Niki Kroff has one mission in life--to lead Sylvan Mir's elite guard and protect the wolf Alpha's life. When Lara, another of the centuri, becomes a Vampire in the course of saving Sylvan's life, Niki is assigned to protect her during her transition. Removed from Sylvan's guard, Niki struggles to find her place in the Pack and control her desire for a forbidden Were whose call grows stronger every day. Sylvan, driven by primal instincts to protect her pregnant mate, grows more powerful, and more deadly, than any Alpha Were in centuries. While Sylvan rallies her allies, Vampire and human, to fight extremists, radical groups, and members of their own Praetern coalition in a war to preserve the autonomy of all Praetern species, Niki fights a private battle with her own dark urges--a battle which, if lost, will cost her everything. "--P. [4] of cover.