She never belonged
to the pack—until fate led her to him.
Secrets of the
Cryptids
Cowboys and Cryptids Book 1
by Sharon Buchbinder
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Romantasy
She never belonged to
the pack—until fate led her to him.
Cybersecurity expert Hayil Rufus Rose has spent her life hiding one impossible
truth: she’s a werewolf who has never shifted, a failure by her pack’s rules
and a woman on the brink of exile. A solo hike in Glacier National Park is
meant to clear her head—but instead, a chance meeting with Will Penn, a guarded
federal agent with powerful instincts and secrets of his own, changes
everything.
As Hayil becomes entangled in a missing persons case involving Will’s brother,
she uncovers corruption, cartel money laundering, and violence threatening the
Blackfeet Nation. She forms an unexpected bond with a Bigfoot family, who are
not monsters, but an ancient people who recognize her latent power. Through
trauma, loyalty, and near‑fatal danger, Hayil finally undergoes her full
transformation, claiming her identity at last.
Secrets of the Cryptids launches a thrilling paranormal romance
series about found family, fierce hearts, and the courage it takes to become
who you were always meant to be.
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Hayil had the advantage of
excellent night vision—super vision compared to other humans. Plus, she
possessed an almost uncanny ability to connect with most wild and domestic
animals. Hayil mentally grimaced. She could also thank her grandmother
for her long overdue ability to shift. What would it take to trigger her body
into the lupine version of herself? Was it like a growth spurt that hadn’t hit
her body yet? Or was Hayil destined to remain the one person in her pack who
wasn’t able to wolf out?
Once again, her mother’s
constant refrain came back to her: “You’re a late bloomer, like your
grandmother. She was older than you when she shifted. All in good time.
You’ll see.”
Sure, Mom.
Hayil knew her mother
wanted the best for her, but found her cheerfulness a bit forced. Beneath her
mother’s optimism, Hayil sensed an undercurrent of concern about her
thirty-year-old daughter’s ability to integrate into the red wolf clan. This
missing piece of Hayil’s identity called to her like a siren’s song, demanding
she complete herself. Would she ever be a true part of the pack? Or
would she forever be the unmated one? What then? She was an anomaly, something
the pack didn’t tolerate well. Tradition dictated that if a pack member didn’t
shift by the end of their third decade, they were banished.
A chilling thought struck
Hayil mid-stride.
If I don’t
shift this year, will they force me out of the pack?
They were the only family
she’d ever known. Her mother would fight for her to stay and would probably
win. But at what cost?
Hayil would be an outcast.
She’d never be invited to pack meetings, deliberations or celebrations. Those
were reserved for shifters. If she married a non-shifter, the pack would drive
her out, of that she was sure. What if her offspring were able to shift? Would
that make things better? Would the pack let her stay then? It wasn’t as if she
could go to a genetic counselor and ask for a DNA test for werewolves.
The thought of losing her
extended family through no fault of her own made her gulp back tears. Angry at
herself for allowing her thoughts to go down that dark rabbit hole, Hayil
reminded herself she was a scientist. Review the facts, not the fears.
Fact one: Grandma had been
in labor with Hayil’s mother when she’d shifted for the first time.
Fact two: The majority of
the pack members had shifted when they’d hit puberty.
Fact three: Hormones! It
had to be related to hormones! The rush of hormones at puberty and the flood of
pregnancy hormones had to be related somehow.
Hayil was long past puberty
and the associated mood swings and acne, thank you very much. She was not ready
to be pregnant. For starters, she would need a romantic partner in her life.
She’d had zero luck on that score so far.
“I still have time. It’s
not too late. I won’t give up hope.”
Shaking her head to clear
her mind, Hayil double-checked her wild animal deterrents. All in place.
Then she tugged her knit cap down over her ears and pulled her hands-free
headlamp into place. She zipped her fleece jacket against the breeze and
adjusted her twenty-five-pound backpack. With an altitude gain of almost
nineteen hundred feet, she planned to take her time, pacing herself for the
strenuous four-hour hike. She grasped her lightweight hiking poles and took a
last look up at the stars. Time to see that spectacular view at the top.
As promised by the trail
blog, the dirt path was well maintained. The morning air was cold and crisp,
layered with the woodsy scent of damp earth and pine needles. An owl hooted,
and Hayil spotted movement in the brush between the thick pines beside the trail.
Her headlamp reflected in the eyes of small critters, all of whom skittered
deeper into the woods.
For three hours, all she
heard was the crunch of her hiking boots on dirt and gravel, the rasp of her
own breaths, the glug of water when she drank and the jingle of her bear bells.
She looked at yet another incline on the trail and decided she needed a hiking
song for inspiration.
“Country roads, take me
home,” she sang, belting out “Mountain Mama”—and something crashed through the
bushes ahead on the trail. Something large.
She froze.
An enormous black bear
stood on its hind legs at the top of the hill.
Shit,
shit, shit. If only I could shift, shift, shift!
The animal had its back to
her, but if it got her scent, it could turn and charge at her in a flash.
Heart pounding like a
jackhammer, she placed her hand on the bear spray.
A breeze sprang up, making
her eyes water with its intensity. The good news was that it meant she was
downwind of the bear. The bad news was that the air smelled like a wet dog had
rolled in a dead animal. The worst news was that the bear turned and looked
right at her.
Omigod.
It’s not a bear. What the heck is it?
Sharon Buchbinder is an award-winning author who has been
writing stories since she could hold a pen. The paranormal romance genre is her
writing home, a place where the impossible is simply the beginning, where women
find their power in the most extraordinary circumstances, and where love is
always worth the danger of seeking it.
A Maryland-based author with a background in healthcare and
higher education that has informed her vivid, grounded storytelling, Sharon is
drawn to heroines who have been underestimated — women who carry something
extraordinary inside them and spend the whole book learning to trust it. Sharon
believes passionately that readers deserve stories where the heroine doesn’t
just survive — she transforms. When she’s not writing, Sharon can
usually be found unplugging in her garden, obsessing over cryptid mythology,
and convincing her pets they are not, in fact, supernatural.
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