Prince of Shadows by Susan Krinard is the second of her werewolf stories and is just as good as Prince of Wolves.

Alexander Warrington first became interested in wolves as a young girl in Minnesota when she befriended Shadow, a wolf cub, who came to play with her each day.

For one summer they were together and it seemed that time stood still and they were apart from the rest of the world.

But on the last day of her holiday Shadow did not come to Alex, instead a shy, young boy arrived, a boy who insisted her knew Shadow very well and seemed to want to tell her something else too.

But they were interupted by the sound of gun shots and when they headed towards the noise they found Shadow's parents dead, killed by a poacher.  Alex was touched by the grief the young boy showed for the wolves and promised to help him however she could, but the summer was over and there was nothing she could do but return home with her parents.

Years later Alex returned to the woods in Minnesota as a wolf researcher.  Scarred by a tragic accident Alex already felt apart from the other people of the town, and she was not surprised when many of the locals were against her in her work.

When she finds a  large black wolf with similar markings to Shadow she knows that although it could not be him she must help the creature who has been cruelly poisoned by the townspeople.

Taking the animal into her cabin she names him Shadow and cares for him, but the next morning he has disappeared and in his place is a handsome man who has lost his memory, and his clothes.

Discovering that this is Kieran, the boy from the woods Alex decides to make good on her promise to help him and soon she is trusted with the man's secret.  That he is Shadow and a werewolf.

Resolving to help Kieran she convinces herself to see him as a wolf rather than a man, because her own past makes her distrustful of men.  But in doing so she does not realise that she is actually hurting Kieran who wants to be seen as a man and to forget the "monster" and "beast" inside, the part of himself that he cannot control, and that he is afraid is capable of anything, including murder.

As they manage to piece together his past Alex's own past starts to catch up with her and a tragedy combines the two forcing both Kieran and Alex to go on the run before the wolf hunters kill Kieran and they lose their chance of a future together.

This book is a great sequel to Prince of Wolves and I really enjoyed seeing Luke appear in this novel.  I hope that there will be other books in this series to re-introduce the characters again.

Lots of suspense and mystery to carry a story that can make everyone believe that werewolves are real and not the creatures portrayed in the movies.

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Also by Susan Krinard:   Twice a Hero, Saving Sirena, Body & Soul, Prince of Wolves, Prince of Dreams, Touch of the Wolf, Once a Wolf, Secret of the Wolf and Star-Crossed.

Read an Interview with Susan Krinard.

Visit Susan Krinard's website