WolfM

@Carlos Hazday made a joke during editing of this chapter about Mighty Mouse. When I sent the chapter back to him for another review, I had added it. Having a good rapour with your editor makes the process enjoyable, and sometimes adds a little additional humor into the writing. I can say that so far Brandon hasn't posed for any calendars.

Thank you, Wesley. I still think Brandon might need a shrink.

Thank you, Centex. The area is incredible with canyons and valleys to the north and south of town. Nothing about working in that area was easy.

Thank you, Chris. Even with the fire, it's a beautiful place.

The daily briefing was thorough as the different fire fronts were covered. Assignments were divided amongst the many crews. Work would start the following morning for the Mutts. Battling the blazes in the Katoomba area was going to be much different than it had around the Hunter Valley. While the previous assignment had been a mix of hand work in the mountainous forests and structure defense in the small enclaves, all the fires around Katoomba would require miles of hiking just to reach. Large w

Thank you, Dez.

Thank you, Dez. I'm happy I could bring something positive to a dreaded day

There's a lot of cadets. One or two sacrificed to the pack sounds like acceptable losses. I'm sure they even teach that in military history or theory. Let the bloodletting begin. LOL.

What could go wrong? Ethan seems so harmless.

Yet another fun chapter. It's cool to see what the foundation does and the good that comes from it. Ritch looking good for the brass doesn't hurt either. I just realized you never mentioned if Joel had a date for the ring ceremony. If he did, I guess Ritch would be nice and remind them not to swallow.

Thank you, Kitt. I guess he's at least trying for strategic planning.

I think you might be right.

Thank you for the wonderful compliment. As I've said before, I value all feedback as it helps me develop as a writer. To the rest, you'll have to wait and see what happens,.

Thank you, Clancy. Anything to relieve that stress is a good thing. Exhaustion, even for a lycan, is an ever present danger. And when the entire country seems to be ablaze, firefighters will take any help they can get. You're right about them being each others support system. And still there are many times that house of cards collapses soon after you get a break. People curl up and cry themselves to sleep and hope they can pull it together by the time the next duty shift starts.

Where books one through three were something completely out of my imagination, this one is based on real life events I experienced. Just like anything I write, it's an exercise in trying improving my hobby. I stalled several times writing this as I tried to work out how much of my experience during the bushfires to include vs how to build a story around the MC and the people he met. One thing with working fires, when you get assigned to a crew, you have to integrate fast. You get to know the people if you stick with the same people for a while. Otherwise it's the basics on conversation during those precious moments you get a break. Brandon's husband didn't die because my husband, who was stationed in Iraq while I was fighting the fires, didn't die. In fact, no Marines at the embassy when it was attacked were killed, so I wasn't going to give them a body count here. I'm always a little anxious as I post more chapters to see if the story meets my expectations in the final product. As with all books, it won't please everyone, but all views help me improve and hone my skills. Hopefully by the last chapter it will be considered a success.

It's actually a cool thought and I kind of wish I'd incorporated that into the story. Brandon had been slowly traveling west since he turned wolf. When the alpha pair of current pack found him, they were traveling through the Rocky Mountains and brought him back to California with them. It would have been a nice tie in. You always make me smile with your comments.

CJ and his travels kept coming to mind while I was there. I'd see something and remember you wrote about it. I at least got to see the beauty of some of these places though writing since they were a flaming or smoldering mess when I saw it. Fire, flood, mice, snakes, and spiders. Mother nature is most definitely not pleased.

Hey, no picking on my readers. lol. Gee always has fun comments. I'm still grateful you for pushing me to write about this and my husband for agreeing with you.

Thank you, Mike. Those small breaks are a wonderful thing. And they never last long enough to recharge.

I can pass you notes after class if you like.

I wonder how I can redirect their flight through the Bermuda Triangle. I'm happy to be writing with them again. It's nice when my characters talk to me. That or I need to talk to a shrink about the voices in my head. lol.

Who? Where? Oh, you mean those two.

Thank you, Centex. I don't normally comment on things that could possibly come up later in the story, but in this case I can. Brandon is from a California pack, but it has no ties at all to the Pit River Pack, Aiden and Ethan control. That one is in the upper end of Northern California. Brandon's from So Cal.

Thank you, Gee. For being one of the original characters, Trevor is the one I've had the hardest time with. He never seemed to speak to me the way the others do. I'm not willing to give up on him though. I'm just kind of winging it with where the story's going. Or that's all I will admit to so far.