Etched in Bone (The Others #5) by Anne Bishop

New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop returns to her world of the Others, as humans struggle to survive in the shadow of shapeshifters and vampires far more powerful than themselves…
After a human uprising was brutally put down by the Elders—a primitive and lethal form of the Others—the few cities left under human control are far-flung. And the people within them now know to fear the no-man’s-land beyond their borders—and the darkness…
As some communities struggle to rebuild, Lakeside Courtyard has emerged relatively unscathed, though Simon Wolfgard, its wolf shifter leader, and blood prophet Meg Corbyn must work with the human pack to maintain the fragile peace. But all their efforts are threatened when Lieutenant Montgomery’s shady brother arrives, looking for a free ride and easy pickings.
With the humans on guard against one of their own, tensions rise, drawing the attention of the Elders, who are curious about the effect such an insignificant predator can have on a pack. But Meg knows the dangers, for she has seen in the cards how it will all end—with her standing beside a grave.
Read an excerpt.
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Once upon a time, there was a girl who liked to write stories. So she did. And she had fun.
Then, one day, a thought got stuck in her head that if she couldn’t write a really great story, there wasn’t much point in writing stories at all. So she stopped writing.
She was young and didn’t know any better.
The girl went out into the world to make a living and do some growing up. And this was fine and necessary.
Then, one day, several years later, a story poked its little head up out of the creative reservoir and said, “Hello?”
It was a little story, and it looked rather forlorn, so the girl shaped it with words as best she could so that it could go out into the world.
The story, who was very happy about this, went back to the creative reservoir to pack its bags for its adventure into the world and told all its friends about the girl.
Not long after that, another story poked its little head up out of the creative reservoir and said, “Hello?”
So the girl shaped it with words as best she could. And the story was very happy. So were the other stories that came after that one.
They were little stories. They were very polite.
During the years when the girl was shaping these stories, she began reading books and magazines about writing (and, later on, about organization and time management). As she worked and read, she became more skillful and could shape bigger stories.
Then came the day when something tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned around, it wasn’t a polite little story, looking forlorn and saying, “Hello?” It was a novel that kissed her hand, smiled at her, and said, “Hello. We’re going to be very good friends for quite some time.”
So that is the story of how the girl ended up sharing her living space with, among other things, an overabundance of paperwork and a great many characters.
You want mundane data too? In that case…
New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop is the winner of the RT Book Reviews 2013 Career Achievement Award in Sci-Fi/Fantasy. She is also the winner of the William L. Crawford Memorial Fantasy Award for the Black Jewels Trilogy. Her most recent novel is Marked in Flesh, the fourth book in Anne’s urban fantasy series set in a re-imagined Earth. When she’s not communing with the Others, Anne enjoys gardening, reading, and music. Since you’re reading this, there’s no point in telling you to visit her website at www.annebishop.com.