[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 JOURNEY BACK to the cabin was almost silent, save for the occasional sniffle that came from the passenger seat. Ainslie sat with her hand clamped over her mouth to stifle her fear but it was impossible to hide how shaken she was. Whenever Adele could afford to take one hand off the wheel, she rested her palm over Ainslie's to comfort her but there was only so much she could do when she had to keep her eyes pinned to the dim track.
Every time her stare flickered up to the rear-view mirror, her gut clenched with dread at the thought that her eyes might land on Creighton. Nothing felt safe anymore. It never really had but now that feeling was amplified a hundred times, the paralysing fear that she would catch sight of the man who was set on making her life a living misery.
Caleb didn't say a word the whole way home. He silently seething in the back, his eyes as dark as Adele had ever seen them. It was enough to send a jolt of unease through her, a chill skating down her spine. She swallowed hard and focused on the road, tightening her hands around the wheel as she drove back the way they had come. It was getting late, the clock already shooting past eleven, and her eyes were drooping as she tried to stay awake for the last few minutes of the drive.
It wasn't easy. Her brain crashed, overdrive spinning into a burnout. Her hands wanted to drop from the wheel; her eyes wanted to shut. She didn't let them, fighting her desperation to sleep with her instinct to survive, and the car crawled up to the cabin as the time hit quarter past eleven. That was too close to midnight for Adele's liking. She wasn't one to stay up late and her body was rebelling.
Ainslie didn't say a word as she slipped out of the car and dragged herself to the front door, leaning against the window of her room as Adele tugged off her glove to find her key. Caleb loomed behind her, the three of them stood in a silent huddle. The door opened with a click. Adele flicked on the light. The bare bulb in the hallway flickered above them. It came to life after a few seconds, the stark light hardly welcoming. The shade had broken a while ago and Adele had never got around to replacing it.
