Mara Voss, a trail guide rejected as a mate three years ago by Alpha Kael Thorne because her wolf never rose, must decide whether to guide the pack that discarded her through the dangerous Hollow Pass — a trail that now responds only to her — before the first snow closes the territory. She leads on her own terms: she leads, Kael follows, with no Alpha orders on the trail, and she does not return to the pack. The old bond is not used to force her.