Malcolm of Dunroch is a newly chosen Master, a novice to his extraordinaryand dangerouspowers. But he has already broken his vowsand a young woman’s death is on his hands. Malcolm is determined to fight his darkest desires, denying himself all pleasure until fate sends him another Innocent, the beautiful bookseller Claire Camden. Since her mother’s murder, Claire has done everything possible to make a safe, secure life for herself in a city where danger lurks on every street corner, especially in the dark of night. But nothing can prepare her for the powerful and sexual medieval warrior who sweeps her back into his timea treacherous, frightening world where the hunters and the hunted are one and the same. Claire needs Malcolm to survive, yet she must somehow keep the dangerously seductive Master at arm’s length. For Malcolm’s soul is at stakeand fulfilling his desires could prove fatal .