Tethered Beast

The woods don't want your prayers. They want your flesh.Appalachia, 1925. Verity Thorne has lived her entire life in the shadow of the pulpit. As the daughter of the Reverend, she knows the rules of Hallow's Creek: obey the scripture, fear the Lord, and never, ever step foot in the woods after sundown. The villagers claim a treaty keeps the wolves at bay, but Verity knows the price of their safety is silence.When her father's pious cruelty becomes a death sentence, Verity flees into the forbidden tree line, expecting to be torn apart. instead, she finds a dilapidated cabin and a man named Silas.Silas is no ordinary hermit. He is the last of a cursed lineage, a guardian tethered to a spirit so ancient and terrifying it shreds his humanity every night. He is a monster of wrong angles and weeping sores, a creature of nightmare. But he doesn't kill Verity. He smells her fear, and it stays his hand.Trapped between the monsters in the trees and the monster in the church, Verity uncovers a sickening truth. The Reverend's "e;miracles"e; aren't divine—they are stolen. He is siphoning Silas's life force to enslave the town, leaving the guardian weak and hallucinating.With Prohibition agents closing in and the Reverend's power growing, Verity must make a choice: flee the mountains, or help the beast embrace his horror to save them all.