Where She Vanishes

In a world where shifters are bought, sold, and locked behind steel, Riku has learned the only rule that matters: survive.

A wolf shifter with a price on his head, Riku is minutes away from being handed over to a broker when a woman steps into the room posing as a buyer-quiet, cold-eyed, and lethal. Shika doesn't negotiate. She ends the auction in blood, kills the broker, and frees him like it's nothing.

Then she vanishes.

Riku shouldn't chase her. He should run, lay low, disappear the way she did. But wolves don't forget the scent of the person who cut their chains.

When he finally tracks her down, Shika doesn't offer comfort or promises. She offers a roof, a blade-sharp set of rules, and a warning: he can stay-but only on her terms. No questions. No softening. No getting close.

Except Riku is already too close.

As the bond between them tightens-half hunger, half trust-Riku finds himself falling for a woman who refuses to be claimed by anything. Not tenderness. Not fate. Not love.

Because Shika doesn't do love.

Not while shifters are still in cages-and her hands are still stained with the work of breaking them open.

Right?

CONTENT WARNINGS
⚠️ Violence, language, mild gore, assassination, death scenes, mild sexual content, captivity themes.