Cursed forever to be an ugly duckling in the shadows… my beauty and magic hidden away from the light…

Thom has owned me for so many years; he loves me for my beauty, although you wouldn’t know for how often he leaves bruises upon my skin. And if I even think of shifting? That’s what the worst punishments are reserved for.

My body aches to let my feathers out, for my wings to stretch to the sky and to feel the sweet relief of the world disappearing beneath me…but I’m trapped, locked up, and hidden away.

None of the swans Thom keeps are allowed to show their true colors, but it’s worse for me because I’m the only one of us who’s different. Black wings, fragile heart, and legs that won’t stop dancing in the dark… Thom would kill me if I ever used my magic to escape.

I am his Dark Swan, after all. I’ll always belong to him.

But then one day, freedom calls in the distance. My carriage spills over, and death comes for me…and introduces me to four shifters who will save my life, just as surely as I will save theirs. A bear, a lion, a jaguar, and a wolf, all as broken and as destructive as me.

It’s with them I find out I was never meant for the light, and that freedom is found in the depths of the dark.