Ejected from her home, Nyna is forced to run across the city to her grandmother's house. If she had known it was the night of her first heat, she might have jumped into the sewers instead of trying to outrun the huntsmen of the Overlord of Y'tel.
Trapped in a colony city, she runs as fast as she can wearing her red cloak. The canine heads of the Lyron hunters focus on her, but they are waiting for the bell that lets them hunt. She hates that damned bell.
Sornoth sees the flicker of red, catches her scent, and waits impatiently, quickly beating the fellow huntsmen who would have pursued her before he chases after her himself.
When he catches her, the taste of her burns itself into his brain, and after he marks her, he sends her on to her destination.
It will be two and a half years before they meet again, and when he meets his son for the first time, things change.