Farish's Freehold: Cassandra Larsen, her upcoming novella, Gray’s Dilemma and The Witch's Lair is almost ready for Pre-order.

The last bit of The Witch's Lair is going in for formatting, and once complete, I'll be able to set up pre-orders. The weekend in two weeks should be a lot of fun, Deadpool comes out on the 12^th, and on Valentine's Day, The Witch's Lair will be ready for you. Until then I give you this question what exactly is a Kafka Roach and how Brother Sebastian and crew would ever encounter one? Find out on Valentine's Day when you read The Witch's Lair.

As it is close to Valentine's Day, I'm featuring a writer who still deals with the paranormal and monsters, but in a more romantic setting. With out further ado I give you Cassandra Larsen, and her upcoming novella, Gray’s Dilemma.

Preorder Link

Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AYEQD1Q

Blurb

Pack life can be harsh. The price for disobedience is swift and severe. Gray knows this. As the Alpha’s son, he’s even had to mete out a few punishments himself. But when a close friend of his lands on the wrong side of pack law, Gray must choose between loyalty to his friend and loyalty to his pack. And this time, a wrong decision could cost a lot more than a beating…

Gray’s Dilemma is a novella from The Witches Circle series, told from Gray’s perspective. It covers events in the Silver Ridge Pack that take place at the same time as the first book in the series, Silent Circle.

Preorder Link

Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AYEQD1Q

Bio

Cassandra Larsen graduated from The College of New Jersey with a degree in English Education. An avid reader of urban fantasy and paranormal romance, she has been dreaming up stories from a very early age. She is the author of the young adult fantasy series The Witches Circle. After nearly a decade of practicing Wicca, she has recently published a new non-fiction series, Simple Witchcraft, to help guide beginners in the craft. She lives in Maryland with her husband and son.

Links

Blog - https://larsenbooks.wordpress.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/CassandraLarsenBooks

Twitter - @LarsenBooks

Preorder Link

Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AYEQD1Q

Excerpt From Gray’s Dilemma

I scrub my skin over and over, long after the water turns cold. Rust colored water swirls around the drain, standing out against the alabaster tiles at my feet. My skin stings, my normally tan arms now pink after having scraped off several layers of skin. No matter how long I scrub, I can’t remove the feel of Mikhail’s warm, sticky blood. An image rises up of his beaten body, lying cold and still on the concrete floor. I shudder, shutting off the now icy water.

Grabbing a towel with unsteady hands, I barely notice the small cuts and bruises on my knuckles already healing; one of the perks of being an extremely dominant werewolf. I’d almost prefer to be lower in the pack hierarchy and never be forced to brutalize a weaker man again, except then I’d be at the mercy of the other dominants in the pack, like Zak, and then it could very well be my hide strung up and beat for all the pack to see.

No, better to be strong, to be able to protect myself.

I freeze at the sound of someone striding down the hallway towards my room. My hands still shaking, I rub them over my face. I need to pull myself together. I can’t let Nikolay or Ivan see me like this.

Gripping the sides of the sink, I take a slow, deep breath and stare hard at the mirror above, the silver eyes of my reflection boring into me, calming me.

Get it together, Gray.

When my hands are steady once again, I wrap the towel tighter around my waist and set out to face my visitor.

My body relaxes when I recognize Vasily, Nikolay’s second in command. “How you holding up?” He asks, his gold eyes studying mine.

“Fine,” I lie, pasting a lazy half smile on my face.

He raises one eyebrow. I’m not fooling him. “He had to do that, you know.”

“Nikolay had to have me beat a pack brother like that?” I ask, anger leaking into my voice. If it was anyone else, I wouldn’t dare question the Alpha’s actions, but this is Vasily; he’s been more of a father to me than my own.

“Mikhail left him no choice. He refused to stop seeing that human. He challenged your father in front of the pack.”

This is news to me. I remember Mikhail was dating a human, Megan or something, a while back, but I thought that had ended. It isn’t forbidden for werewolves to date humans—several people in our pack are currently doing so, including my best friend Derek. But they all understand that when it comes time to take a mate, they choose a werewolf. Packs are all about strength, and mating a strong werewolf to a puny human weakens the pack, diluting their power.

“If that’s the case, why didn’t Nikolay punish Mikhail himself? Why have me do his dirty work again?”

“That was your grandfather’s doing,” Vasily answers, voice sharp. “And even if it wasn’t, your position as the Alpha’s son demands that you show your strength. You are going to lead this pack someday. You can’t have them all thinking Zak is more dominant than you.”

“Zak,” I snort derisively. “He doesn’t have the balls challenge me openly.”

“Don’t be so sure of that,” Vasily warns. “He doesn’t relish the idea of having to take orders from you.”

“Let him challenge me. I’d love nothing more than to put that mudak in his place.”

Vasily nods in approval. “Now you’re beginning to sound like the Alpha’s son.”

I grimace, not wanting to discuss Nikolay any longer. “How is Mikhail holding up?” I ask, turning away on the pretense of grabbing a t-shirt from the dresser. An image of Mikhail’s shattered body rises to the surface, but I shove it back down, relieved Vasily can’t read my expression right now. I can’t show weakness. Pulling on a pair of faded denims, I keep my back to him, waiting for his answer.

“I had Allison take a look at him. She healed his more serious injuries. He’ll be down for a couple weeks, but he’ll live.”

Allison is one of the witches in the Ashwood Creek Coven. She isn’t the best healer they have, but she’s adequate. Our pack has an alliance with her coven, extremely rare in our world where witches and werewolves have an almost inbred hatred of each other. But a few decades ago, Nikolay decided that joining his pack with the Ashwood Coven would only increase his own power, and so treatises were written up. Now we coincide peaceably in this small town in Vermont.

Turning back to him, I hide my relief behind a careless shrug. “And what excuse did you come up with, for his injuries?”

“I told her it was a dominance fight,” Vasily answers.

I nod my head. “Yeah. Dominance fight. Good cover.” Although the coven generally doesn’t interfere in pack business, I can’t see them turning a blind eye to the brutal punishment Mikhail just received. If Madelyn heard about it, she would almost certainly have something to say to Nikolay, which would only increase the tension between them. Those two have been butting heads for as long as I can remember. Vasily said once that it has something to do with Madelyn’s daughter, Elizabeth, who disappeared almost twenty years ago, but I’ve never heard the full story.

I note the tension in Vasily’s face. Yeah, he wouldn’t want Madelyn to know about this. Vasily is all about keeping the peace, especially where Madelyn is concerned.

“Alright, enough about Mikhail,” Vasily says.“Posle draki kulakami ne mashut.”

They don’t swing fists when the fight is over.

Vasily’s always good for a trite Russian saying. His way of saying what’s done is done: the werewolf credo. There’s no point bemoaning the past, hoping to change it; it doesn’t do any good. Live in the present, not the past.

“Come on. Your father has business to take care of, so we’re leading tonight’s hunt.”

Shaking off the ugly events of the night, I feel a small smile lift one corner of my mouth. “Time to hunt,” I answer.

Preorder Link

Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AYEQD1Q

Author Questions

Main Character's motivations

Gray has been raised to follow pack rules and obey his Alpha (who is also his father) without question. But when a close friend of his gets in over his head, Gray’s loyalty is divided. He has to decide whether turn him over to the pack, or betray his pack and go against everything he’s been raised to believe.

What is their secret strengths/ weaknesses

Gray’s strength is his ability to lead. Unlike his father, who leads through intimidation and fear, Gray has the ability to inspire loyalty through trust. He just hasn’t realized this yet. There are a lot of things that go on in the pack that he doesn’t agree with, things he knows are wrong, but he turns a blind eye to them. He doesn’t believe that there’s anything he can do to change them. He’s been raised all his life to obey his Alpha and follow orders. Before he can ever hope to become a leader, he has to first find the courage to stand up to his father.

Any philosophical issues in this story?

This story is an example of conformity vs. individuality. It’s about standing up for what’s right, even if that means going against one’s family and community.

When did you start to write this one and why?

This novella is part of my longer series, The Witches Circle. Though the other books in the series are told from Emerson’s point of view, Gray’s Dilemma is written from Gray’s perspective and covers events in the Silver Ridge Pack that took place at the same time as the first book in the series, Silent Circle. I wrote this in order to give the reader a better understanding of Gray and to give some insight into the pack dynamic as well as introduce some of the characters that will appear in the third book in the series, Shattered Circle.

What's next in this series or in your next book?

I'm working on the third book in the series, Shattered Circle. In it, the reader will get to see a lot more of Gray and the Silver Ridge Pack, as well as how Emerson, the lead character from the series, interacts with the pack and this new environment.

Excerpt from Shattered Circle:

The dry leaves crunch beneath my feet as I pace back and forth, anxiously searching for headlights in the distance. I glance at my watch for the hundredth time: 12:15. Where is Gray?

Fuller Park is a huge, with acres of forest trails, picnic sites, and campgrounds. It didn’t occur to me until after I got home that we didn’t specify a particular place to meet, so I decide to wait for Gray in the first parking lot, directly off the main road leading in. From this vantage point, I should be able to see any passing cars.

I hear a rumble of an engine, and peer into the darkness. The sound gets closer, but I don’t see any lights on the road. Squinting in the darkness, I see a dark shape slowly moving up the trail. The headlights are off, but as it nears, I recognize the massive black Hummer. As it creeps closer, I dart off toward the road. The car slows even more, and I see an arm dangling out of the open window.

“Hey,” I yell, hoping I’m close enough for him to hear. He stops the car and sticks his head out of the window, and then turns into the lot, parking next to my car.

“I wasn’t sure you’d be able to find me,” I tell him as he climbs out. “I don’t have your number, so I couldn’t tell you where to meet me.”

“I’m a werewolf,” he smirks. “Of course I’d be able to find you.” At my puzzled expression, he taps his nose. “Better than a bloodhound.”

“You were planning on sniffing me out like a dog?” I raise my eyebrows.

“If you’ve got it, use it.”

I rub my hands briskly on my arms. I’ve been pacing out here for the last fifteen minutes, and although I wore my warmest sweater, I’m still numb with cold.

“Here,” Gray says, handing me his leather jacket.

“What about you?” I ask, scrambling into the jacket, still warm with his body heat.

“I’m fine.” Then half his mouth lifts in a smirk. “If I get cold, I have you to keep me warm.”

“Like that’ll happen,” I scoff.

“Moya Luna, you wound me.”

“Why do you keep saying that?” I ask him seriously. “It means ‘my moon’ in Russian, right? Why do you keep calling me that?”

He leans back against his Hummer, crossing his arms in front of his massive chest. “It seems appropriate. I’m drawn to you the way wolves are drawn to the moon.”

I sigh. “Forget it. I don’t know why I’d expect a serious answer from you.”

“You don’t think I’m serious?” He raises one eyebrow at me.

I just shake my head. “That’s not what I want to talk about anyway.”

He drops his eyes and purses his lips. "Yeah, about that..."

"What?" I ask sharply. He’d better not tell me he’s changed his mind.

"Well, I could get in a lot of trouble for answering your questions...”

"And you want something in return?" I guess.

“You could say that,” he drawls.

Figures he wouldn’t tell me something for nothing. “Alright, what do you want?”

“Well, I’m still new in town and all, and there is a party going on this Friday at Chuck Benson’s house...” he trails off, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

“You want me to go to a party with you?”

“Well I can’t show up alone!” He says with mock indignation.

“Riiiight. And you don’t have anyone else to ask? What about Olivia, or even Kayla. I’m sure she’d be thrilled to go with you.”

“Ah,” he smiles. “But I don’t want to go with Olivia or Kayla.”

“And why do you want to go with me?” I narrow my eyes at him in suspicion. He always has an ulterior motive.

“Well, you’re all anyone around here can talk about. Showing up with you would score me major street cred.”

I laugh. “‘Street cred’? What, are you from a 1980’s sitcom?”

He grins, showing all of his teeth.

“And if you’ve listened to anything anyone around here has said about me, you’ll know that hanging out with the ‘crazy chic’ is likely to detract points from your reputation, not add them.”

“Maybe I like crazy.”

“And maybe you have a hidden agenda.” I cross my arms and look at him pointedly.

“Alright, you got me.” He throws his hands up in defeat. “It might have a little bit to do with the fact that Madelyn and Vasily asked me to keep an eye on you, just until we can get you out of town.”

My stomach sinks. “Another babysitter. Great.”

“ ‘Babysitter’ is such an ugly word.” He wrinkles his nose and leans in toward me. “Why don’t you think of me as your escort instead?”

“Pimping yourself out, huh? I’m not sure I can afford you.”

“For you, Moya Luna, I’m free of charge.”

“Lucky me...”

“So do we have a deal then?”

“I go to this party with you, and you’ll answer my questions about my mom?”

“I’ll answer whatever I can, though I don’t know all that much,” he answers cautiously.

I purse my lips, thinking it over. “Deal.” I hold my hand out for him to shake.

He wraps his large hand around my much smaller one, the warmth of his skin sending goose bumps up my arm. I take my hand back hastily.

“But this isn’t a date,” I warn. “Just friends, got it?”

“Whatever you say,” he says with a smirk.

When will it be available?

Gray’s Dilemma is available for pre-order now, to be released April 14^th. Shattered Circle is much longer and still in the editing process, so it will be several more months before it will be ready for publication.

Thank you Cassandra, that should be just right for a lot of readers out there. Good stuff for those of you who like your werewolves a bit more tame than mine. And speaking of my stuff -

Junior Inquisitor Book One