When I was growing up, I saw Dracula in plays and movies, and werewolves and other beasties such as gargoyles and wraiths and ghosts in other movies or books, none of whom were the “good” guys. Dracula came the closest to being sexy—I was ready to throw myself on stage and under his spell, knocking the lucky actress out of his grasp just for a chance to have him bite “my” neck. *sigh*
As for werewolves, there was the occasional shapeshifter who felt remorse, but had no control over the evil he did when in his beastly wolf form. So I felt some sympathy for him. But sexy? Or desirable? Nope. Although I did want to save him. It seemed that the only good werewolf, like the only good vampire, was a dead one.
But just like there are evil humans among us, I kept feeling there are good vampires and good werewolves too. Ghosts were about the only exception. Some were evil. Some good. So why not werewolves and vampires?
I didn’t want to create hideous beastly werewolves though. How could they be a sexy human hunk, and then shapeshift into some horrible predator?
Reading Jack London’s tales, White Fang and Call of the Wild, gave me a love of wolves. I wanted to see the wolves live in peace with humans. And that love became the basis for my werewolves who as humans have wolf instincts, and as wolves (unlike many of the old werewolf tales) have human instincts. They are wolves in their wolf form, not some aberration, beautiful, majestic, hunters, but love to play, bond with their family, and mate for life.
The hunky human side can be just as playful, protective, and committed and that makes them totally sexy.
Here’s a snippet from Legend of the White Wolf, after Cameron discovers what the Arctic wolf’s bite has done to him and Faith believes he’s none other than an Arctic wolf:
He bolted for her, the thrill of the chase coursing through his blood. The dogs barked with glee and Cameron lunged for her.
As soon as he pounced on her back, she screamed and fell face first in the snow. And then, lay very still, but he didn’t move either. If he released her, she’d go for the weapon. She continued to remain motionless. From the sound of her too-rapid heartbeat, her heavy breathing, and her slight trembling, he knew she hadn’t passed out, but rather was playing possum. He wanted to smile at her clever deception.
The playful urge to take her down gave way to something deeper, more primal and possessive. How could he want her now when he was a wolf? But the more he tried to deny his feelings, the greater his need to have and protect her surged through him.
From Legend of the White Wolf, © Terry Spear, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2010
Not only did I want to create sexy werewolves, I wanted them to have a HEA. No sense in making readers fall in love with them if they had to die. The werewolves that is. Not the readers.
The great thing about werewolves is that they could be living next door to you, help you jumpstart your car the next time your battery goes dead, fix a flat, loan you a cup of sugar—or if you’re stuck in the Maine wilderness in a snowstorm, heat up the sauna and join you.
Hope you give them a chance. I think every sexy supernatural being deserves a HEA.
So what do you think? Sexy werewolf a possibility?
LEGEND OF THE WHITE WOLF—IN STORES FEBRUARY 2010
Award-Winning Author introduces the next installment of her paranormal romance series
A 2008 Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year Award Winner!
Night Owl Romance Reader Choice Award for Best Paranormal 2008
In this fourth in Spear's series, Private Eye Cameron MacPherson and Faith O'Mallery are both on quests that lead them into the world of magical wolves...
Cameron arrives in the Canadian Arctic to search for his partners in his P.I. business who are late returning from a hunting trip. Faith is there to discover what her father had seen in the same area years earlier that had made him lose touch with reality—man-wolves, he called them.
The two tumble into an icy world of enemies bent on destroying the lupus garou kind. As they turn into lupus garou themselves, and bond with the pack that only they can rescue from destruction, Cameron and Faith find their soul mates in each other.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry Spear has an MBA from Monmouth College. As an eclectic writer, she dabbles in the paranormal, historical and true life stories for both teen and adult audiences. She is the author of Winning the Highlander’s Heart and The Vampire in My Dreams (young adult). Spear lives in Crawford, Texas.
You can find Terry at the following places:
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