Former soldier Ron McBride thought his life couldn’t possibly get any worse. He’s been physically transformed, hunted across most of North America and is haunted by his battles with addiction and PTSD. But he’s been determined to keep a promise to a dead woman, even though he’s on the run. Except now it looks like he’s about to die alone in the Canadian wilderness.

When he first wakes up in the tiny community in Bear Claw National Park, he thinks he’s found a little piece of heaven. Particularly when he meets Lily Charging-Bull, a cheerful young woman whose family has been living in the sub-Arctic forest for generations. For the first time in months, he just might have room to breathe. But there’s a reason why no one has found this isolated community before.

Not every lalassu can hide their abilities in public. For those who are visibly different, known as the Marked, Bear Claw is a refuge, a place to hide from fear and exploitation. Lily and her family are skin-walkers, able to shift between human and bear form. For generations, they’ve stood between the Marked and the outside world.

Ron has hunters on his trail, men with resources and globally-spanning grasps. If they follow him to Bear Claw, the Marked cannot hope to escape.

Lily finds herself having to choose between her duties and her heart, protecting the many or the one. Ron has too many failures under his belt to see himself as anything but a burden. Neither sees anything heroic when they look in a mirror but together they’ll learn the most important lesson of being a hero.

Heroes aren’t born. They become.