I’m forty-seven. Divorced. Temporarily locked out of a luxury cabin in my underwear.

I came to Mirror Lake for peace. Solitude. A chance to figure out who I am now that my kids are grown and my marriage is over.

Instead, I got rescued by a bear. Not a wild one, a careful one. Intelligent. Controlled. The kind who makes sure I don’t freeze to death before carrying me home.

Because after the Convergence, it turns out the monsters didn’t just come crashing through from other worlds.

Some of them had been here all along.

Calum is a bear shifter who’s spent decades in the shadows, watching humanity pretend it was alone. When a snowstorm strands me in his path, one night is all it takes to remind us both what it feels like to be seen, chosen, and wanted, without apology.

This was never meant to be safe.

But when a man who’s lived carefully his entire life finally opens his arms, walking away isn’t the brave choice. Staying is.

Read Chapter 1 here!