A wild call to his alpha wolfâ¦
âRun with me,â she said, turning her head to a sudden gust of wind, glossy black hair buffeted, eyes flashing gold in the sun.
He stopped short. In those eyesâin the lift of her head and the lines of strong, straight shoulders, in rangy legs promising long, ground-eating stridesâhe suddenly remembered something of what he was.
âRun with me,â she said again, looking out over the remaining fields of the fairgrounds to the thick tangle of irrigated wooded borders between the tended green land and the natural desert grit.
Nick looked out at that land and he looked at the woman flinging wild in his face and, without even realising it, he grinned again, dark and just as feral as she. All wolf.
Doranna Durgin spent her childhood filling notebooks, first with stories and art and then with novels. After obtaining a degree in wildlife illustration and environmental education, she spent a number of years deep in the Appalachian Mountains. When she emerged, it was as a writer who found herself irrevocably tied to the natural world and its creaturesâand with a new touchstone to the rugged spirit that helped settle the area and which she instils in her characters.
Dorannaâs first fantasy novel received the 1995 Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award for best first book in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres; she now has fifteen novels of eclectic genres on the shelves. Most recently sheâs leaped gleefully into the world of paranormal romance. When sheâs not writing, Doranna builds web pages, wanders around outside with a camera and works with horses and dogs. Thereâs a Lipizzan in her backyard, a mountain looming outside her office window, a pack of agility dogs romping in the house and a laptop sitting on her deskâand thatâs just the way she likes it. You can find a complete list of her titles at www.doranna.net, along with scoops about new projects, lots of silly photos and a link to her SFF Net newsgroup.
This is for my friend Lorraine Bartlett/Lorna Barrett, for all the stuff behind the scenes, and for Writers Plot!
With my thanks to the Magna Owners of Texas, who helped me find just the right motorcycle for Jet.
Long ago and far away, in Roman/Gaulish days, one woman had a tumultuous lifeâshe fell in love with a druid, by whom she had a son; the man was killed by Romans, and she was subsequently taken into the household of a Roman, who also fathered a son on her. The druidâs son turned out to be a man of many talents, including the occasional ability to shapeshift, albeit at great cost. (His alter-shape was a wild boar.) The womanâs younger son, who considered himself superior in all ways, had none of these earthly powers, and went hunting other ways to be impressive, acquire power. He justified his various activities by claiming he needed to protect the area from his brother, who had too much power to go uncheckedâ¦but in the end, it was his brotherâs family who grew into the Vigilia, now known as the Sentinels, while the younger son founded what turned into the vile Atrum Core.
Sentinels: An organization of power-linked individuals whose driving purpose is to protect and nurture the earthâas befitting their druid originsâwhile also keeping watch on the activities of the Atrum Core
Vigilia: The original Latin name for the Sentinels, discarded in recent centuries under Western influence
Brevis Regional: HQ for each of the Sentinel regions
Consul: The leader of each Sentinel brevis region
Adjutant: The Sentinel Consulâs executive officer
Aeternus contego: The strongest possible Sentinel ward, tied to the life force of the one who sets it and broken only at that personâs death. Meghan Lawrence has placed one of these on Fabron Gausto, reflecting any workings he performs back on himself
Vigilia adveho: A Sentinel mental long-distance call for help
Monitio: A Sentinel warning call
Nexus: The Sentinel who acts as a central point of power controlâsuch as for communications, wards, or power manipulation
Atrum Core: An ethnic group founded by and sired by the Romanâs son, their basic goal is to acquire power in as many forms as possible, none of which is natively their own; they claiming to monitor and control the ânefariousâ activities of the Sentinels
Amulets: The process through which the Core inflicts its workings of power on others; having gathered and stored (and sometimes stolen) the power from other sources
Drozhar: The Atrum Core regional prince
Septs Prince: the Atrum Core prince of princes
Septs Posse: A Core drozharâs favored sycophants; can be relied on to do the dirty work