Marked by Blood [M.F]

Marietta Vesbourn doesn't slowly fall into the world of V-Wars-she's thrown into it, body and soul, straight into a war where blood decides who lives and who is hunted. She knows this story. She knows how it's supposed to end.

But the moment Michael Fayne looks at her, everything breaks.

The pull is instant. Violent. Unmistakable.
Not attraction-recognition.

Michael is still a vampire. Still powerful. Still feared. He doesn't lose himself to the system, the prisons, or the execution block. Instead, he's already changed when Marietta arrives-because blood has become sacred to him. Intimate. Something he refuses to take from just anyone. Something he's been waiting to share with the person his instincts have been screaming for.

Her.

The bond snaps into place the first time he scents her. No hesitation. No denial. Michael doesn't fight it-he claims it. Protects it. Protects her. When Marietta lets him feed, it isn't survival. It's trust. It's connection. It's a vow neither of them needs to speak aloud.

Danica still finds him. She still wants him.
But Michael never even looks her way.

Because once a vampire bonds, there is no room for second choices.

As the canon timeline unravels and the world pushes back against what they are, Marietta realizes she wasn't brought here to watch the story unfold. She was brought here to anchor him. To be the one thing he won't lose. The one thing he would burn the world down to keep.

This isn't a slow descent into love.
It's fate striking fast-and refusing to let go.