The Phelidae - a half-human, half-cat hybrid cosmically entrusted with covertly protecting human life - has been forever hunted by the Pallas, a ritualistic order of poachers lead by icy-veined opportunist Hiram Pallas and his unrelenting, attention-starved son, Deacon. During their tribe's ancient endowment ceremony in the hallowed land of Valla, it is revealed that Thia and her brothers Dae and Shai harness twice the powers expected, and one only believed to be myth. Overcome by jealousy, a petulant member betrays the sacred tribe to its primordial foe, condemning them to exile, slavery, and slaughter at the hand of the Pallas. Their lives shattered and futures shrouded in doubt and darkness, the three siblings flee into the unknown world with only the instinct to survive. But adaptation into a world both biologically and socially alien proves difficult for the refugees, and they must constantly uproot and move on each time their would-be assassins discover them. They will find no home, and no peace, until their desperate wandering leads them to the remote, tranquil backwater of Lionesta. Here, finally, they are embraced and sheltered by an isolated and close-knit, but strangely welcoming, community. But the people of Lionesta hold secrets of their own, and it is not long before Thia, Dae, and Shai are entangled in a conflict between their mysterious hosts and their unnatural predators. Through bonds forged in battle and blood, the three Phelidae nomads are able to salvage a long lost hope that they'd found home and the means to finally confront their huntsman, never to run again.