Who chooses to fall in love with a beast? That's the question that Thatcher has been asking himself for years. It's why he doesn't date, has never tried to find his fated mate, and rarely leaves his home. He knows what he is and he can't bear to see the looks he gets whenever he goes out. He's content with his life of solitude. Until she shows up. Clara Young. She's the beauty to his beast, his fated mate, but Thatcher knows that this isn't a fairytale. She's stuck here because of the winter storm but, eventually, she'll leave him, just like everyone else.