Vine & Fang

When humanity first crossed the Alaeric Ocean, Ardraelion revealed itself as a land of impossible scale. Towering mountains, vast forests, and creatures born larger than legend. The native Direhounds and Poseks resisted conquest for half a century, but humanity’s steam-driven engines and iron-forged weapons reshaped the continent. Direhounds were bound, the Poseks driven into desert exile, and humanity claimed dominion over a world that never truly belonged to them. Drak, a restless vineyard heir, has grown up in the distant shadow of that conquest, trapped between vine rows and dreams of finding a place among the Mounted Expeditionaries, where riders and Direhounds push beyond the frontier together as bonded pairs. His life changed the night a wounded Direhound collapsed in his barn. Nalli is a free Direhound from beyond the Veil. She is hunted, defiant, and carrying secrets tied to Ardraelion itself. Secrets that could shatter the balance humanity believes it controls. Forced into an uneasy partnership, Drak and Nalli must survive a relentless pursuit that tests loyalty, freedom, and the price of choosing one another in a world built on chains.