Gwen Brooks has nothing left. No home. No money. A mother dying in a hospital bed she can't afford and a father serving time behind bars. When a group of bullies corner her, a cold, dangerous professor steps in and saves her. Gwen thinks it's luck. Until he looks at her with disgust... and rejects her as his mate. Lucien Quin isn't human. Cursed for three thousand years, he's waited for a mate strong enough to stand beside him and help break the darkness consuming him. Fate gives him Gwen instead. Broke. Human. Vulnerable. Everything he never wanted. He pushes her away, but the bond refuses to break. The more he tries to escape her, the more their lives become tangled together. Now Gwen wants answers. Lucien wants distance. And an ancient curse is determined to destroy them both before they can decide what they mean to each other. Because some bonds aren't meant to save you. They're meant to ruin you.