I’m delighted to
tell you about author Maria Vale’s new release, SEASON OF THE WOLF,
the fourth installment in her Legend of All Wolves Series and share an excerpt
with you.
Season of the
Wolf
by Maria Vale
Publication Date:
8/25/2020
In a world of
danger and uncertainty, the Alpha can never let down her guard...
As Alpha of the
Great North Pack, life is never easy for Evie Kitwanasdottir. The Pack has just
survived a deadly attack, and Evie is determined to do whatever is necessary to
preserve their safety—especially from the four Shifters who are now their prisoners.
Constantine lost
his parents and his humanity on the same devastating day. He has been a
thoughtless killer ever since. When Constantine is placed under Evie’s watchful
eye, he discovers that taking directions and having a purpose are not the same
thing.
Each moment spent
together brings new revelations to Constantine, who begins to understand the
loneliness of being Alpha. He finds strength and direction in helping Evie, but
there is no room for a small love in the Pack, so Constantine will strive to
prove to Evie he is capable of a love big enough for the Great North Pack
itself.
SEASON OF THE
WOLF is available to
purchase at the following sites:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2M5s2bO
Apple: https://apple.co/3equuG1
Kobo: https://bit.ly/390u2wP
Bookshop: https://bit.ly/2XEZawo
Now an excerpt for your reading pleasure.
“You know what I
wished for on your eyelash?”
“My guard hair,”
she reminds me. “No, you didn’t say.”
I take a deep
breath and launch myself into the void. “I wanted to understand how wolves
flirt.”
“Flirt?”
“It’s the things
you say and do to show that you’re interested but want to pretend you aren’t in
case the other person isn’t and you don’t want to be embarrassed.”
She scratches the
tip of her nose with her thumb. “That’s why it’s one of the eight primary forms
of human misrepresentation.”
“Misrepresentation?
I wouldn’t call it misrepresentation. And there aren’t eight.”
“Yes there are,”
she says and starts counting off on her fingers. “JAFFEWIP. It stands for
Jokes. Advertisement. Falsehood. Flirtation. Exaggeration. White lies. Irony.
Politics.” And as the last long finger rises in the air, I find myself unable
to argue with a single one.
“Flirtation is only
taught in Advanced Human Behaviors so that wolves heading Offland will
understand how to interpret obscure signals.”
“What’s it like?
The class.”
“I was never going
to be an Offlander, so I have no idea.”
A squirrel runs
through the branches overhead, loosing a sprinkling of duff. She picks up a
branch of long, brown pine needles and twirls it between her fingers.
“Will you tell me?”
she asks quietly.
Oh god.
The single light in
the Great Hall goes off and I try to collect my thoughts.
“If you were human,
Alpha, I would accidentally stand closer than strictly necessary with my back
straight so you could see how tall I was. With my shoulders back so you could
see how broad they are. I would smile at you, but not a friendly smile, more a
smile verging on disdain, so that if you weren’t interested in my height or my
shoulders, I would seem like I had never really cared in the first place.
“If you were
interested, you wouldn’t say that straight out. Instead, you might ask me for
help that you didn’t actually need, like opening a jam jar or working an app on
your phone. I would help you with the thing you didn’t need with more flair and
exertion than was required. Then with the jam jar opened or the app conquered,
you might put your hand on my arm and say something about my strength or
intelligence. I would then ask you where the nearest coffee shop is and you
would say, ‘It’s easier if I just show you.’ When you’d shown me, I would
insist on buying you a coffee. If you consented, we would have conducted a
successful flirtation.”
She shakes her
head, a small smile playing across her lips.
“But it’s all a
lie.”
“Not a lie, a
misrepresentation. As you said yourself.”
She waves her pine
fan in front of her.
“When I asked for
your help to swim like that, swim like you, did you think I was flirting?”
I know what she
wanted. She wanted to find a place that was a little apart. Not run away, just
float in the dark for the space of one breath, until some idiot thought it had
gone on too long and rescued her, though she didn’t need it.
I shake my head.
“So how do
wolves flirt?”
“It’s not all that
different. At least until the hierarchy is settled, there are lots of feats of
strength. Who drags the biggest windfall from the forest. Who kills the biggest
bear. Who lifts the most bales of laundry. The usual. But then…” She leans toward
me and I feel the warmth of her body behind me and stop breathing. The air
moves behind my jaw, and when I suck in that breath again, the tight tip of her
breast scrapes across my arm.
“That’s it,” she
says quietly. “One wolf will smell another wolf to see if they are willing.
That is how wolves flirt.”
When I turn my
head, my cheek lines up to hers, and I suck in a deep breath. My brain is
immediately awash with the almost indecipherable complexity of the Pack—black
earth, fur, the blood of prey, the fast-running sap of summer trees. But then
it settles on that something else underlying it all, the granite and moss, hard
stone covered with fragile life, that is Evie.
“And am I?” I choke
out.
“Yes,” she says,
pulling away, her eyes shielded, voice suddenly distant. “But then every
unattached male wants to cover the Alpha.”
***
Excerpted from Season of
the Wolf by Maria Vale. © 2020 by Maria Vale. Used with
permission of the publisher, Sourcebooks
Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. All rights reserved.
Meet the Author
 |
| Author Maria Vale |
Thanks so much for stopping by today. Isn’t there something
fascinating about being able to create a world where all things are possible
that just draws you in?
What a wonderful excerpt. Wolves are so often badly misrepresented/misunderstood in our culture...
ReplyDeleteAuthor Maria Vale has created a uniquely compelling paranormal fantasy world--fascinating!!!
ReplyDelete