I am a latent wolf shifter. Or so I thought. Then, life as I knew it changed in a flash - or more accurately, an electrocution. I’ve woken up in a strange place, surrounded by strange people who hate me. They’re in the middle of a war, and I look like I belong on the wrong side of it. If that’s not enough to qualify as a really bad day, I now have wings and a strange animal to figure out because it turns out that there’s not a damn latent thing about me.

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.

Six years ago, I awoke in a cage with no knowledge of who I was or where I’d come from. Six years ago, I was spared the flesh markets and instead thrown in with a group of savages, where I learned it was fight or die. Now, eight Orders of Assassins are converging on the only home I’ve ever known. All in hopes of purchasing new blade slaves for their ranks. I’m for sale, yet all I want is a life far from death and ownership. Then I meet them, the Order of Scorpions. Their allure is a threat to the freedom I crave, but I won’t fall victim to their sting, no matter how tempting it might be.

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.

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. 

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.

Leaving my husband was hard. Trying to face the world alone with my teenage daughter is the sort of thing nightmares are made of, but I caught a break. My best friend just hired me for a great job, with perks like a rent-free house right beside not just one handsome man, but five! Each one is hotter than the last, and all of them seem interested in me. But everyone around us has these strange golden eyes...and there are the questions no one will answer. And who cares if there's a lot of wildlife running around at night? I do, especially when a wolf keeps sneaking into my backyard.

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.

All I wanted was to find answers to who I was. No one knew who had abandoned the gray-eyed baby with fiery red hair and a cry loud enough to make a man's nuts retract. I moved to Arbor Falls to find myself. Little did I know I'd be thrown into a world I didn't know existed. A world with wolves at each other's throats and enough pack politics and danger to make my head spin. Then there's the fact that I have more than one mate. Not all of them accept me because there's one gigantic problem: I'm not what they expected.

I was burned at the stake at 14...I was drowned in a lake when I was 24...at 27, I was stoned in a public square. I have died a hundred times in a hundred different ways, usually at the hands of the humans I've tried to save. But when a pregnant young woman finds her way into my tattoo shop with a demon on her tail, things go from bad to worse. Being a centuries-old witch isn't going to help me—nothing will. This time I might just die in a way that sticks...permanently.