Life’s Spiced Up with Some Werewolf Reads
Struggling to make ends meet while drowning in student debt, Sloane faces little sympathy from her wealthy, emotionally distant parents, who care more about appearances than her happiness. After an unpaid internship leaves her career in ruins, she struggles to build a future on her own. But is her disappointing life about to take an unexpected turn—or is she destined to keep fighting alone?
Home. It wasn’t my home. They weren’t my people. They didn’t even know my real identity. I knew all of that. I also knew I had spent years waiting to feel prepared enough to enter my own life. I waited to call Missy until I knew what to say. I waited to apply for better…
Hudson: Agreed. I sat on the porch steps while everyone else moved around me. Mom directed volunteers arranging tables. Jason and Mason argued over which side of the lawn the volleyball net belonged on. Grandma Ruth supervised three people carrying coolers despite carrying absolutely nothing herself. Julie came outside again to refill someone’s tea before…
“I’ve never even met her.” She pointed at me. “That’s not a denial.” Before I could answer, Trevor yelled from across the lawn. “HUDSON!” “What?” “I forgot where we put the ice.” I spent the next twenty minutes locating coolers that had somehow already disappeared. Then Grandma Ruth needed help hanging the reunion banner. Then…
“I made you something.” She shoved something into my hands. The fabric was black, soft, and smelled faintly of paint. I unfolded it and found an image of the lead character from Nocturnal Hearts, distorted into overlapping shapes and surrounded by splashes of electric pink, blue, and violet. The figure’s hair dissolved into crows and…
Her gaze moved to mine. A brief, analytical calculation passed behind her eyes, gone so quickly I almost missed it before she grinned. “Come meet Trevor before he sets something on fire.” We found him near the pavilion, wearing a utility belt filled with craft tools. “You came,” Trevor said. “I did.” He held up…
Caldwell kept standing. I took my phone out of my pocket and lowered the brightness. “Hudson told me you like to draw.” He glanced toward the sketchbook under his arm. “I draw too, but not very well when people watch.” That wasn’t entirely true. I drew professionally, so I’d had to get used to being…
HUDSON NOBODY CAN ACCUSE A HOODIE OF AMBITION I had never stood in front of my closet and wondered what my clothes said about me before. Most mornings, I made decisions based on weather, work, and whether I expected to end up under the hood of someone’s truck. Jeans worked for most situations. T-shirts worked…
“That is how time works,” Byron said. A Kipner aunt opened the cooler and frowned into it. “I thought Sloane was adopted by the Marmells.” “No,” Julie said. “She just stayed with them.” “After the mission,” Trevor added. Karen looked at him. “There was no mission.” “You don’t know that.” I adjusted another hay bale…
I looked across the property. Children ran between adults. Someone started music near the pavilion. Mom stood with two cousins discussing the wildlife corridor issue. Julie had recruited Mason’s girlfriend to arrange snack baskets. My entire family had assembled around me, and all I could think about was one missing person. The sound of tires…
“No.” Grandma Ruth handed me the bowl anyway. “I remember when you could eat half a pie.” That sounded unlikely for both the real Loany and me, but I accepted the caramel corn. “Traveling changed my eating habits.” Grandma nodded as though that explained metabolism and every other inconsistency in my existence. “Yes, traveling does…