Barrett by Lisa Cullen

Willow
I’ve always feared the wolf’s howl. Now, in the waning light, it brings me comfort.
I’ve lived my whole life on the homestead on the outskirts of Beaver Brook with my older brother William. After a rogue wolf killed our mother on the long country road between town and the farm William stepped up and finished raising me. He taught me right from wrong and when the world felt like it was closing in on me he kept it at bay.
When I meet a handsome young man at the pub in town where I tend bar I feel a thrill of excitement I haven’t felt in a long time. William is always trying to keep me safe, you see. But this young man, Barrett, he says his name is, promises something new. Something unpredictable.
It also promises turmoil and betrayal.
Barrett is not who he seems. Yes, he’s the handsome young rogue at the end of my bar, but he’s also one of the outliers my brother and I have committed our lives to eradicating from Beaver Brook.
He’s a shifter.
Suddenly everything I thought I knew is put to the test and the threat I expected comes from a different direction. William will never understand if I tell him the shifters aren’t what they seem…
But I have to try for Barrett’s sake.
I’ve always feared the wolf’s howl. Now, in the waning light, it brings me comfort.