She thought the worst thing that could happen on Christmas Eve was being cheated on in public. She was wrong. Humiliated and heartbroken at a crowded European Christmas market, she expects to disappear into the cold night—until a dangerous stranger steps in and declares her under his protection. With one calm sentence, he invokes an ancient winter law that binds her fate to his and draws the attention of a hidden supernatural court watching from the shadows. He is powerful. Controlled. And bound by rules older than the holiday itself. She is human. Furious. And unwilling to belong to anyone. The claim he makes is not ownership—but it places her in the center of a world she never believed existed, where winter markets are neutral ground, solstice laws still hold power, and choosing the wrong side could cost her everything. Forced to stay close for her own safety, she must navigate a slow-burn pull she doesn’t trust, rivals who want what he claimed, and a truth about herself that the winter seems determined to awaken. As the holidays stretch on and danger closes in, one question becomes impossible to ignore: Was she claimed by fate… or chosen for something far more dangerous? Winterbound is a slow-burn holiday paranormal romance filled with forbidden tension, ancient winter laws, protective obsession, and a heroine who refuses to surrender her choice—even when winter itself seems to have other plans.