She was never meant to live in the human world.He was never meant to find her there.Destiny didn't care.Sarah Dorset has spent her life trying to outrun the fire inside her-an inheritance she can't name, a danger she first unleashed as a teenager when she acted to protect her foster siblings from the man who preyed on them. Survival answered through instinct, fear, and flame… long before she understood what she was.She's kept her distance ever since-no roots, no closeness, no belonging.Because loving her has never been safe.And being loved has never felt possible.But everything changes the night an attacker corners her in an alley and Sarah kills him with fire not of this world-and feels his soul fuse into her own.That part is new.That part is terrifying.And far from hidden.Across the veil, Silas-the Demon King once known as his realm's most lethal executioner-feels the shock of the impossible: a demon's soul stolen, eradicated, consumed. His council names the threat the Soul Thief and demands vengeance. As king, Silas declares the bounty himself… never knowing the monster they fear is the woman whose presence has begun to unravel him.Because something else awakens when the Soul Thief does.A pull.A resonance.A fate he sensed long before he understood it-back when he was a lonely, grief-stricken boy who lost his parents and believed he would never belong to anyone again.When he finally finds Sarah, she is nothing like the creature he expected.She is guarded, watchful, and sharper than she lets anyone see-quiet until provoked, and then fire in every sense of the word. Their connection hits with the force of something ancient cracking open. She feels him before she sees him. He hears her heartbeat before she speaks. And her magic answers his in a way that feels like recognition… and ruin.But Sarah doesn't know she's being hunted.All she knows are the nightmares-the shadows that claw at her sleep, torment her, twist into terror.And the unseen presence that protects her without explanation.She doesn't know it was Silas-the king who shielded her when she was a child,then vanished from her dreams for twenty years,only to return now that her power is awakening-and she is no longer a child.As her abilities evolve into something even Silas cannot predict-and she realizes the one man who terrifies her may also be the only one capable of loving her without breaking-desire, danger, and destiny collide in a fire neither of them can escape.Their bond was never a choice.It was a summons.Answering it may save them…or ignite a war that burns every realm to ash. The birth of Kate Oleander happened on a whim, a chance, and a forgotten dream. One day and several hours later the obsession took root deep in an elementary school teacher on a lazy summer afternoon. At the time the writer was nameless, and over the span of a week the pen name Kate Oleander became an alias to embrace and cherish. She breathes life into imaginary scenes, ideas, and characters bursting from a suppressed imagination. Many of the entities finding life on the pages of the novels have rattled around Kate's mind for decades.When not writing, Kate is a middle school teacher in the Midwest. She and her husband have four children and three dogs.Kate's favorite genres to write are paranormal romance and fantasy romance, but contemporary romances with suspense, danger, and a wicked antagonist are a close third to the others. All of her stories entertain the growth of a strong-willed female finding happiness and love at last while staying true to herself and fighting even when she thinks she has nothing left.Sometimes the most beautiful things arise out of the ashes of destruction, and Kate Oleander enjoys lighting the match.
