Update: Releasing Chaos Progress and Excerpt

The manuscript is finally in the hands of beta readers. When I started Releasing Chaos, I didn't realized how tricksy the story would. It demanded more POVs in order to tell the story properly. I tried everything I could think of to keep from going there because Dragon's Eye was three 1st person POVs. I didn't need any more voices in my head.

Around 25k I cried uncle.

I picked up some figures that go with the story.

The issue became internalizing the new POVs and discovering who they were at the core of their self. Did you understand what I tried to say there because I almost didn't? We know these characters through Tristan's eyes but who they are on the inside can be drastically different from what others see. I had to find each one of them which was harder than I'd anticipated. Plus, it took more time. Releasing Chaos was abandoned June of last year and sat around waiting for me to get it together.

March of this year I was determined to push my way through completing the manuscript. I was ready for the series to be over, though I'd miss the characters. But it was time. And I did have to push through writing some of it. I hate it when the words don't come and that happened often with this book.

My salvation (dramatic, I know) came from free writing certain POVs which eventually lead to many, "Oh? Oh! Ooohhhh." After much cussing and then crying, I finished the first draft on June 15th. The book wasn't 70k I had anticipated, but a heft 130k. Unfortunately, the more than half the draft was hand written. I let the story sit for a couple of weeks and then on July 1st I started line edits and transcription. I thought I'd be finished with it before I went to the family reunion on July 25th, but I was still 30k away from the finish line. After we returned on the 29th, I started the last sprint. Copies went out to the beta readers on the 3rd. Yay!

I won't have time to sit around and refresh my email waiting for beta responses. I'm gone for another ten days. First to meet up with my coauthor, Kenzie Cade, and then to visit family. It's probably a good thing that I won't be around. I'm excited to see what kind of response I'll get and I'll torture myself thinking about what everyone will hate.

In the meantime, I'm leaving you with the short prologue that is the beginning of the end. :) I hope you enjoy it.

Prologue

~The Nameless

We Nameless had been running hard for many days. Something crawled under our ruff, beckoning us southeast. The part of us that once was human cowered in the back of our minds, pleading with us to stay at our den, but we could not. The pull on us was strong, and we responded to the urgent need seeping into our paws through the ground.

"Hurry," The Earth Mother whispered to us.

Months ago our alpha freed us from the vileness of our human side, locking away the corruption so we could teach our humans the lessons they had either forgotten or were never taught. We shared the joys of running on four paws, of being family, of supporting each other through the hunt. We gave them our love for the land, the sky, the water, and for each other. We showed them how to work together and yet still be individuals. For we were wolf. Hunter. Predator. Mother. Father. Family.

Now as they proclaimed their fear, we would teach them how to stand together, to use their instincts to discern right from wrong. The Earth Mother called us to the alpha's aid. Though he made nameless, he had shown us mercy and set us free. He would forever be your alpha and we his tribe, his people.

The Earth Mother pushed healing through our paws, fortifying our energy and curbing our hunger. Briefly we stopped alongside a stream to drink our fill before once again we hurrying on. The urgency road us as we ran over field, through sleepy towns, across grassy plains, and entered foreign woods. We were close now and we hoped we would arrive in time.

We threw our voices into the wind. "We come to stand by your side. To be your shield. To hunt with you and take down your prey. To protect our people. We come, our Alpha, we come."

*~*~*

~Jory Swaine

I didn't know what had disturbed me from a sound sleep, but an itch between my shoulders forced me out of my room to prowl the dark house. For a couple of days now, I'd been sensing… I pushed my way out the back door, barely catching the screen before it slapped noisily against the frame, waking the whole house.

Before the tragedy that had taken Tristan away from us for half a year, he'd entrusted into my care the wolf forms of the traitors who'd attempted to murder him. Members of Tribe Uras collaborated with the rogue, Craig Stoiler, and invaded Tristan's ranch. I would've had them killed for their treachery but Tristan had another idea. He'd stripped the people of their human form, giving their wolf dominion. The demonstration of his power as the supreme alpha and prince of our people was used to prove his lineage to the doubting members of the Council of Five, but there was an additional reason for his actions. He'd given them a second chance, of sorts, and ordered some twenty-eight wolves to follow my commands as their handler.

Whatever type of transformation magic Tristan performed had a lasting effect. With the events that transpired had following his return, I didn't have a chance to relay to him I could still feel those wolves. He'd tied them to me that fate-filled day, not that I was upset. What I sensed of them was harmless, a simple awareness nestled in the back of my mind, telling me their state of being and general welfare… until now.

The stars shone sharp and bright overhead, the sky a virtual blanket of diamonds. The sight still made me catch my breath, especially after spending so many years in California where their light was muted. My eye was drawn to the northwest. The string attaching me to them pulled with their sense of urgency. They were coming and perhaps it was time I told Tristan about my relationship with them. Something caused the pack to leave their dens in the Canadian tundra. I wasn't sure if they were a portend of good or evil. For Tristan's sake, I hoped the banished members of Tribe Uras didn't intend to attack him a second time. I'd grown quite fond of the playfulness of their wolves in that corner of my mind, and I'd hate to be the one who sent them on to their next reincarnation.

Thank you for stopping by and reading!!