I need to stop for a moment.
Not to write a story. Not to build a character. Not to craft a scene. Just to breathe. And to say two words I don't say often enough.
Thank you.
300 of you. Three hundred real, breathing, living people who decided that my words were worth following. Worth reading. Worth coming back to.
Do you understand what that means to someone like me?
I started this journey alone. A man with stories trapped inside him, stories that burned, stories that bled, stories that screamed to get out. I didn't know if anyone would listen. I didn't know if anyone would care. I sat down, opened a blank page, and poured myself into it because I had no other choice.
Writing isn't something I do. It's something I am.
And then you showed up.
One by one. Quietly. A follow here. A like there. A comment that made me stare at my screen and realize someone out there felt what I was trying to say. Someone understood. Someone stayed.
You stayed through The Childhood That Was Taken, where I cracked open the darkest corners of a life and let you see what most people look away from. That wasn't easy to write. I imagine it wasn't easy to read. But you didn't look away. You leaned in. You held space for that pain. And some of you wrote to me and said "me too" and I realized I wasn't writing just for myself anymore.
You stayed through Hidden Flames, where Lucas and Nathan burned through every wall between them and proved that love doesn't ask permission, doesn't follow rules, and doesn't die just because the world wants it to. You rooted for them. You cried for them. You yelled at your screens when things went wrong and cheered when they found their way back to each other.
You followed Quipu of Desire into the heart of the jungle, where Alex and John chased ancient Inca secrets through waterfalls and hidden caves, where passion and archaeology collided, where every discovery above ground mirrored the discoveries they made in each other's bodies. You tasted the sweat, the mist, the gold. You felt the jungle breathing around them. And you wanted more.
You launched into the unknown with Designed by the Signal, where Thomas, Adam, and Caleb found themselves stranded on an alien world, surrounded by storms and ancient creatures and mysteries carved into cave walls. Science fiction and raw desire fused into something no one had seen before. You followed them across galaxies and never flinched, not even when the impossible became flesh and blood and fur.
You partied with Three's Company, Three's a Cum Party, where Alex, Ben, and Chris took you on the wildest, filthiest, most unapologetic ride in the Arden Tomas Universe. No limits. No apologies. No shame. Just three men living out every fantasy the world told them they shouldn't have. You laughed with them. You got hard with them. You came back for every chapter with your jaw on the floor and your hand in your pants. And I loved every second of writing it for you.
And now you're here for PRIMAL, where Viktor is something none of my characters have ever been: not just broken, not just hungry, not just hiding, but something other. Something with claws and teeth and golden eyes that glow in the dark. Something ancient. Something cursed. And instead of running, you leaned in again. You said "give me more." You said "I can't wait." You said "this is the best thing I've read in a while."
Do you know what that does to a writer's heart?
It rebuilds it.
Every follow is a brick. Every like is mortar. Every comment is a window that lets light into a room I thought would stay dark forever. You are building something with me, all 300 of you, and I don't think you even realize how much of this house is yours.
So here's my promise to you:
I will never water down my stories. I will never soften the edges to make them easier to swallow. I will never write what's safe when what's true is dangerous. You followed me because I write with blood, and I will keep bleeding on every page.
The Childhood That Was Taken will continue. Tamas's story isn't over. The hardest chapters are still ahead, and I will write them with the same raw honesty that brought you here.
Hidden Flames will keep burning. Lucas and Nathan have more battles to fight, more walls to break, more love to prove. Chapter XX is coming soon.
Quipu of Desire will go deeper into the jungle. Alex and John haven't found all the secrets yet. The Incas left more behind than gold. Some treasures are carved in flesh.
Designed by the Signal will keep transmitting. Thomas, Adam, and Caleb are still out there, still lost, still discovering that the universe is stranger and hungrier than they ever imagined.
Three's Company will keep pushing every limit you thought you had. Alex, Ben, and Chris aren't done. Not even close. The party is far from over.
And PRIMAL has just begun. Viktor's cage is cracking. The full moon is coming. And what happens next will be unlike anything I've written before. Darker. Wilder. More dangerous. You've been warned. 🐺
Six stories. Six worlds. One universe. Yours.
To every single one of you, whether you've been here since day one or you just arrived five minutes ago:
I see you. I appreciate you. I write for you.
But most of all, I write because of you.
Here's to 300. And to every number that comes after.
With gratitude, love, and a little bit of madness,
Arden Tomas 🖤🔥
