The mysterious figure known as the Wild Dog has risen up to crush and humiliate the Earls who control the North. Fen, son of a powerful Earl, has been sent to form an alliance to benefit his father's plans against the bold rebel. There are many kinds of alliances in the world of nobles, but political alliances often grow to include the intimacy of lovers or even marriage, and Fen has been ordered to use his famed beauty seduce his intended, regardless of what he feels. But Fen has no love for his cruel father or in forming any kind of alliance with a noble his father prefers. He takes his first chance to run, only to end up lost and hungry in vast wilderness... where he is found by the Wild Dog himself. Lan, called Wild Dog by furious Earls who don't like to be challenged, looms over Fen and most others, and yet carries Fen when Fen is too weak to walk any longer. He allows his friends to tease him and ensures his people are fed before he sits for his own meals. Fen, who has rarely known kindness, is captivated. But Fen
is
also an Earl's cub, and if the Wild Dog can change rules that have always existed, then so can Fen. Without his father's say he offers an alliance of his own, promising to use his knowledge of the nobles to help the Wild Dog achieve his aims. No seduction is required, although for the first time in his life, Fen considers it. Each time Lan listens to him, or pulls him close to share warmth as they sleep, or shows that he trusts Fen, Fen wants him in a way he barely understands. But Fen is more powerful than he realizes or that his nickname of "Flower" would suggest. He sees destiny at work when he looks at Lan. The Wild Dog is something greater than a mere Earl, and fate, or the fae, have placed Fen in his path. Now it's time for Fen-the-flower to decide if his agreement with Lan might become more-an alliance, or marriage, for the ages.