When your day goes to hell and you find yourself kidnapped, strung up from a magical tree, and left to bleed out, what do you do next? Asking for a friend.

Fortunately, Riordan Kincaid is a tough, gives-no-fucks honey badger shifter. Unfortunately, now that he's survived the first attempt, a death mage and their cult are determined to finish the job by whatever means necessary, pursuing Riordan across the wilds of rural Michigan.

Ghosts and spirits are outside of his specialty, and heaven help him if he has to cast actual spells, but Riordan isn't going to make this easy on his enemies. Even if that means breaking his long exile, turning to the local shifter community for help, and dealing with a bureaucratic department of mages. And don't even get him started on getting licked by a damn spirit bear.

Now he just needs to figure out what will kill him first: his enemies, his past, or his own attempts at using magic? Or will Riordan beat the odds and prove that honey badgers really are that hard to kill? If so, what will he do with a life once hung upon a tree that's more than a tree?

[Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]

[Updates Monday, Wednesday, Friday (updating daily during writathon)]