Book excerpt: Cole never thought he'd find himself in those he was running from... Until he met Nexhan, clan leader of a legendary shifter race. After a century of vengeance, Nexhan, clan leader of the Rune Fang, returns home to find his people teetering on the edge of extinction. Still plagued by his past and his sense of failure, he has closed himself off from even his closest friend. He is desperate to return to the shifter way of life, but doesn't know how to cope with the death of his family and his lover. Cole is the typical outcast—clumsy, quiet and angry. After years of disappointing his parents with his inability to master his cougar's predatory skills, he runs from the pressure to mate a female who he's unable to love, but he never expected to end up living among the saber-toothed cats. Heck, he didn't even know they still existed. Embarrassed by his lack of skills, he retreats into himself, quietly nursing his pain. A chance meeting in the forest leads Cole to accept Nexhan's help and companionship, but he never imagined he'd be trusting the male with his deepest secrets. Nexhan vows it's just sex, but the cougar intrigues him like nothing and no one before. Can he move on and finally lay to rest his troubled past?