Officer Lilly Pride is working overtime to help solve a rash of disappearances. When an unusual creature from her past turns out to be involved, she faces the truth. Fantastical sea dragon shifters are real and someone is stealing them. The strange path of the case takes her to the underworld, Aita. Rescuing the victims means going against everything she's ever believed, breaks her faith in justice, and gives her a choice: Sacrifice either herself or the man who got her into this mess.

Troy Bayard hadn't been sure before but when Lilly comes back into his life, he knows exactly what she is. His mate. His to protect. She insists on going to Aita to rescue kidnapped dragons, but he has to stop her. The underworld has no escape, and much as he can't stand for Lilly to go, he has to. His brother is one of the missing and a close call pushes him past the point of no return. Troy's own son is at risk.

Aita is full of the dangers of river ghouls, time distortion, poisonous fruit, and the lure of the gods themselves. But the greatest risk is what traps souls within the realm. Temptation. Consumption of flesh while in the underworld means no escape, and the call to mate--the call to taste passion--is irresistible.

Every touch is a risk. Every touch binds. The destruction of a race is the cost, the only path, to freedom.