Captain James Wolf sold his soul to the eerie Shadows to return his sentient ship back after a pirate attack. But soullessness is the highest crime against the Shadow Ordinance, and a very slow and deadly disease. Grief had changed him and he swore revenge against the pirates who murdered his father, and the Ordinance ambassador who killed his mother and banished him from his hometown. When the Shadow Bite, the affliction of the soulless, becomes too unbearable, he heeds his revenant ship's advice and seeks a crew. Just a few crew members won't hurt, right? But he was not prepared for the connection he would forge with his crew, a connection that reminded him of what it once was like to have a soul. And when his revenge quest threatens the livelihood of his crew, a crew he is now emotionally entangled with, he must choose between his vengeance, his soul, or his found family.