Tuesday, March 15, 2016

New Release: Enemy Red (Mark of Lycos #1) by Marie Harte

Please welcome Marie Harte to the bloggity as she tells us about alpha vs alpha. How to have an alpha female matched with an alpha male and making it work. I have to admit, I had my doubts when I read the blurb to this story, so I am glad I have this guest post from Marie explaining it all to us. Now I want to read the book to find out how Marie pulled this off with Rudra and Fenris.

Welcome Marie ...


Pairing an alpha with an alpha. How do you make that work without making the male seem weak and the female seem bitchy?

Alpha Meets Alpha

wol

One of the challenges of pairing partners of equal strength is overcoming the stereotypes that come with each gender. If a woman is strong, she’s bitchy. If a man is sensitive, he’s weak. Granted, we all know this not to be true, but perceptions of genders persist, no matter how much we try not to see them that way.


In ENEMY RED, my hero and heroine are both alpha types. Rudra, the heroine, is alpha of her clan. She’s in charge of everyone, a strong shifter and sorcereress. She has to be strong, but she’s compassionate. By softening her without compromising her power, and making her level-headed, she comes across as assertive and not bitchy. Then again, I don’t mind a bitchy heroine, as long as she’s not like that all the time. Rudra has to be powerful to be in charge. But, she can concede in the bedroom. That’s where story magic can really happen. Ha.

In turn, the hero, Fenris, is a rare werewolf who bears the Mark of Lycos. In their world, only the ultimately powerful can become an amalgam of man and wolf. Typical shifters can’t assume this in between form. They are either man or animal, not both. But Fenris has an inborn strength, a purity of soul, making him able to take on the role of alpha if he wanted it. When he meets Rudra, his only thought leaves, relying on instinct. And that instinct tells him to take her as mate. He’s strong, yet he’s overwhelmed. When he wakes and is forced to live in her world, he has no problems taking orders from her in her pack, because his strength allows him to obey without seeming weak. In that way, he’s so assured of his own power that giving in to Rudra does nothing to his confidence. He’s not arrogant, just sure of himself. Not weak.

It was a steady balance of both characters strengths and weaknesses, but in the end it all worked. Mostly, I think, because Rudra could allow herself to let down in bed, and Fenris could allow himself to let down in other aspects of his life. So the two met in the middle.

Alpha to alpha, heart to heart.

Marie

And now more about the book ....

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Enemy Red
Mark of Lycos #1
By: Marie Harte
Releasing March 15, 2016 
Totally Bound Publishing

Buy Links:  Amazon 


Synopsis


No one likes an arranged marriage, and Fenris, a golden wolf in the Silver Clan, plans to avoid it as long as he can. But the Wolf in the Forest has heard the prayers of another and grants the female her wish.

Unfortunately for Fenris, his destined mate is an alpha in her own right, and an enemy who plans on taking the Silver Clan, and Fenris, apart one bite at a time.

Until Fenris bites back.


Note: This is a previously released title.



Excerpt

Wishing for a towel, he decided to let himself dry off naturally. As he stood in the calm and listened to the water flow, he noticed the sudden silence around him. Too quiet. Not good. As if thinking about trouble conjured it, Fenris suddenly found himself surrounded by unfamiliar wolves, a few foxes and one huge-ass grizzly bear.

“Shit.” Several of the wolves had reddish fur. Red wolves encroaching on his clan’s territory? “What the hell are you assholes doing on Silver land?”

He didn’t expect them to answer, nor was he surprised when they suddenly attacked. Shifting into his wolf, he dodged one set of claws and rammed into another wolf, knocking it back. Teeth tore into his hind leg before he kicked himself free. Turning, he met another pair of attackers and narrowly avoided getting his throat ripped out. With a vicious bite, he ripped into the ear of one wolf and shoved a fox away by gouging down his belly.

Then a large, red wolf hit him in the side and knocked him down. He fought back for a split second before the strangest feeling settled over him. He took the wolf’s scent deep into his lungs and smelled female…and something more.

Animalistic desire knifed through him. Between one heartbeat and the next, his anger turned to lust. He sprang to his feet and shoved the female down. When she rose, he mounted her, his instinct to mate overriding his senses. Fenris forgot everything but the need to release deeply inside the quivering wolf beneath him.

Just as he readied to thrust, something knocked him to the ground. A massive grizzly snarled and razed a blow to his head that stunned him. Other red wolves turned on him, biting and gouging, until he lay covered in blood. Still, the desire inside him throbbed, growing with every painful breath he took of that beautiful, red wolf with the strange, yellow eyes.

She barked at the others. Cease. Leave off. This one is mine. Then she pounced and closed her jaws over his throat. Despite the danger of the situation, Fenris sighed with a strange contentment before blackness overtook him.



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Author Info


jsCaffeine addict, boy referee, and romance aficionado, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Marie Harte has over 100 books published with more constantly on the way.

She’s a confessed bibliophile and devotee of action movies. Whether hiking in Central Oregon, biking around town, or hanging at the local tea shop, she’s constantly plotting to give everyone a happily ever after.

Author Links:  Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads







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2 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I'm quite intrigued by it. I want to read it, but I'm not sure how I'd handle an alpha female even after Marie's explanation.

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