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Bitten2 This article is about the book series. For the television show, see the main page on The Bitten Wiki.



Bitten is the first novel in Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. It is narrated by Elena Michaels.

Synopsis[]

Elena Michaels is the world's only female werewolf. And she's tired of it. Tired of a life spent hiding and protecting, a life where her most important job is hunting down rogue werewolves. Tired of a world that not only accepts the worst in her— her temper, her violence—but requires it. Worst of all, she realizes she's growing content with that life, with being that person.

So she left the North American Werewolf Pack and returned to Toronto where she's trying to live as a human. When the Pack Alpha, Jeremy, calls asking for her help fighting a sudden uprising, she only agrees because she owes him. Once this is over, she'll be squared with the Pack and free to live life as a human. Which is what she wants. Really.

Plot[]

Elena is living with her human boyfriend Philip in Toronto. She hides her changes and mellows out her personality to be more socially acceptable. She is welcomed into his family and even asked to be a bridesmaid for his sister.

Jeremy  leaves a message about an emergency at Stonehaven. When she finally calls him back, no one picks up so she travels to Stonehaven and finds Clay waiting for her. The two change to wolves and play in the woods. Afterward, Jeremy tells her about the mutts who have been causing trouble in Bear Valley.  Elena is the best tracker in the pack but does not want to help. Jeremy says if she abandons them, she will be considered a mutt herself, so Elena makes up a story  for Philip about a relative in the hospital and agrees to stay with the Pack until the issue is resolved.

Thus begins a pattern of hunting mutts, Pack members being endangered and killed, and Clay and Elena rekindling their romance. They realize that older mutts like Daniel Santos are turning human serial killers into new wolves in order to attack the Pack.

When Elena becomes a specific target of the mutts, Jeremy orders her and Clay to go back to Toronto. Clay learns about Philip. Philip is very accommodating of the surprise “cousin,” but Clay is surly and difficult the whole time.  Philip suspects Clay has romantic feelings for Elena. He proposes to Elena, but she doesn't have a reply.

Clay goes missing. Elena returns to the apartment to find Philip seriously injured and a note from the mutts telling her to meet them in New York. Panic takes over and she turns into a wolf  in Philip’s presence, then flees and runs by foot all the way back to Bear Valley.

Against Jeremy's orders, Elena meets with Daniel Santos who wants her to become his mate and create a super-pack of descendant wolves. She kills several mutts with the help of Karl marston, who switches sides in order to get territory. The Pack arrives and they rescue Clay.

A month later, Elena finally returns to Toronto to tell Philip she's leaving him. He pretends not to remember her turning into a wolf. She returns to Stonehaven and agrees to give Clay another chance.

Characters[]

The Pack[]

  • Elena Michaels - Elena was orphaned when she was young, which sent her into many abusive foster families where she was chosen for her innocent looks by the men. Determined to leave that life behind, she focused on her school work and succeeded in going to college where she would meet Clayton. Journalist and the only known female werewolf.
  • Clayton Danvers - Clay was bitten as a child, and was seen as more wolf than human. He is Jeremy's foster-son-turned bodyguard, and the werewolf who bit Elena. He is also Elena's lover. He was bitten as a child, the story of which is told in Kelley's first online novella, Savage. Blessed with drop dead gorgeous looks and genius intelligence but with all the charm of a "pit Viper". Also an anthropologist (which is how he and Elena initially met).
  • Jeremy Danvers - Alpha werewolf and leader of the Pack. Possesses some psychic abilities to contact other Pack members, which is suspected to have come from his mother's family. Hereditary werewolf. Has a hobby for all kinds of marksmanship, and is also an artist.
  • Logan Jonsen - werewolf, a close friend of Elena's. On the outskirts of the Pack and a lawyer in Los Angeles. He is a hereditary werewolf. Killed by Thomas LeBlanc.
  • Peter Myers - werewolf, friend of Elena. Also on the outskirts of the Pack. He works as a sound engineer for top bands on tour. Once he accidentally murdered two women, and was then rescued by Jeremy. Killed by Daniel Santos.
  • Antonio "Tonio" Sorrentino - A pack werewolf and father of Nick. Once was the Pack's top fighter, and currently is still strong. Antonio is best friends with the Alpha Wolf (Jeremy). He was born a Hereditary werewolf, and his father was the previous Alpha, before Jeremy.
  • Nicholas "Nick" Sorrentino - Pack werewolf. Son of Antonio, and best friend of Clayton. Hereditary werewolf.

The Mutts[]

  • Scott Brandon - Werewolf mutt. Serial killer turned werewolf. Bitten by Karl Marsten. Killed by an 18 wheeler delivery truck.
  • Zachary Cain - Werewolf mutt. Huge, excellent fighter, but not very bright. After being interrogated by Jeremy and Clayton, he is killed by Clayton.
  • Jimmy Koenig - Werewolf mutt, ex-drug addict/alcoholic, man-killer. Nephew of Billy Koenig. Killed by Clayton.
  • Thomas LeBlanc - Werewolf mutt. Serial killer turned werewolf. Bitten by Daniel. Targets women. Killed by Elena.
  • Karl Marsten - Hereditary werewolf. Extremely wealthy professional thief, seeks territory to settle in. Considered the second most dangerous mutt by the Pack. Very sociable.
  • Victor Olson - Werewolf mutt. Pedophile turned werewolf. Bitten by Zachary Cain. Killed by Elena.
  • Daniel Santos - Once a Pack werewolf, but left after Clayton killed Stephen Santos, his brother. Loathes Clayton and believes Elena should be "his". Man-killer. Dangerous mutt. Dangerously insane. Hereditary werewolf. Killed by Thomas LeBlanc.

The Humans[]

  • Philip McAdams: Elena's human boyfriend. The two live together in an apartment in Toronto. Philip wants to marry Elena eventually, but she is holding back. She affects a human persona with him that is much less brash and sarcastic than her normal personality. He is injured by the mutts when they come to kidnap Clay. He sees Elena transform but insists he has no memory of anything that happened after he was stabbed.
  • Philip's family: parents Anne and Larry; sisters Diane, Judith, and Becky/Betsy.

Continuity[]

  • Elena describes meeting and getting bitten by Clay, which is told in both Beginnings and Becoming.
  • She mentions the Jose Carter case that caused her to run away from the pack, which is told in Truth and Consequences.
  • Antonio gave Jeremy a gun with a silver bullet inscribed with Malcolm Danvers' initials in Ascension
  • This book was written before September 11, 2001. The airport scenes show significantly less security than is the norm in the United States.

Publication[]

See also: Goodreads - Editions of Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Bitten was first published in September 21, 2001 by Random House Canada. It has been republished internationally numerous times, including a new printing of the television tie-in edition in 2021.[2]

Bitten is included in the Otherworld omnibus Werewolves : Bitten, Stolen And Beginnings by Vintage Canada.

Translated editions[]

  • French: Morsure ("Bite")
  • German: Nacht der Wölfin ("Night of the Wolf")
  • Italian: Bitten: la notte dei lupi ("Bitten: The night of the wolf")
  • Romanian: Lună plină ("Full moon")
  • Spanish: Jauría ("Pack")
  • Swedish: Biten
  • Japanese: わたしを愛した狼〈上〉 ("The Wolf Who Loved Me (Above)")

Alternate Covers[]

Otherworld Series
Women of the Otherworld Novels
BittenStolenDime Store MagicIndustrial MagicHauntedBrokenNo Humans InvolvedPersonal DemonLiving With The DeadWaking the WitchSpell BoundThirteen
Collections
Men of the OtherworldTales of the OtherworldOtherworld NightsOtherworld SecretsOtherworld ChillsLed Astray
Novellas
SavageAscensionChaoticAngelicCounterfeit MagicThe Case of El Chupacabra, BeginningsBewitchedForbiddenHiddenVanishing ActThe Ungrateful Dead
Short Stories
V PlatesThe ListChivalrousLucifer's DaughterLearning CurveLife SentenceTwilightZen and the Art of VampirismParanormal Romance BluesStalkedRebirthInfusionKitsunegariDemonologyBirthrightThe Case of the Half-Demon SpyExpectationsTruth and ConsequencesTerritorialGhostsEscapeWedding Bell HellAdventurerBargainFramedBamboozledYoung Bloods
Graphic Novels
BecomingBounty Hunt
Kate & Logan
Wolf's BaneWolf's Curse


References[]

  1. Elena was born September 29, 1968 and is thirty years old, per Stolen, so current year must be October1998- September1999. Bitten repeatedly mentions that it is late springtime, putting events c. April/May 1999.
  2. https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/2606334-bitten
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