My very first book in this series mentions Michael J. Fox’s Teen Wolf. This is because Michael was not only one of my first crushes, but I fell in love with his wolf. I then saw Jack Nicolson in Wolf. Horror with underlying romance. I’m sure there were other werewolf movies, horror or otherwise but those two stuck with me. This of course was followed by Bram’s Stocker’s Dracula which portrayed an evil but heartbroken man.

Since then, my fascination with mystical creatures; vampires, werewolves, dragons, and such has only increased. I read a wolf-shifter romance—yes, I read romance as well as writing it—that had a nice story line but made the wolf-shifter not so believable in my mind.
So… I set about writing a romance story my way. Researched a bit more on Werewolves, Wolf-shifters and Lycans. Watched clips after clips to get a reality on how others saw these creatures. How they got portrayed, what literature had to say about them. Then sat down and created what became a five-book series.

I used the Alpha, Solten Grayson, to introduce my shifters. I saw him as someone powerful and strong, yet loving and patient. Made the pack look human while still keeping a deep secret. I didn’t think it would be easy for a human to accept such phenomenon and made Miranda as a smart, well-educated woman who could see that something was off about her suitor.

Then came A Mate for Seth. That story simply followed Solten’s. This time, it was the wolf-shifter who had a hard time accepting a human. Just the reverse. I was trying to introduce werewolf hunters into the story line but at the end, they ended up being just a cult. Though Kinsley had a hard time accepting her new reality, I also wanted to ensure you could see that a human’s desire to aid others always wins over fear. This story also introduces the werewolf and is compared to wolf-shifters.

Sinclair’s story was a bit harder. How do you write a love story between two shifters, when it is the possibility of a human falling in love with a shifter, that most romance readers reach for? I knew I had to give it some twists and turns so it took a while to make it come alive, then had to transform Mooney from a meek, bratty teenager to a powerful wolf-shifter. This story was also supposed to see Ryder die. Fortunate for Ryder, Rhys’s story took form and one I wrote in a few nights time before even completing Sinclair’s.

Oh, yes, Rhys’s story. This one I had to stop every so often as I found the story funny and kept laughing while writing it. But hey, laughing is better than crying while one writes a story. Because he is forever reminded and teased about being the baby of the family, I made him strong of both willpower and physical strength. His girl, Aurora, was made just for him. A huntress in her own right.

Last, I had to reach the depths of my mind for Ryder’s story. How do you give a great story which culminates and ends all five stories? What could make Ryder’s story different than the rest? Sadly enough, we all have met people who live in total denial of those things which are right in front of their eyes. Mid way, I was beginning to get mad at Kayla for not accepting her fate, but as always, I kept writing and the story finally came to a head. Once again, introducing a different type of wolf legend; the lycan. Not wolf-shifter, not werewolf. But an honest to god monster who only comes out on the full moon.

Real or not. Werewolves, Lycans and Wolf-shifters have been found in history books going thousands of years back. As always, I find myself thinking: There must be some truth to legends told by many throughout the earth, right?

I hope you have enjoyed or will enjoy the Mates of Grayson Woods series. Keep in touch, for there are new shifters coming your way this year.

Sincerely, Jaycee Avalon