Kiera Hemming doesn't want to be a monster. She wants to spend her summer riding WaveRunners and taking camping trips, and to go back to college in the fall. But she's a werewolf -- the first Lycoan born in 200 years, and next in line to take over her mother's pack. As her mother's control over both her daughter and her pack weakens, and Kiera is nearly killed over the birthright she doesn't want to claim, she finds herself at the center of overlapping wars she doesn't fully understand. With a mysterious Watcher, rival Lycoan factions, her mother, and Brandon-a childhood friend she might be falling in love with, all competing for her future, Kiera must determine what a birthright truly is, and what she will -- or can -- do in the face of hers.