Cover Artist: Stephanie Hannus
Date of Publication: August 5th, 2013
Description:
As a moonwulf, Daciana
never expected to fall in love with a human. Hell, she never imagined
that she’d abandon her pack, endanger everyone around her, and break the
worst rule possible. But she did.
A rogue werewolf is killing Daciana’s friends, and she sets on capturing the creature. She’ll do whatever it takes to stop the beast. The police and her boyfriend, Inspector Connell Lonescu, are starting to question her involvement in the murders, which is endangering the pack’s secret existence. But when the pack alpha kidnaps Connell, revealing the awful truth about the creature and its connection to the pack, Daciana must choose between saving the man she loves and saving her pack family from certain death.
A rogue werewolf is killing Daciana’s friends, and she sets on capturing the creature. She’ll do whatever it takes to stop the beast. The police and her boyfriend, Inspector Connell Lonescu, are starting to question her involvement in the murders, which is endangering the pack’s secret existence. But when the pack alpha kidnaps Connell, revealing the awful truth about the creature and its connection to the pack, Daciana must choose between saving the man she loves and saving her pack family from certain death.
EXCERPT:
The
phone’s strident ringing woke me up, and I glanced over at the bedside clock
blazing
5:13
A.M. Too damn early for anything.
Tempted
to dive back under the covers, I checked the caller ID: Connell. Crap. The previous night’s events came
pouring back: me turning into a wulfkin outside the full moon, running with the
pack all night, collecting my keys from the woods, and ditching Connell again.
On top of that, I never retrieved the old books for the elixir. Double crap.
I
pushed my legs over the edge of the bed, scrunched the sheet in my fist and
answered the call. “Hi.”
“Where
are you?” The panic in his voice turned my stomach.
“At
home.”
“What
happened to you last night?”
My
throat dried up as my mind whirred with excuses. “I uncovered something in my
research and got stuck into it, not realizing it was past midnight when I
checked the clock. I didn’t want to wake you and went straight home. I’m
sorry.”
“I
suspected you wouldn’t come. Looks like I was right.”
“Come
on, Connell, give me a break. I’m working on something majorly important.
When
you’re on a case and spend nights in the office, I don’t give you shit about
it.”
“That’s
not what pisses me off. It’s that you never tell me anything. Send me a message
if you’re going to be late or not turn up, anything to let me know what’s going
on. It feels like you’re only staying with me on until something better comes
along.”
“That’s
not true. I only want you.”
Silence.
I
lowered my head and stared at the dirt beneath my toenails from the previous
night’s run.
“I
don’t want to talk about this now,” he said. “We found two more bodies this
morning. The victims were located on the opposite sides of the city.” He
paused. “Why would a wolf bolt across the city after a kill? They attack in
packs, don’t they?”
A
shiver rippled down my spine, the possibility of two more dracwulf kills made
me furious. There was no convincing myself the attacks weren’t related to the
others; I felt the truth in my gut. Worse yet, I wondered whether the dracwulf
was simply hungry or territorial, and Sandulf had to know. I flopped onto the
bed and curled into a ball.
When
I gave no response, Connell continued. “I need you to review the reports from
the previous attacks today and visit the new scenes to see if you believe it's
the same animal.”
I
cringed at the innocent wolves who could lose their lives over Sandulf’s
stupidity.
“Your
team can test the evidence and see if it’s the same predator without me.”
“We
have limited testing resources in this country, so we need your expertise to move
things along.”
The
way he said “your” sounded full of contempt, and it pained me to hear him talk
like that.
“The
chief wants a hunting party issued this weekend, preferably with Romania’s
Animal Research Institute’s approval. He’s already spoken with your boss,
Vasile.”
I
climbed up and paced the room, shaking my head. Typical Vasile to agree to
anything the cops asked.
“If
I could leave you out of this, I would, but I can’t. Trust me, I tried.”
“I
appreciate that. Where should we meet?”
“Piaţa
Square. Half an hour?”
“I
can do that.”
He
hung up.
A
snarl ripped past my throat at the terrible start to the day. Who could blame
Connell for being upset? I’d be livid if he kept avoiding me.
I
threw on a pair of Levi’s, boots, and a gray hooded top. The bathroom mirror
reflected gray wolf eyes from my recent transformation, and already the silvery
color was fading into a darker shade. I pulled every strand of my nest-style
hair into a ponytail and rushed outside into the morning twilight.
About the author:
T.F. Walsh emigrated from Romania to Australia at the age of eight and now lives in a regional city south of Sydney with her husband. Growing up hearing dark fairytales, she's always had a passion for reading and writing horror, paranormal romance, urban fantasy and young adult stories. She balances all the dark with light fluffy stuff like baking and traveling.
1 comment:
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