Marriage, Mask & Mystery
In the shadowy, fog-drenched province of Lockwood, secrets are currency, and blood is power. For ten years, Alessandra Barrett has lived a life of invisible imprisonment—hidden behind a black....
In the shadowy, fog-drenched province of Lockwood, secrets are currency, and blood is power. For ten years, Alessandra Barrett has lived a life of invisible imprisonment—hidden behind a black velvet mask that serves as her only shield against a dark secret. Tormented by her cruel stepmother Katrina, her vindictive sister Kate, and a town rumor that brands her face "cursed," Alessandra carries a terrifying truth: ten years ago, she survived a brutal Lykan attack in the Blackwood forest where she was clawed, mutated, and saved by a ruthless stranger. That enchanted velvet mask doesn't just hide a scar; it suppresses her mutating Lykan DNA and masks her scent from predators. When a desperate midnight encounter in a decaying garden throws her back into the path of Duke Edgar Collins—an elite enforcer for the Crown and, unbeknownst to her, the very vampire who spared her life a decade ago—Alessandra seizes the only weapon left to her: a bold proposal for a contract marriage. What begins as a cold, strategic alliance quickly spirals into a dark gothic romance forged in blood, vengeance, and supernatural mystery. Unbeknownst to high society, Lockwood is governed by ancient, predatory forces. Beneath glittering balls and whispered court scandals lie centuries-old vampire bloodlines and aggressive werewolf packs roaming the borders—realities that Edgar hunts in the shadows. As Edgar sheds blood to protect his new bride, executing her treacherous father Desmond and slaughtering her would-be captors, Alessandra sheds her timid shell, transforming from a frightened prisoner into a razor-sharp Duchess capable of turning high society upside down. Yet, their union is only the beginning. Between the manipulative plotting of Edgar's cold-blooded mother Priscilla, the perverted obsessions of ancient monster-collectors like William Lancaster, and a string of missing young women vanishing into the dark, Alessandra and Edgar must navigate a lethal labyrinth where love is the most dangerous weapon of all. As the magic of the mask begins to strain against the awakening beast within, and as hidden truths come to light, they will either burn Lockwood to the ground together—or become the ultimate monsters reigning over its ashes.