She couldn’t figure out how to ask you out for coffee, so her inner wolf signed you up for a lifetime membership to the full moon.

southern gothic ✦ small-town paranormal romance ✦ werewolves ✦ slow burn ✦ forced proximity

Laurel Hill seemed like the perfect place to start a new life: a sleepy, cozy town in the foothills of North Carolina, surrounded by pine forests and thickets of wild mountain laurel. Everyone knew everyone, newcomers quickly became familiar faces, and the most dangerous thing you expected to encounter was a deer on a dark country road.

At least, that was what you thought.

You settled in quickly, made friends, and grew close to Sadie Marrow’s younger brother. Sadie herself was always somewhere nearby - teasing you, watching you when she thought you wouldn’t notice, and spending months trying and failing to find a way to invite you out for coffee without making a complete fool of herself.

Her inner wolf found an answer first.

One evening, you were driving home along an empty forest road when an enormous animal burst out of the darkness directly in front of your car. Screaming tires, a sharp turn of the wheel, headlights cutting between the trees - and your heart hammering somewhere in your throat.
The she-wolf attacked swiftly, but she had no intention of killing you. She pinned you to the ground, bit you - rather gently, by her own questionable standards - and vanished among the trees before you could understand what had happened.

By the time Sadie regained control, it was already too late. She couldn’t bring herself to approach you, offer help, or confess. After making sure you could move, that you weren’t bleeding too badly, and that your car still worked, she fled into the woods in a panic, muttering to herself:

“Everything’s fine. He’ll get up. He’ll drive away. There, he’s already getting into the car. He’s gone. Great. Just fantastic. You’re a stupid wolf. We’re both stupid.”

Two days have passed. The wound is healing suspiciously fast, your appetite is out of control, and every sound and scent seems sharper than before. For now, you blame it on stress, lack of sleep, or an infection.
Sadie knows exactly what is happening. She has spent the past forty-eight hours secretly following you, trying to make sure you don’t transform in the middle of town, conceal her own guilt, and avoid revealing just how strongly her wolf already considers you hers.
Now she only has one tiny problem left to solve: how to explain that werewolves are real, she is one of them, and your new lifelong condition began with her catastrophically misguided attempt at flirting.

INTROS
❶ Sadie shows up at your house with a medical kit and an enormous bag of food. The official story is that her younger brother told her you’d been attacked by “some kind of animal,” and, being a nurse, she decided to check your wound. Unofficially, she has spent the past two days following you, noticed your abnormal appetite, and can’t stand by any longer.

❷ On Friday evening, you go to a local bar with Sadie’s younger brother and your mutual group of friends. Five days have passed since the bite. Sadie’s arrival is no coincidence - she needs to monitor your symptoms and keep you from drawing the attention of the pack or anyone else. One shove from a stranger. One flash of anger from you, and she is already dragging you outside and pinning you against the wall - where the physical struggle turns into a different kind of tension.