Crystal Bound

I'm Evelyn Harper-Illuma witch, private investigator, and the one people call when they need a problem solved. No excuses. No delays. Just results.

With my best friend Nova at my side, we started Lumen Solutions-a two-woman operation running on intuition, grit, and wildly incompatible magic styles. She's sparkles and wildfire, chaos wrapped in flower petals. I'm precision and light, all quiet steps and clean finishes.

Somehow, it works.

So when a young woman walks into our office, trembling and clutching a worn photograph, we know something's wrong. She doesn't have much money, but she's desperate. And we've been there-afraid, ignored, begging someone to care.

Her brother, a shifter, went missing on patrol. When he came back, something was off. He was agitated. Unstable. Barely holding himself together.

Feral.

We head to the nearest pack for answers-and find something much worse. An entire community on edge. Magic that doesn't feel right. And an emerald-eyed Alpha who stations himself by my side, watching me like I'm something worth protecting. Like I matter. Like I'm his.
And my heart? It seems to like that a little too much.
But as I pull at the threads, I find two things waiting in the dark. Things Elarion is not prepared for.
One is a twisted kind of magic-deliberate, corrupting, and dangerous.
The other is inside me.

A magic older than the Spire. Brighter. Wilder. Stronger. And just waiting to awaken.

I've never met a case I couldn't solve.

But this time? Solving it might break the world.

Or put it back the way it was meant to be.