astone2292

I love this comment, especially the analysis of the lycans' behavior towards Cyn! I started my coffee drinking journey at my salesman job, selling mattresses. They had the biggest and fanciest Keurig machine and said to drink as much as I wanted! I like my men the way I like my coffee too, the way it is served. Ha! I don't think Kieran would be able to sneak past his sleeping Alpha, or manage to borrow them while the rumpus was going on. Introducing Folger's Full Moon! The coffee guaranteed to keep you on your paws! Oh, I think we all know what Cyn's reaction will be if he has any kind of pancake... Don't tempt him with Denny's All-You-Can-Eat Pancakes for $4. (Come to think of it, I'm surprised more lycan don't order this with their increased metabolism...) I struggled with coffee, but, I looked to my fraternity experience when it came to beer. Just. Keep. DRINKING! It was an acquired taste for me, but I got it pretty fast. This reminded me of my incredibly southern-drawled babysitter who constantly told me to quit pouting (pronounced POW-tn with no "I" inbetween the t and n). Imagine me at the age of six, not knowing what this word meant and getting verbally harassed for doing something I didn't know I was doing. @NFields1608 likes flavored creamers to an extent of gross fascination. Working at a grocery store, I send him pictures of the newest creamers that come in, and he immediate wants to try them. I had to put my foot down when he wanted to try the Fruity Pebbles creamer... I settled and got him the Cocoa Pebbles one. Please refer to the last paragraph of Danner's quote... Egg scramble = breakfast salad

Wow, Patch! You really are calming down a bit! Glad I can make everything "gray" for ya every now and then. 🤍

Is it that time already? I believe so! Boy, oh boy, do we have a special treat today! We're doing things a wee bit different today, and I am so excited about it! Normally on Ask An Author, I get to pester an author about a story, but not today. This time, I got to pester one of our beloved Administrators about THREE stories! That's right, we got ourselves three amazing questions about a series! I hope y'all are ready, because we're diving right in. Here we go! • • • • • Carthera Takeover Tales Cia The Carthera are a violent race, never failing to respond to battle, they nevertheless are a proud and honorable people. Except for the ferals. Battles for territory, fighting persecution from the humans, for the right to rule, have echoed down through the ages. In these modern times things are different, easier. Laws are made--and enforced--and peace, of a sorts, is possible. Some seek to end that. My favorite pairing is Dav and Ellis, don't know why, but do you have a favorite pairing between Natham & Velaku, Bashta & Cavel, and Dav & Ellis? If so, who and why? Dav and Ellis as well! Probably because I put a lot of myself in Ellis. Oddly enough, while I loved writing Dav as a character, I absolutely hate snakes in real life. My teen daughter has a 2 year old ball python that's somewhere close to 3 1/2 feet, and it's all... ewwwww. She wears it like a necklace and watching it move around her head creeps me out. Somehow, though, the idea of all that sinuous movement in a man? 😊 Totally works! How did you come up with the specifics of the plague that spread through the jaguar clans? ⚠️ This will have a spoiler, FYI to readers who haven't read Book 2 in the trilogy! ⚠️ Carthera have only been "accepted" in "human society" for about 50 years in this trilogy. So the medical knowledge isn't quite up to date. I treated the plague much like Ebola. Exposure from contaminated surfaces (the statue) then person-to-person among the vulnerable and least 'clean' (aka children who don't tend to wash up well). Antiserum from survivors was the most effective treatment for ebola for a long time. FYI, I used to work in the medical field, so that's one of my areas I try to be very exact and make sure is realistic, even when I'm writing a scifi, paranormal, or fantasy story. The Carthera are incredibly interesting to me. What made you detour away from the typical shifters and instead create the Carthera? I'm never one for writing 'run-of-the-mill stories' where I follow along with conventional mythos. I love to create twists. Either in the idea behind the original mythos I'm basing my storyline on or morphing the character types or as I'm going along in the plot events. Okay, okay, sometimes I'm greedy and do all three. I like shifter societies who have all sorts of animals (OMG, why limit myself to a single species when I could play with so MANY?) who carry their animalistic traits into their human form, and I do like it when they're integrated instead of being hidden society alongside humans. So with my Carthera, I decided to create "shifters" with mixed animal/human characteristics who were integrated into society, but I figured by timing it to recent 'coming out' as a species to humans I could also incorporate a lot of different societal dynamics in the storylines. One of these days I want to come back to the world; I have some ideas with ocean shifters, since they are some of my favorite animals. • • • • • Unlike Cia, I love snakes! Let me tell you, if I ever got my hands on a man like Dav, I might be tempted to kick my husband to the curb (sorry, Noah...)! The second I got the request to go bother Cia, I screamed like a little girl! I dropped everything and wrote the fastest PM in my life! This series is one of the very few reasons I made an attempt at writing, and I come back to these stories often frequently regularly a lot when I want to get away from everyday life. Make sure to check out Cia's other amazing stories through the link in her name under the series title! If you have read a riveting story and want to ask the author about it, send your questions to me and I'll happily knock on their inbox for you! Until next month, buh-bye!

Ha! I suppose plant-based bacon would be the potential option here, but there are still plenty of vegetarian breakfast options out there. I've aimed Cyn and Shea to be around 25-26. Shea's age was barely hinted when he was introduced: fresh out of lycan hunting/tracking training, registered as one of the best sniffers in the area and we immediately put to work. Cyn didn't get much of a hint, other than his overabundant innocence. Once the book is done and is in a proper final edit, I'll include some details. Let's hope the truck has some useful leads! I'm going to stray away from the hacking concept. Most TV shows have ruined it for me, with this instantaneous results and determined faces as they furiously smack their fingies against clickity-clack keyboards.

It may seem overbearing and overabundant, but I sometimes don't think everyone understands just how innocent our little deer is. He really doesn't understand much about the adult human world around him, and Shea, along with Kieran now, have the duty to get this man caught up to speed. Pfft, Kara and Jaime are in the doghouse, for sure! Also, I love the use of "shenanigans!" There are a few words in this type of scenario I love to hear: shenanigans, antics, tomfoolery, and (personal favorite) horse-hockey! I like coffee when in conversation with someone. I don't need it to wake up or be able to start my day, but it's a knee-jerk reaction to have it when talking with someone. Now, when someone tells me I can't have my Cherry Coca-Cola... Thanks for commenting JR!

As the couple walked, Shea talked with Cyn about matings as a human. Although he felt awkward about it at first, the lycan grew more comfortable as the buck’s questions came. He really had no idea there was this whole other side of mating! His kind just does it for breeding and survival. I’ll make sure he knows we won’t be doing that. Shea explained several details about dating a lycan, including the concept of play-biting. “I don’t do it too often, but I will want to nibble on you every now and

Glad I could calm your rage, Patch! Just woke up and this was a delight to read.

Thank you for the comment! I know everyone wanted the worst possible death for Kordell, but I think Vincent's wolf and his snap was appropriate. We finally see our hero's wolf's breaking point and the aftermath of it. I'm low-key surprised no one's commented about Vincent leaving his keys in New York. That was really funny, at least in my opinion.

This poem is amazing! I couldn't come up with something like this! Thank you @Philippe!!! The next chapter is being edited. Pfft! How do you think I feel? I'm still speechless! Bad time for a mental conflict! Always appreciate your comments, centex! I think Philippe's poem said it best: does Vincent think of himself as Stefan now?

That'd be really awkward at graduation. "Psst! How'd you get the hat?"

I'd like to think that the fancy-pants colleges act as the Council of Mages (possibly the Dean or President of the school). I've already started with Harvard and Yale... If I see need to, I'll add other reknowned schools like Oxford or Cambridge. MIT probably calls dibs for the lightning affinity...

Oooooh! I haven't read a shifter-story involving a packless-Alpha either! I am so glad I thought of this wonderful idea to add to the story!

Glad you liked the chapter! I only hope Vincent can push past his first kill. Oh, Stacy's patented ponytail might come undone!

Gripping the dagger tight, Vincent stared down the intimidating foe. Working together, both of his minds agreed to let the opponent make the first move. We need to see what he will do. Yes, but boring! It doesn’t matter if it’s boring, it is what’s smart! This isn’t a spar, this is...this is real! I’d throw the dagger, we can always make more. Glancing at his bracelet, he was comforted to see nine full beads. Plus, we don’t even know if he has any magic! Check. Do feel magic?

We're finishing up the next chapter. There was an oversight on my part and I need to make some quick edits.

Insomnia and I have a love/hate relationship. She's welcome when I want to get some work done, but she leaves a hangover-esque feeling that won't go away! I'm getting close to finishing the next chapter, but a lot has been happening behind the curtain recently. Patch, of course you are unanimous, but I wouldn't say I'm a perfect author. Once this thing is done, I'll be taking a weed-wacker and trimming out some minor issues. Now go get some sleep! We don't want you to miss chapter 28 when it comes out.

I'm inclined to say I agree with drpaladin's judgement. Essell is being a brat. A bratty scientist, which is not conducive to the issue at hand. Although I think Essell's changes are more drastic than what is being let on (I'm looking at his emotions, as Timok pointed out), Essell should be able to get a grip and submit to the testings. While Timok is clearly up to something, who else on that ship is a doctor like him? I'm sure Garjah would have mentioned it to his bondmate at some point. This planet had something that could have killed Essell, should he never found the Four Arms. I agree @drpaladin, he needs to suck it up! If he doesn't realize this within the next few chapters, then I'll begin to doubt Essell's intelligence. This statement is concerning me more than anything. Report? Report to who? Just how much of Essell's integration with the Four Arms has been an experiment? Are Timok and Garjah doing something illegal by having a human aboard the ship? These few sentences are raising red flags, at least in my opinion.

A great interview and a wonderful story to attach it to. I've already left my short review, but this is a nice breath of fresh air for the shapeshifter/fantasy/paranormal genre. Your adaptation to the Alpha/Omega concept, especially with putting an importance on the moment of maturity, was refreshing! That would be suspenseful to not know how your body's natural response will end up until a certain age. Once again, very creative concept and I believe you could journey into this universe you've created, whether you incorporate the existing characters or not.

I don't believe it will be the EC's objective to exasperate our cast. Let's just focus on one thing at a time... like Vincent handling Kordell.

Cyrus' side story will probably occur after I finish the trilogy. Rising in the Shadows features a glimpse into Cyrus' backstory, as well as his relationship with Kaplan, but a sidestory will be needed much later.

Running with the Pack is an entire universe written by WolfM. My stories are not in the same universe and I have no intention of bringing the two worlds together. I will be introducing the yearly shifter meeting/summit in the third book in the series.

Ha! Cock-bucked. That's funny! I'll put a disclaimer for when I get to their little scene, but for anyone not familiar with my sex scenes, I tend to write them fairly detailed. I suppose you could say I "leave no stone unturned."

As always, I adore your comments, Patch! Glad to see you're still along for the ride. Shea really needed this Cyn-related reality check. His new Enforcer status mentality might be muddling his thoughts a bit too much. Cyn's straightforwardness is just a blast to write! He's spent so long being a deer, clothes seemed like an annoyance and now he faces awkward sex talks. Hmm, mating bite. I believe I've made the comment before, but I can't remember where I left it. I've been thinking of switching up some things in this particular shapeshifter story. Oh, poor Cyn. He's probably going to get a sex talk from Shea. If only Arric will let the two have a day off... If need be, go watch a video or two. I think Cyn was hesitant about being with a buck due to the pain, but that was the ultimate end goal for him in his deer days. Teehee. Did I start something? Whether it be kink or science, I'll add it to my reading list when it comes out. This was just the funniest comment! Thank you, Val! Heading into a work shift with a smile on my face! Don't worry, I think Shea's going to fix that...

Looking back, I find it disturbing how much research I've done involving deer in every aspect of their species. I come from a small hick-town that is obsessed with deer season, and it took me writing a romance to finally be interested in deer. Cyn, despite being a human for a sizable chunk of his life, is more deer than shapeshifter. Learning to love as a human is truly this man's challenge. I mean... do we really need these two in their beast form for all that? Could you imagine a human hunter seeing that? I'm not sure I would believe it, and I'm not even sure if that needs to be written... Listen here, I did my research. Deer are expert Olympians in this sport. Well... he's never had his ears nibbled before. Nibble = eat. I think, at least in Cyn's case, it's a natural response.

This was just the most adorable story I've read in a while! Thank you for this lovely little treat!