On the moon-like planet Lykaios, Carina Falcon finds herself face-to-face with a real-life werewolf by the name of Ezariah Cantos. While some might recoil at the thought of a man that transforms into a beast at the will of the lunar cycle, Carina throws caution to the wind and falls into bed with him shortly after they cross paths. Maybe it’s because they’re both lonely, maybe it’s because he has kind eyes, or maybe it’s because he has the finest collection of Earth literature that she’s ever seen. At least not since she was back home at the Grykin. He has reservations about getting involved with her, but Carina is nothing if not persistent and she isn’t about to ignore the chemistry the pair has.

As the next full moon approaches, Carina returns to the Block to turn over the information that she recovered on Lykaios and she informs the Fiorta Corporation that she is taking a temporary leave of absence. After working her whole life to make a name for herself with the Corps. it’s a risky decision—one that her longtime friend Shiva is displeased to learn about over drinks at the local cantina. Carina assures them that her newfound infatuation won’t be like Mars or Alia who was using her for her name, but she has forgotten that after Alia, Shiva was given very specific instructions and they intend to follow them.

Shiva knocks Carina unconscious and steals her away to the seedy underbelly of AY-7, where they hope Carina will forget all about her broody werewolf on Lykaios. While plenty of fun is had in the dens of iniquity in the city, Carina finds herself thinking of Ezariah. She runs into Quinn Harcrow, one of her oldest “friends” and frequent rebound material, and convinces him to fly her back to the Block. Their relationship is messy, but a surprisingly healthy one.

Once Carina returns to the Block, she begins a series of journeys to and from Lykaios to see Ezariah. With each new visit, she brings him treats, clothes, and new books for him to read to her. But there is something much larger than either of them at play. On one of her visits to Lykaios, Carina is kidnapped by a trio called “The Guardians of Lycaon” who are descendants of the first cursed being. In order to wipe her memories of their planet, they temporarily kill Carina and she forgets who Ezariah is. Defeated and trapped in his beastly form, Ezariah tracks Carina down and cares for her as she recovers from the attack. Fortunately, before she does try to leave, she retraces her steps from before the attack and her memory slowly comes back to her.

With a renewed passion to try to find a way for Ezariah to leave Lykaios, Carina employs Shiva and Quinn to help her track down information. The situation only becomes direr when Carina discovers that, following her temporary death, her birth control implant stopped working and she is pregnant. The search for answers takes the trio to Carina’s homeworld—a place she hasn’t been back to since she was a teenager.

Eventually, Carina discovers a planet nearby Lykaios that has similar properties and, at long last, she believes she is finally on the right path to freeing Ezariah from the moon’s snare. When she arrives on the planet she discovers beautiful meadows and running water, unlike the heavily forested and dry land of Lykaios. But the beauty conceals a dark secret and Carina is swept beneath the earth into the clutches of a shadowy figure that holds their fates in his withered hands.