Shiver

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussions of violence, trauma, self-harm, and depictions of parental neglect and abuse.

Seventeen-year-old Grace recalls the most dangerous event of her life: being attacked by a pack of wolves when she was 11. Grace had been swinging on a tire in her backyard when the wolves dragged her away. They were in the process of biting her when one wolf—with deep-grey fur and yellow eyes—pulled her back and drove away the pack. As Grace fell unconscious, she thought she would never again see the wolf who rescued her.

At first, Sam does not stop his pack members from biting Grace, because he understands their hunger. It has been a long, bitter winter with little prey in the woods. However, when Grace looks him in the eye, Sam thinks she is the most beautiful person he has ever seen. He remembers his humanity and rears up against the other wolves, signaling they back off. Since Sam is a powerful member of their pack, the wolves relent.

Although Grace had not expected to see the wolf who rescued her again, he begins to turn up at the edge of the woods bordering her home, as if keeping a watch over Grace.