Tarian is an apex predator. He can move faster than the human eye, tear through steel with his bare hands, and compel the weak-minded with a whisper. He is also terrified of the doorbell.
After four hundred years of surviving witch trials, stakes, and the invention of the UV lamp, Tarian has officially retired from the world. He is a shut-in. He orders his synthetic blood from the dark web, keeps his blackout curtains drawn, and hasn’t left his penthouse in a decade.
But now, his Maker is coming to town—a creature of ancient cruelty who doesn’t believe in retirement.
Terrified, Tarian does the only thing he can think of: he hires a bodyguard.
Enter Sutton. She’s an ex-mercenary with a mountain of debt and zero patience for eccentric billionaires. She thinks the job is a joke: babysit a pale, neurotic recluse who flinches at the sound of a text message? Easy money. She figures she’ll just be fighting off paparazzi and Uber Eats drivers.
She is wrong.
When the first assassin crashes through the window, Sutton realizes her client isn’t just “eccentric.” He’s a monster. But as the city erupts into a supernatural turf war, she discovers something else: Tarian isn’t hiding because he’s weak. He’s hiding because he knows exactly what happens when he loses control.
Now, Sutton is the only thing standing between Tarian and his past. She has to teach him how to navigate the modern world—how to use a smartphone, how to ignore anxiety, and how to be brave.
In return, he has to do the one thing he swore he’d never do again: hunt.
She protects him from the sun. He protects her from the dark.
