In a world where shifting marks you for war, she’s spent years pretending to be prey.

Seoirse Burnell is a black panther hiding in plain sight. On an island where powerful shapeshifters are conscripted into the military, she’s dodged the draft by posing as a harmless house cat—until a single act of defiance to protect the one person she loves unearths her secret in the most public, catastrophic way.

Now branded a traitor, Seoirse is thrown behind bars and offered a twisted redemption: extract information from a captured Baylish soldier or face execution. But Ian Balheary isn’t just a prisoner—he’s the enemy prince in disguise. And he’s hiding secrets of his own.

The more time Seoirse spends with him, the more the lines between enemy and ally begin to blur. As she’s forced into military service and thrust into the same squad as the brother who abandoned her, trust becomes a luxury she can’t afford—and Ian the only one who sees her for what she truly is.

But when whispers of a larger conspiracy threaten to rip the truth wide open, Seoirse will have to decide: cling to the lies that kept her safe, or shift into the panther she was always meant to be—and burn the whole damn system down.

For fans of enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn romance, and found family, Black Panther in the Shadows is a fierce, immersive fantasy perfect for readers of The Hunger Games, Fourth Wing, and Shatter Me.