Paid The Cost...

...To Be the Boss. That's Ghost. In this particular dog pack, he's the one true alpha. They can take a vote, they can talk it out, but so long as he's got that president patch, his word is the final law in the kingdom of Dartmoor.

I'm back to writing the last couple of days, which means I've had a brain full of Ghost. This book belongs to him, and to Maggie, to them as a couple. But I feel like the story reinforces what we already know about Maggie, while revealing a side of Ghost that hasn't been showcased in the series so far. In a lot of ways, it's a book about the ways Maggie was able to help Ghost realize who he really was, and what kind of man and club member he wanted to be moving forward. And a book about the ways they're still encouraging and shaping one another, even at the midlife crisis point.

I don't know if Ghost is hated, per se, but I know he's got his critics, for sure. He's constantly caught between being a good brother, and being a good president, and sometimes those two things don't coincide. He was completely heartless when he was questioning Holly and Emmie's motives for cozying up to his boys, but then he can turn around and be a tender father figure for Tango when he needs it. That back and forth is one of my favorite things about writing Ghost: the way he struggles between the morally right thing, and the smart thing that will keep his club afloat. He can't afford to be idealistic; he has to make those ugly decisions no one wants to make. And at the end of the day, the fact that he's a legitimate criminal, and we're arguing the points of his morality - that's my favorite part about being an author. Digging into gray-area characters.

My hope, as an author, is that readers will walk away from Hellhound with a new understanding for Ghost - if not a new appreciation. The Lean Dogs MC of his younger life - under the leadership of his uncle Duane - is an entirely different beast, not much at all like the MC we're familiar with up to this point. Ghost accomplished a lot in the process of making his club a true brotherhood, but he's human, and fallible, and he questions everything.

I can't promise this will be the most surprising book of the series - you already know Ghost and Mags are together -  but it's really meaty, and completely character-driven. There's a few new characters to meet who bring lots of intrigue and suspicion to the club, and plenty of young Ghost and Mags and little-kid Aidan. It's alternate title could be: How To Be A Boss...And Stay One.