Every one of us has the beast inside. But for Kyrie Smith, the beast is no metaphor. Since she was fifteen, when she first shape-shifted into a savage, black panther, Kyrie has questioned her humanity and moved from town to town, searching for a way to feel human again. Kyrie's lonely life changes forever while waitressing at a cheap diner. Investigating screams from the parking lot, Kyrie stumbles upon a blood-spattered dragon crouching over a mangled human corpse. The dragon changes back into her coworker, Tom, naked, dazed and unable to remember how he got there. Thrust into a world of shape-shifting dragons, giant cats, and other beasts waging a secret war behind humanity's back, Kyrie may find the answers she seeks-with help from Tom, a mythical object called the Pearl of Heaven, and her own inner beast.