Fate & Flame (Hambleton)

I denied my fated mate, but that's not the end of my story. Our story. This love will defy all odds until we find our happily ever after. When you touch, the bond awakens, but only for a chosen few. In this world, you're a settler or a searcher. Settlers pick a partner of their choosing, but the searchers spend their lives seeking out the person made for them. Most die without finding the one. Emry Crowe's a settler and happy in her life with Sebastian. When a chance encounter causes Theo's hand to graze her skin, destiny has other plans. Theo's neither a searcher nor a settler, knowing his journey will be shorter than most. When the bond brings him to Emry, he has a second chance at life. Emry's devotion to her husband never sways, but the pull between her and Theo may be too much. The three of them battle the laws of nature, wanting a happy ending on their own terms. When challenges arise that threaten everyone's future, both men decide their love for Emry might just change the rules. This story is polyamorous, and there is no cheating in this completed duet. The Bond It was spontaneous-the discovery of the bond. One couple first, and then a dozen, all of them granted youth and health because they touched the skin of their one true person. Their love for each other was immediate but true. Once bondmates found each other, they were never apart. As the world watched in awe, two groups formed amongst its inhabitants. Searchers and Settlers. Searchers spent their lives looking for their bonded, and since the only way to find their fated partner was by skin-to-skin contact, everyone within reach was a candidate. It became the norm, people brushing against your body everywhere you went, but the bond was rare, and very few were granted the spark of its existence. Settlers opted for a traditional life, finding a partner and settling down to enjoy their family. Wedding bands were replaced by tattoos, symbolizing the permanency of their choice in the face of a world obsessed with bonding. Years went on, and the business of the bond became the most lucrative enterprise. As greed often does, it bred sinister endeavors. The Genome theory fronted as a research facility, capturing and holding lost youths and using them for torturous scientific research in desperation to find the key to the bond. After years of going undiscovered, a competitor, NeXus, uncovered the kidnappings and infiltrated Genome's operation, rescuing hundreds of children who had undergone years of abuse. To this day, no one knows why bondmates exist or how they find one another.

Even when touched by fate, their future is uncertain. The world of searchers and settlers goes unchanged, but Emry, Sebastian, and Theo's lives will never be the same. Emry is the first settler to be touched by the bond, but even when destiny has its own plans, she won't leave her husband, Sebastian. Theo doesn't want her to. It's not long before their new family is put to the test, and the places they think are safe and people they begin to trust betray them. After Emry is abducted by an old enemy, the men work together for the woman they both love, making a connection even the bond couldn't create. There's happiness for the three of them with a future they didn't expect but can't deny. But they need to find her first.