Category: books

Sahara is the first female character I’m introducing, she is also the first Shifter.  Sahara is a woman in her thirties, with mixed heritage that is Indian and Mexican. She is also a Shifter, and her animal form is a large lioness.

We meet Sahara when Alaric and his friends attempt to liberate her, and two younger women, from Omega Labs, an organization with close ties to the 8th Battalion.  While she accepts the hospitality offered, she is wary of the people extending it. Before her capture by the Lab group, she lived a solitary sort of existence for years after the deaths of her immediate family, her mother to cancer, her father to a heart attack.

Sahara is a strong woman, used to doing things her own way, used to letting the cat inside do what it wanted.  In fact, during the rescue, Sahara kills a guard, a fact that puts her at odds with at least one of Alaric’s men.

She becomes a reluctant guardian to the teenage sisters that were rescued with her.  But once accepting the role, she is a fierce and loyal protector, a role that eventually extends to the people around her, including Alaric and his family.

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The women really come to the fore in book 2, where we will learn more about Sahara, and meet Raven, Zero and others who will play important parts in what is to come.

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BUT, I also have news.  The paperback edition of Through Shade and Shadow is available now and the Kindle version is available for preorder.

Bryan Wagner is a part of Alaric’s clan, a close friend of Alaric’s father.  He has been a part of Alaric’s life for a long time.  As the story opens, Bryan is in his late thirties and with Alaric serves as one of Anson Lambrecht’s Keepers.

Bryan was raised with more formal training than many in the clan and he has good control of his gifts.  He’s a strong reader, is good with projecting glamors to make things and people appear to different and he can project ideas/thoughts into unprotected minds.  These things come in handy when you’re running from someone.

Physically, Bryan is tall, with broad shoulders and big hands.  His skin is tan from hours in the sun, all but a long white scar that runs from his hair line, down over his left eye and onto his cheek.  That eye is blind and white.

Bryan sometimes comes across as a bit crass because he doesn’t waste time with niceties he doesn’t mean.  He’s bold and he is unafraid to voice the unpopular positions.  He is, however, fiercely loyal, first to his clan, then to the clan’s leader, even when he disagrees with a decision that leader has made.

He is not a fan of getting involved in the strife tearing the country apart and he holds very little love for the other tribes, Shades in particular. Bryan was an integral part of the work to bring the scattered clan back together and institute training regimens to strengthen the tribe, though he himself doesn’t really have the patience to be a teacher.