“I took a silver bullet for my fated mate, Derek, and fell into a coma for five years. When I finally opened my eyes, I wasn't greeted as a hero. I was handed a deportation order. Because I had burned out my wolf spirit to save his life, I was now "human" and useless to the pack. My marriage had been annulled years ago without my consent. I dragged my atrophied body to our home, only to find Derek with Anjelica, a woman I once called a friend. She was wearing my jewelry and carrying his heir. But the knife in my heart wasn't seeing them together. It was my son. My five-year-old boy, Errol, didn't run to me. He screamed in terror and sprayed me with a bottle of liquid he had been hiding. It hissed against my skin. Wolfsbane. "Go away, monster!" he sobbed, pointing the bottle at me like a weapon. "Mommy Anjelica said this burns the bad things!" I had lost my wolf, my husband, and my child. But they weren't done taking from me. When Anjelica faked a medical emergency, Derek signed a general proxy form. I was dragged into surgery, not as a patient, but as a harvest. I heard the doctor whisper, "She wants her dry." They thought draining my blood would kill me. They didn't know that my "human" shell was just a cocoon for something ancient. I escaped the hospital that night. Standing by the ocean, I threw my wedding ring into the waves. "I, Catherine, reject the bond." Miles away, Derek fell to his knees, vomiting blood as the connection snapped. He thought I was dead. He didn't know the White Wolf had just awakened.”