Novels by ROWAN VALE

I didn’t sleep. I sat on the edge of the mattress, staring at the crumpled cardstock folder; the light from the floor cast a nauseating blue hue over the paper. The man who had pinned me against the stone wall, the one whose touch made my body betray me in the dark, was the architect of my undoing. Kael hadn’t just claimed me in prison; he had built the cage himself. Every blow from Graves, every vile threat from the inmates in the block, every drop of blood I’d spilled in this hellhole- it was all Kael Vance’s doing. When the dawn alarm blared shrilly through the block, the heavy lock clicked open. I rose to my feet, my knees stiff and my soul frozen. For the first time since entering that prison, I wasn’t wondering if Kael would protect me. I was wondering how I hadn’t seen the devil standing right in front of me. I walked into the mess hall and picked up a tray of cold oatmeal. The room was thick with the usual predatory tension, but I barely noticed it. A towering shadow fell

The crash echoed through the ward with the force of an executioner’s axe. The heavy iron doors slammed shut in unison; the reverberation made my teeth chatter. I stood in the center of my empty cell, chest heaving, still feeling the phantom of Kael’s mouth burning against my lips and the imprint of his rough hands seared into my skin. Across the corridor, Kael was locked in his own grim cage. His gray eyes remained fixed on mine through the narrow bars. The air between us remained thick, heavy, and dangerous. I thought I’d have a second to breathe, to figure out how I’d survive the night. I was wrong. Ten minutes after the lights went out, a key turned softly in my lock. I scrambled back against the wall, heart pounding in my throat, expecting Officer Graves or Vance’s brutal gang to burst through the door. Instead, the door creaked open just enough for a shadow to slip inside. It wasn’t a guard, nor was it a bloodthirsty inmate. It was a young guard I’d never seen before; she wa

The storage room door clicked shut, locking us in dark, suffocating privacy.My back hit the cold stone wall hard, my lungs gasping for air. My torn jumpsuit hung off my shoulder, exposing the red, bruised thumbprints Officer Graves had left on my collarbone. My whole body shook—half from the sheer terror of Graves’s hands on me, half from the sudden, overwhelming wave of heat radiating off the man standing inches away.Kael didn't say a word. The cold, detached mask he wore in the hallways shattered into a thousand jagged pieces.He moved like an apex predator, stepping directly into my space. He grabbed my wrists, hauling my hands up over my head and pinning them against the wall above me with one iron grip. His heavy body slammed flush against mine, crushing the air out of my chest.“He touched you,” Kael growled, his storm-gray eyes black with raw, possessive fury. His heavy chest heaved against mine, his pulse frantic against my ribs. “The bastard had his hands on your skin.”“Ka

My lips still burned from his mouth, but the morning alarm blew the pretense of safety to pieces.As the cell tier opened, Vance and his mountain of a lieutenant—a brute with scarred knuckles named Miller—were waiting at the bottom of the iron stairs. Their grins were filthy, promise dripping off their teeth.Before they could step into my path, Kael’s massive shadow cut between us.“Move,” Kael growled flatly, not even slowing his stride. “He’s on my detail.”Miller sneered, taking a provocative step forward. “Since when do you run a daycare, Reaper? You kissed his little bruised lip last night, now you’re taking him to work?”Kael stopped dead. The air on the tier went arctic. Without a word, Kael reached out, grabbed Miller by the throat, and slammed his heavy frame against the steel railing so hard the whole tier rattled.“I run this block,” Kael said, his voice terrifyingly quiet as Miller gagged, his face turning purple. “If I decide he walks beside me, you step out of the way.

The heavy iron door slammed shut, and the deafening screech of the lock dropped like an axe.I hit the thin mattress hard, my chest heaving, the skin on the back of my neck still burning where Kael’s hot, calloused fingers had gripped me in the yard. His low, filthy promise echoed in the quiet cell: I want every piece of you.I hated how my body reacted to it. I was terrified, trapped, framed for a crime I didn't commit—and yet a hot, shameful coil of arousal burned low in my belly every time I pictured those storm-gray eyes dragging over my body.A heavy metal boot kicked the bottom bar of my cell door.I jerked upright. Officer Graves stood outside, his face dark with rage, keys clanking in his hand. The guards down the tier conveniently looked the other way.“Unlock three!” Graves barked into his radio.The heavy lock clicked. Graves stepped inside, slamming the heavy iron door shut behind him.Panic spiked white-hot in my throat. “What are you doing?”Graves didn't answer. He clos

The morning alarm tore through the block like a gunshot, but I was already awake. I hadn't slept a second. All night, the cold concrete wall pressed against my back as I stared at the empty top bunk, my mind trapped in a terrifying loop.I couldn't stop thinking about the way Graves had beaten me, or the way the man named Kael had stepped out of the shadows. I could still feel the phantom ghost of Kael’s storm-gray eyes dragging over my face, my throat, my body. In the dark, shivering under the thin sheet, an unwanted, dangerous heat had coiled low in my gut. I hated my body for it. I was terrified for my life, yet my mind kept racing back to his broad shoulders, his heavy hands, and the sheer power radiating off him.When the heavy cell doors unlocked with a deafening screech, the guards herded us out like cattle.“Move it, scum!” Officer Graves’ voice boomed from the guard platform above. He spotted me in the crowd, his eyes glinting with dirty promise. He tapped his heavy nightstic