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A WORD FROM KELLEY ARMSTRONG

So plan Others with a single story In le story was Bitten, which I wrote as a stand-alone novel, perhaps to be revisited in a few years with a sequel, but certainly not intended to launch a series When the possibility was raised, I was thrilled by the opportunity to spend -running series centered on et very old, very fast

The solution was to expandin other supernatural types, but I'd spin off to new narrators, weaving a world that widened with every book

It sounded like a great idea Little did I realize that by the time Stolen ca to follow Elena Michaels and her Pack on countlessnarrators, especially not switching to Paige, the over-confident young witch they met in Stolen

Diot off to a bumpy start, but I feel it was actually the book that truly launched the Otherworld as a series It brought in a fresh crop of readers ere more coinal readers stuck around, too, once they discovered that Paige wasn't as bad as they feared

By the time I returned to Elena in book six--Broken--I could see where I wanted the series to go I could also see where I wanted it to end So I began tipping in clues It was another five books before I launched the end-ga it into Spell Bound and, finally, wrapping it up noith Thirteen

While so to return to Elena for this final story, I've always had another plan Back in Stolen, I introduced twelve-year-old Savannah, and I dreah for her to becorew up in the series, wending her way through the lives of all the other characters, slowly in the journey that would, with Thirteen, cement her place as a true "woman" of the Otherworld

And yet I haven't forgotten where it all began, and hoin the final journey, I'd like to take you for a quick trip into the past, back to Elena, to the prologue that launched the Otherworld series

BITTEN:

THE PROLOGUE

I have to

I've been fighting it all night I' the first pangs of labor and deciding it's an inconvenient tiive birth Nature wins out It always does

It's nearly two AM, too late for this foolishness, and I needto meet a deadline have left me exhausted It doesn't matter Patches of skin behind in to burn My heart beats so fast I have to gulp air I clench

the sensations to stop, but they don't

Philip is sleeping besideout in thewith a torrent of la late toin to throb The burning sensation in ht ball in ut and threatens to explode

I've got to get out of here--I don't have a lot of time left

Philip doesn't stir when I slip fro tucked underneathdrawers and closets I pick up le, ease open the door, and creep into the hallway

Everything's quiet The lights seem dimmed, as if overpowered by the emptiness When I push the elevator button, it creaks out a coodly an hour The first floor and lobby are equally empty People who can afford the rent this close to don Toronto are comfortably asleep by this time