On a blustery October day last fall, Hubby Dennis, daughter Elise, and I took a drive through our vivid countryside. What we call 'dust devils' snatched up red and yellow leaves, whipping them around in mini cyclones. Everywhere I looked, whirlwinds tossed and twirled, hopping from place to place. I imagined Morgan Daniel, the wolf shifter heroine of The Secret Warrior Series, further mastering her use of the elements. She's far more than a shifter, with other unplumbed powers. She'd already learned to use fire. Time she harnessed the wind, I decided. And that's how she got her start. As blustery as it is in the valley, the wind nearly always blows in the mountains, the setting for The Secret Warrior Series.
And then there are the coyote shifters in the series. These were inspired by the toe-curling cries from the roving band of coyotes who visit the hills and fields on and around our farm. I thought, 'Why not?' If wolves can shift, why not other creatures. I already had bearwalkers, from a story shared with me by a Shawnee sub-chief. More of a belief, really.
Inspiration is all around me. I never know from where it may arise, or when. But I am tuned in to all the possibilities.
Excerpt from The Panther Moon:
One after the other, coyote shifters took shape around her and Jimmy. A whirl, and there they were—appearing without sound, camouflaged like chameleons. Not a wolf trick she’d mastered. Maybe she should. Fast. The devils slunk closer.
Corn silk hair like Eve’s blew in the stiff breezes, and various shades of red and brown. Males and females sported loose lengths flapping in the wind, dreadlocks, ponytails, and shaved heads. There must have been at least a dozen sinewy forms, dressed in earthen tones or shadowy black.
Cunning eyes fixed on Morgan, barely giving Jimmy a glance. Emboldened men and lean, mean women stalked nearer, their coyote musk obnoxious to her wolf self. They weren’t armed. ‘Go for the throat’ must be their attack mode.
Should she shift? Only partly. A wolf couldn’t use weapons or catch the next vortex. Not that she’d swirl away and leave Jimmy behind. Besides the need to protect him, she was a warrior. Her duty lay in defending Wapicoli territory.
How stupid to let herself get trapped in the first place! Hadn’t Jackson warned her a lone wolf was a dead wolf?~
Blurb for The Panther Moon:
Being the seventh Morcant has its perks: Morgan is learning to fly and wield magical blue fire. But the coyote shifters are growing bolder. Mateo and his panthers seem impossible to defeat. And vampires aren't real – are they? When the elusive and enigmatic Chief Okema disappears and the wards protecting the Wapicoli territory falter, Morgan and Jackson are forced into the role of leaders. Badly outnumbered and outgunned, do they have time to search for the secret of the Divining Tree, and will it help them in the final battle?
Also available from all other online booksellers. Amazon has the second two books in the series in print. Book one is only in kindle because it's shorter.
YA contemporary fantasy romance Curse of the Moon (Book 2, The Secret Warrior Series) won book of the month at Long and Short Reviews.
