[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 FIRST DAY of December arrived with roaring rain that thundered down from the heavens to freeze over the roads, branches bending under the weight of the downpour that had started the moment midnight had struck and it had yet to ease up. The sun rose in a dewy fog, the rain weakening the power of its rays and stealing its heat, but the temperature dragged itself above zero for the first time in days and the sky was graced with a tinge of blue at last. There was a delicious freshness to the cool air, the crisp smell of rain and the rich aroma of pine needles.
The cabin had been weirdly quiet without Ainslie chatting away and humming to herself when the conversation ebbed. She had carved out a space for herself where there wasn't one and now that she was gone, that hole was as evident as a missing tooth. There was a gap in the cabin where she was supposed to be, an emptiness in the air without her intermittent observations. Amongst her rambling stream of thought, there was the occasional sparkling gem, a flurry of words that she didn't realise were golden.
Caleb heaped a few teaspoons of cocoa powder into his mug. He always took the chipped one, even though Ainslie had left a perfectly good one in the cupboard. He didn't want to use her things, but she had insisted that he enjoy as much hot chocolate as he could, and that wasn't something he could turn down. Although he still enjoyed his morning coffee, he was partial to a mug of warm cocoa any other time of the day.
"I miss Ainslie," he said when he handed Adele a coffee.
"Mmm. Me too," she murmured. That had surprised her: after an independent life, avoiding people as much as she could – even her own flesh and blood – Ainslie had suddenly become the sister she'd never had, squirreling her way into her life and sinking her nails into her heart. "She just needs to spend a few days with her mum. They're very close, and Morag's alone."
"She has no mate?"
"No," she said. "Her husband left when Ainslie was a baby. Actually, I don't even know if they were married. They were very young."
