Thrust into a world full of creatures she never dreamed existed, Gina “Red” Santiago is coming to grips with the fact that she's a werewolf while adjusting to her new life in the small town of Nuria. The transition isn’t easy, especially since her boyfriend, alpha werewolf Morgan Hunter, is called away on an important mission. Unfortunately, someone doesn't want Red to get too comfortable with her new life – someone who will resort to anything, including murder, to run her out of town. Alone among hostile strangers, Red must fight to prove her innocence, to catch a ruthless murderer, and to preserve her relationship with an increasingly distant Morgan. Jordan Summers has twenty-nine published books to her credit and has sold over 120,000 ebooks. She is a member of the Horror Writer's Association, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, International Thriller Writers Inc., and Novelist Inc. You can find out more about her work at jordansummers.com. Jordan Summers has twenty-nine published books to her credit and has sold over 120,000 ebooks. She is a member of the Horror Writer's Association, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, International Thriller Writers Inc., and Novelist Inc. You can find out more about her work at jordansummers.com. Chapter One Red stood naked in the barren valley. The cool desert air brushed her skin, leaving gooseflesh in its wake. She shivered and took a deep breath, closing her eyes to picture the wolf in her mind. Eyes the color of autumn stared back at her from a shaggy elongated face. Not quite animal and definitely not human. White teeth glowed against its black pelt. Deadly claws curled into minidaggers, rearing to score the earth. Whether on two legs or on four, the beast looked impressive. And dangerous. She felt its hunger. Its need for survival. The desire to escape. The urge to run blindly into the darkness rode her hard. She longed to feel the dirt and compacted sand beneath rough pads. Red reached out, drawing the vision nearer, beckoning it to come. She embraced that which she feared. Close. Closer. Almost there. Pain seared her flesh, causing her back to contort. Her head jerked to the night sky, her mouth open in a silent scream. Yanked by the fire coursing through her veins, she could no longer control her movements. Her muscles bunched under her skin. Bones in her hand snapped as the beast fought its way out. Red shrieked and threw open her eyes. To night was the night. She could feel it. The change had to work. Her body continued to coil and bulge, twisting into unnatural shapes until Red thought she'd go mad. Her vision dimmed and fear engulfed her. The pain suddenly stopped. Red looked down at her gnarled, broken hand, expecting to see a smattering of fur—or at least a misshapen paw where her fingers should be. One claw protruded through the top of her fingernail and blood dripped fat drops onto the thirsty desert floor—a glistening scarlet reminder that she'd failed once more. "Damn it!" she shouted. It had been weeks since she'd moved to Nuria in the Republic of Arizona. Weeks since she'd first attempted the change. And she still couldn't control the wolf inside her. Red stared at her hand, watching the bones pop back into place. Her body had already started to repair the damage. More excruciating pain followed. It was the same every night. She would've thought that she'd be used to it by now. But she wasn't. Red glanced over at Morgan, who'd been waiting quietly in the distance, just in time to see the disappointment on his face. Disapproval she could deal with, but disappointment . . . She'd spent her whole life trying not to disappoint anyone. She had succeeded with her parents and her grandfather. At least Red thought she had. But now, thinking about it, how could she be sure? Maybe they'd lied. Maybe like Morgan, they'd hid their disappointment and she'd been too young to realize it. She debated whether to try one more time. She glanced at the night sky. It was getting late. They'd been out here for two hours already while she attempted to make the change. Two wasted hours with only a claw to show for it. Red picked up a rock and threw it at a tank, half buried under the desert. It was a rotting reminder of the last world war, which brought about the dissolution of countries and fostered the development of self- governing republics. Those republics now took up 70 percent of the landmass in the world. The other 30 percent fell into no- man's-land, a place of utter lawlessness. The rock pinged off the rusting metal, then dropped with a thud to the ground. Red picked up another rock and sent it hurling through the air out of sight. She had no doubt that the town would know about her failure by morning. Morgan wouldn't lie, if someone asked. She didn't expect him to, but sometimes she wished he would. How much longer could she go before the townsfolk decided to run her out of Nuria? She sighed. We