[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 DEER FELL with a single shot. The crack of the bullet rang out through the forest like a warning sign, sending a couple of does sprinting off deeper into the woods at the sound of the bush crashing to the hard ground in the clearing. The snow shook as though an earthquake had shuddered the rocks, a shudder rippling away from the hefty body that lay still, its magnificent antlers piercing the snow.
A rush of success coursed through Adele, her anticipation bursting into glee as she thrashed through the bracken to reach the deer. Caleb followed at her heel, expertly navigating the ground that begged him to slip, and he crouched to haul the buck onto his shoulders, but she stopped him with a hand on his chest. A throb of electricity pulsed down her arm, her body still getting used to the connection that bonded her to him.
"You don't want it?" he asked, his face falling. "Why did you kill it if you don't want it?"
"I do want it," she said, shaking her head. "Of course I do – I wouldn't kill it just for the sake of it, but I want to do a quick field dress on it first."
"What's that?"
She dropped her bag to the floor and yanked open the drawstring, pulling out a mighty hunting knife. "We gut it here." It wasn't often that she performed a field dressing on a deer, preferring to haul it back to the garage in one piece, but the forest had been frozen over for weeks now. "We'll leave the insides for the wolves, and it'll be lighter for you to carry."
"Oh. Ok. Show me how."
Those had become some of his most used words since he had got to know Adele, his inquisitive mind working hard and fast to catch up to her life. He helped her roll the buck onto its back, propping up his heavy head on a snowdrift, and he winced as he watched her slice off its genitals before cutting through the skin from the anus to the jaw. Pulling the skin away, she cut along the same incision to carve through the muscle, careful not to puncture the organs.
