Five months later

I should have known better. I was one of the most brilliant scientists on Earth—not being vain, the five awards framed on my office wall were proof enough—but how the hell did I miss the full implications of that bite on my neck?

Kael had mated me. Not some casual fling or temporary claim. It was a deep, biological bond for Lupari shifters, one that tied souls and bodies together. Two weeks after he left for Lunara, his homeworld, I collapsed. Fever, shaking, my body screaming for something it couldn't have.

The med team ran every test and finally pieced it together: severed mate bond. Kael had...