Bonds. They're an intimate rapport that runs soul-deep between two or more people. James had only ever Joined with one Bondmate. When she died tragically due supposedly to emotional harm he had unintentionally inflicted on her, he swore he'd protect his other Bondmates by refusing to Join with them. It would hurt, but it was for their safety. The anniversary of her death has rolled around again, so he's in a grieving, contemplative mood. To keep his mind busy, he reaches out to a chess player for a game... Tomorrow is the first day of the Fall Quarter of her university, and 19-year-old Olena Nichols, a nonbinary hacker girl, is restless. She isn't eager to face the microaggressions from her instructors again, but if she's to graduate, she's going to have to. Restless, she checks out her chess apps and comes across a mysterious challenge from a new player. She accepts, and is thrown into a world of romance, psi, and covert government operations as a result.