After the events of Social Animals: Species, Correy agonizes over her place in human society. Meanwhile, her best friend, Anna, is in a relationship that is rapidly deteriorating. Correy worries for the safety of herself and for her best friend. Once again, feeling trapped, Correy is forced to take drastic measures to protect the humans she loves.

Desperate and afraid, Correy returns home to her mother, a fellow werewolf, in hopes of finding community, comfort, and understanding. Instead, she finds more questions and more strife and confusion over her place in the world, due to her and her mother's contrasting relationships with their womanhood, their lycanthropy and their humanity.

Werewolves are almost never depicted as women, despite the parallels that can be drawn to the human feminine experience. Women are expected to conform to idealized standards, such as being docile, kind, and peaceful; they are expected to confine themselves to the realm of the domestic, instead of being allowed to indulge in impulse and be their authentic selves. The inversion of the typical werewolf trope in the monster novel allows for exploration of femininity, gender roles, self-control, viciousness, protectiveness, and family.

Genus is the second installment of Social Animals, a multi-part thriller series.