Only the worthy survive the Bonding Trials. She'll risk her life - and her heart - to be one of them.

Meryn Cooper has always hated the Bonded, elite warriors who form mental links with the massive, vicious direwolves they ride. While they live in luxury, Meryn struggles to keep her family out of poverty. When her little sister, Saela, is kidnapped - stolen across the border by the immortal monsters her country has spent centuries fighting - Meryn's world falls apart.

Desperate to cross the front and save her sister, Meryn enlists in the army and is thrown into the deadly Bonding Trials, where any mistake will cost her life.

Now Meryn must survive four months of training at the castle. She is bound to a feral direwolf who refuses to communicate. The other trainees would love to spill her common blood. And her cold and beautiful instructor, Stark Therion, is eager to punish any weakness.

Everything is a competition, and everyone is out to get her - everyone except the dangerously handsome crown prince, whose attention adds another target to her back. In the castle, every smile hides a knife ... and the halls hide dark secrets.

It's bond or bleed. Duel or die. Failure is ruin.

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'A God Tier Fantasy book!!! I just finished and still trying to mentally and emotionally recover to what just happened to me. You need to read it IMMEDIATELY.'

'If you're into dark romantasy with high stakes, fierce characters, and just the right amount of emotional wreckage, Dire Bound is your next obsession.'

'OMG THIS BOOK YOU GUYS!!! I'm OBSESSED and I need to know what happens next like ASAP.'

'What an incredible read!! ... I am blown away ... The romance, the anguish, the BANTER! I love a book with good banter and this was FULL OF IT!'

'I. Am. OBSESSED. ... Left me spiraling in the best way possible. The morally grey anti-hero? Perfection. The slow-burn tension? Electric ... I was completely immersed.'

'This book is soo FREAKING GOOD! It had me on the edge of my seat. This plot has so many twists and turns ... I loved every second of that'

TROPES:

• Slow burn romance
• Found family
• Morally grey characters
• One bed
• Touch her and die
• Who did this to you
• Secret royals
• Enemies to lovers
• Forced proximity
• Hidden powers
• Fated mates
• Vampires vs. wolves