Book 5: Pick Her Up

Maddy

I watch Elodie’s blonde head disappear behind a curtain at the modeste as I stand outside in the blizzard blanketing the sleepy town of Mountain Spring. Mountain Hell, more like it. I wrap my arms around my middle and shiver violently as I turn and trudge through ankle deep snow, leaning against the wind that rips through the ragged jacket I’d had to mend and pack with goose down for the past five winters to keep warm.

A few wolves pass me, one of them clutching a basket in its jaw. Now, they have the right idea. Having a built in winter jacket is perfect for a day like today, but I haven’t been able to shift in years. Too thin, too weak. I try, and nothing happens. This is exactly what my stepmother wants. If I were strong enough to shift, I might actually run away, despite her warnings that the only kind of life that awaits me out there is that of a whore or breeder.

Three years ago, after the ball, when she’d beaten me so badly I could har