The Sub-Dermal Resonance

Dr. Viv Wilder thought a remote island would be a simple case. After exposing a killer werewolf, her discreet mobile clinic, The Muzzle Truck, is ferry-bound for isolated Bear's Tooth Island, home to a secretive community of werebears. Viv is summoned by a human organization desperate to contain a spreading illness: Hyper-Shift Syndrome (HSS), a genomic mutation causing spontaneous, uncontrollable shifts in the bears—a change that could jump to humans. Viv's reliable Fenris Analyzer is useless against the bears' fur, forcing her to rely on the stolen Sub-Dermal Resonance Scanner (SDRS), procured from the sketchy black-market dealer, Zephyr, in exchange for a highly illegal favor. As Viv clashes with the hostile Den Mother Ursa over treating the bears—Ursa fears Viv's inhibitor will ruin their natural cycles—she races to find the source of the plague. The culprit is not a scientific error, but Archon, a magical fraud who seeks to weaponize the bears' suffering. Now, Viv must use the geothermal vents of the island to destroy the contaminant before Archon can escape, all while navigating a moral dilemma that could save the world but betray her patient's trust