"Do you normally make-out with the people you're hired to kill? It doesn't strike me as very professional." "Put the gun down," Gabriel panted, not answering her. "Why on earth would I do that?" "Because you're not going to shoot me," Gabriel replied, noting that she still had the safety on. "I bet you've never shot anything in your life." She studied his gun with a smile. "Maybe you're right," she replied. Then she pointed the gun back at him, taking off the safety and cocking it. "Are you willing to bet your life on it?" she asked him coolly. *** He didn't know anything about her - her name, age, even what she looked like. He only knew it was his job to kill her. But when Gabriel comes face to face with his latest target, he finds himself completely mesmerized and can't pull the trigger. Left with few viable options, he decides to kidnap her. Unfortunately for him, she's not willing to come quietly. Instead, their encounter sets off an intense game of cat and mouse, unraveling Gabriel's entire world in the process.

"You're playing with fire Safania." "Good thing I don't burn." The last words he spoke before throwing me onto my bed sounded like a threat, but felt more like a promise. "You will." *** Don't get caught. Those are the three words Safania has lived by for the past five years. As a marked woman - easily identified by intricate bronze marks on her back and unpredictable special abilities - she has spent the past five years running from anyone who might exploit those abilities...especially the royal families who tortured marked women to build their empires. Starving, exhausted, and frozen, she collapses by the bank of a river just to wake up in her worst nightmare: the chambers of a prince. Prince Cassius is his father's first choice of his three brothers to ascend to the throne. He's smart, strategic, and stoic, unlike his corrupt and depraved brothers. There's just one problem: he has no interest in any of his proposed marital matches, and the King will only pick someone as his successor who he knows will carry on the family line. But once he meets Safania, he finds himself unable to imagine ruling the kingdom without her by his side. Can he convince her to trust him? *** Warning: this story contains mature and potentially triggering themes including domestic violence and sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.