Sometimes fate doesn't wait for a romantic moment.
Maisie was watching the fountain, not where she was going. Silas steadied her shoulders with warm hands and a quiet "You OK?" - and then she sat down across the table from him, and the mate bond hit. No candlelight. No grand gesture. Just two friends, a game of snooker, and fate deciding it was time to be done waiting. Welcome to Raleth, in the world of Eveleigh - where twin suns set behind distant hills, the Sanctuary walls glow with fairy lights on fair days, and fated mates are precious, rare, and absolutely not guaranteed to be convenient. Maisie is the little Northerner teacher who crochets, bakes, drinks iced tea, and has spent years feeling like she doesn't quite fit. Silas is the Chief Protector - strong, steady, impossibly careful - and apparently the man fate has chosen for her. He's not disappointed. She's not either. But a bond between an ailuranthrope and a Northerner is new ground. And Silas, for all his strength, is terrified of getting this wrong. Of getting her wrong. So he goes slowly. Very slowly. Maisie is patient. She's a crocheter - she knows you can't force the tension. But she's also starting to think her mate might need someone to show him he deserves good things.
A perfect entry point to the Chronicles of Eveleigh, and a bridge into the cozy fantasy world of Eveleigh.