Twelve years have passed since Tristan and his friends were rescued by the council enforcers and brought to Gillham. Tristan’s friends have adapted. They have full lives, but he doesn’t. He’s still trapped in the grief of losing his mate in the lab they were both locked in, and he hasn’t given himself the opportunity to start healing, isolating himself instead.

Hudson knows exactly what losing a mate does to a person. He lost Paul, his mate, in a car accident twenty-six years earlier, and in many ways, he still feels the pain of that day. When he meets Tristan, he immediately knows he can help him—if not to heal, at least to have a chance to start living again.

Tristan’s shell is hard to break, but Hudson isn’t the kind of man who gives up easily. Still, Tristan has to be the one to choose to take the first step toward healing, or Hudson won’t be able to do anything for him. Will Tristan’s shroud of grief keep Hudson away, or will Hudson be able to get through to him and talk to his hurting soul?