Riley’s life shatters the moment she meets her mate. Instead of accepting her, he rejects her at first sight and, in the same breath, proposes to her stepsister. For Riley, the pain cuts deeper because this is not the first thing she has lost to her sister. All her life, Riley has sacrificed her happiness, her opportunities, and everything precious just to keep the peace in her family. But she never imagined she would be asked to give up her mate too. When her stepsister finally offers to give something back, it comes at a terrible price. Riley is asked to take her place in an ancient ritual that has thrown every young maiden in the city into fear, a single night with the Beast. The Beast is a five-hundred-year-old monster who only emerges in the dead of night. Cursed and bound by dark magic, he is slowly dying and can only be saved by the blood of a breeder. The problem is simple and terrifying: breeders were believed to have gone extinct many years ago. With no way to escape her fate, Riley is sent to the Beast, how do she escape when the beast is obsessed with her?