The scent of her blood is an insult to the floorboards of the Iron Claw, a biker bar soaked in diesel, cheap whiskey, and the bitter copper memories of a massacre. Jax has spent five years keeping his pack together with scarred knuckles and a merciless rule, every single heartbeat in his chest a reminder of the night vampires tore his family apart. When a half-vampire named Bianca stumbles through his doors, bleeding, freezing, and running for her life from the very monsters who spawned her, Jax reaches for his blade to finish the job his past demanded. But the instant his thick calloused fingers grip her throat to snap her neck, a molten shockwave rips through his veins, tearing the breath from his lungs and branding his soul with an enemy he is supposed to execute.