[BOOK ONE] When hunter-gatherer Adele Shepherd comes across an injured werewolf in the woods, it's up to her to take him in and save his life: in a remote town dedicated to killing the creatures, she's the only one left who wants to help no matter t...
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THE WORLD FROZE overnight, glazing the forest in a glittering frost. Crisp leaves sparkled with droplets of icy rain and the trees shimmered with icicles that hung like daggers waiting to plunge to the ground. Dewy cobwebs glistened in the soft morning light, a deep orange hue that spread its fingers through the branches, waking the day with the touch of its glow. The light dappled when the trees wavered in the breeze but there was not heat in the watery rays that fell across the woods like a hazy dream.
The colour behind Adele's eyelids shifted from black to red as the morning pulled her from sleep and she threw her arm over her eyes to block out the undulating light. She could be a night owl and she could be an early bird but right now she just wished that the trees would block out the sun and give her a couple more hours of sleep. There were times that she could go days without seeing the sun in the sky.
She wished that today was one of those days. Caleb had been restless all night, the mattress dipping beneath his heavy footsteps as he had turned around and around in circles trying to get comfortable – as though there was space for him to do that. She had thumped him a couple of times and kicked him off the bed at one point, but he was still right there when she opened her eyes, his tail draped over her legs.
"For fuck's sake," she muttered, pushing his paw off her stomach. "Maybe I'm the idiot. Is that it? You're probably not even a fucking werewolf, are you? Just a big dumb regular wolf eating my food and sleeping in my fucking bed." Scowling at his sleeping form, she clambered over him when her bladder woke up and as she left, she held the door she grumbled, "You're really taking the piss now, Caleb. This isn't fucking funny."
The rest of the house was dark but she knew every inch too well to need her eyes to adjust as she stumbled to the bathroom. She had reached the end of her tether but she didn't know what she could possibly do if Caleb kept refusing to show her who he was. She couldn't force him out, sending him to a certain death, but neither could she bear to spend another day with her voice the only one in the cabin.
