Moonlight's Silver

by Rayne Auster

Ankerite is a half-breed, trapped between his two forms, neither fully human nor fully wolf. Hunted and despised, he tries to survive by hiding his true nature and settling among humans. Unfortunately, a werewolf's senses are not so easily fooled, and he is discovered by Cole, a full-blood werewolf. Ankerite flees Cole's territory only to stumble into another's.

He's surprised when Linden, a rogue wolf who has clashed with Cole in the past, rescues him. But when Linden promptly takes him home to his pack and keeps him there, Ankerite faces a new threat to his peace of mind: Linden’s determination to claim him as his mate.

Genres: M M Romance, Shapeshifters, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Contemporary, Yaoi

40 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Rayne Auster always had a passion for writing. However, growing up, she didn’t have the patience to finish what she started. Most of her projects died before even seeing the light of day. While studying for a master's degree in computer science, she decided to post what she wrote online. That is when she discovered the joy of sharing the stories in her head. Unable to bear the thought of leaving her readers hanging, she finished her first piece of fiction. The satisfaction of actually completing a story quickly led to further inspiration, and she hasn't looked back since.

You can contact Rayne at rayne.auster@gmail.com.

Reviews

[Elisa Rolle]

This short story is a big teaser, and I'm not sure I'm using the word in a positive meaning :-) Joke aside, I like it but after having just finished one of the nicer sex scene I read lately, I'm here eager to read more and the short story is ended, just like that, in a blink of an eye. (big pout).

First teasing: the cover. Have you seen that? well obviously you have, I'm posting it very big so you can see it. The cover is actually a big teasing even if it's not fully respectful of the main character, Ankerite is more a lost puppy than a dangerous killer like he appears in the cover. Nevertheless the cover served its scope, since it teased me into getting this short story, even if I usually don't read the shorts by this publisher.

Second teasing: the story. Yes, I know, many of you are skittish when dealing with human and "animal", and thinking at a boy/man who is not fully man and not fully wolf, a guy with eyes, ears and tail like a wolf and all the rest like a man, makes you cringe. Me? it makes me interested. What can I say, I find it cute. Even more when the guy not only has "external" evidences of his nature, but also some inner "urges", like the need to mating, and get all excited around his mate, Linden. And Linden is more a big mutt than a dangerous wolf... right, he can be dangerous if he wants, and he is an Alpha for his pack, but with Anke he is more a both lover than "brother", he represents all the family the boy lost and now he desperately needs.

Third and last teasing... big one this one: the end. Actually also the beginning and all in between. The reader is plunged in the middle of a story, there was something else before, and it seems really interesting, Anke's original family. They need to be wealthy, they hired a bodyguard for their "freak" son, and this bodyguard was a nice man. What happened? where is that nice man? Why Anke felt the need to leave his family when he was only 16 years old? And then what happened before?

On Linden's side: what is his story? Who is Darren? and Cole and Ron? what is his life before that made him such a nice, but strong man? And now that he has found his mate, what will happen to them? This story is just too short to fully satisfy me, I see a lot of potential in this setting, I really hope this is only an excerpt of something longer, just a taste to tease the reader to come back for more. To me, it worked perfectly.

http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/83...

[Jimmy Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pretty good read, and one I'm happy came from Rayne Auster ... in this novella, the balances between action and emotion fit better than some of her others. Ankerite is the typical timid character that Rayne seems to prefer in her uke men, but there's a bit of strength in him briefly seen. He doesn't just fall into Linden's arms; he's attracted yes, but not obsessively so, and the backbone he shows toward the strange werewolves that approach him in Linden's home definitely satisfied.

Linden himself is an intriguing mix of dangerous, protective, and honest caring. Would have been awesome to read about him in a real fight, and then a releasing of tension with Anke after. ^_~

Of all of Rayne Auster's novels and novellas, this is the one I wish could be expounded upon the most. Not only because of my love of weres and all creatures like them, but because I was genuinely taken with Linden and Anke - both separately and together - in a way I haven't really found in a while.

[Ayanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

It sounds like an Inuyasha redux with an m/m slant.
(Ostracized/castigated/persecuted half-breed.)

I can't decide if it's wangsty or purpley.
Probably a bit of both...

And then...I get to the sex and press next a couple times, thinking to skip past the sex...and then it's over?

Also, I don't quite get the universe. It seems like a study in tropes, although this half-werewolf thing seems like an interesting way of indulging furry kinks ^^

[Bubbles Hunty Honest & Direct Opinions · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was really cute and i liked it overall but it was so short it seemed like it ended as it was just beginning

we had no rel character or relationship development we know nothing about L or his pack or how the other pack will retaliate. I would love to see a sequel or an expanded edition of this story

[Kris-10 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 2.5/5 stars

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this a while ago, primarily because of its cover art. This cover art, by the way, has very little to do with the actual story. The character on the cover looks like he's probably a grouchy, broody fighter. Ankerite has his wolfie ears, but that's about where the similarities stop. Ankerite's first response to trouble isn't to fight, because he knows he can't possibly win against a true werewolf, but rather to run or hide. I'm pretty sure Ankerite doesn't even have the character on the cover's facial scar.

In my review for Mary Calmes' Change of Heart , I wrote “On the one hand, I consider this book to be really flawed in a lot of ways. On the other hand, Calmes hit on enough of my favorite romance tropes that I was willing to put up with the flaws.” That's pretty much how I feel about this story, too. I've read it maybe three times now. The first time around, I didn't really notice its flaws because I was blinded by the parts of it that appealed to me. The flaws became more obvious after I reread the story. I still enjoyed it, but I'd hesitate to recommend it to other people.

I love reading about romance between an outcast character and a more powerful/popular/accepted character who doesn't care about the outcast character's status. Moonlight's Silver definitely pushed the right buttons with me in that respect. His whole life, Ankerite was considered a freak, unable to shift fully into one form or another. Linden stood up for him and protected him right from the get-go, without even knowing anything about him or why he was running from Cole. He immediately took issue with Cole referring to Ankerite as “it” rather than “he,” and he didn't like it when one of his pack members got a little too familiar with Ankerite. I loved that.

Like I said, though, this story definitely has flaws. One of them is that there's not much there – this story felt more like a lead-in to a longer work than a complete and self-contained short story. By the end, readers know very little about any of the characters, except for maybe Ankerite. And the information we're given about Ankerite just brings up more questions. How long has he been on his own? Did anyone in his family ever try to look for him? What about Sam, his bodyguard? Did Sam only take care of him because he was paid to, or did he genuinely like Ankerite? What was Ankerite's life like when he wasn't running from werewolves? Was he friends with any of this coworkers at the bookstore he worked at, or did he just hide at home whenever he wasn't working? None of these questions are answered, and, as far as I can tell, Auster has no other stories, novellas, or books set in this world that could help fill in the blanks.

The world-building, what there was of it, wasn't very good. There were werewolves, they had territories that didn't necessarily encompass whole cities, and half-werewolf children couldn't fully shift into either human or wolf form and were generally looked down upon by other werewolves. Linden's pack seemed to be some kind of more-accepting offshoot. That's pretty much it. I couldn't even really say how homosexuality was viewed among the werewolves in this world, because, on the one hand, it seemed to be accepted without comment (Ron and Darren were more amused by Linden's protectiveness of Ankerite than anything) and, on the other hand, there was this thought Ankerite had when Linden kissed him:

“This was wrong but, at the same time, oh so right. Ankerite knew logically that they shouldn’t be doing this, but he no longer cared.” (21)

Was he thinking this because they were both guys? Because he was a half-werewolf and Linden was a full werewolf? I have no idea. Even during my first and most generous read, those two sentences confused me. This wasn't the only thing in the story that didn't quite make sense - how many modern-day people would be "crying for a stake" (17) after seeing Ankerite's ears? More likely, they'd initially think he was a cosplayer of something.

After my first read, I decided I enjoyed this story enough that I wanted to try one of Auster's longer works, so I bought Gatekeeper . Unfortunately, the flaws I was able to ignore in a shorter work like Moonlight's Silver became unbearable in Gatekeeper, and I have yet to finish that one.

[Trix · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed the story. However, the abrupt ending cut 1 star out of my rating.

This was an original twist to the werewolf genre. It wasn't about being turned into a werewolf or coming to terms with it. But instead, it was about being trapped between forms, being shunned by both worlds. I liked Ankerite from the start of the book, from the way he described his ambivalent nature, both physical and emotional, when he fought to bring to light his wolf but was unable to. I wanted to hug him and kiss it all better when reading about his suffering, at home as well as on the streets and his deep craving for affection and belonging.

But just when things were getting interesting, the story ends. There is no conclusion for why Darren joined Linden's pack and how things would settle with Cole. There is no explanation why Ankerite was born that way or whether there is a cure. There is no follow-up why his age mattered to Linden. No details how Linden came to power, about his pack, about Ankerite's past. No presentation of how things would evolve onward from their first meeting.

The story left more questions than it answered. I was quite engrossed in Ankerite and Linden's tale and had it been longer and more detailed, it surely would have earned more stars.

[J'aime · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love shapeshifter stories, especially in M/M romance. So I decided to give this short story a shot. Overall, it was enjoyable, but not quite as good as it could have been. Since this is a short story, the world-building was sketchy but more than sufficient for the length. The main character also got just enough background/description to make me like him, and want to know his story. And want him to have his HEA. Where it fell short was with his love interest.

Ankerite has been on the run - he's a half breed (not fully werewolf nor human). After successfully hiding for years he's discovered by another werewolf who begins to hunt him. Luckily, he runs into Linden's territory where he's claimed as the Alpha's mate. There is a very tender and explicit sex scene between them that made the story worthwhile, but Linden is never more than a one dimensional character. This limited the romance severely, even for a short story. However, the author introduces other characters and hints at unanswered questions that could lead into another story. I think that would be great - like Amber Kell's werewolves, the series of novellas is stronger as a whole than any individual story. Rayne's writing is good and I would eagerly read another story set in this world.

[Yuu Sasih · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite nice story, though it left lot of background story. Personally I didn't think that the theme suitable for a short-story, moreover when the setting needs further explanation. It could be suitable when the story took a setting in usual werewolf mating theme (both werewolf, usual custom), but in this there're half-breed werewolf, with half-human, half-wolf appearance that need further exploration, I think. And somehow the secondaries character demand an explanation also what with Darren, Linden's pack member, actually a twin brother of Cole, the one who hunt Ankerite. So I guess this story gonna be better with more length, maybe with at least 200 pages, not under 50 pages.

[Valeria Saveleva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this is really interesting and sexy story, but a little bit... too short. We want to know more about this couple, about their love and relationships, but there is just "the end". And that's all.
Characters are very impressive here. Really, I'd like to have a full novel about them, where we could find the whole story of their love and the pack.
The only good thing is that the author has written a lot of other great books.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★ = It was good but I wouldn't read it again.

Reeeeeally short. Like, 40 pages short. Amazing 40 pages but (as everyone else said) it's too short.

I love the twist on werewolves where he was a halfbreed stuck between human and wolf. I also liked the instant chemistry between the characters.

Good story. Good elements. Short 'n sweet.

[Betryal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Huh. A little short, very strange story because it's so clipped but would be rather interesting in a longer version. Now I'm wondering if these is a continue on or a series since the ending was short and abrupt.

[Cherie Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

More please...a sequel about the whole group please!!

[Miriki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish it were longer.

[Bookbee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 STARS

Shame it's not longer!