Cherry Belmont is an investigative reporter with a nose for trouble. Normally, her ability to sniff out a story is a good thing, check the awards on her shelf. This time though, instead of hunting down a story, the story came to her in the form of her being kidnapped for reasons she's yet to figure out. She found herself in a cage, locked down with other shifter women; it becomes clear they were taken more because of their animal than because of who they are as humans. The who and the why concerning the string of missing women are anyone's guess, and Cherry is just grateful she is able to escape. Her only concern is the unspoken vow she made to return and rescue the others. Too bad once she's free, no one believes her. No one except for the one man who broke her heart into a dozen pieces just as many years ago; the man who Cherry swore she never wanted to see again. Commander of the Royal Guard, Vasily Brețcu's life was complicated, to put it mildly. He's coming off a gunshot wound he and his owl had sustained while protecting the Prince of Therantia from an assassination attempt. But he plans to make full use of the light duty he'd been assigned too. Vasi has a mystery of his own to solve, was the King of Therantia killed on his watch? Then Cherry called and his whole life got turned upside down. He would do anything at all for his wolverine and unwilling mate Cherry, including flying across the country to help her find the missing women. The mystery deepens however when both cases appear to be connected. Will Vasily and Cherry be able to overcome their quick decisions in their past to help them survive for a future together?