Blog Tour, Guestpost & Giveaway:
Running Ember by Meraki P. Lyhne
To worldbuild something as vast as this series, I have to know 80% more than what goes into the books. That means I write short stories for me, only, and some I share with my subscribers on Ream (like Patreon but created for authors by authors) https://reamstories.com/merakiplyhne
The Vargr series is praised for massive worldbuilding.
Regional Alpha Tristan’s birth is important to the plot, but it has never been described in the books. This is a snippet, and the full short story is only on Ream for subscribers.
“Show us, Jungu,” Elakdon urged. The wolf set off, and Elakdon and Randr ran to follow, running about a mile. It was late, and very little light colored the horizon. Guards soon joined them with torches, banding around them, and Jungu kept a pace they could just follow.
The Feral Vargr wolf finally stopped at the foot of a mound, and the light from the torches let Elakdon see a hole in the side. It was a wolf den, and a baby cried in there.
“By the gods!” Elakdon tossed his cape and quickly bellied his way through the cold and narrow earthy canal. He couldn’t see a thing. “Thyra!” She whimpered. “I’m going to help, I promise!” Elakdon slowed down and felt around in the pitch black, easily recognizing her fur. Other than a baby crying, he also heard puppies.
“Get her Pack Alpha!” Randr commanded.
“Grand Sire!”
Something small, soft, and warm came into contact with Elakdon’s hand, and he mentally mapped out all he couldn’t see of the cramped space. He’d entered the den enough to locate Thyra, feel out where she was, find four puppies, and finally, his hands came into contact with cold flesh. “Oh, little baby. Little baby,” Elakdon cooed and scooted around enough to be able to pull the baby to lie on his naked chest to share warmth, but it wasn’t exactly warm enough. Also, the den was not big enough for him to really do much. “Thyra, can I bring your Vargr baby to the house? He needs heat, and I don’t fit in here.” Communicating with a Vargr in feral form was not easy, though, and he had trouble understanding her desperate whimpers. He felt out her form until he found an ear. “Do you trust me with your baby?” He felt her nod.
The Vargr Series, Book 8
They’d expected the run of the North to be just that—a run to pull the biggest bond of Alphas in thousands of years. What none of them had expected was to find secrets of the past buried in the old and scarcely touched nature of Scandinavia.
In one instance after another, the past tosses its puzzle pieces at them for the Völve to work with, and as they gather the clues, synchronicity aids by lining up strange occurrences.
The ones that are hit the hardest are Pack Alpha Steffen and Nol-Elakdon. With help from the bond, they both have to deal with the necessities of going against their ways to figure out what’s going on. Digging for answers unearths a corner piece, and they finally have an idea of what they’re up against.
Something forgotten. Something they don’t know. Something that simply can’t be true.
And the wind brings news for the Völve to hear: “Rigr, Rigr, it’s time to rise, for swans to land, and for eagles to fly. Valkyrie, Valkyrie, pick your warrior. It’s time for them to burn!”
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To celebrate the release of Running Ember, Meraki is giving away a copy of Book 1 Slumbering Ember!
Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win!
Check Out The Vargr Series
The belief in the old Norse gods may have been suppressed by Christianity, but that doesn’t mean the races of old didn’t survive. Like the Vargr wolves.
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Book 1: Slumbering Ember
All Matt knows of his dad is that he was Danish and that he’d died in a motorcycle accident ten years earlier. When Matt’s sixteen and a half, his mother declares it important that he at least knows the other half of his heritage, so she sends him from the States to Denmark as an exchange student for a year.
Matt’s not overly excited. Matt’s a loner who doesn’t connect with people. Going to a foreign country was never a part of his plans, but he’d do it for her. He’d go to where she’d loved the only man in her life. The love that gave her Matt.
Everything he’s heard from his mom and read about Denmark and the area he’s going to live in did not prepare him for what he finds, though—a heritage that has an old Norse god on the family tree.
Please note that this is the second edition, and the “political chapter” has been heavily revised. Meaning deleted.
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Book 2: Awakening Ember
All his life, Matt had been alone with his mom, but the Vargr in him responds quickly to meeting his pack. His relationship with his lover Rasmus evolves, and he’s grown tight friendships with the other Vargr pups.
Matt has also started Alpha training and is being taught and guided in what that means for him and the ember that awoke in him far too early.
Pack Alpha Steffen keeps a close eye on their new pup and the powerful ember Matt arrived with. It worries him—not just for Matt but because of the lore and history of how the Vargr pack Sköll Hati had gotten their name.
He senses trouble on the horizon. When Matt’s ember reacts violently around a Geri Freki Alpha, Steffen must step in and step up. The trouble that lands on his doorstep is but the beginning of whatever he fears lays ahead.
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Book 3: Whispering Ember
Matt’s Sköll Hati pack has forcefully merged with the Geri Freki pack on their territory. The many changes challenge all Alphas, who step up to meet the needs of their pack. It challenges the young Alphas to grow. With a whispering ember, Matt’s gaining new insight into the Alpha he’s growing into.
Steffen will die for his pack’s prosperity. Standing the only conquering Pack Alpha in all of Sköll Hati, he’s proven that once before. Having fought to secure his pack again, he relishes in prosperity and fights to grow despite the changes to their structure. A Pack Alpha never stands alone, though. Other than seeing Matt rise to a challenge, Steffen’s focus on prosperity brings a new possible ally to their doorstep.
Frederik rose to have black fur, and he’s since then been renamed Hati. But he’s not doing well with fame. He yearns for something he doesn’t know and dreams of freedom he doesn’t understand.
Then he feels the pull of a new Alpha. All the fame and expectations that smother him seems bearable with the feel of that Alpha. And Hati needs him!
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Book 4: Flaring Ember
After a harsh time with both personal trials and developments, Matt is ready to start college among humans. However ill-equipped he feels around humans, a lonely Geri Freki pup at school pokes at the Alpha in Matt to step up.
Steffen and Tristan are struggling to keep up with the latest changes, and more are coming. With the Alphas of all rising and more and more details from the prophecies lining up, things aren’t slowing down. But Tristan brings an important ally with another piece of the puzzle.
Hati is finally with his Vargr mate, but his human side lacks a vital bond. The many changes since he found his mate and moved to a new pack are piling on, and the importance of balancing his Vargr and human side become more and more critical.
Then Völsung stops by and kicks everything to a new level.
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Book 5: Smoldering Ember
The warrior Sköll has finally risen, and the power of the ember now drives Sköll as the four legendary wolves gear up to face their enemy. They won the first battle. That battle started a war.
It seems the lot in Matt’s life that every time he conquers a challenge, something new is thrust upon him. He finally stands the risen Vargr, Sköll. His fur shone beautifully white in the moonlight—a stark contrast to the blood looking black as it ran down his torso.
Hati is now driven by an individual ember, but its purpose has to save his mate from succumbing to bloodthirst. Hati needs to learn to channel their vision for the future as his mate rises with preparedness for war far exceeding what anyone had imagined.
Pack Alpha Steffen has his work cut out for him. Having the four legendary wolves on his territory isn’t easy. At least his Alpha mate, Regional Alpha Tristan, has contacts to aid the Alphas rising to take on the battle that no Pack Alpha could aid them in alone. But first…damage control.
Tristan isn’t the only one bringing in a powerful ally. Queue the epic soundtrack. The newly risen Cubi King of the West has an old school buddy who needs a hand in seeing a common vision through.
Ghosts from the past haunt them, along with Völsung whispers from the shadows. The most dangerous enemy, though, whispers from within.
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Book 6: Historic Ember
Today was a seed of vision, planted by change more than a thousand years ago.
Five people with vastly different outlooks and wishes for that future found friends or enemies in each other.
To move forward without making the same mistakes again, the Alphas of all gather knowledge about that time and what happened then.
There are only three people left in the world to tell that story. One is the product of the past, one can hear what ripples through time, and one experienced it firsthand.
Gathered around a bonfire, history comes alive as those three educate the Alphas of all about the times of change that blew across the North after the Great Pack War had ended.
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Book 7: Shaded Ember
The Alphas of all meet the battles they’ve risen to take on, but the embers of the story-time bonfire haven’t even settled before one important fact stands clear. One story was not told.
As Matt continues to learn to work with the Völsung born in him, he gathers knowledge, power, and the resources needed to secure the North.
For every battle he meets head-on, another is fought within. If not for Hati’s ember, crying out for his support, Sköll wouldn’t stand a chance.
Pack Alpha Steffen has promised to stand by his pup until whatever lies ahead has been seen through. Doubt whether he’s capable nags him as the pup shows off just how powerful Sköll has risen to become.
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Check out the series here:
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About the Author:
Meraki P. Lyhne, real name Martin, is a Danish author spanning multiple genres and pseudonyms. Meraki P. Lyhne mainly writes contemporary paranormal LGBT fiction with various degrees of romantic heat, some with a HEA, some with a HFN, and some with white-knuckling cliffhangers. Mostly, he writes long series with focus on worldbuilding, action, and something epic.
Connect with Meraki:
@merakiplyhne (everywhere)
Newsletter https://merakiplyhne.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe
Linktree with everything: https://linktr.ee/merakiplyhne
