Cloaked
in Fur
T.F. Walsh
T.F. Walsh
Genre: Paranormal Suspense with
strong romance elements
Publisher: Crimson Romance
Date of Publication: August 5,
2013
ISBN: 978-1-4405-7161-9
ASIN:
Number of pages: 149
Word Count: 73,000 approx.
Cover Artist: Stephanie Hannus
Book Description:
As a moonwulf, Daciana never expected to
fall in love with a human. Hell, she never imagined that she’d abandon her
pack, endanger everyone around her, and break the worst rule possible. But she
did.
A rogue werewolf is killing Daciana’s
friends, and she sets on capturing the creature. She’ll do whatever it takes to stop the
beast. The police and her boyfriend, Inspector Connell Lonescu, are starting to
question her involvement in the murders, which is endangering the pack’s secret
existence. But when the pack alpha kidnaps Connell, revealing the awful truth
about the creature and its connection to the pack, Daciana must choose between
saving the man she loves and saving her pack family from certain death.
OPENING OF
CHAPTER 4
The phone’s
strident ringing woke me up, and I glanced over at the bedside clock blazing
5:13 A.M. Too
damn early for anything.
Tempted to dive
back under the covers, I checked the caller ID: Connell. Crap. The previous night’s events came pouring back: me turning
into a wulfkin outside the full moon, running with the pack all night,
collecting my keys from the woods, and ditching Connell again. On top of that,
I never retrieved the old books for the elixir. Double crap.
I pushed my legs
over the edge of the bed, scrunched the sheet in my fist and answered the call.
“Hi.”
“Where are you?”
The panic in his voice turned my stomach.
“At home.”
“What happened
to you last night?”
My throat dried
up as my mind whirred with excuses. “I uncovered something in my research and
got stuck into it, not realizing it was past midnight when I checked the clock.
I didn’t want to wake you and went straight home. I’m sorry.”
“I suspected you
wouldn’t come. Looks like I was right.”
“Come on,
Connell, give me a break. I’m working on something majorly important.
When you’re on a
case and spend nights in the office, I don’t give you shit about it.”
“That’s not what
pisses me off. It’s that you never tell me anything. Send me a message if
you’re going to be late or not turn up, anything to let me know what’s going
on. It feels like you’re only staying with me on until something better comes
along.”
“That’s not
true. I only want you.”
Silence.
I lowered my
head and stared at the dirt beneath my toenails from the previous night’s run.
“I don’t want to
talk about this now,” he said. “We found two more bodies this morning. The
victims were located on the opposite sides of the city.” He paused. “Why would
a wolf bolt across the city after a kill? They attack in packs, don’t they?”
A shiver rippled
down my spine, the possibility of two more dracwulf kills made me furious.
There was no convincing myself the attacks weren’t related to the others; I
felt the truth in my gut. Worse yet, I wondered whether the dracwulf was simply
hungry or territorial, and Sandulf had to know. I flopped onto the bed and
curled into a ball.
When I gave no
response, Connell continued. “I need you to review the reports from the
previous attacks today and visit the new scenes to see if you believe it's the
same animal.”
I cringed at the
innocent wolves who could lose their lives over Sandulf’s stupidity.
“Your team can
test the evidence and see if it’s the same predator without me.”
“We have limited
testing resources in this country, so we need your expertise to move things
along.”
The way he said
“your” sounded full of contempt, and it pained me to hear him talk like that.
“The chief wants
a hunting party issued this weekend, preferably with Romania’s Animal Research
Institute’s approval. He’s already spoken with your boss, Vasile.”
I climbed up and
paced the room, shaking my head. Typical Vasile to agree to anything the cops
asked.
“If I could
leave you out of this, I would, but I can’t. Trust me, I tried.”
“I appreciate
that. Where should we meet?”
“Piaţa Square.
Half an hour?”
“I can do that.”
He hung up.
A snarl ripped
past my throat at the terrible start to the day. Who could blame Connell for
being upset? I’d be livid if he kept avoiding me.
I threw on a
pair of Levi’s, boots, and a gray hooded top. The bathroom mirror reflected
gray wolf eyes from my recent transformation, and already the silvery color was
fading into a darker shade. I pulled every strand of my nest-style hair into a
ponytail and rushed outside into the morning twilight.
About
the Author:
T.F.
Walsh emigrated from Romania to Australia at the age of eight and now lives in
a regional city south of Sydney with her husband. Growing up hearing dark
fairytales, she's always had a passion for reading and writing horror,
paranormal romance, urban fantasy and young adult stories. She balances all the
dark with light fluffy stuff like baking and traveling.
Where to find T.F. Walsh:
Thank you for sharing my book cover on your blog today:)
ReplyDeleteTF,
DeleteYou're welcome.
I love wolf stories. Looks like a great read. Congrats on the new cover. :)