SOLVED. Girl struggling to get by in city meets boy who is actually a werewolf. Lots of world building and unique subplots. Spoilers in comment! Read about 5 years ago, perhaps more.

[Reader]

Sorry if this is very rambly I vaguely remember this book and a lot happened in it so I’ve written down all I can remember.

The main character meets this boy while helping another man find out who is behind the recent killings in this city. The boy has a ‘master’ who is an older werewolf. The werewolves had mostly been hunted down but were allowed to stay on a small patch of land in the UK. One subplot was that she got locked up in a circus and had to perform to survive, there was a creature there that slowly ate and killed it’s victims by peeling off their flesh.

Another was that investigators found out a werewolf that was insane had escaped its prison. It was revealed that one of the investigators was actually the escaped wolf but he had gone so insane in captivity that he didn’t even realise that he was the wolf. He was eventually locked back down in the pit he escaped from but the boys ‘master’ ends up eating the investigator whole before pursuing the main character to kill her. I believe she was turned by the boy she found but only realises when escaping the city after she’d been hit by a truck and was mostly okay.

Eventually the government decides to eradicate all werewolves and begins killing them via people sized meat grinders. The main character and the boy help to prevent this by wearing the soldiers uniforms and pretending to be them.. That’s all I really remember but will comment more if I remember anything else!

[Reader]

So after lots of searching I found it! The series is called Lupine Howl by Amy Cross