A Hellhound for the Mage

When a warlock who drains magic users for power targets Haven's newest mage, a grieving hellhound will risk everything to protect the human he's already claimed as his mate.
James Hastings knows he doesn't deserve a second chance. A year ago, consumed by grief over his brother's death, he summoned demons and nearly became the villain in someone else's story. Only Rex, alpha of Haven's hellhound pack, saw past his mistakes and offered him an apprenticeship instead of punishment.
Now James is rebuilding his life in Haven, Louisiana— a supernatural sanctuary town where he's finally learning to forgive himself. Until a routine crisis brings reinforcements from Alabama, and James locks eyes with an auburn-haired hellhound across a chaotic battlefield. The recognition is instant, undeniable, and utterly terrifying. James isn't ready for the intensity of that connection. He isn't prepared for the way his magic responds to this stranger's presence.
So, when the crisis ends and the hellhound leaves, James tells himself to forget about it, tells himself that the moment meant nothing.
He's wrong.
Ace has spent four months trying to move on after his brother Ryker's death. But Alabama feels suffocating, full of memories and expectations he can't meet. When Rex offers him a place in Haven's pack, Ace knows it's not just about finding a new home— it's about finding the human mage whose pale blue-gray eyes have haunted him since that single moment of eye contact six months ago.
Their reunion is everything Ace hoped for. Coffee turns into conversation. Conversation turns into connection. And that connection turns into the beginning of something that feels like destiny.
Then Thaddeus Crane comes to Haven.
The warlock who killed Ace's brother has been stalking James for weeks, studying his magic, planning to drain him slowly over months while using Ace as leverage. Crane is centuries old, devastatingly powerful, and utterly ruthless. He doesn't just steal magic— he destroys everything his victims love first.
With Crane closing in, James has three days to transform from apprentice mage into a combat practitioner. Three days of brutal training. Three days to learn coordination with Ace and the pack. Three days to prepare for a confrontation that will either end Crane's reign of terror or leave James an empty husk.
But the real stakes aren't just survival. They're the bond forming between James and Ace— the mate connection that's already taken root despite logic and timing. The future they're both desperate to build. The life waiting for them on the other side of this battle… if they can survive long enough to claim it.
A Hellhound for the Mage is a standalone M/M paranormal romance set in the Hellhounds of Haven universe. Featuring intensive training montages, fiercely protective hellhounds, found family dynamics, magical combat, a mage who refuses to be the victim, and a love story that begins with recognition and ends with forever.