Brought to you by OBS staff member Annabell Cadiz

Prologue

Characters:
Elena Michaels
Philip (boyfriend)

Meet Elena Michaels. She’s asleep in bed and awakens to a tingling sensation behind her knees and elbows. She has no more time left to wait. She sneaks out of her apartment, leaving her sleeping boyfriend Philip behind, grabbing a pile of clothes from underneath her dresser she already had hidden and runs into an alleyway. Elena transforms into a werewolf and through her eyes, readers learn what it’s like for a human to transform into a werewolf and how werewolves view the outside world. Elena, transformed as a werewolf, fights two coyotes and kills them in self-defense. She returns back to her to the alleyway after running around for a while longer. She transforms back to a human and quickly dresses back into her clothes. She heads back into her apartment and finds Philip awake. She runs into the bathroom, keeping herself busy, hoping Philip will go back to sleep. He doesn’t. Through Philip readers learn this is not the first time Elena has snuck out in the middle of the night. Philip has always been patient and understanding but Elena can see he’s starting to lost his patience. He doesn’t like when she goes out alone at night, he doesn’t think it’s safe. Elena tells him they will figure it out and they go to get breakfast together.

Favorite Quotes:
“Everything’s quiet. The lights seem dimmed, as if overpowered by the emptiness.”
~Elena

“I can smell the neglect and waste rising from his body. It smells like weakness, like an aged deer driven to the fringe of the herd, prime pickings for predators. If I were hungry, he’d smell like dinner. Fortunately, I’m not hungry yet, so I don’t have to deal with the temptation, the conflict, the revulsion.” ~Elena

Chapter One: Human

Characters:
Elena
Philip
Diane (Philip’s sister)
Anne (Philip’s mother)
Larry (Philip’s father)

Elena goes to Philip’s mom’s house for Mother’s Day. Philip isn’t with her, he got stuck at work. As Elena tries to decide whether she should ring the doorbell or wait for Philip, she divulges a little about her past to the readers: her mother died when she was young, she had various foster homes, was bitten by a werewolf when she was ten and lived with werewolves for nine years. She had gone to school, held odd jobs, and traveled with them. A year go, she broke away from the werewolves and headed back to her home in Toronto alone.

Elena finally rings the doorbell and readers are quickly introduced to Diane, Philip’s sister who ushers into the house. Then readers are introduced to Anne and Larry, Philip’s parents. Readers also find out Elena is a writer for Focus Toronto, a newspaper.

Elena also gives a back story of how her and Philip met and the type of man he is. They had moved in together and a week earlier Philip asked Elena to think about moving into a condo together. Elena takes the readers through the rest of the family and how loving they are with her. Philip calls to apologize for not being able to make it. Philip’s sister Diane takes her home and asks Elena if she will go shopping with her to help her find a dress for a wedding she has to be in. Elena agrees and invites her up for coffee.

Favorite Quotes:
“You should have seen the dresses, godawful. Like bags with armholes. Designers must figure by the time women need a mother-of-the bride dress they don’t give a damn what they look like” ~Diane

Read the rest of the chapter summaries!

Chapters Prologue-3, 4, and 5

Questions:

1. What  do you think of Antonio’s story? Do you think his father should have broken Pack rules to let him be with the woman he loved?
2. What do you think happened when Elena was turned by Clay?
3. Do you think Elena was naive when she thought she could simply leave the Pack and not expect Jeremy and Clay to go after her?
4. What do you think Peter did that was so bad he could have been executed by the Pack?
5. What do you think will happen when Clay, Elena, Nick, Peter, and Antonio go after the mutt who is causing trouble?