
Bound by Shadows, Loved by Fire
Anita Luz · Ongoing · 56.6k Words
Introduction
Seraphina Vale has always been more than just a girl with strange dreams — she’s a witch with ancient blood, trained to charm, to control, and to destroy. Possessive, manipulative, and dangerously beautiful, she knows how to bend people to her will... until one man refuses to break.
Lucien Blackthorn is a creature born of fire and darkness, cursed to protect the last blood witch — her. Bound to her soul by an ancient contract, he resists her magic… but not her touch.
When an unseen force threatens both realms, Sera must decide: keep Lucien as her cursed protector, or unleash his true power — and risk being consumed by it.
Power, passion, and shadows collide in a deadly game of fate.
And in this game, love is the most dangerous magic of all.
Chapter 1
The city was drowning in fog again.
Seraphina Vale walked through the mist-covered campus of Blackridge University, her boots clicking softly on the cobblestones. The streetlamps overhead cast pale, flickering halos around themselves, barely pushing back the grey that wrapped the world like a wet shroud. She didn’t mind the gloom. It made it easier to see what others couldn’t.
Like the flickers of fire that danced at the edge of her vision.
She paused beneath an old oak tree, pressing her hand to its bark. Warmth pulsed through her palm. It wasn’t the tree. It was her. Again. The fire was growing stronger.
She closed her eyes, exhaling slowly.
Keep it hidden. Keep it under control. No one can know what you are.
Not yet.
But the flame inside her was no longer a whisper. It was waking. And tonight, it was restless.
“Hey, Sera!”
Her cousin Elise waved from across the courtyard, her arms full of spellbooks and iced coffee. Seraphina offered a small smile, slipping her gloves back on. Elise never noticed the signs — the strange heat around her, the way shadows curled toward her footsteps. Elise thought she was just the pretty, quiet cousin from upstate. Not a witch with a bloodline as old as darkness itself.
"Library?" Elise asked.
Sera nodded. "You go ahead. I’ll catch up."
The moment Elise disappeared inside the building, the temperature around her dropped. A gust of unnatural wind swept the fog aside, revealing him.
Lucien Blackthorn stood in the shadow of the chapel ruins — tall, cloaked, and silent. His presence was like gravity. Sera’s breath hitched.
"You’re not supposed to be here," she said, voice calm despite the thundering in her chest.
Lucien said nothing at first. He never did. Just stared at her with those inhuman eyes — deep gold, glowing faintly even in the gloom.
“I go where the contract commands me.”
“Then the contract is broken.”
He stepped closer, his black coat catching the wind like wings. “No. You just haven’t remembered it yet.”
She hated the way he spoke — like he knew her better than she knew herself. Like he owned pieces of her memory she couldn’t reach. But worse was the pull. That aching, impossible pull between them.
“Why are you following me?” she asked.
He paused. “Because you’re starting to burn. And when you burn, others die.”
Her fists clenched. “Get out of my head.”
Lucien smiled — just barely. “I haven’t even entered it yet.”
She hated that smile. She hated how her heart fluttered when he was near. He was a liar. A demon. A cursed thing wrapped in human skin. And yet...
The memory flashed — a vision, a dream, maybe a lie. Fire everywhere. Screams. And Lucien, standing in the center of it, eyes on hers, untouched by the flames.
“You were there,” she whispered.
Lucien’s smile vanished. “You’re remembering.”
Sera took a step back. The ground trembled beneath her feet. Her magic surged in her veins, hot and hungry.
“Stay away from me,” she said.
“I can’t.”
She turned and walked away without another word, but the heat inside her only grew. The fog parted around her steps. Leaves blackened and curled behind her. And somewhere behind her, Lucien whispered something in a language older than time.
The shadows followed her home.
Her apartment was small, full of candlelight and half-read grimoires. As she stepped through the door, the wards she’d cast flared briefly, recognizing her blood. Safe.
Or so she thought.
Because he was already there.
Lucien stood by the window, holding one of her spellbooks — the one she kept hidden. The one that had her name, etched in blood and gold, across the front.
“You need stronger wards,” he said.
“You need to leave.”
He didn’t.
“I can’t protect you if I’m always chasing your shadow.”
“I never asked you to protect me.”
“No,” he said, his voice low. “You ordered it.”
She froze.
“What?”
“You summoned me. You bound me. You commanded me to guard you with my life. And then you erased your memory.”
The book slipped from her hand.
Lies. It had to be. Witches didn’t bind demons lightly — it was forbidden. Dangerous. Fatal.
“You’re lying.”
Lucien stepped close. “Say that again, witch. And look me in the eye when you do.”
She did. And in his gaze, she saw it — the truth.
She had summoned him. Bound him. And something — someone — had made her forget.
“Why?” she whispered. “Why would I do that?”
Lucien looked at her then, with something softer in his eyes. Almost regret.
“Because you knew what was coming. And because you were never the victim in this story.”
He reached out, brushing her cheek with the back of his fingers. Her skin flared beneath his touch — not with pain, but with recognition.
And then he said it, barely above a whisper:
“You were the fire, Seraphina. Not the one who burned.”
Last Chapters
#60 Ashes of the First Throne
Last Updated: 7/17/2025#59 The Hollow Crown
Last Updated: 7/17/2025#58 Trial of the Burning Path
Last Updated: 7/17/2025#57 The Ember Crown
Last Updated: 7/17/2025#56 When the Shadow King Wakes
Last Updated: 7/17/2025#55 Shattered Fate
Last Updated: 7/17/2025#54 The Trial of Embers
Last Updated: 7/17/2025#53 Ashes of the Crown
Last Updated: 7/17/2025#52 The Ember Labyrinth
Last Updated: 7/17/2025#51 The Flamebound Trial
Last Updated: 7/17/2025
You Might Like 😍
After the Affair: Falling into a Billionaire's Arms
On my birthday, he took her on vacation. On our anniversary, he brought her to our home and made love to her in our bed...
Heartbroken, I tricked him into signing divorce papers.
George remained unconcerned, convinced I would never leave him.
His deceptions continued until the day the divorce was finalized. I threw the papers in his face: "George Capulet, from this moment on, get out of my life!"
Only then did panic flood his eyes as he begged me to stay.
When his calls bombarded my phone later that night, it wasn't me who answered, but my new boyfriend Julian.
"Don't you know," Julian chuckled into the receiver, "that a proper ex-boyfriend should be as quiet as the dead?"
George seethed through gritted teeth: "Put her on the phone!"
"I'm afraid that's impossible."
Julian dropped a gentle kiss on my sleeping form nestled against him. "She's exhausted. She just fell asleep."
Omega Bound
Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life.
Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
Accardi
“I thought you said you were done chasing me?” Gen mocked.
“I am done chasing you.”
Before she could formulate a witty remark, Matteo threw her down. She landed hard on her back atop his dining room table. She tried to sit up when she noticed what he was doing. His hands were working on his belt. It came free of his pants with a violent yank. She collapsed back on her elbows, her mouth gaping open at the display. His face was a mask of sheer determination, his eyes were a dark gold swimming with heat and desire. His hands wrapped around her thighs and pulled her to the edge of the table. He glided his fingers up her thighs and hooked several around the inside of her panties. His knuckles brushed her dripping sex.
“You’re soaking wet, Genevieve. Tell me, was it me that made you this way or him?” his voice told her to be careful with her answer. His knuckles slid down through her folds and she threw her head back as she moaned. “Weakness?”
“You…” she breathed.
Genevieve loses a bet she can’t afford to pay. In a compromise, she agrees to convince any man her opponent chooses to go home with her that night. What she doesn’t realize when her sister’s friend points out the brooding man sitting alone at the bar, is that man won’t be okay with just one night with her. No, Matteo Accardi, Don of one of the largest gangs in New York City doesn’t do one night stands. Not with her anyway.
The Prison Project
Can love tame the untouchable? Or will it only fuel the fire and cause chaos amongst the inmates?
Fresh out of high school and suffocating in her dead-end hometown, Margot longs for her escape. Her reckless best friend, Cara, thinks she's found the perfect way out for them both - The Prisoner Project - a controversial program offering a life-changing sum of money in exchange for time spent with maximum-security inmates.
Without hesitation, Cara rushes to sign them up.
Their reward? A one-way ticket into the depths of a prison ruled by gang leaders, mob bosses, and men the guards wouldn't even dare to cross...
At the centre of it all, meets Coban Santorelli - a man colder than ice, darker than midnight, and as deadly as the fire that fuels his inner rage. He knows that the project may very well be his only ticket to freedom - his only ticket to revenge on the one who managed to lock him up and so he must prove that he can learn to love…
Will Margot be the lucky one chosen to help reform him?
Will Coban be capable of bringing something to the table other than just sex?
What starts off as denial may very well grow in to obsession which could then fester in to becoming true love…
A temperamental romance novel.
From Substitute To Queen
Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.
Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.
In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?
From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
The mafia princess return
I Slapped My Fiancé—Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis
Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now—billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn’t mind. I’d crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one?
Wrong.
One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That’s when it hit me—he didn’t love me. He didn’t even see me. I was just a warm-bodied placeholder for the woman he actually wanted. And apparently, I wasn’t even worth as much as a glorified coffee cup.
So I slapped him right back, dumped his ass, and prepared for disaster—my parents losing their minds, Rhys throwing a billionaire tantrum, his terrifying family plotting my untimely demise.
Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol.
Enter him.
Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. I’d met him only once before, and that night, he just happened to be at the same bar as my drunk, self-pitying self. So I did the only logical thing: I dragged him into a hotel room and ripped off his clothes.
It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised.
But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life.
And, as it turned out, the best decision I’d ever made.
Because my one-night stand isn’t just some random guy. He’s richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with.
And now, he’s not letting me go.
The War God Alpha's Arranged Bride
Yet Alexander made his decision clear to the world: “Evelyn is the only woman I will ever marry.”
Invisible To Her Bully
My Possessive Alpha Twins For Mate
My drunk stepfather remained indifferent, his weight suffocating, making it hard to breathe as my heart raced.
Suddenly, the door slammed open, and two figures burst in.
"Get off her!" a deafening roar echoed.
I didn't expect the twin brothers who'd bullied me at school to come charging in like gods to save me.
After my grandmother passed, I had to move in with my mom and stepdad, who treated me like a servant. I prayed every day for my 18th birthday to come, so l could leave and escape this broken home.
However, on my first day at my new school, l encountered the legendary twins everyone feared.
To make matters worse, the Moon Goddess revealed they were both my mates!
After helping me out with my stepdad, my twin mate cornered me, played with my hair, and whispered possessively, "You belong to us, our little mate..."
Rise of the Banished She-Wolf
That roar stole my eighteenth birthday and shattered my world. My first shift should have been glory—blood turned blessing into shame. By dawn they'd branded me "cursed": cast out by my pack, abandoned by family, stripped of my nature. My father didn't defend me—he sent me to a forsaken island where wolfless outcasts were forged into weapons, forced to kill each other until only one could leave.
On that island I learned the darkest edges of humanity and how to bury terror in bone. Countless times I wanted to surrender—dive into the waves and never surface—but the accusing faces that haunted my dreams pushed me back toward something colder than survival: revenge. I escaped, and for three years I hid among humans, collecting secrets, learning to move like a shadow, sharpening patience into precision—becoming a blade.
Then, under a full moon, I touched a bleeding stranger—and my wolf returned with a violence that made me whole. Who was he? Why could he wake what I'd thought dead?
One thing I know: now is the time.
I have waited three years for this. I will make everyone who destroyed me pay—and take back everything that was stolen from me.
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother
"What is wrong with me?
Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?
It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.
He’s my boyfirend’s brother.
This is Tyler’s family.
I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.
**
As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.
Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.
When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.
I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.
**
I hate girls like her.
Entitled.
Delicate.
And still—
Still.
The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.
Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.
I shouldn’t care.
I don’t care.
It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.
It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.
I’m not here to rescue anyone.
Especially not her.
Especially not someone like her.
She’s not my problem.
And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.
But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.












