Liz Strange

Love triangles. They seem to be a recurring theme in fiction these days, in both YA and adult fiction. I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds the current trend a bit tiresome. Don’t get me wrong though. I’m not one to point fingers. I too have a love triangle.

One girl, two guys. That’s the most common form of triangle we see. If there is no other reason for the triangle other than to have the heroine feel “special” (ahem, I’m talking about you Bella) then I find it to be pointless and tired. Give me a good reason though and suddenly we have romantic drama that drives the story rather than forcing it along.

Why do women readers enjoy these love triangles? Team Edward vs Team Jacob. Team Peeta vs Team Gale. Team Bill vs Team Eric. I could go on really but I won’t. I think some readers like the competitiveness between the men. It’s flattering to have two men fight over you. But at some point it goes from two love interests to a flat out ego boost. Do we really need to have both men fawn over the heroine and tell her how awesome she is? Especially when said heroine has done nothing to portray these imagined special characteristics.

In my urban fantasy Alexa O’Brien Huntress series, there are two men interested in Alexa. However, I tried to give them a reason, a purpose. Alexa is a werewolf who was born with power. Power that comes from her bond to a vampire, a bond that was formed before she was ever born. He is her twin flame. For more info on twin flames you can check out : THIS

Alexa forms a deep attachment to fellow werewolf, Shaz. They are close friends and it only seems fitting they would be together. Had the vampire, Arys, died a human death like he should have, Alexa never would have known him. But he didn’t.

Alexa and Arys have a purpose together, one they seek to find. Alexa is caught between the man she has called a friend and companion for years, and the one she was never meant to find. Linked to both vampire and wolf, Alexa is both and somehow neither.

I didn’t plan to write a love triangle. Honestly. As the story evolved so did my own love for both men. For me, it isn’t one vs the other. I genuinely just want them both. There, that’s my reason for writing a love triangle. It isn’t about Alexa’s ego or who is better for her. It is simply because I want to have my cake and eat it too. And that is the beauty of fiction. Of course, a perfect happily ever after isn’t quite my style. I like to make my characters work for their happy ending and nothing good comes easy. Will Alexa have both men? I don’t know. The series is far from over. But in the meantime, I’m enjoying it while I can.

Huntress book 1 – 4 is currently available in both print and ebook. Chapter one from each book is posted on my site www.TrinaMLee.com. There is also a free prequel short story which you can find in any ebook format at: Here.

Excerpt from the upcoming Huntress book 5, DEATH WISH:

The vampire looked between Shaz and I, contemplating. “As long as you’re here, pup, there’s something else you should know.”

“What?” Shaz was immediately suspicious.

I shook my head and shot Arys a warning glare that he ignored. Keeping his gaze on Shaz, he told him all about the journal and the twin flame revelation. Hearing the twin flame information repeated didn’t make it any easier to swallow. It was heavy and harder because I was coming to accept it as true.

My white wolf looked devastated. He sat heavily on the end of the couch, staring at the floor. “So it’s not just circumstance. You’re really part of him.”

I knew what he was thinking. He was wrong. I exchanged a look with Arys. He must have seen the helplessness in my eyes.

“Don’t miss the point, pup,” he said. “Alexa and I are halves of a whole but we were never meant to exist together. Not without a reason. And the odds of us finding out what that reason is before our bond destroys us are slim.”

When Shaz looked up at me, there was a heartbreaking weariness in his eyes. “I think I knew. Somewhere deep down inside, I knew it would be him.”

“It isn’t like that.” I went to him, grasping his hand desperately. “I always said you balance out what he does to me. It’s true. I need you.”

I truly did. Shaz had always been my source of comfort, my wolf, the one who made me feel like I belonged somewhere. I had always felt that he was just as much a part of me as Arys was.

“I am a danger to her, Shaz. It’s you that grounds her.” Arys’s expression betrayed nothing though his tone held a somber note. “We’re bonded outside the natural scheme of things. If I’d remained mortal, I never would have known her. But you still would have.”

Shaz let out the breath he’d been holding and ran a hand through his platinum hair. It was one of his tells. He always did it when anxious or frustrated. “This is a lot to process. It’s just so…huge.” He turned intense wolf eyes on Arys. “Why would you wait so long to tell her?”

There was silence as the two of them stared into one another. Shaz always was better than I was at rolling with the punches. Now that he’d accepted what we had told him, he wanted to know more. He stared expectantly at Arys who wore a mask of guilt.

“I wasn’t sure I’d ever tell her,” Arys admitted. “But some people know about us. And it’s changing her. Keeping it to myself wasn’t going to stop that. I only wished it would.”

I wasn’t surprised to hear that. “You’ve got to stop that shit, Arys. You can’t hide anything from me. It’s always going to come out.”

“I know that. But try to see it from where I’m standing. I never knew if I’d find you and now that I have, I don’t want to lose you.” To his credit, he had the decency to look chagrined.

His tendency to hide information and criticize my decisions was at the heart of most of our arguments. Seeing the raw emotion in his blue eyes made it hard to be angry.

“I understand. As hard as this is for me, I got the better deal. I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you.”

Arys gazed at me with those entrancing eyes. There was a seductive pull to his energy. It was manipulative, getting under my skin like a metaphysical itch.

A frown graced Shaz’s youthful face. “It’s always about you, Arys. You already had her and that wasn’t good enough so you blood bonded her. You made her what you are. And now it’s devouring her. You’re a real piece of work, pal.”

Arys tilted his head to the side and regarded Shaz with bitter amusement. “Watch your mouth, wolf. You were right there encouraging her to accept the blood bond. It was to keep her safe.”

“Safe from everyone but you.” Shaz was fearless, rising to challenge the vampire with his cold stare.

“Wrong!” Arys hissed. In a flash he was up off the recliner, in Shaz’s face. “Everything I am was already inside of her. You saw signs of that before I ever bonded her. What we share isn’t about blood. It’s beyond life and death. It’s my darkness that tempts her but you are the one that keeps her wolf alive. You keep her human. But you’re too busy whoring at The Wicked Kiss to see that.”

Shaz growled and bared fangs. I shoved my way between them, forcing them apart.

“Cut it out! Finger pointing doesn’t do a damn bit of good. I’d like you both to keep in mind that I am not an object. I don’t belong to anybody. I am my own entity, a person joined to you both in different ways but owned by neither. Got it?”

Grudgingly, they each nodded. Arys didn’t believe it. I could see it in his eyes. He believed I was his to claim and maybe if I’d been in his place, knowing what he knew for so many years, I’d have felt the same way. Still, I wasn’t above handing out an ass kicking to either of them.

Swiping his dropped keys off the table, Shaz headed for the door with an angry stride.

“Shaz, wait.” I hurried after him and grabbed his arm, trying to make him look at me.

He shook me off and flung open the front door. “I can’t do this right now.”

“Please? Don’t leave. Not like this,” I pleaded. Fear gripped my heart as the wall between us grew.

“Sorry, Lex. I just need some time alone.”

I turned away when he disappeared through the doorway. I felt ill every time he left my side. I couldn’t shake the fear that one day it would be the last time. I didn’t want to have that vision etched in my memory forever.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT TRINA AT HER WEBSITE: TRINA M. LEE