The first book of the Night Star series is now available on Amazon!  The book is available in Kindle and Paperback versions right now.

Apple Books and Audiobooks.com versions coming soon.

Chapter One
The Warning

She had been born under a crimson moon, her howl said to stir the wind and crack the sky. The Elders called her blessed, the warriors called her cursed. Her power was rare, too rare to be left to her own will. 

But she would not be their weapon, so they made her a warning. 

The reek of wolfsbane filled the air, sharp and bitter, coating her tongue and throat as they forced it past her lips. It burned like acid, searing her veins, leaving her lungs clawing for breath. The taste was metallic and poisonous, the scent clinging to her skin. 

Her strength crumbled from within as the fists came. The claws. The boots. Each blow cracked through the chamber like thunder. Flesh split. Bone groaned. The coppery tang of her own blood filled her mouth, mixing with the acrid stink of wolfsbane. 

Her wrists were bound in silver shackles, her ankles too, and around her throat they locked a collar, thick, heavy, lined with iron and pain. The metal bit into her skin, cold and merciless, the scent of scorched flesh rising as it burned against her wolf. Magic-laced runes sealed her throat, stealing her howl, her voice, her very essence.

They dragged her, half-conscious and bleeding, to the edge of the world, where their territory met no man’s land, and strung her up in a tree like a carcass meant for scavengers. The bark scraped her back, rough and unforgiving, while the night air clung cool and damp to her blood-slicked skin. Feet dangling. Arms suspended. Blood trickles steadily to the forest floor.

And then they left. 

Her name, once whispered with awe, is now forgotten.

Her blood was thick in the air; the scent carried on the wind like a curse. The forest itself seemed to hold its breath. The normal sounds of night, rustling leaves, distant owls, and the soft padding of prey fell silent, replaced by the slow drip of her lifeblood hitting soil.

She slipped in and out of awareness, vision swimming with shadows, memories, and silence. The predators circled, attracted by the smell of blood, their glowing eyes flashing between the trees, but something kept them at bay, something in her blood, or the shimmer of dormant power that still pulsed beneath her skin. 

And still… she drifted closer to the dark each time her eyes closed.