The sheep milled and muttered softly, disturbed by the wolf's scent. Belatedly, one of the dogs barked sharply.
The shepherd awakened and saw the wolf through a veil of flame. He grabbed his staff and tried snatching up the last flaming branch from the fire. Half-consumed, it fell to pieces in his hand, burning his fingers. He tried to get to his feet, slipped, and succeeded in getting as far as his knees.
The broken ends of the branch caught and the fire flared. And, through the flames, he saw that in the place where a wolf stood only a moment before...a woman.
A beautiful woman, clad only in a magnificent nakedness and a necklace of silver and pearls.
The young shepherd bowed down, pressing his forehead to the earth. He choked out the words,"Oh, queen of the night, why do you come to me?"

This is an excerpt from Alice Borchardt's book, "The Silver Wolf." It is one of my favorite books to read, the best in my opinion of the 3 in this trilogy. This is Regeane, who is the main character of this book, a werewolf living in Rome during the Dark Ages.