Finley Cooper is tired of waiting for his destined mate to be ready to claim him. In deference to human laws, he's already agreed to wait until he's eighteen. But now his birthday has come and gone-and his mate has a new set of excuses. Finley doesn't understand it any more than his wolf does, and he's beginning to wonder if fate made a mistake.

Tanner Pearce wants nothing more than to claim his mate, but he worries that Finley is too young. Tanner will never forget what happened when his best friend mated at Finley's age, only to have that mate end up feeling trapped and breaking their bond. While rare, it can happen, and the fallout Tanner witnessed as his best friend tried to deal with the break has haunted him for years.

When Finley finally has enough, he threatens to find someone who will claim him if Tanner doesn't, and Tanner realizes he needs to come to terms with his fears or risk losing his mate forever.