Shadows at Sunset: Sunset Trilogy ~ Book 1 (33 page)

If you enjoyed reading

Shadows at Sunset,

Don’t miss

Silence at Midnight

Book 2 of the Sunset Trilogy

Coming in 2016 from

Tonya Royston and Black Opal Books

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I’m not sure where to begin with this, so I will start with you. Yes, you, the reader. Thank you for picking this book out of hundreds of thousands to choose from. My hope that readers just like you would find this story someday motivated me over the last two years to finish it. So thank you for your interest and taking the time to read it. I can’t tell you how much it means to me!

Now for the people I couldn’t have done this without. To my Mom for listening to my ideas day in and day out. Having you as a sounding board was invaluable. Thank you for your support even when all I had to show for this idea were a few handwritten notebooks.

To my husband for sticking by me through thick and thin. This journey has been one filled with ups and downs. I couldn’t have done it without you by my side.

To my son, who at the time of publication isn’t old enough to read or understand this, thank you for giving us a five-minute scare when you ran off to the stream behind the horse pasture. Your little adventure inspired the beginning action in this story. But I’m grateful that it didn’t take until midnight to find you.

To my brother for actually getting the tattoo that I created for Xander. Thank you for bringing one of the images in this story to life and for making the design even better in the end. The fact that you made part of my first novel a permanent fixture in your life means the world to me.

To my sister for your amazing photography. Thank you for taking a fantastic picture that I could use for my website and author page in this book. As camera-shy as I am, you made this one little detail far less painful than it could have been.

To Lauren for reading the first few chapters of this story in rough draft. You were truly amazing to encourage me after suffering through the horrors of my rough draft. Thank you for believing in me even when the early stages of my writing needed so much work.

To Macie for being my first fan and for reading everything I sent you. Your excitement and energy helped me keep going. When others lost interest, you were always there to cheer me on.

To the Figment writers I met along the way, thank you for your feedback and encouragement. I truly enjoyed interacting with all of you. There are too many of you to mention by name, but you know who you are. I’m glad I took a chance on posting a few chapters because I learned a lot about my writing from all of your comments.

To my publisher, Black Opal Books, and the editors, Lauri, Faith and Joyce, thank you for taking a chance on my story and helping me through the editing stages. You showed me some of my weaknesses, and I believe I’m a better writer because of it.

To Jenn Gibson for the beautiful cover designs. Thank you for your hard work and dedication. You really captured the essence of this story and I couldn’t be happier with the final covers and bookmarks.

Lastly, to my extended family, coworkers, and friends as well as everyone mentioned above, thank you for putting up with me over the last two years. Thank you for looking at website designs, cover and bookmark artwork, and listening to me ramble on about my writing. I’m sure at times, it seemed endless. But this story would have meant nothing if I had no one to share it with. So thank you for helping me make this dream come true!

AUTHOR’S NOTE

I did a lot of research on the species I used for this story -- the wolf. What I learned struck a chord in my heart. There is still a lot of hatred for this species across our country. Some states allow them to be trapped and hunted for sport. I don’t understand this, and I never will. There are many organizations working hard to make the world a better place for wolves in the wild. I have found several -- Living With Wolves and The Wolf Conservation Center to name a few. These organizations are great resources if you are interested in learning more about wolves and the challenges they are currently facing.

Another part of my research led me to find several sanctuaries around the country that take in wolves and hybrids rescued from captive ownership. These sanctuaries discourage private ownership of these animals. I visited one of them and learned a few things that would definitely make me think twice about trying to own a wolf. For one thing, the sanctuary only allowed volunteers to enter the wolf pens after about one thousand hours of volunteer work. And even then, they didn’t guarantee volunteers the opportunity to step into a pen. Apparently, wolves can put a pretty big bruise on your backside. The guide said that these bruises could take months to heal. He also said guests often asked what he would rather have, a wolf or a wolf-hybrid. His answer was a wolf because the hybrids were more unpredictable. In his words, they could never decide if they wanted to be a wolf or a dog on any given day.

I admit that I know nothing about owning a wolf. The only way I would want to own one would be to keep it the way Laken keeps Dakota - by letting him roam free. And let’s face it-that probably isn’t going to happen. There are also laws regarding ownership of these animals. I don’t know the laws, but I can only imagine that complying with them must be very expensive. So if you love wolves, my advice is to do your research, educate yourself, and maybe even find a nearby sanctuary to support.

In closing, now that my first book has been published, I have a new dream. It’s not just that readers will enjoy this story, but it’s the hope that this story will create awareness for this amazing species. The wolf in this story is truly how I envision a wolf in the wild. Intelligent, loyal, and protective. He captured my imagination, and I hope he captured yours as well!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tonya Royston currently lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, son, two dogs, and two horses. Although she dreamed of writing novels at a young age, she was diverted away from that path years ago and built a successful career as a contracts manager for a defense contractor in the Washington, DC area. She resurrected her dream of writing in 2013 and hasn’t stopped since the first words of
The Sunset Trilogy
were unleashed.
Shadows at Sunset
is her first novel.

When she isn’t writing, Tonya spends time with her family. She enjoys skiing, horseback riding, and anything else that involves the outdoors.

More information about Tonya and her upcoming endeavors can be found at www.tonyaroyston.com.

GENRE: PARANORMAL THRILLER/YA/PARANORMAL ROMANCE

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, businesses, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, and registered service marks are the property of their respective owners and are used herein for identification purposes only. The publisher does not have any control over or assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their contents.

SHADOWS AT SUNSET ~ Book One of the Sunset Trilogy

Copyright © 2015 by Tonya Royston

Cover Design by Jennifer Gibson

All cover art copyright © 2015

All Rights Reserved

EBOOK ISBN: 978-1-626943-16-2

FIRST PUBLICATION: August 15, 2015

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