But when a witch whispers a dire warning in my ear one day, everything changes. Because I don’t just have one mate. I have three. Feral shifters, she calls them. Wild, untamed, and fueled by darkness, created by a magic no one has ever seen before.

I've always dreamed of getting into a top college, but after a stint in juvie, my school prospects went sideways fast. Now I work at a magic academy...as a janitor. Ironic, right? Okay, so maybe I get a kick out of secretly solving the arcane equations the professors leave on the board for the rich, entitled student wizards. I'm broke, not stupid. Except then I get caught by the hottest mage on campus...who ropes me into helping him and his three equally gorgeous friends win a decidedly screwed-up magic competition.

Thrust into Nightmare Penitentiary, I meet a group of hard, alpha, psychotic inmates who believe I’m the answer to all their prayers. Me? I’m just trying to survive and figure out what it means to live. My new home isn’t just a prison, but a labyrinth with horrors around every corner.