Cursed by Zeus to live in the body of a wolf, Lycaon found a way to change his shape into a human form, but he can't quite get rid of some wolfish qualities. I think of him as savagely handsome like Jason Momoa in Game of Thrones. I decided to go all the way with making my hero look the part of a beast, but still make him appealing. A Beauty and the Beast story doesn't work for me unless the "Beast" actually looks the part like in the B&TB series in the 1980s with Ron Pearlman as the Beast. I wasn't going to wimp out and make my hero too handsome when he's supposed to be cursed with a beastly appearance.
Book Title: The Wolf Queen
Author: Kelley Heckart
Author website: http://www.kelleyheckart.com
Genre: Greek myths/fantasy/werewolves/romance
Release date: 12/17/15
Page Count: 246
ISBN-13: 978-1519606242
ISBN-10: 1519606249
ASIN: B019HML564
Kindle Buy Link: http://amzn.to/1Mk95rZ
Trade Paperback Buy Link on amazon.com: http://amzn.to/1Mk9aMc
Blurb
The Wolf Queen
Book 2: The Arcadia Series
A new twist on Beauty and the Beast and the Greek myth of
Lycaon the werewolf. A Bronze Age fantasy, adventure, and romance set in
Arcadia, the wild forests of the goddess Artemis… Game of Thrones meets The
Iliad…
A tormented wolf man… A mysterious girl with a terrible
secret…
Alara, a princess from a foreign land, is forced to wed the
sorcerer-king Aramon, a power-hungry warlord, who discovers her dark secret and
wants to use her to create an invincible army. When she meets Lycaon, she must
decide if she should trust the cursed, tormented half-man half-wolf who might
be her enemy or her true mate.
Lycaon, once a great king until he was cursed by Zeus to be
a werewolf, is drawn to the mysterious princess. He is torn between helping
Alara escape and using her to gain power over those who despise him.
Secrets abound and old enemies are reunited to battle Aramon
before his terrible plan is unleashed. Time is running out as the dark moon
approaches. Soon, Arcadia will be overrun with an unstoppable, vicious army
unless Aramon can be defeated. To prevent his victory, the cost is high. As
Lycaon’s affection for Alara grows, it becomes more difficult for him to decide
which to save: Arcadia or her.
“Ms. Heckart draws the reader into the pages and enchants
them with her words.”
Karen McGill, Coffee Time Romance
Excerpt
(PG):
Although
she had been warned of Lycaon’s band of misfits, seeing them watching her with
cold eyes made her skin crawl. “Y-you are a goat man.” She stared in
astonishment at the horns, the pointed ears, and goat legs with hooves covered
in thick brown hair. Despite being half goat, he was the most handsome man she
had ever seen with bright, slanted blue eyes and shoulder-length dark brown
hair, some strands knotted into warrior braids. A belted loincloth covered little,
revealing a muscular upper body.
He
raised a bushy eyebrow. “I prefer satyr.”
The
other odd-looking people laughed.
She
opened her mouth to speak again, but the circle parted and a man stepped
forward. A hood covered his head, so she could only see glimpses of his face—a
flash of fang-like teeth, fierce eyes, and lots of dark hair. She shrank back
from the man who looked like a mix of human and wolf.
“Who
in Tartarus are you, and what are you doing in my lands?” His voice sounded
like a vicious snarl.
Transfixed
by his appearance, she wondered what the rest of his face looked like beneath
the hooded tunic. Towering over her, his muscles strained against the dark
brown woolen tunic and deerskin leggings he wore. Masculine power encircled him
like a god’s nimbus, in the proud way he carried himself, and in the way he
commanded their attention, for even his companions stepped back and looked at
him with reverence, even the giant who barely stood taller than what glared at
her now.
Alara
eyed his large feet covered in laced up leather boots, afraid he might kick
her, his anger at her quite apparent by the claw-like hands, partially covered
in fingerless leather gloves, fisted at his sides. All she could see were his
eyes, framed by heavy, dark, forbidding eyebrows, fixated on her from within
the hood. Ice blue and emerald green rings. Fiery golden flecks. Intense and
feral. She would never forget them. He held back his anger, but for how long?
“I-I came…” His fierce stare made her forget her speech.
****
Multi-published author Kelley Heckart lives in Arizona with
her musician husband, dog and a number of backyard “pets,” including Godzilla
the desert iguana. Her stories reflect her passion for ancient and medieval
time periods, storytelling and the supernatural. Inspired by the ancient Celts,
her tales are filled with fierce warriors, bold women, otherworldly creatures,
magic, and romance. When not writing, she works as a freelance editor and
practices target archery. She can be found online at http://www.kelleyheckart.com/
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Kelley Heckart,
Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
