What a journey this has been! I'm so happy to have completed this wonderful, beautiful, challenging, magical book that I have been developing for so long! These characters have been in my head for a few years before I finally took up the challenge of writing. 95 chapters, 396 pages, and 215,167 words later they have finally told parts of their story.

There will be a second book. In fact, there are two books on the horizon! It's going to be a process to complete both but I am so excited to share more of my book's world with you all.

One book will pick up after the end of this story, and the main character of that story will not be Kate Stratton. Comment who you think will be our MC for the next book!

The other book will be about Cybele and Nocen's story before Kate was even in the picture. It tells the story of Cybele, how she met Nocen, the old world before Ultrona existed, Penelope's origin, and how Cybele found her father. I'm beyond excited to begin telling their adventure and the world before Kate and the Bentons.

Thank you so much for reading Angelic, and I hope you're as thrilled as I am for more books! I have a few questions for you so please leave comments:

Who was your favorite character?

Least favorite character and why?

Who had the best friendship?

Best romance? Include your best couple name (Team Fate anyone?)

Favorite scene?

Best guess for where the story will go from here?

1. Cybele was the story's first character. I intended to tell her tale first, but Kate came into the picture, and for the series it worked best to begin with her. Cybele will always have a special place in my heart since she was my first main character.

2. Kate and Finn weren't supposed to be together. In the first draft of my story's plot, Cybele and Finn fall in love. They do have a special bond in the book but not to that extreme.

3. Samaria wasn't one of my original characters, but she burst into the story anyways (is anyone surprised?)

4. Raphael and Samaria were an unplanned relationship that manifested in the book on their own (once again, is anyone shocked? They're both so stubborn)

5. Secta was never supposed to be as damaged as he turned out in the story, but after examining at his character, he had his inner demons that I knew needed to be portrayed especially after the trauma he experiences in his life before Kate and even Cybele. To make him seem like a perfect and completely good man was just plain unrealistic.

6. Penelope was supposed to be dead, but I put her back into the book as the plot developed.

7. Rufus was never supposed to come to Gabrian. I originally intended for the Guardians and Kate to go on a mission in the wolf pack's land which would have led to Rufus and Finn meeting one another again. Chronologically it didn't work out since Rufus would have been much older than Finn, who stopped aging when he became a guardian. In one version Rufus would have been wiser and apologized to Finn for what he'd done to him in the past. I'm sure lots of you would have preferred that outcome.

8. In the beginning of the story's first draft, Kate is saved from Jack Warren by a warrior woman instead of the glass bottle fight scene, but the heroic lady didn't make it into the next draft (she was badass but didn't fit the story flow sadly).

9. Also in the story's beginning, Kate is abducted by Tron, Ultrona's dictator, and is kept in his palace as one of his potential concubines. Tron has a selection ceremony where he plans to choose 10 women to keep while killing all the rest. The ceremony begins but the Guardians intercede, and to protect Finn from Tron attacking him, Kate taps into her meraki, which is how the Guardians learn about her abilities.

10. Matilda and Malaki were always supposed to end up together (so cute!)

11. Kate's brother Andrew was going to be in the book for a few more chapters before his death but it didn't fit the flow of the story. He was the overprotective, intelligent older brother who hated the Benton Brothers and especially Leighton's guts, similar to Matilda's protectiveness over Kate but a contrast to her carefree nature which develops over the course of the book with Andrew's death and Kate's disappearance to Gabrian.

12. Kate almost didn't end up having sex with Leighton so she would have been a virgin when she was with Finn. Also Finn in that scenario wasn't a virgin, but considering his wolf nature and his loyalty to the mate bond it didn't seem realistic that he'd be with anyone other than Kate. Also so many books have the main girl character as a virgin and the male lead as some type of sex god which I wanted to avoid. Finn and Kate were both inexperienced, the only difference being that Finn had his instincts as Kate's mate which made him seem a little more experienced than you'd think.

13. The pool stick was a random choice, and Finn and Kate's inside joke about the incident randomly popped into my head one day. That's right: 8-Ball almost didn't exist.

14. In an alternative ending for the book that I didn't end up using, Nocen and Cybele were supposed to be reunited happily while Finn and Kate were supposed to end up arguing, but instead that ending was reversed.

15. Samaria and Raphael were supposed to have a more wild, chaotic romance in the book (which I might write about in a short story if you are interested) but I didn't want to make the book any longer including scenes about their on-and-off again relationship. Raphael and Samaria have some issues expressing their feelings so that along with other factors strains their relationship.

16. Annie and Charlie were almost deleted but I enjoyed their characters too much so I let them stay in the book.

17. This book has a short prologue that connects Cybele, Finn, and Secta before the Guardians are formed. Comment if you want it published!

18. In my original plot there was only supposed to be one pearl, but three pearls became appropriate and their significance is essential to the story. (To be discovered later!)

19. Noxia was supposed to make a bigger appearance in the novel but she's coming into the story in the later book. She didn't fit into the plot, and if she had this story would be much longer.

20. Shadowthief almost wasn't a part of the book either, and Finn and Kate would have had an entirely different first kiss. It was a fun scene where Kate was drunk and ended up revealing her feelings to Finn, but alcohol conflicted with her back story so I took it out of the novel.

Thank you so much for reading this far! I'll post updates about book two soon!

xx Birdie