The Omega Quadrant series has had a LOT of detours and direction shifts over the years... and I mean A LOT. Here's a peek into how my muse (yes, let's have someone else to blame besides me) has switched things around on the journey thus far.
****SPOILERS BELOW, proceed with caution!!***
Book 1 - His Surrogate Omega (HSO)
This WASN'T supposed to be book one. Avery's story was originally book 1. The prologue chapter of book 2 was originally the prologue chapter of book 1. I was writing Jamie-Rohan-Gray's storyline as a secondary one to Avery's. But then I hit a snag. While Wilder meets Avery before he attends college and there are those initial sparks, how was I going to handle the four-year gap between Avery getting his degree and finally going to work at Jaymes & Associates as one of Wilder's employee? A time jump? So, I was going to just ignore all the longing that transpired while Avery was taking classes? Nahhhh...
Finally, I realized I had the solution looking right at me. The Jamie-Rohan-Gray storyline truly deserved to shine on its own, so I cut all of their scenes out of the original rough draft, pieced in a few earlier parts of Avery's journey as the secondary to set the stage for book 2, and focused on the real stars of the show to finish the book.
Book 1.5 - Unexpected Heat (UH)
NGL, I simply wrote this after seeing a lot of complaints in the reviews that readers wished they'd gotten more Gray-Rohan time near the end of the book. It was a lovely way to return to their story and show them falling deeper in love with one another.
Book 1.9 - Suddenly His Alpha (SHA)
Ah, yes, the oddly numbered prequel story for book 2. Well, 1.5 was already taken and I had a couple of vague ideas for a few more Gray-Rohan shorts, so I pushed the number as close to 2 as I could to leave room for MAYBE. Was it the best call? Maybe-maybe not.
At this point, tis what it tis.
I wrote Tulla's early story for a couple of reasons. First off, when we meet him in book 2, he's rather broken. As I said above, the prologue in book 2 was originally the prologue for book 1, so Tulla has been a part of this universe from the very beginning for me. I've always anticipated giving him a second-chance book in the series and I wanted to explore who pre-HRO Tulla was. Secondly, because Tulla is a bit acerbic and harsh, I wanted to give readers an opportunity to see that this is someone who was much different when he was younger and in love with his mate, not that harsher version you meet in HRO's prologue—BECAUSE—I knew he was getting that second-chance romance and I wanted you guys to root for him.
Lastly, I was invited to participate in a Valentine's anthology and needed to write a short story. That's where Suddenly His Alpha first appeared. In the original (which I've since removed when I republished it) the dance hall was decorated in gaudy pink hearts and garish purple for a Valentines-like holiday.
I've been asked repeatedly what time period this is considering how we see a much changed Tulla in the next book. There are hints. Rohan is in attendance at the Omega Ball before he met and mated Jamie (they'd been mated for nearly two decades in His Surrogate Omega.) Rohan mentions being a recent law-school grad (putting him at around the age of 26-28 at the ball) when he was in his mid-to-late 40s in HSO. So... SHA happens about twenty years before Tulla appears in His Reluctant Omega.
Wynter Short Story written by me, but unpublished (until later)
I really wanted to understand Jame and Wilder's parents and their motivations before going into HRO.
In HSO, they seemed to be cruel simply for cruelty's sake. What made them the way they were? WHO HURT THEM?
Wynter whispered a scene in my ear and I sat down and wrote this gorgeous scene on a train with a 19 yo Wynter—and I had no f*cking idea what I was going to do with it because it wasn't a true romance (No HEA or even HFN) and who TF wanted to read about Wynter. EVERYONE HATED HIM! So it sat on my computer for a couple of years collecting dust... though it did cause that little cliffhanger at the end of HRO.
Book 2 - His Reluctant Omega (HRO)
We FINALLY get back to Avery's story that was supposed to first and you guys get to meet current-day sad, broken Tulla. The Omega Rights Movement is born and the fight towards equality between ABO classes begins.
That cliffhanger, though!
We also meet Brett again, Avery's very passionate, wild little beta best friend/fellow student/co-worker at Lambeau's Restaurant (Avery's PT job through college) who doesn't know if he's coming or going at any given second. He's in love with one guy one minute and with another the next. Might have a little crush on their older, widowed grumpy boss, alpha Pierce Lambeau, but he's never going to admit to that.
Book 3 - His Forsaken Alpha (HFA)
Book 3 was supposed to be Tulla's (see the running theme here? Suppppppppposed to be happens a lot. Plans change, what can I say?)
Wynter just screamed louder than Tulla. He'd given me that train scene almost two years before I wrote this book, but had been whispering more and more story until I couldn't think about anything else.
Would it even be worth it? Everyone hated Wynter. Who TF was going to want to see him get his second-chance/redemption story? But after he told me how he'd been hurt, I just couldn't look away.
As I recently mentioned in the Introduction to Two Wild Hearts (Alphas of the Western Provinces, 4) I walked into this universe in the mind of paying homage to the soap operas I'd grown up with and watched with my mother. The overdramatic, tangled family trauma. Secrets and lies. Villains getting redeemed after viewers learned about their tragic backstory. People literally coming back from the dead in the most ridiculous ways.
Wynter's backstory fit nearly every category to make an amazing soap opera fanfic. He had plenty of secrets and a tangled, traumatic backstory... one I thought gave him room for that redemption. I know not as many readers read his story because WYNTER WAS A DICK but I for those who have read it, they've been shocked they ended up rooting for him.
Is he perfect by the end? No. He still has work to do and a lot of it. But he shows a willingness to try.
Plus this story sets up a LOT of family bullshit we'll see again in Vaughn's book.
Book 4 - Appetite for an Alpha (AFAA)
Since Brett and Pierce's only real connection to the series is Avery, I felt like their romance needed to happen closer to Avery's story in HRO. I probably should've written it between HRO and HFA, but another tis what it tis moment here.
Another "supposed to be" book, too. Originally, it was going to be book 3.5.
Blame Amazon for it becoming book 4 instead. They won't allow those 1.5, 2.5, or 3.5 books to be listed with the main titles in a series, only as "related titles." Those "related titles" aren't visible on the Amazon mobile app (only on the desktop version) so a huge chunk of readers might never know there are short stories available in a series they love. Those short stories hold hidden gems and add depth to a series overall.
When AFAA went from a planned short story to rising over 80,000 words, no way was I relegating it to "related titles" after all the hard work I'd put into it. And it was such a sweet little romance, IMO.
While it does add to the lore of the universe (our first latent character in the OQ series, but not the universe), honestly, it really is more of a side story than a starring one. It probably belongs in "related titles" and had that category been more visible, it would've ended up book 3.5.
Book 5 - His Unrepentant Omega (HUO) (written but unpublished as of this posting)
FINALLY we get to Tulla's whole sad story.
What transpired during that twenty-year gap between SHA to HRO? ? Why was Tulla back in the OQ and stripping after falling head over heels with Beckett in SHA? Is Beckett the villain now? What happened to the two little boys in the picture on Tulla's mirror? Does Tulla get his second chance, and if so WITH WHO?
Will Kelex get hate-mail after this book?
All of those questions will hopefully be answered VERY soon
(Hopefully late October 2026, if I can get it finished and edited in time! Tulla's been DIFFICULT, but why would I expect anything less?)
What I can say now is... I've cried multiple times. My PA/alpha reader has cried multiple times. I just completed a full self-edit and cried a few more times.
This is the hottest slow-burn I've ever written, to the point IDK if you can technically classify it as a slow-burn. Maybe a medium-burn? Tulla runs hot, but there are things in the way keeping the MCs apart. Like literally. The last time we saw Tulla, he was in prison with Avery before the finale of HRO.
Beta attorney Tensen Atkinson (who we met in HSO and again in HRO) gets roped into representing Tulla at Avery's behest. Without much help from Tulla, he uncovers what truly happened to the omega during those years. He realizes Tulla's been THROUGH IT and gives every effort to reunite Tulla and his boys.
But who's Tulla's love interest?
Tulla and Beckett were deeply, madly in love.
Tensen's already fallen for Gray and been (gently) rejected. He's too smart to fall for a manipulative omega like Tulla and chance getting his heart broken again. Plus, he's only a beta.
Omegas prefer their alphas. THAT KNOT gets them every time.
Book 6 - His Defiant Omega (HDO) (unwritten and unpublished as of this posting)
You've been begging for Lake's book for YEARS and I think he's finally grown up enough to tell it. Last we saw him, Lake was leaving the province to attend college in Fort Seattle, but not before a little backseat tomfoolery at the end of HFA.
I don't yet have a full plan for their story, but this is what I know walking into it:
Lake was SO OVER the inequality bullshit in Alexandria that he doesn't ever want to return after college, even if the lure of his mate Vaughn remains.
Pffft... who needs a mate, anyway? He's gotten a fresh new start in another province where he's on an almost level-playing field with alphas and betas. Even if his home province has improved omega rights since he's been gone, it still won't be as good as what he's got it in Fort Seattle.
While Lake was away at college, Vaughn struggled through some shit. Learning about his parents' troubled history in HFA, he's had to come to terms with the fact his very existence is damned near criminal. How do you learn to accept that and move on? How do you reconcile the relationship with your only living brother and boss after learning he truly is the adored golden child you'll never come close to being? He's got everything in his backstory required to fully step into his villain era...
Lake might be the only one who can prevent that from happening.
And if Lake refuses, Vaughn might have to take matters into his own hands.
Book 7 (unwritten and unpublished as of this posting)
Auggie's book?
Or... maybe one of Tulla's sons?
Or... maybe there's a bombshell waiting in book 5 that lays the groundwork? *imagine me twirling the curl of my fiendish, villainous mustache around my finger muah-ha-ha*
Hmmm... we shan't know until HUO comes out, perhaps.
Or maybe we won't really know until this one arrives?
But it WILL be someone you've met by the end of book 5.
Book 8? MAYBE
Book 9? MAYBE
Find the main OMEGA QUADRANT series titles here: https://authorkelex.com/series/the-omega-quadrant
Find the OQ short stories here: https://authorkelex.com/series/omega-quadrant-shorts
Find the FULL PALATINATE series (OQ, Western Provinces, Omegawood, and Fairy Tales) here: https://authorkelex.com/collections/palatinate-omegaverse