Temptation of Magic

Nicole Palmer and her family have spent years hiding from the Wake, the shadowy organization that governs every supernatural creature. If the Wake discovers that Nicole is an Empyreal, a rare shapeshifter who can become any creature's natural predator, they'll force her to join their ranks or kill her, the way they killed her mother.

Convinced a manor's mythological art collection holds a final message from her mother, Nicole secures an undergraduate research post to study it, and finds herself face to face with Kyan McCarter, one of the Wake's best hunters, stationed there to track a dangerous creature. When that creature steals a painting Nicole needs, she and Kyan are forced into an uneasy partnership, one that puts both her secret and her heart at risk.

The Temptation of Magic is the first book in Megan Scott's Empyreal trilogy.