The Goliath werewolves, a California pack hoping to expand into new territories, made an extreme error in judgment when choosing Christoph to be their representative for negotiations in New York. After two fights in the open with another supernatural, Christoph orders a lower-ranking teenaged Were to take the downfall for his mistakes by serving in his place under vampire Alec Royce’s watchful eye. When Christoph and another packmate try to save the girl from Royce’s clutches—never mind the inevitable war they’d start in the process—the two are outcast from their pack. The vampire once again demands servitude as recompense, and they soon find themselves magically “neutered” by enchanted leather fetish collars so they can’t hurt themselves or anyone else in the vampire’s entourage. Hey, the collars were all Royce had handy at the time. Just when Christoph thought it couldn’t get any worse, a mute vampire named Mouse decides to claim him, taking him for her own. She has her own set of problems, what with being mentally damaged by her sire, Max Carlyle, who delighted in enforcing her monstrous nature. She hungers for Christoph, but can’t stand to see someone victimized or—even worse—afraid of her. Christoph is taught the greater lesson of what it really means to follow the Goliath Code of Honor and Mouse narrowly avoids a nervous breakdown in the process of accepting her own predatory nature. The two must learn how to live together (and deal with his new accessory)—without driving Royce and the rest of his household crazy in the process.