the beast you've made of me

Lisbeth Whitlocke was born for one thing: to eradicate the evil forces that haunt the continent of Thrif. Everyone in her family has been slayers-for-hire, staking vampires and skinning werewolves to earn a living. It's what she and her twin, Lilly, have done all their lives - as soon as they were old enough to walk and swing an ax or a stake, that is.

For the past few years, they have killed many beasts and garnered a fair amount of coin. They are used to it, as much as one can be, and Lisbeth assumes this is what the rest of her life will consist of.

But then, one minor miscalculation, the result of being inadequate, hurtles Lisbeth's life into catastrophe. The latest job taken on goes terribly, terribly wrong -- leaving Lilly missing in action and Lisbeth bit by a rogue werewolf.

Lisbeth, a fledgling wolf, is taken to Valkham -- where the wolves reside. While attempting to rid her mind of her old life and assimilate into the pack, she catches the attention of Johanna Dunne. Perhaps this would be something almost normal, except for three things:

Johanna is the Alpha, the leader and ruler of all the Valkham wolves.

She is the Alpha because her father was murdered by Lisbeth's own fifteen years before.

And - despite the bad blood between them prior to their meeting - Johanna claims Lisbeth is her mate, that they are eternally bound to one another, their fates irrevocably intertwined.