“So, there I am, trembling, tugging this damned threadbare red cloak around me, but it’s no match against the consuming cold. I inch closer to the fire and lean in, rubbing my hands together over the last flicker of flames. A blasted burst of freezing air whips under my cloak and makes my stiff nipples scream.”

“Bloody Hell, Kate, you’re putting me on,” Judith said. “No sane girl would go into Gray Wood at night, especially with nothing but a cloak.”

I slammed my tankard down, wiped froth from my lips with a grimace, and motioned for the barkeep to bring me another before turning on my stool toward Judith. “Really?” I pulled the cloak open enough to reveal my naked breasts.

At that moment a tankard was set down before me. “We have rooms for that sort of thing, Kate,” the barkeep grumbled. I told him to piss off and took a hefty pull of mead.

“Okay, it’s true, but why?”

“I had convinced myself that I was doing it because of what happened to Granny,” I said and drank some more.

“And?” Judith shrugged. “Why? Get on with it.”

“That damn apothecary, he said, ‘You’re the only one that can do it,’ and thrust a pouch of wolfsbane into my hand. ‘The gods and the stars have ordained you for this task. Follow my instructions carefully and you’ll have your revenge upon the murderer of your grandmother.’ Then the idiot pushed me out of his shop.” I shook my head with a sigh, wondering who was really the idiot.

“The truth, Judith, he chose me because the blood moon and my time of the month coincided with his fresh shipment of wolfsbane. And, because he knew the memory of Granny’s savagely abused body and what I had narrowly survived would motivate me to endure a brutal night in the forest, risking spending eternity as a werewolf’s bitch.”