Young Adult

When seventeen-year-old David Rowan frees an injured fox on a Manchester canal, something answers back. The contact is real—sharp senses, shared breath, a thread he can release only by choice. It costs him, and it marks him. Word spreads fast, and a state-adjacent institute begins to circle. Pulled into a small, ethics-first network, David learns the rules: one true bond, seconds-long stacks at most, never force an animal. Leah Moreno, a quiet classmate with an anchor’s calm, keeps him steady as he trains under watchful eyes. But the Harrow Institute doesn’t debate; it licenses, dampens, and hunts. When a missing teen surfaces as bait beneath the Castlefield arches, David has a choice—hide, or risk himself and the fox who trusts him. With cameras, countermeasures and a hunter on his heels, the rescue will take care, seconds, and a promise he won’t break. The Rookery Relay launches a YA animal-bond urban fantasy about consent, found family, and the fight to tell your own story.