He'll do anything to save his life...including saving hers. What was supposed to be a simple intelligence gathering mission for the Shamanic Council becomes the worst, and possibly the last, day of were-lion Lachlan Garvey's life. After finding one of the Brightwater Shaman dead, in a circle of charred grass, he is shot by the other sister. When he wakes he's naked, human and trapped in a circle of his own blood. Dayna Brightwater doesn't know what to do with the naked were-lion. She doesn't have the magic, or the stomach, for revenge and killing him won't bring her sister back. But if she releases him he'll kill her too. Lachlan has to convince Dayna he didn't kill her sister before he bleeds out and before the magical fire Dayna's sister created with her failed spell reaches them and kills them both. Dayna has to choose--trust Lachlan and use magic to save them both or try to flee and live with the knowledge she caused his death, proving she is truly a Brightwater and incapable of love.