Paige Tyler | HER LONE WOLF (X-OPS 2): Clayne’s Side of the Story

As everyone who read Book 1 in the X-OPS Series (HER PERFECT MATE) will remember, Clayne Buchanan, the wolf shifter with the bad attitude, can be a bit rough-around-the-edges. But as I was getting ready to tell his story in HER LONE WOLF, I discovered that Clayne actually has a sensitive side. Believe me, I’m as shocked as you. I thought I’d pegged him perfectly as the perpetual bad boy who never let anyone get close, and never cared about making friends. But it turns out that I was wrong.

I started getting my first indications that maybe I’d gotten him wrong when I sat down with him over dinner (at PF Chang’s, of course!) so we could start outlining his story. Before we even got started, he told me he was a bit concerned that people might have gotten the wrong idea about him in the first book. He even asked if it was possible to have the publisher tweak a few scenes in HER PERFECT MATE to let his nicer side show. I was shocked. Why hadn’t he said something earlier? Of course, it was too late to tweak the book because it was already in bookstores.

When I told Clayne as much, he growled a lot and mumbled a few words that can’t be repeated in polite company. I really thought for a while that he might just pull out of the whole series. I tried to play hardball, pointing out that we had a contract. But he just gave me that wolfish smile of his (complete with two-inch long canines, which I immediately told him to put away, reminding him we were in a public restaurant!) and pointed out that Paige Tyler was under contract—Clayne Buchanan wasn’t.

Okay, I was starting to freak out. I’d already planned out the next four books in the X-OPS Series, and Clayne played a major role in them. If he bailed, I was screwed!

“What do you want?” I asked.

I prayed he wasn’t going say he wanted a new car or an upscale loft in DC. I couldn’t afford either of those. So with baited breath, I watched as he leaned forward.

“I want final creative control over my character,” he said. “I want readers to see the real me. And by the real me, I mean my sensitive, romantic side, not just the badass wolf shifter who’s always snarling at people and tearing out throats.”

We went back and forth for a while, as I pointed out that certain parts of my envisioned story would require him to…well…snarl and rip out throats. Those actions defined him as much as his sensitive, romantic side—which I had yet to see, by the way— and readers would be expecting it.

Clayne didn’t want to disappoint the fans, especially after I showed him a few reader review comments where it was obvious that they realized he had some issues in his past.

“Readers have a better understanding of who you are than you think,” I assured him. “You just need to stay away from the reviews that might be a bit negative. Those will just eat at you and depress you.”

The dinner went much better after that, mostly because I promised Clayne that he’d have a final say on each of his scenes in HER LONE WOLF. As we got down to the job of telling his story, I realized that I’d definitely only showed one side of Clayne Buchanan in HER PERFECT MATE. There were so many events in his life that shaped who he is, which I never knew about. The whole outline for HER LONE WOLF changed after talking to him.

I think X-OPS fans out there are in for a real treat when they read Clayne’s book because they’ll get to experience the wolf shifter in a way I don’t think anyone was expecting. Yeah, he’s still the same Clayne Buchanan who’d rather punch first and ask questions later, but when he’s with that one special person (kickass FBI agent Danica Beckett) you’re going to see that he can be as romantic and sexy as all get out.

I hope all my readers out there love seeing the real Clayne Buchanan as much as I did!

*hugs*

Paige

About HER LONE WOLF

Leaving him was Impossible…

It took everything she had for FBI Special Agent Danica Beckett to walk away from the man she loved. But if she wants to save his life, she has to keep her distance. Now, with a killer on the loose and the stakes higher than ever before, the Department of Covert Ops is forcing these former lovers into an uneasy alliance…whether they like it or not.

Seeing her again is even worse

The last thing Clayne Buchanan wants is to be shackled to the woman who broke his heart. She gets under his skin in a way no one ever has and makes him want things he has no right to anymore. All he has to do is suffer through this case and he can be free of her for good. But when Clayne finds out why Danica left in the first place, everything he’s tried to bury comes roaring back—and there’s no way this wolf shifter is going to let her get away this time.

About the Author

Paige Tyler is the USA Today bestselling author of sexy, romantic fiction. She and her very own military hero (also known as her husband) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their adorable fur baby (also known as their dog). Paige graduated with a degree in education, but decided to pursue her passion and write books about hunky alpha males and the kickbutt heroines who fall in love with them. Visit her website.

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