The
Messenger
Alex
Forsyth thought her new life in Washington would be boring and safe. That was
until she met the skinwalker.
When
Alex meets her new friend, Cougar “Coug” MountainScreamer, she becomes the
first outsider to learn of the skinwalker curse. It’s bad enough that Coug has
trouble controlling his own shapeshifting and supernatural abilities, but that’s
not to mention that Cougar isn’t the only skinwalker in his tribe. And his new
friendship with Alex doesn’t sit well with Dante Beran, the spirit of the
grizzly bear.
Naturally
ambitious and charismatic, Dante is the son of Benjamin Beran, the badger-skinwalker
“chief” of the Puyallup Tribe. Dante is also one of four skinwalkers living on
the Puyallup Reservation, and considered the “leader” in his father’s absence.
He’s the tallest, known to be the brawn of the team, and is very comfortable in
his own skin. What he’s not
comfortable with is seeing an outsider meddling in the secret world she doesn’t
belong in.
Because of his skinwalker abilities and
the connection he has to the grizzly bear’s spirit, Dante is naturally
protective of those he loves. Like a mother bear, he wants to protect his
“brothers” Cougar and Caleb from anything that could be considered a threat,
including Alex. Dante is very in-control of his abilities, but his morality
does not appeal to the same ideals as Cougar’s does. In other words: he’s a
better skinwalker than Cougar, and by comparison, much more willing to kill.
In The
Messenger, Dante goes through his own journey in discovering what being a
skinwalker really is. Is it really just the hatred, which has defined those
cursed for a hundred and more years? While Cougar tries to get through to Dante
to convey the message that there’s something more, it already may be too late
to make a difference. The hard-headed bear isn’t quite ready to listen, and
that puts Cougar and Alex in terrible danger.
Available from MuseItUp Publishing (https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=398&category_id=69&keyword=The+Messenger&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1)
Amazon Kindle (http://www.amazon.com/The-Messenger-ebook/dp/B008MMXCSA/)
Trivia
·
The bear’s symbolism is
leadership, protectiveness, and the power of dreams.
·
Out of the three skinwalker
boys of the Puyallup Tribe, Dante is the only one who has actually met either
of his parents.
·
Dante was the first one who
started using his shapeshifting as a way of getting around fishing laws in the
Puyallup River without getting caught. Cougar and Caleb only followed his lead.
·
Dante slept away his entire
sixth year of life after his father explained how his mother died. It was the
first time he used “hibernation” as a way to cope with pain.
·
He actually has the healthiest
eating habits of the four Puyallup skinwalkers. Apples are his favorite foods.
·
Although he’s very comfortable
the way he is, Dante admires Caleb Dorado, the golden eagle skinwalker, a lot.
He’d keep it a secret for his own pride, but secrets are hard to keep from each
other when you’re connected at the mind.
·
His birthday is October 12th.
·
Dante mastered lucid dreaming
at the age of four. All he has to do is go to sleep thinking about it, and when
he closes his eyes he remembers he’s dreaming.
·
His late mother’s name was Ella
Jamieson, but he never got to meet her.
·
Dante has a very double-sided
personality, being gentle and caring to those he approves of and devastatingly
violent to those he doesn’t.
Excerpt
When
Cougar fails to listen, Dante pulls Alex aside instead, giving her one chance
to stop spending time around the skinwalkers…
“He’s my brother,”
Dante spat at me, his lip curling to reveal a tooth so large I wouldn’t be
surprised if he could break bones with it alone. “And we may not have the same
parents, but we have the same mind. We may not be the same pedigree, but
he’ll always be blood to me. To you…” he said, sounding nothing less than
disgusted. I stared at him as he collected his words, scowling in my face.
“He’ll always be nothing more than a pet.”
I knew it wasn’t true,
everything he was saying. I knew it wasn’t true, or at least I forced myself to
believe it wasn’t true. And I refused to think that Cougar meant any less to me
than the very best friend I had. I refused to think I could ever think of him
the way Dante accused me of.
“Cougar,” I said,
lifting my eyes to stare into the eyes of the beast. Dante’s almond eyes
narrowed at me, the menacing maroon around his irises looking like ripples in a
pool of blood. He clenched his teeth at me, but my eyes remained steady,
relying on my understanding of Dante’s self-control. I lifted my chin at him,
taking a deep breath before continuing. “Cougar…hates me with every cell in his
body. And I’m scared of him.”
“Then back off.”
I stared at him,
trying to look so much stronger than I was.
“No.”
And while my words, my
eyes, my stomach were all so strong, in the back of my mind I was crying tears
I knew I would never be able to cry. Stop it, I begged him in my mind. Stop
making me feel like this.
“What did you
say?” he asked, stepping forward and leaning down so close our faces almost
touched. “Say that again.”
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