Ayato

I have one more book to write and three to edit before my full attention is on it. But that last book is being elusive so between editing I could write the new chapter and re-smooth a few things and muster the courage to ask my editor. The long and the short of it is that I think about Adaptation every day. I even work on it in between books (because I promised myself I'd reach a certain place in the series before I focused entirely on the Haven series) and days when I'm feeling especially inclined.

It was pulled down to be reworked for publication... or just edited at this point.

I've done some indie publishing! ... I really don't know what else to say, as there's no format required for this... Trouble is the first in a long series and was my first ebook published, mainly to get comfortable with the format and how ebooks work before going on and putting (the once named) Adaptation out there into the world. The series can be found on Amazon, Barns and Noble, Knook, Smashwords, Apple, Scribd and a few others but the link for Amazon is below along with the description: Aren knew, when she begged to go, that being finished at the palace was dangerous but every lady is finished at court, no matter her rank or the worth of her title. She also knew tricks that would help keep her safe, if only she kept her head down and blended in with the other ladies. Av's duties as master and warrior include determining who amongst those at court would be a threat to the common people. Sometimes having rank means seeing things which commoners might miss, such as a lady who doesn't show up for training one day, a lady that he hadn't realized was there until she went missing. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RD9YHS2

Hello, I'm new to Het, but not to AFF. I like to ramble about my worlds and love to talk about my stories with my readers, if the readers are so inclined. I was going to call the story "A Stroll Through Twilight." then decided to change it because the moment I read the world 'twilight' I thought of the series and figured I'd best find a synonym.

That was about the reaction of the family and Matt, confused as to what was going on and I actually wrote the chapter to try to capture that. The next chapter does explain why Blane was challenging Theo across the dinner table instead of enjoying his very expensive meal.

Would a notification through the PM system in the forums work? I obviously have a story in mind, but would like to plan out first, to make certain I can actually accomplish a re-write.

I have a question... I'd like to re-write a few stories, but they already have a copy up on AFF. I don't want to remove the old copy (it could be years before I finish) am I allowed to post the ... I suppose it's a second draft... as a new story, or would I absolutely have to remove the old copy first/replace the chapters with the new chapters?

Alex has been in contact with "normal" people, but not to functions. Alphas would only really take thyre husbandwives to functions with other alphas. Blane probably has 'forced playdates' with the government, but while hi has to go, hi wouldn't have taken Alex. With the circumstances behind Matt's coming into Blane's possession, I don't think either of them will have a choice. The female G14s would only be able to be bred as a female alpha if they were broken the way Alex was broken and had the right background. Alex could probably breed as an alpha if he was caught during those 'alpha' times. Personally I think that's why female alphas would only breed certain husbandwives. Alex can turn the alpha on or off, but the theory is that a female alpha would not be able to. There's a reason for that, I can't delve into it yet. Matt doesn't think females are being herded, he knows they are. He's seen it with his own eyes while the population is told that only one or two of the women with G14 are being removed. It's quite a bit higher. Also, the only way to remove one of these people from the populace is if they have the R66 gene. Good luck breeding them after they break, dear government. Though there is the slight possibility that the government thinks the R66 is inheritable, as most genes are, rather than simply a marker. Just like the G14, no one knows how the R66 passes on to children. The government could be working under the impression that the more of these non-breeding marker carriers you collect and get rid of, the fewer children can be born with it. They aren't the brightest bunch of people...

Ezra and Paul have a mainly equal relationship. Alphas can be lovers without one breaking the other, though one is typically more above the other. Such as Peter and Blane, I believe Blane is the more dominant one. With Ezra and Paul, Paul is the more dominant one but they're in a unique situation. Ezra has husbandwives, but Paul doesn't. Just because they're lovers doesn't mean Paul can help himself to the husbandwives without Ezra's permission. And now you've got me thinking about Alex and Matt...

The abuse built up to the point of Alex raging once he broke. If Blane hadn't interfered and Alex's father had eventually broken Alex, he likely would have presented like a public alpha. While killing everyone he could catch in a public area. Blane steered Alex towards a type of bodyguard underscoring. The events right before Alex broke (seeing Ezra's reaction to Abraham's "gift") altered the careful direction but not to the point of a complete relapse. Blane's yet to tell me if hi was doing this to redirect Alex's anger (it's a lot of years that you can't just wipe away) or because hi was genuinely worried that the war might happen and hi wanted more protection for Ezra's husbandwives. Though in that later case, I'm pretty certain Robin is a type of bodyguard who simple hasn't had to act on his training yet.

Matt is special with a capital 'S.' I created him to give Blane a good deal of amusement, but when I told Matt this he for some reason took that as meaning he should smut it up with Blane, which is highly entertaining, if a bit confusing. A good example of how much husbandwives can differ can be seen in Husbandwife, the chapter titled 'Dinner.' Look at the introduction of Quin and Robin, then the comparison between Jaime and Casey. An alpha who takes on all the same companions is pretty much unheard of. Robin is all prickly and stabby (and I swear he's a little high pretty much at all times) while Quin is more in the present and analyzing everything that everyone says or does around him, especially about him. Jaime created the categories to give the alphas ways to describe their companions to him. Before Jaime they were referred to as "the good, the bad, and the ugly" though I don't have my original file to look up where that information can be found. That actually only refers to the B's, C's, and D's. The A's were usually called the good, along with the B's but when they walk into a room alphas drop what thy're doing. A's can pick out other A's instantly (Alex does just that, I believe in the AA chapter, wherein they made eye contact across the hotel lobby and I'm kind of surprised there wasn't blood involved) It's been probably close to thirty years since Jaime introduced the categories (as a non-G14 he can't simply recognize other kinds) and the common folk picked up on the categories as ways to describe those of the G14 ranks. The government now uses the categories as well. To use against the alphas and in order to charge thyme the 'proper' amount for those removed from society. The government makes a best guess about the categories and then charges alphas accordingly. An A costs a good deal more than a B, which costs double as a C, which costs double a D. Finding an unregistered G14/R66 is kind of like finding a million bucks on the sidewalk and then having to pay a small tax in order to keep the money. The "get Paul" motion was as a third opinion before presenting Matt to a group of alphas. If Paul meets Matt and says it's just a family thing, then Blane can take Matt to the meet and greet without concerns. Otherwise the meet and greet could turn into a bloodbath/hump Matt party. I didn't recognize the attraction, but I believe you're right. When Alex goes into alpha mode, he sees Matt as 'fuckable' just like Blane and Ezra do. That's amusing and I have to wonder if it has something to do with his other oddities, that you will get to read about in the coming chapters. A mutt, recall, is an alpha who ... is considered bad because thy weren't raised proper. It's very likely that mutts are now being killed on sight, real alphas hate mutts. What you think Matt might be is a public alpha. So far there has been no recorded instance of a public born alpha who hasn't gone all murder-suicide, usually around puberty. Public born alphas tend to be called mutts because the public doesn't know how to raise an alpha properly. If he was a mutt thy would automatically know and while Blane might get a kick out of breaking Matt, it's more likely that Matt'd be handed over to Paul just to be sure no one got hurt. Keep that thought in mind, though. Abraham was eighteen at the end of Husbandwife, making him twenty-five now, not old enough to have had Matt, who is three years younger than him. There's yet to be a link between alpha strength and genetics (Paul is not related to Abraham and Peter, Paul's actual son, was less dominant than Blane). G14 has never been traced to specific family lines besides the alpha males breeding more alpha males. I've had quite a discussion with someone over the alpha genetics and I adored it, it's helped a great deal with setting out some plot of G14. Basically if Alex went out and found himself a random woman, his children wouldn't carry the G14 marker barring a female alpha capturing him. Paul, as near as I can tell, only ever had one husbandwife who hi broke. Peta... I think was hes name. The alpha that tried to rape Ezra but Paul basically threw himself to Peter (which is why Paul named hes son the same) and then ended up breaking the alpha who tried to break hime. All those other companions weren't broken by Paul, hi bought them at auction (as hi bought Casey) or inherited them, or in some cases simply took them from another alpha who mistreated them. Paul's companions were basically orphans. I have no idea what happened to them when Paul stepped back from society but it's a very good bet that they followed Abraham and now serve hime as they did Paul. I love nattering about my worlds.

That was one of the reasons why it's been seven years. Don't get me wrong, Blane loves Alex, but Alex can be a bit of a handful and is a little like tumbling with a strange alpha, neither ever knows who's going to come out on top. Matt's much more submissive and while he's in for a lot of shocks, it's not necessarily the culture shock that Alex went through. There are other alphas still in the east, just not on Blane's estate. Samuel (owns the food industry) is one of them, along with Daniel, Gregor (both government ambassadors just before the change) and an as yet unnamed alpha who is in charge of most of the entertainment industry. The entertainment alphas also likely stayed, mainly because so few people even realize that they are thys. And of course is Ezra and Paul, living on Blane's estate, but thy know better than to stick thyre noses out when Alex brings someone home. Oh, and the little adorable alpha I get to play with, the new edition to the nest. While I said that that updates could be long in coming, I will let you know that I have over thirty pages written (about three pages a chapter is my usual I think) so at the moment it's just recalling to actually update the story. Thanks for your comments!

HusbandWife, the first story, had a discussion thread that seemed to do quite well so I thought I'd put one up for G14 and see how that goes. If you have any questions about the Alpha world, reviews, comments, snarky remarks, post them here and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

I'm self-publishing with e-books and have one out already, but if that counts of course I'll let you know when Adaptation is published!

Yes, I've taken it down for re-write and publication. The decision was made after quite some thought and the realization that the story leads into a series that I'd like explore fully.

The wording is in what Alex read out actually. Most will likely miss it because of what the rules seem like. That's all I'm going to say on that though.

The training Alex could also be because Blane put Ezra into the ground, Alex really needs to learn this kind of stuff. Any husbandwife will do as a witness though, just someone to let the others know that Ezra isn't leaving anything out. It's also not the child itself that Samuel is concerned with, it's the wording of the letter. As far as the alphas are concerned these letters are contracts with the government and thy take the wording very seriously and will even use it to thyre advantage

G14s and alphas don't have the right to vote and I wouldn't be surprised if R66 (homosexuals) are placed forward as 'not people' once someone starts abusing the loopholes Ezra put in place to give equality to all. And the government is very much based on the patriarchal white-male dominated ones from the real world. They allow alphas to live because alphas help them but keep alphas on tight leashes so that the alphas have no choice but to help the government and the people. There hasn't been a woman in power yet, because the ability to vote is likely recent for women. Let's face it, no government with a list of women who are breeders for alphas, view women as more than meat. Women probably only got the vote because one guy knew he'd lose and decided to give women the vote at the last second so he was hero and he'd get voted back into office. While the women on that list are volunteers that doesn't mean they weren't blackmailed into it, sold, or coerced in some way. If a woman did take power she would face the same problems as a woman in the real world. No one would respect her, listen to her or really acknowledge her, she'd just be a figurehead for her party. I've been dabbling with doing a sequel about ten or so years in the future, I might have mentioned this before, where we get to see all the choices of the alphas in the present come together and create a whole different kind of world. But it's just a dabble. Might just be a one shot instead, so that the main character will shut up and I can focus on something besides the opening scene.

Paul's "suicide" is bad for anyone's business, terrible for Ezra on a personal level and a kick to the groin for all those alphas who have been chasing Abraham. Quite a few of them have been chasing Abraham, as those like hime are used, I suppose, as stress relief. "Dying" on hes terms was always Paul's ideal and to do so before Jaime breaks down entirely, maaaaybe to give Ezra time to come to terms with losing Paul (I get the feeling thy have a deal to move in together if both survive to retirement) before losing Jaime. This will also be good for Abraham because Paul will break willingly and teach Abraham all hi knows about keeping the alphas in control and how to walk that fine line Paul does between legal and "plotting traitorous happenings against commoners." For Peter this depends on Abraham and how things go on between Paul and Abraham. Peter could be broken along with hes father, hi could be tossed to the curb, hi could be given a position in Abraham's new hierarchy (all alphas who served Paul would be let go to prevent infighting and the like) or hi could be allowed to stay either indefinitely or until such a time as hi finds a place. We won't find out until Abraham and Paul emerge from thyre... erm... honeymoon. Moving in with Blane while the estate is Ezra's is completely out of the question especially with Ezra not being able to play house with Paul. Alex was more being sarcastic at the end of the chapter because the alphas live in a restricted culture. Thy can only have one child, thyre breeders need to be sterilized after giving birth once, there are restrictions on multiple births (such as twins), thy are forced to serve in the army when reaching a certain age and numerous other things. Blane, I believe, made comment before about feeling like a second class citizen and I think hi even compared the position of alphas to that of companions and the G14s. The alphas come and go freely but thy are not free to do as thy please. Which revolve around murdering one another, slaughtering those who attempt to murder them, smexing up men and women alike and rewarding thyre own who do well by gifting breeders (something no one talks about any more) to the good. Oh, and women? Would totally tap that but can't. There's an entire porn industry based around "Alphas" having a go at women and it sells like Fifty Shades of Grey and so many random romance novels, only it's video taped and not actually alphas in the videos because alphas aren't allowed near women unless thyre breeding and then only one woman.

And a cookie for you! Thank you, I now have to rewrite something but better catch that before it goes up. We'll see more in coming chapters just how this accusation is handled and what alphas from outside the estate think of this.

Things almost always have to get worse before they get better. For other alphas, thyre society is on the rise, there's rumour that there might be an actual war (which is like dangling catnip in front of a cat), the government is handing out children (an alpha can't have a child without the permission of the government, if you remember, which is why Blane was born to Ezra so young, Ezra was fighting the legislation... or did hi win? A cookie to whoever finds that information before I do. The government is still handing out children), the G14s are coming to the alphas in the legislation that begins in the new year. Someone's just invented a way for thyme to be healed instantly, if thy're willing to barter with hime. Life's good for alphas in general, as compared to years previous. Alphas do well in high stress situations but in the modern times thy aren't raised to really deal with despair and loss. In older times thy'd lose a brother, a mother, a sister, a finger, foot or half an inch off thy're fun places, so thy learned quickly how to deal with the darker emotions, or thy were consumed by them and destroyed, became the loss for someone else. From what I've been seeing, it seems that those who have suffered the bloodrage are better equiped to deal with thyre own shit, just as soon as thy figure out what thy're doing. You can look at Paul's son, Peter I believe hes name was, to see how one is shortly after bloodrage, afraid of themselves. Then look at Blane. Solely and entirely focused on hes goals. Oh... I forgot that scene when thy were in Paul's city. That's unfortunate. There was supposed to be a scene where Blane walks away for two seconds to get something from a vendor, a drink or something for Alex likely, and hi gets caught at the vendor for longer than a minute, a van without windows pulls up and four guys get out, normal people mind you, and grab Alex. These men are kidnappers that I believe Blane? mentioned earlier, their job is to find young G14s and steal them from the streets or follow through on leads given to them by the young men's families who are giving them up basically. They see Alex, go, that's a nice piece and decide to pick him up to get on Paul's good side. Alex puts up a fight, shouts and goes on and as he's almost in the van he finally shout's Blane's name. Bam, out of no-where Blane shows up and takes hold of one guy's head, slams it into the ground. One foot comes off the ground as hi does so and catches another guy under the jaw. The third and fourth have their wits about them a bit and put up a better fight but Alex jumps into the fray and catches one in the stomach while Blane breaks the other guy's arm. The scene was meant to demonstrate the underbelly of Paul's city and of the very real threat to young men on the streets who resemble a G14 or even one who is just flamboyantly gay. It also showed Blane's beliefs because as soon as the alpha dispatches the men, hi climbs into the vehicle, clocks the driver, who isn't stupid enough to get involved with what is obviously an alpha, and then Blane frees the captives in the back, sending them back to where they came from. It's easy for the population, and even a reader, to forget that all alphas must serve in the military, thy are trained from when thy are young to protect themselves in hand-to-hand combat (because of old traditions continued on because the government is crazy) and then in the military thy are trained how to work as a unit, with other alphas or with normal people. The alpha units haven't been talked about much because thy're basic black ops. No one who wants to live will mention thyme. Basically, alphas have the training necessary to kill anyone but once thy leave the army thy have little desire to follow through, it's out of thyre system and in modern times warring alphas aren't really necessary.

On the topic of dominant A, Paul would likely have called Ezra and let hime know what happened. Paul would have thought it adorable until Alex claimed hes property. Just as Ezra probable thought it adorable until hi heard Alex claiming hes estate. Ezra's rage was ignited by Alex but there's other stuff happening under the calm veneer Ezra presented because it was Quin's anniversary.

The alphas have bred with commoners for a very long time, they are the all the same race but the alphas have specific genes. Genes that all thyre children have and are bound to the Y chromosome, which is the whole reason female alphas need a male alpha to produce an alpha child. Thanks for bringing this up, though, it reminds me of the sideplot I'm supposed to be writing right now and would have forgotten otherwise.

The alphas could reproduce quickly but thy are obeying the laws of man. I'm thinking thyre numbers dwindled after the female alphas died off. There's no one reason the alphas became submissive to the government but a lot has to do with people realising they outnumbered thyme and the creation of this idea that being a husbandwife is a dirty thing. I will try poking the characters for more information on that shift if you like. Though with commoners controlling what the youth learn, the public education system likely didn't cover the truth in history classes.

Alphas can and do work in packs. Blane was part of one right before the story began (the group of researchers who found the genetic markers and created this whole process) but society has stripped away thyre rights, which are different than the rights of common folk, leaving thyme to fight over scraps. Thy once had a hierarchy, I believe this was mentioned by Paul and Ezra before. Thy'd breed like alphas are won't to do and the surplus offspring were killed or kept from breeding by serving as lower members of a more dominant alpha's pack. Alphas can even serve as husbandwife (such as Paul's poor, dead husbandwife) or just as a mate. Not all females raped their breeders. So there was this entire civilization built on the alphas and the common people reached a certain number and saw what the alphas were making and started talking equality. Likely the alphas of that generation were distracted by shiny new technology and didn't quite notice the trap that had been sprung on them. Then the commoners just did what dumb humans do best and after atripping the alphas of thyre power, they started slaughtering the strangers. The hatred of homosexuals likely stems from these events because commoners are afraid of anything that appears to be like an alpha, such as outright ignoring Alex because he was too attractive to be normal. As to the alphas and the G14 marker, I've tried not to give away what is going on there. I like hearingthe theories that are popping up.