Dogged Pursuit: Shaggy's Story

My Halloween werewolf story, “Dogged Pursuit”, is a scorching hot MM novel. And of all my novels, it is the one readers have most asked for a sequel to. They love the fact that Dwyer lives in an ordinary city and has a regular day job. He isn’t in a werewolf community or place where being different is normal.
Because it’s an erotic romance, with lots of MM sex, keeping the plot moving forward demanded some of the backstory had to be cut out.
“Shaggy’s Story” was one such piece, that I had to remove so the story didn’t get slowed down.

It was a bitterly cold winter’s night and Cora Ainsley was rocking newborn Sally to sleep by the fire when Fred heard a noise at the door.
He hurried over and switched on the porch light but couldn’t see anything.
“Who is it, dear?” asked Cora.
“No one there. Must be the wind.”
But he heard it again. A soft whining. He opened the door and looked out. No one. And not really much wind either, although it was damn cold out there.
Something damp touched his slippered foot. Fred looked down and saw a tiny bedraggled ball of black fluff standing on four very wobbly little legs.
“Oh my goodness! Who are you and where did you come from?” he asked picking the tiny puppy up and quickly shutting the door behind them both.
Fred hurried back to the fire and gently put the pup on the rug in front of it while he went to get a towel to dry it off. “Although a handkerchief would likely be big enough to do the job,” he laughed to Cora.
Dark liquid eyes shone lovingly at the man as he rubbed the tiny fur ball dry, and a rough red tongue licked his hand in gratitude.
“Likely someone will come looking for him tomorrow,” warned Cora as the pup snuggled to sleep on Fred’s lap.
But no one came looking for him, and when the Ainsleys asked around the neighborhood, no one reported a lost pup either, so he stayed.
His coat remained a solid black color but shaggy as if it needed a trim, so Shaggy became his name. And he and baby Sally were inseparable, although he grew much faster than she did.
“I swear that dog is smarter than the average person,” Cora and Fred would say to each other at least once a week.
About eighteen months later, Shaggy and the toddler Sally were playing in the backyard as Cora was hanging out the laundry.
Suddenly there was frenzied barking, and sounds of splashing. Cora dropped the clothes in her arms and turned and began to run to the lake. But Shaggy was there long before her, the baby’s diaper gripped between his teeth as he dragged Sally from the water.
By the time Cora arrived, red-faced and puffing with exertion and panic, both dog and baby were sitting happily on the ground, huge grins on their faces.
“I swim. I swim” laughed Sally. Shaggy’s big red tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth as he grinned at Cora.
“Shaggy, Shaggy, how can I ever thank you? The baby would have drowned before I’d gotten there. If it wasn’t for you…” her breath hitched.
Shaggy just grinned, his dark liquid eyes showing he would always be there for the family he’d chosen as his.

Now, here is where Shaggy fits into the book:

One of the young men pulled a large knife from his sleeve. He held it up and the moonlight glinted off the long blade. “You’re dead,” he gloated to the old man, and slashed out at him.
The metallic smell of fresh blood slammed into Dwyer. The wolf raged through him. What right did these idiots have to terrorize the old couple? They were obviously not wealthy, just ordinary folks minding their own business. Did these punks think dressing up as vampires gave them the right to act as predators? Well, I'll show them a real predator!
Dwyer stretched out his arms into the moonlight, lifted his head, and howled. The wolf cry reverberated around the small park. Before the last echo faded, Dwyer had stripped out of his clothes and shoes, shaken all over like a dog shaking water off his coat, and turned into a large black wolf.
The wolf padded out from the trees, turned to face the wanna-be vampires, and howled again. The one with the knife looked at the huge animal and fled. The wolf stalked toward the vampire who held the woman, the one who had done the talking and seemed to be the leader. He opened his mouth wide, giving the young man a good look at all his sharp teeth, then bunched his hind legs and leaped.
The fake vampire's courage gave out. He let the old lady go and turned on his heel to run. But the wolf was faster. He grabbed the young man by the neck and shook him. There was the harsh, acrid smell of urine as the vampire wet himself. The wolf shook him again and let him go. The vampire took off like a rocket across the park.
The wolf turned around and saw the vampire who had been with the old man disappearing fast toward the river. For a moment, he considered giving chase, then decided against it. He wanted to teach them a lesson, not actually harm them.
Then shaky old arms wrapped themselves around the wolf's neck. "Shaggy, it's you, isn't it? Oh, Shaggy, it's so good to see you again."

“Dogged Pursuit”: blurb
Dwyer is a two-hundred-year-old werewolf currently working as a limo driver. He’s enticed by the scent of a man he has to take into the city. The man’s smell overwhelms him and calls to him “mate”. Yet he thought only a male and a female could mate and he is gay.
Nelson is equally attracted to Dwyer and the two spend a very hot night together.
However their second date is on Halloween and Dwyer is really struggling to keep his wolf under control. Nelson’s scent is giving him a permanent hard-on and his wolf is demanding to be let free, to bite and mate with Nelson.
Their new relationship is derailed by a group of wanna-be vampires robbing an elderly couple and the elderly couple strongly believe Dwyer is their pet dog come back to life, because it is Samhain.
How is Dwyer going to get himself out of this mess? And what will Nelson’s reaction be? Can they possibly have a future together now?
Buy link: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2887


Berengaria Brown

http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com/

http://berengariabrown.webs.com/