Wolf-Killer

Trained to hunt the wolves that kill local livestock, Amara is drawn to a remote village when she hears of a rogue wolf like the one that killed her grandmother and scarred her as a child. Her "Shadow," a creature with the abyss in his eyes and a man's mind to do a man's evil because there is a man controlling him. Together, the man and beast are Daci; the enemy of Amara's people.

But when she gets to the village, the cry for help is revealed to be a ruse by the Daci themselves, who are not as extinct as she believed them to be. She's kept in the home of the Daci elder, who makes her a deal - she can go free, if she can answer one question: "Why does she wear the red hood?"

No answer she gives seems to satisfy the man, so she plots her escape, but no matter where she goes, she's plagued by a silver she-wolf that seems to have sprung from her memories along with The Shadow. Worse, this village of strangers seems to be filled with the secrets of her past, and only unraveling the elder's riddle will reveal them.

The longer she's in the village, and the less reason she finds to fear her sworn enemies, the more the voices of her ancestors rage to be avenged upon them. Amara knows that if she doesn't complete the task set before her, something - someone - worse will see it done with vicious efficiency. The Shadow will return; the man will come with him, and no one will survive the two.

A dark, fantasy retelling inspired by Little Red Riding Hood, where red is the color of blood, the girl in the cloak isn't so little, and the wolves come with claws leave scars deep enough to cut beyond bone and into the soul.