Book excerpt: Asher Stanton has devoted his entire, long life to protecting the shifter world — but he couldn’t save his own beloved human wife and child. Walling off his emotions and turning his life into a mission to consolidate power, he is ruthless, determined — and most definitely never falling in love with another human again. Years later, a dark threat looms over the shifter world as Asher’s childhood friend, Tomas Nagy, becomes his worst enemy. With the future of the shifter world in question, he must turn to a human scientist, the fiery, headstrong Dr. Samantha Baird, to help him fight the forces of evil. Too bad he can’t fight his attraction to her, an all-consuming urge that strips him of his well-honed restraint. A man accustomed to being in control at all times, Asher finds himself unable to resist. Her. Fate has a funny way of showing up when least expected, and when an old prophecy predicts Asher and Samantha’s union, the family patriarch must accept the fact that he, and he alone, cannot protect her. Samantha may be the shifter world’s greatest gift. And Asher Stanton’s final redemption.