Gavin's rut has shattered the last of his control, driving the dragon shifter to claim Tessa as the one treasure his hoard cannot do without before the rival dragon strikes. Her guarded yielding is the key to completing the ritual, but the terror that the bond will bind him only to abandon her afterward pulls against the raw need to mark her as his.

In the crystalline vault he keeps her closer than the rest of the hoard, and the eclipse will make the claiming permanent and irreversible. Every night in that vault Tessa gives a little more ground, and Gavin takes all of it.

Yet the rival's roar echoes closer, threatening to take everything if Gavin cannot finish the claiming before mistrust tears them apart.