Excerpt from Breaking Wild by Diane Les Becquets, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

I dug my toes deeper beneath Kona's fur. "Ever thought about getting another dog?" I said.

"Thought about it."

"Maybe that wouldn't be a bad idea."

Colm reached over and gave Kona a pat. "You're a good boy. You keep Pru company, you hear?" Then Colm stood to take his mug to the kitchen.

"Leave it." I climbed out of the lounge.

It was somewhere in the twenties, and with the wind chill factor, more like the teens, especially in the mountains.

"It's cold out there," I said.

Colm knew what I was saying. "I'll call you."

He lifted the screen door about a half inch off the planked flooring, pulled it toward him, stepped down, and shut the door behind him.

I carried the two empty coffee cups into the kitchen and set them in the sink. I would take a shower, eat a quick breakfast, get Joseph up for school. Colm might be calling soon. If Amy Raye Latour was still missing, I'd want to start searching while the hunter's tracks were fresh.

I walked down the short hallway to the bathroom, turned on the water, and held my fingers underneath the tap while I waited for the water to become warm. Kona lay on the floor beside the tub. Together we had established a routine that I'd come to depend on. I knew Colm would have to do the same, create new patterns of behavior to close the god-awful spaces of loneliness from losing someone he'd loved.

Excerpted from Breaking Wild by Diane Les Becquets. Copyright © 2016 by Diane Les Becquets. Excerpted by permission of Berkley Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.