“I would protect my mate,” Kael snarled, his eyes bleeding into the dark amber of his wolf as he faced the throne. “From anyone. Including you.” @@@@@ Elara is a lowly healer in the Silver Stone Pack, treated as an outcast and forced to survive in the shadows until a chance encounter with a deadly shadow bear changes everything. Kael is a cold, lethal Prince of the Shifters, a "grumpy" royal who never expected his fated mate to be a runaway healer with a heart of gold and a past full of secrets. When Kael is sent to hunt a female, he finds Elara, the one woman who dares to challenge his iron-willed authority. As they are forced into close quarters, the sparks between Elara’s sunshine and Kael’s storm become undeniable. But with pack betrayals and a royal father standing in their way, their bond is a death sentence. Will Kael defy his crown to claim his mate, or will the shadows of Elara’s past consume them both?