Witch Rachel Bradstreet locked her doors, warded out the world, and called it safety. Then Zac Stratton—the alpha-witch contractor renovating her brownstone—became the fated mate her magic can’t ward out.

The renovation wakes something buried in the foundation: a working older than Rachel’s bloodline, and it is hungry. Zac’s crew fills her locked-up house with noise and warmth—the found family she swore she’d never need—and Zac falls first, hard. But the danger climbs higher every day, the bond pulls harder every night, and the solitude that kept Rachel alive for eight years is the one wall that won’t hold. She can keep the door locked, or she can survive what’s coming. Not both.

When being alone stops keeping you safe and could get you killed—do you finally let someone in, or die alone behind a locked door?

Fated Mates   ·   Forced Proximity   ·   Found Family   ·   He Falls First   ·   Workplace Romance   ·   Witch / Paranormal Romance

Heat:  Steamy (open door)

Tone:  Suspenseful, emotional

Series:  Book 1 of 6, Fated Witches of Calderon (interconnected standalones)

Length:  ~35,000 words, a fast-paced novella

Ending:  HEA, no cliffhanger

POV:  Dual, third person, past tense

Content Notes:  Family estrangement, an emotionally abusive parent, off-page grief, a pressured arranged bond in backstory, on-page intimacy; no cheating, no cliffhanger, no graphic violence.