Synopsis

Heather Lane is a girl deeply depressed by the death of her mother, and facing an uncertain future with her only living relative: her father who she has never met.
In the high Sierras there is a mystery. A wolf-like creature with glowing red eyes frightened a girl late one night, and now that the newspapers have the story, the little town of Weaver’s Lake has been invaded by sightseers, other curious visitors, and those armed with rifles and only intent of shooting the mysterious beast.
Into the mystery and chaos come Heather and her father. Heather is convinced he has only offered her a home out of a sense of responsibility and guilt for having left when she was very young. She is sure he does not like her, and not at all sure she will like him, but the mystery of the Phantom Wolf takes over her thoughts and her actions. She needs to find out the answers.

EXCERPT

A sound behind her made the young girl freeze in her tracks.  Too afraid to turn
around, she stood there, listening hard, hoping to hear a cheerful voice, any
normal sound.  Around her the forest was a darkness that swallowed the weak beam
from the failing batteries in her flashlight.  And that darkness had suddenly
become silent - gone were the crickets and usual night sounds.  It was as if the
forest itself was afraid.



Gulping down her fear, she forced one foot after the other down the faint
trail.  But she had not gone more than a dozen paces before she froze again. 
She was sure there was something behind her.  The feeling of a presence and of
being watched was overpowering.  She turned quickly, in fear, but as she did her
foot slipped on loose pine needles and she fell backwards.



As the faint flashlight beam swept by it she saw the beast - a dark, massive
body behind eyes that glowed with an unearthly fire and gleaming white fangs. It
was leaping through the air towards her.