Coyote was running from her past when she found Sten drifting among the debris of his ship. He was a pilot lost on the wrong side of the galaxy and the wrong side of enemy lines, unable to return home, unwilling to return to war. Rath had just lost his home world and his freedom, and given a mission to find an escaped prisoner in exchange for his mate's life. Ryuzai doesn't remember anything before his imprisonment, he's only running because his only friend told him to before he died. All Nine has ever known was pain and war, he was property, damaged and smuggled across the sector, now he can think for himself for the first time. It was a mistake that led Rath to Coyote, but it was one that would change all of their lives and possibly the future of the universe.