The Beast in Her Blood

She was meant to die in the ritual. Instead, the beast chose her. Mara Ellison has spent seven years hiding the monster beneath her skin. After the night her family was slaughtered, Mara walked away with missing memories, blood on her hands, and a curse buried deep in her soul. Now she survives by hunting the creatures that stalk Blackwater City, feeding the beast just enough to keep it from turning on everyone around her.
Then one violent night changes everything. Mara opens a forbidden gate between the human world and a hidden realm of ancient courts, monster clans, blood magic, and dead gods that should have stayed buried. And waiting on the other side is Elias Creed, the last Gatekeeper of the Ashen Court. Cold, dangerous, and bound by an oath older than kingdoms, Elias was trained to kill anything carrying beast magic.
Mara should be his next execution. Instead, she may be the only weapon strong enough to stop the gates from breaking. As a secret order hunts her blood and the Ashen Court demands her death, Mara is forced into an uneasy alliance with the one man who knows how to contain her. Elias is her protector, her enemy, her teacher, and the temptation she cannot afford to want. But every touch between them awakens something worse.
The beast inside Mara does not fear Elias. It remembers him. And if Mara cannot uncover the truth about her family, her curse, and the ancient power buried in her blood, the monster she has spent years fighting may become the only thing standing between the world and ruin.