Ward of the South - The Ward Series, #1

ACTION-PACKED MODERN DARK URBAN FANTASY WITH A KICK-ARSE FEMALE CHARACTER. Stacey's boyfriend and girlfriend are missing. Taken from their Melbourne flat by the Umbra . dark shape-shifting creatures from another world who are supposed to be nothing but vermin, at least according to the strange man she finds in their home in her lovers' place. Barely escaping death with the help of that mysterious man, who looks like a beach bum and calls himself a Ward, Stacey vows to find her missing lovers.
Despite the impossible odds of finding Paul and Jasper alive, Stacey joins the secretive Wards in their battle against the Umbra. But the Umbra are changing, and a dark figure is leading both their evolution, and their war against Earth and the other four realms of the Wards. To have any hope of finding her lovers and surviving, Stacey Trampler will need to fight the Umbra tooth and nail. 'Ward of the South' is the rollercoaster debut novel from Cem Bilici and the first action-packed story in The Ward Series.