Wild Retaliation by Ethan Stone, Guest Post & Excerpt!

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Hi guys, we have Ethan Stone stopping by today with his upcoming release Wild Retaliation,the first book in his new Seaside Shifters series, we have a brilliant guest post about his world building and we have a great excerpt, so check out the post and enjoy! <3 ~Pixie~

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Wild Retaliation

(Seaside Shifters 01)
by

Ethan Stone

Chief of Police John Dakota is in a world of trouble. His peaceful town of Seaside, Oregon, has been rocked by a wave of unsolved murders. The bloody deaths are eerily reminiscent of ones that occurred in Seaside years ago. Back then John worked hard to make sure the truth about the killer was never revealed. Now he’s afraid the past is coming back to haunt him.

Trevor English, the nosy reporter who occasionally shares John’s bed, is demanding information about the crimes. He also wants more of John’s affections. But John can’t afford to give in to either demand without risking the revelation of Seaside’s biggest secret: the town is a haven for shifters, and John is one of them.

To solve the crime—and prevent more victims—John must delve into the past. Many members of Seaside’s shifter community are involved, but it’s becoming harder and harder to tell which residents can be trusted. Even John’s family isn’t above suspicion. The body count is rising, and it looks like John is the killer’s next target.

Release date: 7th September 2016
Pre-order: Dreamspinner Press

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World Building

by Ethan Stone

As a shifter book Wild Retaliation is a bit of a departure for me. Yeah I wrote Wolf Moon, a wolf shifter book, years ago but I went into that kind of clueless regarding world building when I started it.

When I was done with that book I swore I would never write a paranormal book again. So when I started writing Wild Retaliation I decided I wouldn’t face the same problems I did with Wolf Moon and that meant a fair amount of world building.

Though the story mainly focuses on a bear shifter there are other kinds of shifters either seen or mentioned. The sequel, already written, submitted and accepted, is about a member of the same bear family but future books in the Seaside Shifter series will feature other species. Seaside is a shifter haven, a place for them to live or visit. And while there are regular people residents not all of them know about the existence of shifters.

One thing I made different from other shifter books out there is that all species live in packs. There aren’t large groups of species grouped together in Seaside, except for family members. They all just kind of mingle together based on who they like personally.

Also absent is the heavily delineated lines of alpha, beta, omega, etc. I do mention alphas but it’s more in line with the standard alpha male idea. There are certain rules attached to the alphas, however.

There was also the matter of mpreg. What did I do with that subject? You’ll just have to read to find out.

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Excerpt

WHAT A way to wake up—checking out a dead body.

The nude corpse of a young man reclined against the trunk of a tree, its head lolling to the right. Legs spread wide, stomach ripped open with guts spilling out. Flies were buzzing around the wound, and the stench was horrendous.

I tried to breathe through my mouth as I got up close, wishing I was still in bed. I’d been in the middle of a very nice dream when my officer called to tell me a dead body had been found. I would’ve chewed Brewster’s ass for ringing me at five in the morning for anything less. He once woke me because he didn’t know how to replace the ink in the fax machine. Brewster’s a good cop, despite not always being the smartest.

Figured the body was on the Tillamook Trail, one of the most popular tourist destinations, just as the season was beginning. Most of the year, Seaside, Oregon, had a population of about six thousand; during the summer it swelled to thirty thousand or more.

Brewster had warned me it was bad, but I figured he was exaggerating. Turned out he wasn’t.

“Pretty gruesome, isn’t it, Chief?” Brewster stood a few feet behind me, a hand covering his mouth.

Gruesome was an understatement. And he didn’t know the half of it. I’d been prepared for something bad when my normally calm and collected officer insisted I get there right away. But I hadn’t been prepared for it to remind me of something I thought I’d put behind me.

It wasn’t just what I saw that disturbed me, but rather what I didn’t see.

“Where’s the left arm?” I was pretty sure I knew the answer but prayed I was wrong.

“It’s missing. We’ve searched.”

So much for prayers being answered. Thanks a lot, Mother Earth.

“Any sign of his clothes?” I asked.

“Negative.”

Of course not.

“What the hell happened here, Chief?” Brewster asked. “Some kind of animal attack? I can’t imagine a person being able to do this.”

I ran a hand through my hair. I knew there was an option other than human or animal. Brewster didn’t know about shifters—very few regular folk did. “Scour the area for any other body parts. Then haul everything back to the medical examiner’s office so Doc Northrup can take a gander. Pick up everything in the area. Every piece of trash and every loose leaf, even if you don’t think it’s important. Also look for any footprints or animal tracks. Make plaster casts of any that you find.”

“You got it, Chief.”

I caught another scent—something other than the rotting corpse. It was a strong smell that burned my nostrils. The nearer to the body I was, the stronger the odor.

“Do you smell anything odd?” I asked. “And I don’t mean the body.”

He inhaled and squinted his eyes. “Now that you mention it, I do. It’s kind of familiar.”

Yeah, it was familiar. I patted my duty belt and one of the items I always carried—OC spray, better known as pepper spray. I pulled out the canister and showed it to Brewster. “Like this?”

He snapped his fingers. “Yup, that’s it. Do you think the killer used it to subdue him?”

“I don’t think so,” I replied. “He’s been dead a couple hours at least. The smell would’ve worn off by now. I’d say the body was doused in the pepper spray very recently, probably when it was dumped.”

“But why?”

I ignored the question, though I had a suspicion the murderer was a shifter and knew I was the chief of police. Using the pepper spray would’ve masked his scent, preventing me from identifying him.

“Let’s keep the press out of this, for now at least.”

The Seaside Signal wasn’t a national newspaper, but Trevor English, the sole reporter, could be tenacious. I did my best to avoid him, mainly because we’d hooked up several times. Basically, anytime we saw each other, we’d end up in bed. I had fun with Trevor, but he wanted more than an occasional booty call, and I… didn’t. I wasn’t interested in a relationship, and I worried continuing to see him would give him hope that didn’t exist.

I especially didn’t want pictures of the scene out in the public. It wouldn’t be long until the similarities between this death and ones in the past were linked—mainly the missing arm and lack of clothes. I needed to delay that for as long as possible. If Trevor did hear about the body, I could claim I needed time to identify the victim and contact the family. I didn’t recognize the young man, so that probably meant he was a tourist.

“Who discovered the body?”

“Lucille DeMatteo,” Brewster replied. “She’s sitting in my cruiser right now. I took her statement, but I figured you might want to talk to her too.”

“Good thinking. I’ll give her a ride back into town. Let me know when you get back with the body.”

“Yes, sir.”

I strolled over to Lucille, a middle-aged woman who’d recently lost a ton of weight. She’d been tipping the scales at almost four hundred pounds but had a come-to-Jesus moment when she almost died of a stroke. Lucille was down to around two fifty now, thanks to a proper diet and lots of exercise, which included jogging the local trails.

“Lucille, how are you?” I asked. She got out of the car when she saw me approaching, and I opened my arms so she could walk into my hug.

“It was horrible, John.”

I patted her back and made soothing noises. “Can you tell me what happened?”

She stepped back and wiped the tears from her face. “I was jogging, and the smell hit me when I came by. I thought it was just a dead animal, and I was going to tell someone at animal control, so I went in for a closer look. I lost it when I saw him. Oh my God, John, his guts were… they were everywhere.”

Lucille started bawling again, so I comforted her until she was under control.

“Anyway,” she continued, “I called you guys right away. I’m sorry, but I vomited on the trail. I tried to get away from the body so I didn’t mess up your scene more than I did.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that,” I said. “Did you recognize him?”

She shook her head. “Probably not a local.”

I asked her a few more questions and figured she hadn’t noticed the left arm was missing.

“You’ll call us if you think of anything else, right?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Can I give you a ride home?”

“Actually, my car is down at the first parking lot. Could you take me there?”

“Of course.” We strode to my jeep, and I opened the passenger-side door for her.

I drove down to the first of three parking lots and dropped her off near her vehicle. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk to anyone about what you saw here.”

“Certainly,” she responded, though I wasn’t filled with confidence. Lucille was a bit of a gossip, but at least I could count on the missing left arm staying a secret.

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About Ethan

Ethan Stone Avatar_ES 300X300Ethan Stone doesn’t write your typical boy meets boy stories. With a combination of love and suspense he makes his characters work hard for their HEAs. If they can survive what he puts them through, then they can survive anything. He enjoys Romance with an Edge.

Ethan has been reading mysteries and thrillers since he was young. He’s had a thing for guys in uniform for just as long. That may have influenced the stories he writes.

He’s a native Oregonian with two kids. One of whom has made him a grandfather three times over; even though he is way too young.

Readers can find Ethan online.

AUTHOR LINKS:

Email: ethanstone.nv@gmail.com | Pinterest |  Tumblr | Ethan’s Books

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