The Dark Woods series
Book 1/Part 1: Redd’s Descent
The dark fairy tales your mother never told you about.
Celtic folklore warns its people not to enter the Dark Woods at night if you want to live to see the light of day. For Redd Kearney, he has no choice after the death of his grandmother at the hands of the vicious, mythical half-breed creatures. But what he finds is way worse than any childhood legend ever could have warned him about.
Finding himself chained up in the creature’s den, he has two choices: surrender to her evil to stay alive, or die resisting. But the stakes are high when he has a new travel companion whose virtue he needs to keep intact, and when his wife Aine’s life is threatened if he doesn’t comply and give the Alpha what her pack needs to survive.
Can Redd surrender to his dark side without losing himself in the process? Or will Mac’s dark, insatiable desires cause his full descent before he has time to escape?
Redd’s Descent is a dark retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, where roles are reversed and the big bad wolf literally means to eat her victim alive.
“Come, Bane,” Redd said, watching as Bane tracked some animal scent that caught his interest. But Bane didn’t listen this time and trotted deeper into the woods, in the opposite direction from where they needed to go. Redd checked the position of the sun and knew he didn’t have time to spare for this today. His early morning romp with Aine had him cutting it too close for comfort for them to reach the protected clearing by dusk.
Bane peered back over his shoulder and looked at Redd, barking his deep wolfhound howl. He was on the scent of something big, and Redd knew it was futile to keep walking, hoping the dog would follow.
Redd trotted off after his dog, having to almost sprint to keep up with him. He didn’t like where Bane was headed; they were penetrating too deeply into the dark woods. There was a border that needed to be respected; it was an unspoken agreement between the day folk and the creatures that were legend to roam the woods at night. “Bane!” he hollered. “Come!”
The dog kept running, and all Redd could do was trail the flashes of gray and white as Bane quickly covered the forest floor. Just when Redd feared they might be lost, he spotted the dog barking at a tree. He could see ropes tied heavily around the thick trunk of the Sessile Oak. That’s odd, Redd thought. What would someone want with a tree way out here?
But when he turned the corner and saw Bane on his haunches, whimpering at the tree, he knew something wasn’t right. He sprinted toward his dog and gasped when he got to the other side of the massive trunk. Redd ran his hands in the sign of the cross over his body, whispering, “Mother Mary, protect me.”
Author C.M. Albert enjoys living dangerously on the razor’s edge as both author and editor. In addition to being an Amazon bestselling author, she’s had the privilege of copy-editing under her Grammar Babe business for several international bestselling and award-winning authors. Her own writing infuses a healthy blend of humor and romance, and she’s a sucker for a good villain and everlasting love. In her spare time, she and her husband wrangle their two young kids and enjoy spending time outdoors. When not writing, editing, or kid wrangling, C.M. Albert is also a Reiki practitioner, chocolate chip cookie aficionado, kindness ambassador, and seeker of naps.
You can find C.M. Albert online at:
Facebook/Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/cmalbertwrites
Facebook/Grammar Babe: https://www.facebook.com/thegrammarbabe
Twitter: https://twitter.com/colleenmalbert
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/GrammarBabe
Amazon: http://amzn.to/23e2Nn0
Faith in Love: http://Smarturl.it/RemKW_Faith
