Atlan Warlord Velik is hanging on to sanity by a thread. His mating fever rages. His beast fights him every moment. The beast needs to hunt. To kill. To find their mate or surrender to a glorious death in battle. He volunteers for a mission so dangerous, he knows he will not return. Waiting to deploy, he is lost, keeping distance between himself and those his tormented beast could destroy. His fate is sealed...until his beast picks up her scent. Sees her face. In an instant, the beast knows this human woman belongs to him and no one else. No beast has ever claimed his mate, then left her behind. If he survives the mission, he will beg her forgiveness. He must live. He must return to her, even if he suspects the gods themselves want him dead.