Feral Roots
By @john1208
To escape a suffocating arranged marriage, proud and sharp-tongued botanist Brydda Hael sneaks out of her own lavish engagement party in her corseted ballgown, armed only with a map to the legendary Grave-Orchid. Securing the rare bloom in the toxic depths of the Umberwald will guarantee her the academic funding she needs for independence. But the map is a lie. The promised reward is actually a deadly snare set by the Ashen Guild, ruthless human hunters seeking to bait out the apex predators of the woods. Instead of succumbing to the forest's lethal spores, Brydda's dormant, unrecognized druid magic protects her - drawing the attention of Thrashen, the terrifying Alpha of the Skornen Vanguard. His militant pack is bracing for a brutal supernatural war, and Thrashen is known as a violent, feral beast. Yet, toward the prickly, fragile botanist harboring him from the hunters, he exhibits a terrifying, obsessive gentleness. Tied together by a bittersweet, unspoken love, Thrashen knows his violent world will eventually destroy her. But when the hunters realize Brydda's magic is the key to slaughtering the pack, can the Alpha save her without losing himself entirely to the monster within?
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