***
His silence was enough. She knew.
Defeat was evident in her voice, and the eyes that earlier shone with excitement, were now bright with unshed tears.
"But we were going to save the world!" she called, her voice cracking at the last word.
Right then, she almost broke him. He almost didn't say it - but for her, he knew he had to.
"We will save the world. But not as canus. We will save it: I, as nigrum and you, as alba."
***
Protect. Save. Guard.
That was what she had always been taught to do. And she did do it. She did it, and she did it well. Never did she let anyone harm her pack.
She never believed she needed a man to keep her or her pack safe. She was mate-less and she accepted it.
Well, until that one fateful day. The day where the scattered attacks started seeming strategic and the bloodshed seemed to signify a greater evil.
She knew she needed more power, but she didn't know he would be her strength.
Hide. Conceal. Suppress.
That was what he had always been taught to do. And he did do it. He did it, and he did it well. Never did he let anyone know about him.
He never believed he needed a woman to make him stop hiding and learn to embrace himself.
Well until that one fateful day. The day where everything just went wrong and all he wanted to do was not be useless, not to hide but to help.
He knew he needed inspiration, but he didn't know she would be his muse.
-
A genetically unique but emotionally lost teenager must figure out who she is within her mixed-up, warring world of Shifters and Wolfstalkers.
*****
It wasn't Maddie's choice to be born a half-breed, half Shifter, half Wolfstalker -- a hunter of Shifters -- and it wasn't her choice to keep her identity a secret. But after trying to attend high school like any normal sixteen-year-old, things quickly spiral south when her Stalker uncle finds out about her and catapults her out of anonymity and into the awareness--or possibly the crosshairs--of The Order of the Wolfstalker. Maddie must think fast and figure out a way to keep herself and her family safe, or risk losing everything. Including her life.
[[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]