Paws, Magic and the Start Of It All

by Beany Sparks

What gave me the inspiration for the series? An anthology submission call.

I saw a submission call and thought it would be fun to write a story with a German Shepherd shifter so I started writing.

Aiden’s Shepherd was going to be my submission to the anthology and I had it all planned out. The word count was 10-30k and I thought, I can make it 15k and it’ll be fine. Famous last words! The story slowly got to 5k, then 10k, and then it took off. I spent days swearing at PITA because I knew deep down that it was going to go over the 30k. When I finished it (and finished swearing at PITA) it had gone over the 30k limit by a tiny amount and Ryan and Olly were already bugging me for their story. I sat down and decided to publish it on its own and not submit it for the call I had written it for. Then I needed a series name and publisher. Bailey (Bradford) helped with the series name and eXtasy Books accepted the story.

Ryan was mentioned in book 1 early on and I figured he would be one of the main characters in book 2, but Olly didn’t pop into my head until I was nearly done with book 1. He immediately demanded to be part of the series and to end up with Ryan, telling me that book 2 was going to be Ryan’s Wizard and he was going to be that wizard. I had been tossing with the idea that Ryan’s mate was going to be with the captured shifters but Olly wasn’t having it, Ryan was his. So I gave in and let him have his way (resisting would have just given me a headache).

Then PITA started pouting that he wasn’t getting enough attention so he made sure the ending to book 1 was a cliff hanger *sigh*

When I started writing Ryan’s Wizard, Ryan decided to be difficult. I had a release date, I had the deadline and no one was behaving! But eventually the story started moving forward and then more characters started talking to me and now I have twelve others sitting there looking at me, wanting their stories told while PITA stands there clapping his hands and looking at them while yelling “Puppies!” *rolls eyes* he keeps forgetting that not all of them are dogs…

About Ryan’s Wizard

An alpha ends up with more than he bargained for when he finds his mate…his wizard mate.

After years of no contact, Oliver “Olly” Grey was finally able to reunite with his cousin Aiden. He’s surprised to find that Aiden now has a mate—a male, shifter mate—named Lex. And it’s Lex’s pack mates that Olly is there to help save. What he hadn’t expected was Lex’s brother Ryan.

Ryan Shepherd was happy to have found his brother Lex, and even happier to know that his brother was happily mated. But there is something about Aiden’s cousin Olly that Ryan doesn’t trust, especially when he also smells like the man currently holding his pack members captive. Yet that doesn’t stop Ryan from wanting to hold and comfort the man, and eventually he realizes why—Olly is his mate.

Now the four of them need to plan a rescue mission, but what happens when they run into the two men that had held Lex captive and those same men come to the cabin in the middle of the night?

Available at: eXtasy Books & Amazon

An Excerpt from Ryan’s Wizard

Aiden burst out laughing and moved one hand to ruffle Olly’s hair.

“Hey!” Olly exclaimed as he pulled back in order to glare at Aiden, who just smiled bigger and pulled him back into his arms.

“I couldn’t resist,” Aiden said, the laughter evident in his voice.

“Yeah, whatever. Anyway, back to what I was saying, but hopefully without interruptions this time.” Olly looked pointedly at Ryan when he said that. Ryan seemed to be studying him intently, but didn’t utter a word.

Olly looked away and started talking again. “I know where the pack is, or at least, I know where a bunch of canine shifters are being held.”

“How do you know that they’re part of our pack?” Lex asked, sounding like he was trying to restrain his eagerness.

Olly turned to him. “Because I heard a few of the guards talk about how they captured a bunch of them together.”

“And why didn’t you get caught?” Ryan asked, anger in his voice.

“Because,” Olly paused, then sighed. “The house they’re being held in belongs to Walter.”

Aiden gasped and when Olly looked at him, he saw the horror that was on his face.

“How long has Walter had shifters imprisoned on his property?” Aiden asked, outrage in his voice.

“I don’t know for sure, but it would be a number of years.” Olly couldn’t face any of them as he said that.

“Who is this Walter?” Ryan growled.

Olly looked up at him, then looked away as he replied, “My father.”

About Beany Sparks

Beany lives in Western Australia. She first started reading romance novels in 2008, but it wasn’t until January 2010 when her Kindle got delivered that the world of erotic romance opened its doors to her, and she hasn’t looked back.

With suggestions and support from friends, her muse—“affectionately” known as PITA—was finally able to break free, and in January 2014 her first story was written. Since she can’t put PITA back in his box, Beany has decided to give in and team up with him. Together they’ve made plans to write both MF and MM stories.

Find out more about Beany on her Website or email her at beany.sparks@gmail.com.

As part of this blog tour, Beany is giving away an eBook copy of Ryan’s Wizard to one lucky winner!! To enter, just click the link below!

Rafflecopter Giveaway

Please be aware that the only way to enter the giveaway is to click the Rafflecopter link above. Any comments on this post will not count towards entering the giveaway unless otherwise stated but are still welcome anyway.

Don’t forget to check out Nikyta’s review of Ryan’s Wizard to see what she thought of it!

Good luck!