Growing up, they tell you monsters aren't real. That the things hiding in the dark are just stories meant to scare children.
Marek Tomlinson learned that was bullshit. Monsters are real, and they love the dark.
As a teenager, he came face to face with something that shouldn't have existed and spent years trying to convince himself that chapter of his life was over. Now a New York City detective, he has a career he enjoys, a partner he trusts, and enough real-world problems to keep him occupied.
Then a series of brutal murders points to evidence that's impossible—Nothing about them makes sense. And with every crime scene Marek investigates, something buried deep inside him begins to stir—something ancient, volatile, and not entirely human.
Then Agent Kaycee Gordon shows up and sparks fly.
She’s beautiful, dangerous, and works for the FBI's highly classified Special Crimes Unit, a division dedicated to investigating the things humanity isn't supposed to know exist. She's spent centuries hunting monsters, protecting humanity, and keeping a secret war hidden from the world.
As Marek and Kaycee peel back the layers of a mystery that stretches far beyond a handful of murders, they discover that the barrier separating Earth from violent neighboring realms is beginning to fail. Creatures once confined to legend are slipping through. Ancient enemies are moving in the shadows. And the people sworn to stand between humanity and extinction are losing ground.
Marek never wanted power.
He never wanted to be special.
Unfortunately for him, the universe had other plans.
And if he's going to stop a war that has been building for thousands of years, he'll have to accept the truth about what he is becoming before everything—and everyone he cares about—is destroyed.
Perfect for fans of Ilona Andrews, Sarah J. Maas, and Jim Butcher, Ascension is the first book in the Wardens of the Rift series, blending supernatural mystery, epic battles, slow-burn romance, found family, and a fresh new urban fantasy world.