Of Noble Chains — D.L. Miles

Kehzia Noble had gone her whole life wanting to become a Ventori, a kind of bounty hunter that tracks down STRAY Specters, the supernatural creatures that have gone back to their base nature. But to be one you must be descended from one of the five clans; good thing her father is Medean, making her a half-blooded clan member. And now that she's graduated a year early from the prestigious Academy of Light, she planned on entering college to get a degree in Tracking. But her life plan didn't go off as easily as she had hoped when the review board decides she needs to spend the summer being mentored by an experienced Ventori. Enter Aeryn Rinehart. He's older, one of the best Ventori in the business, and Kehzia thinks he's an absolute hottie! Not only that, he volunteers to be her mentor for the summer, and she thinks she's officially beaten her childhood competition Hayden Rider. All he did was get into college, he doesn't get to actually Track down STRAYs, and get an official Ventori rank! But as Kehzia goes through cases with Aeryn, Ventori seem to be committing suicide; and the latest deaths are connected to her own brother's murder from two years ago. Not only that, Aeryn seems to have his own agenda, with strange connections all over the city, and a powerful Specter has taken an interest in Kehzia and begun to follow her around. Working with people she doesn't like, and finding that her own feelings are starting to affect her work, Kehzia tries to solve the supposed suicides in hopes of finding her brother's killer. More secrets are revealed along the way, and Kehzia is forced to face her own buried feelings she had tried so hard to avoid, feelings that she wasn't even aware of.