A witch marked by moonlight. A guardian bound by fate. A queen who feeds on broken bonds.Aurora Luna has always taken the shortcut home - until the fog moves against the wind and a pair of molten gold eyes step out of the Hollow. One heartbeat later, a crescent brand blooms over her heart, and the quiet girl who slings coffee in Hollow Creek is claimed by an ancient pact: a witch bound to a wolf-shifter Guardian, a living tether that keeps the veil between worlds from tearing. Kael is all sharp edges and centuries of silence, a protector forged in the dark - but their first touch ignites a bond that roars like wildfire and cuts like truth. As Aurora's magic surges from spark to storm, something older than death presses greedy fingers against the tether: The Bone Queen, a legend who shattered her own bond and now hungers for the power found in breaking others. When the Queen's pet drags ruin to Aurora's doorstep and shadow-rot creeps into her grandmother's veins, the Hollow itself wakes - and so does Aurora. To save the people she loves, she must decide whether the bond makes her a weapon, a doorway, or the girl who chooses her own name in the dark.In a town where porch lights flicker at the edge of the trees and friendships are sworn over takeout and salt circles, Aurora learns control isn't about locking the magic down - it's about opening the right door at the right time. Training turns to temptation when one shared breath with Kael makes the world go silent and bright, but every kiss is a vow the queen wants to snap. With ley lines blazing under her boots, a best friend who refuses to run, and a Guardian who won't call her a replacement for a ghost, Aurora steps into the glade and anchors more than power - she anchors choice. The Hollow answers. The queen watches. And Aurora discovers the most dangerous thing she can give the dark isn't her fear - it's her hope.