The Blood Boss by Davidson King
Summary:Black Veil #1
Vampires, mermaids, and witches…oh, my! Black Veil is full of them all, but at the end of the day, it’s The Blood Boss who has the last word. Ever since The Final War, Vampires rule Black Veil, and with The Blood Boss in charge, peace reigns.
Keeping the vampires under control is a task Cain takes seriously. Humans have accepted his rule, and anyone who seeks to destroy his territory is given swift punishment. His promise to keep Black Veil safe comes with great sacrifice and selflessness; never does he dare hope for more in life. Until one day, a man walks through his front door and changes everything.
Jayce has a happy life. His adopted parents love him, he wants for very little, and he lives every day to the fullest. But when a normal evening turns into a nightmare, and Jayce is forced to come face-to-face with The Blood Boss, the world as he knows it feels like a lie.
Then a great secret is revealed, and nothing is what it seems. Cain and Jayce must work together to stop the forces uniting against the vampires. Life and love are in jeopardy as they fight those who seek to destroy them. Can Cain and Jayce keep Black Veil from crumbling into the sea when every attempt to do so seems impossible?
HOLY HANNAH BATMAN!!!! Once again Davidson King has proven that the Force is strong within her because . . . WOW! The talent for storytelling that runs through her veins is so strong, if it really was the force she could singlehandedly blow up the Death Star. Her gift of words is so powerful you can't help but get sucked in once you start.
I won't say she had "fears" about venturing into the paranormal genre but I'm sure there were inner hesitancies but she needn't have worried because the world King has created in her new series, Black Veil, really is the complete package. The Blood Boss, or as those closest to him call him, Cain may be a vampire of few words but you know he's the boss by his presence. "Presence" may seem like an odd word to use in literature since you aren't seeing the character on a screen or stage but the world building that Davidson King has created is so vivid and descriptive, I felt like I was witnessing it right outside my window. You really lose yourself in the book and become part of the environment that is Black Veil and the desire to discover all it's little nooks and crannies, rumors and truths, and how the lines of good and evil can sometimes blur.
As for the main characters, Cain and Jayce? Well, I mentioned the power Cain gives off but he also has heart(and yes I realize that's an odd thing to say about a vampire but its no less true), he cares for others more than he wants the world to know. We meet Jayce as he steps in to receive punishment for a debt his father hasn't been able to pay back and he doesn't do this on a whim, this is the kind of man he is. Put these two together and you have a recipe for what could be complete and utter chaos or the grand champion winning pie at the fair that you want to eat even though its been sitting on the judging table for days. Which is it? Trick question really, on one hand I won't give particulars to spoil anything but truth be told Cain and Jayce are a little bit of both, chaos and champion.
Cain and Jayce and the supporting cast of characters who I'm sure we'll get to see more of in future installments makes The Blood Boss an absolutely delicious read sure to satisfy any and all your fiction hungers.
RATING:
Summary:
Finding Free #1
Alpha Gaven Freel was taught by his doting beta parents to protect and respect omegas, and he sees those parents as shining examples of how to love his future mate. Except he’s only nineteen and still a university student, so Gaven has plenty of time to find his omega bondmate—but fate has other plans, and he scents his omega from across a crowded waiting room. Too bad his bondmate is the son of his parents’ oldest enemy.
At twenty-two, omega Frey Porter has already gone through multiple heats without an alpha. He’s desperate to find a mate, but his sire Monte Porter won’t settle for just any alpha for his only omega son. Frey will one day access a sizable trust fund—no gold diggers allowed into the wealthy Porter family. When Frey insists younger alpha Gaven Freel is his bondmate, Monte is skeptical about the pairing. And Gaven’s parents are skeptical right back, worried Monte might use the situation to punish Gaven for decades-old hurts.
Monte surprises everyone by negotiating a fair financial agreement that limits Gaven’s access to Frey’s trust fund and by allowing them to mate. Gaven has no interest in money, only in being the best alpha possible to Frey, and with Frey’s next heat months away, they have plenty of time to date and get to know each other. Frey is intimidated by Gaven’s huge extended family, but he also adores their camaraderie and genuine love for each other. Frey wants his future to be with the Freels.
Gaven is busy making plans for their life together when the unthinkable happens—Monte serves Gaven with papers dissolving the mating agreement. Papers Frey signed, too, and stands by. Devastated by losing his bondmate, Gaven sinks into a deep depression even his best friends can’t get him out of. But Frey also has a terrible, life-altering secret he’s keeping from Gaven, and he’ll have to learn to trust in the strength of the mating bond in order to save them both from darkness.
SAVE ME is the first book in the brand-new “Finding Free” omegaverse series, which is a spin-off of the fan-favorite “Breaking Free” series. This is an original universe featuring mpreg, A/B/O dynamics, heats, knotting and an alpha-dominated society that is starting to see advances in omega rights. Content warnings for dark themes apply. See interior blurb for additional warning.
An Omegaverse Story.
Summary:
Jackson Gallagher isn’t a typical werewolf. He isolates himself in a small town outside Spokane and dedicates himself to making his business—Lone Wolf Brewery—a success. If it leaves him little time for romance, he’s okay with that. His soul mate could be out there somewhere, but he isn’t actively looking.
So he’s in for quite the shock when he literally bumps into his soul mate—an adorable, nerdy, vibrant music therapist who’s Jackson’s polar opposite.
But he’s human. And a man.
Jackson’s straight—or at least he’s always assumed so. Though he can’t deny his attraction to Leo, it’s a lot for both of them to deal with.
While Jackson and Leo figure out what their future might hold, they face prejudice from both the human and werewolf communities—including a group of fanatics willing to kill to show humans and werewolves don’t belong together.
** This is a re-release of the 2019 novel 'Lone Wolf'
Summary:
Magic Emporium
A hitman and a fae walk into a café…
Callum always gets the job done—whether he likes it or not—but this job isn’t like any other. The target’s too young, too pretty, and too appealing for comfort, and the clients are offering more threats than cash. And either the target poisoned his hot chocolate or he’s going crazy, because now magic stores and wizard-looking dudes are appearing out of nowhere. It’s really not Callum’s day.
Linden’s on the run, and the human realm’s a good place to hide from evil sorcerers who think Linden’s the answer to a prophecy. But his enemy has found a way to send a very human and very dangerous assassin after him—a man who could kill Linden with one hand. Linden should be terrified, but his knees go weak for all the wrong reasons.
When Linden’s family is taken hostage, spending the night with Callum ought to be the last thing on his mind, but Linden can’t resist the chance to fulfill his deepest fantasies before sacrificing his own life. Callum knows he should walk away—it’s not his fight. But the beautiful fae is under his skin and now protecting Linden and his family feels more important than his own survival. A human learning to feel. A fae learning to trust. Can two worlds merge into one true love?
Brought to Light is part of the Magic Emporium Series. Each book stands alone, but each one features an appearance by Marden’s Magic Emporium, a shop that can appear anywhere, but only once and only when someone’s in dire need. This book contains explicit scenes, a magic flashlight, a prophecy that doesn’t quite work out the way anyone expects, and a guaranteed HEA.
Summary:
It’s not easy being someone’s fairy tale.
Leigh Hurley is making a name for himself among thieves and criminals, even if it isn’t the life he would’ve chosen. He shouldn’t have screwed over the Moretti brothers, though. It landed him in the river with weights on his feet. But somehow he’s escaped certain death. The last thing he remembers before waking on the riverbank is a beautiful face and a soft kiss.
Then, Tolomeo turns up naked at Leigh’s apartment.
Tolly comes from a race of killers—merfolk who drown humans for fun. But Tolly is different, and when he sees a human in trouble, he offers a kiss, granting the man the ability to breathe underwater… and himself the ability to walk on land, at least until the next full moon. The ancient laws state that if he is given a vow of love by the one he kissed, he will be able to keep his legs. If not, he will be put to death when he returns to the water.
But love is not something Leigh offers easily… and Tolly has a secret of his own.
The Blood Boss by Davidson King
Chapter One
Jayce
“Good night, Jayce.” Sibell, the old lady who owned the bookstore where I worked, squeezed my shoulder when she passed.
“Stay safe, Sibell, I’ll see you Monday morning.”
She smiled softly, her dark eyes twinkling as if they held a million secrets. Nodding quickly, she shut the front door.
I had worked here from the time I was eighteen and loved it. Now that I was twenty-three, Sibell was able to hand over a great many important tasks to me, such as counting the drawers, locking up, and ordering inventory. She’d told me the day she promoted me that she was grateful to finally have someone she trusted to watch over the store when she couldn’t. I took the responsibility seriously and was equally as grateful.
After I flipped the sign on the door to closed and locked the cash drawers in the safe, I did a sweep of the rows to be sure they were all tidy and nothing was out of place before leaving and locking the door.
“Late night?” the baker across the way, Burt, shouted as he shut down his own place.
“Fridays always are. Have a good night, Burt.”
He waved and got into his truck. I didn’t drive; the desire to learn how never intrigued me. If it rained I took the bus, but on clear days like today, I used my legs to get me home. I always traveled along the sidewalk that paralleled the ocean. In the morning, the sunrise would be my cup of coffee, and in the evening, when the moon made the sea glitter, it was a nightcap of delicious Chardonnay.
I was raised in foster care, though I didn’t have horrible and traumatizing memories like many in the system do. I was one of the lucky ones. My foster parents loved me from the second they found me on their doorstep at only a few days old, and I’d always felt like I was their son. At the age of five, I went from a foster kid to an adopted one, and Michael and Anne Harlow became my legal parents, and Black Veil City my home.
While not perfect and constantly humming with magic in the air, I wouldn’t live anywhere else. I heard the chimes from the church bells, indicating it was nine in the evening, and I hurried my steps. See, I loved this city, but when the sun was fully tucked away, it was safer to be home.
As I passed the police station, one of the officers stopped me.
“You shouldn’t be walking around at night, son. Do you need a ride?”
“No thanks, I’m just around this corner.”
“Okay, be safe.” I could feel the officer’s eyes on me until I turned down my street; everyone was vigilant at night.
I wasn’t born when it happened, but as the story goes, the world was falling apart, and humanity was responsible for it. In school, I was taught that due to humans killing the planet and each other, a balance no one knew existed had been upset.
The textbooks referred to it as The Final War because there hadn’t been one since. Mom would tell the story so dramatically, it was almost humorous. The first time I’d heard it, I was ten:
“From the Earth’s core the demons climbed, and from the stars the angels fell. The sea came alive, and the waves brought magical creatures ashore. The trees trembled with life as winged magicians swept through the forest. Humanity was not destroyed in this war; it was set to order.”
That was how she always started the story. Vampires, fairies, angels—all of them had come to Earth’s aid and saved it. When the dust settled, a new hierarchy was created and humans were not at the top. I was okay with that because, first of all, I’d known no differently, and also I’d learned that the oceans became cleaner, the air was safer, and there was zero pollution. But the fact that humans weren’t number one meant something else was, and here in Black Veil City, that was vampires. Namely, The Blood Boss.
I had never met him—hell, he didn’t show his face anywhere that I’d ever seen, and I knew very little about him. But he controlled all vampires, and while the streets weren’t running red with blood at night, it was the time they tended to roam, and crime was rare but it did happen.
I could see the porch light shining at the house and was just about to climb the steps when I realized there was a sleek black Cadillac in the driveway that didn’t belong to anyone I knew. Who could be here at this hour?
Something crashed inside and I rushed through the door, worried Mom, Dad, or the foster kids inside were in trouble.
“Jayce!” Mom shouted from the couch. Her hands were on her lap, and tears streaked down her cheeks. Dad was on the ground, his nose bleeding. But what had me frozen in place were the two hulking vampires in the living room. One stood beside Mom, and the other hovered over Dad.
“What’s going on here?” There were laws in place that vampires couldn’t enter someone’s home and dominate them for anything unless they had proper documentation from The Blood Boss.
“Who are you?” The one who was beside Mom narrowed his eyes.
“I’m Jayce Harlow, and I live here. Who are you?”
“Jayce, don’t…” A sharp look from the vampire above my dad shut him up.
“I’m Emil, this is Petru, and we’re here under orders from The Blood Boss.” Emil was the one guarding my mother, and he slipped a piece of paper from the pocket of his expensive suit.
He walked over to me, and I had to crane my neck to meet his gaze. He had to be over six five or something. His blond hair was styled in a short cut, his eyes an eerie shade of blue—a cross between white and baby blue. I’d noticed all vampires had odd-colored eyes; it was one way of identifying them.
“Take a gander.” He held the paper out to me, and I took it, reading every word carefully, hoping I’d find a reason to tell them they had no right to be here. But there was none and…
“You borrowed money from The Blood Boss, Dad?”
Petru stepped back when my father tried to stand, but he stayed close.
“I had to, Jayce, I had no other choice.”
I read the line that scared me the most. “Failure to pay the agreed-upon amount will result in your punishment being ruled on in front of The Blood Boss and a fair judgment dealt.” I looked up, and tendrils of fear licked at my skin. “Dad, this is serious! It says you borrowed over fifty-thousand dollars.”
“I know and—”
“Do you even have it?” I knew he didn’t; money was tight even with what we were given from the government to care for the foster kids. I’d told my parents not to take any more kids in, that we couldn’t afford it, but they hated turning away a child in need.
“No.” His voice was a whisper, and he flinched when Petru grunted.
“Emil, is it?” The vampire nodded. “Can I ask what punishment my father will get?”
He shrugged. “I’m not The Blood Boss; you’d have to ask him, but the reason there is order in Black Veil is because no one gets to slide by without repercussions for their actions.”
“But from your experience, what would you say he’d get for it?”
Emil spared a glance at Petru before answering. “The reason Michael Harlow borrowed money had to do with the fact that the bank was about to foreclose on his house. It’s a noble reason. My guess is he’d likely make him work it off.”
The bank was going to foreclose on the house? Why didn’t anyone tell me?
“He already works two jobs. If you take him away, the bank will surely take the house. Isn’t there another way?”
Emil shook his head. “Anne Harlow could take his place as payment.”
My mom was a schoolteacher during the week, and on the weekends she worked at the community center to help children who were struggling in school. She couldn’t be away either.
“If you take Mom or Dad, they will be even deeper in debt with the bank, the foster kids will have to leave, and I don’t have a lot of hope for them in the system, and they’d lose their other jobs. Please, is there any other way?”
Emil looked over at my mom, then at my dad. When he met Petru’s gaze, it was as if they were having some sort of telepathic conversation, and maybe they were; I didn’t know a lot about vampires’ abilities.
“Are you their son?” Emil turned toward me again.
“No!” My dad made to run over to me, but Petru stopped him easily.
“I am, why?”
“It’s not typical, and I’ve never seen it done, but you could go in your father’s place.”
“Jayce, please.” My mom was sobbing, and I heard the pitter-patter of footsteps above me. No doubt the kids were listening and frightened. Michael and Anne were amazing foster parents. If it weren’t for them, I’d likely be in a shit situation, and if they left here now it would be a disaster.
I, on the other hand, only worked at the bookstore and while Sibell needed my help, she wasn’t completely lost without me. Mom and Dad would take a little hit financially, seeing as my paycheck went to help out around here. It was the sole reason I stilled lived at home. However, without me here it would also be one less mouth to feed, so things might balance themselves out.
“I’ll do it.”
My mom cried harder, and my dad tried to break free of Petru’s grasp. They loved me and didn’t want to see me handed to The Blood Boss, especially for something I had no control over.
Emil held a small square device in his hand. “I need your finger.”
Reflexively I clenched my fists. “It will be hard to work off my father’s debt if I’m down one finger.”
Emil and Petru chuckled. “You can keep your fingers, just slide one in here.” The square device opened and there was a tiny needle sticking up inside. “I need a drop of your blood.”
I glanced over at my parents, Mom’s cries were softer, but my father looked as if he were about to come apart.
Slowly, I stuck my finger inside the device, feeling the brush of the needle. Emil gave me no time to react; he shut it and I felt the quick, piercing pain.
“Repeat after me,” Emil said. “I, Jayce Harlow, agree to take punishment for Michael Harlow’s debt to The Blood Boss for the allotted time agreed upon by him.”
I repeated what he said, and he went on.
“This is a blood oath you are making at your own free will and without coercion?”
“Yes.”
“I hereby stand witness to this pact and agree to the substitution of Jayce Harlow in place of Michael Harlow.”
Emil released my finger and I immediately stuck it in my mouth, earning a chuckle from both vampires.
“I bet you’re delicious.” Emil winked but quickly walked to my dad.
“I don’t allow you to take my son!”
“Michael Harlow, you are hereby excused of your obligation to The Blood Boss—”
“No! I refuse.” He tried and failed to break away from Petru as he raged and cried.
“Dad, please. Let me do this. Conner, Lisa, the twins, they need you and Mom here.”
“What if he hurts you?” My mom spoke through her sobs.
“A debt is not punishable by death or physical harm,” Emil answered, his voice laced with boredom. “Petru, I will get Jayce to the car, and then you may release Michael and join us.”
“Can I say good-bye?”
Emil’s expression hardened. “I’ve been as kind as I’m going to be, Jayce. Let’s go.”
Even if I wanted to, I wasn’t going to argue. I followed Emil out of the house, hearing my mother’s loud cries all the way to the car.
Save Me by AM Arthur
One
Gaven Freel settled at the small round table with his black coffee and pistachio biscotti, and he immediately dunked his snack into the steaming coffee. Perks was fairly crowded this afternoon, which wasn’t unusual during the summer when both secondary and university students were free from classes and could haunt their favorite coffee shops. A moment later, his best friend Nicolo Tallow plunked down in the chair opposite Gaven with his own order of an iced mocha and chocolate muffin. He never understood how Nicolo could handle all that sugar and caffeine at once, but Nicolo loved it. Maybe it was a beta thing.
“I am so fucking glad finals are over, man,” Nicolo said. “First year done and only three more left.”
“Unless you choose a specialty school,” Gaven added. He was absolutely going to follow in his Da’s footsteps and test into nursing school after his first two years. Maybe an alpha nurse was…well, almost unheard of, but it’s what Gaven wanted to do. Serge “Da” Freel was his freaking hero, and Gaven looked forward to serving the citizens of Sansbury Province one day just like Da had.
Nicolo ripped off a piece of his muffin. “I don’t know what I want to do. My parents just want me to be happy and successful, but even after a year of elective courses, I don’t know. I wish I was as put together as you.”
“You’ll figure out what you want to do with your life. Not everyone knows right away.” Gaven took a big bite of his soaked biscotti, and yum! “Besides, maybe you’ll meet and fall in love with a rich beta businessman and you won’t have to have a career.”
“I’d rather have a career than be a kept man. I’d honestly rather be single than be a kept man, but maybe that’s because both my parents work.”
Gaven wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He’d been incredibly lucking growing up in that his Da was a registered ICU nurse and received a high enough salary that his Poppa, Dex, was able to retire from his job with the province’s constabulary and raise Gaven full-time. He’d had a wonderful childhood full of play dates with family friends, and it wasn’t until Gaven entered secondary school that Poppa went back to work part-time.
Until that damned accident that ruined Poppa’s already tender knee.
“Well,” Gaven said, “you’ve got at least one more semester to decide what to do with yourself.”
“I guess.” Nicolo sipped at his iced mocha, then glanced over his shoulder at the service counter. “Are you and Rei ever going to make up?”
Gaven let out a long sigh and shrugged. His former best friend, Rei Bloom, was working the complicated espresso machine that made the shop’s fancy coffee drinks, while the owner, Brogan Tovey, rang register. He and Rei hadn’t fought, exactly, but the tension between them had hit nuclear levels a few weeks ago during a big family get-together. They were both alpha, and they both had a crush on Brogan’s youngest, omega Miko Tovey. Miko was only sixteen, though, and he’d yet to have his first heat so no one had any clue if the mating bond existed between Miko and any of his alpha friends.
Honestly, Gaven couldn’t remember what he and Rei had fought about, specifically, only that it had ended with Gaven flat out from a punch and their collective parents worried and upset.
“He’s the one who hit me,” Gaven said. “Why should I apologize first?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do? You guys have been friends your entire lives, and your parents are BFF’s. Weekend brunch has got to be all kinds of awkward.”
“Trust me, it is.” He dunked his biscotti again. “It’s such a stupid thing to get pissy over, anyway, right? Miko could heat and none of us feel the bond, and then our stupid crushes don’t matter.” But Miko was insanely cute, with cinnamon colored skin and jet-black hair. Big brown eyes and the most adorable pout when he was upset…
“Exactly,” Nicolo said. “Alpha and omega stuff is so weird. At least all I have to worry about is finding someone I’m attracted to and want to marry. Once you scent your bondmate, you’re kind of stuck with them no matter what.”
“True.” Gaven had a handful of friends he’d grown up with who were omega, two of whom were both his age, and the idea of them being his bondmate was weird. He was grateful, however, that his friend Karson Jenks had already heated twice at nineteen and wasn’t Gaven’s bondmate. They were practically brothers. Gross.
He also missed Rei. Gaven, Rei, and Rei’s cousin Branson Cross were siblings in their own right. Rei and Branson had grown up in separate apartments in the same big house, and Gaven had been over there almost all the time. And now that Gaven and Rei were at odds, Branson had taken Rei’s side. The rest of their collective friends were trying not to have opinions, but it wouldn’t stay like that forever. Something was going to give.
Gaven was also in a unique position among his group of friends—he was an only child. The only adopted child of a married beta couple. The rest of his childhood friends were the offspring of mated alpha/omega pairs. Bondmates, all of them, which meant they had a deeper, stronger connection than an alpha/omega who mated without feeling that instinctive, addictive bond. All his friends, except for Rei, had at least one sibling, and being only children had bonded Gaven and Rei once upon a time.
Now it felt like nothing was going to mend the rift between them.
The only-child thing had also cemented Gaven’s friendship with Nicolo. They’d been assigned as roommates their freshmen year at university, and they’d clicked immediately, despite Gaven being alpha. But Rei had always teased that Gaven was more beta-like in disposition, probably because of his parents, so he hadn’t intimated Nicolo in the least. Nicolo was also a bit of a free spirit who saw the best in everyone, and Gaven adored that about his friend.
“Can we talk about something else?” Gaven asked. “How about that camping trip we were planning for next month? Your parents still good with it?”
“Still perfectly okay with it.” Nicolo only had a few sips of his mocha left, and Gaven wasn’t sure when his friend had gulped the rest down. “I only had to reassure them once that it was just a camp-out and not an excuse for us to get away and fuck around for an entire weekend.”
Gaven nearly inhaled his coffee and ended up coughing into a napkin. “Geez, Nic, really?”
“What? They’re protective and you’re an alpha. Don’t worry, I told them I find you as sexually interesting as a dust mop.”
“Thanks for that.”
“I mean, you’re cute and all but not my type. And it’s not even the alpha thing, you’re just…big.”
Gaven was kind of big. He’d hit a bit of a growth spurt three years ago, shooting up to an impressive six-foot-three and muscling up to around two-hundred-ten pounds. It intimidated some of his omega and beta friends, despite his easygoing nature, and it made him wonder sometimes who his birth parents had been. He adored the parents who’d nurtured him his entire life but it was hard not to wonder some days. Nicolo was in the same position as an adopted kid, but Nicolo was also beta and fairly average. Cute, but average.
“It’s not like I can take some elixir to make myself smaller,” Gaven retorted. “I am who I am, okay?”
“I know, and totally not picking on you. Honest. And as I’ve said before, you give alphas a good name. I was nervous to have an alpha roommate, but you’re amazing. Best friend ever. A big, cuddly alpha-bear.”
“Okay, stop, please.”
A shadow fell over the table a moment before a familiar, slender body plunked down on the third chair at the table. Brogan Tovey was an omegin in his late-thirties. He and his alpha mate Mikel had inherited Perks from the late owner Mateo Farnsworth years ago when the widower alpha passed away. Apparently, Brogan and his own BFF Jaysan were frequent patrons, and Mateo had grown fond of Brogan. Fond enough to leave him and Mikel this fabulous little coffee and pastry shop, and the mated pair had run it ever since.
Brogan had previously pursued his interest in a cooking career with a small, moderately successful catering business, but running Perks, he’d once said, was a dream come true.
“When are you and Rei going to stop fighting?” Brogan asked. “All the cold shoulders are giving me chills.”
“That’s up to him,” Gaven replied. “Maybe I provoked him a little, but he hit me, not the other way around.”
Brogan sighed heavily. “You young alphas. Nothing is ever solved with fists. It’s solved with words. I should have Mikel sit you both down.”
“Trust me, I’ve gotten ears-full of the hitting, abusive alpha rhetoric from Uncle Kell and Uncle Ronin. And from my own parents, especially Da. It isn’t about that. It’s about loyalty. I told Rei a secret when I said I liked Miko, so he turns around and says he hopes Miko is his bondmate? Who does that?”
“The goddess gives us our bondmates, Gaven.” Brogan squeezed his wrist once. “When you meet your bondmate, you’ll know it in your bones, and nothing in the world will matter more than pleasing your omega. Give it time and cherish your friends while you have them. Life is far too short and can change too quickly.”
“True.” He’d seen that first-hand, not only with Poppa’s accident and knee surgery, but also with Uncle Tarek’s shooting four years ago. Tarek had survived, but was now paralyzed from the waist down and wheelchair bound. Plus, there was Brogan’s eldest son Peyton…
“I’ll think about talking to Rei,” Gaven said.
Brogan snorted. “Stubborn alpha brat.”
“I’ll try and talk some sense into him,” Nicolo said to Brogan. “I mean, I know we aren’t living on campus right now for the summer break, but I’ve gotta live with the guy come this fall.”
“You do that. Take care, boys.”
“Bye, Brogan,” Gaven said. His parents weren’t as close to Brogan and his mate as some of their other friends, but Gaven liked the soft-spoken omegin. And it wasn’t remotely weird talking to him about Gaven’s crush on Miko—which it should have been, considering Miko was Brogan’s kid. But so was Peyton, another alpha Gaven and Rei’s age. Peyton was BFF’s with a fourth alpha in their age group, Aeron, and their pair tended to stick together. The same way Gaven and Rei had stuck together once upon a time.
Growing up sucked.
“So what time’s your ribbon cutting thing tonight again?” Nicolo asked once Brogan returned to the service counter.
“Six, I think.” Gaven checked the time on his mobile, but he had a few hours before dinner. “I hate these things, but since Da had a huge hand in opening the centers, I have to be there for photos and shit.”
“Sucks being a celebrity.”
“I’m hardly a celebrity.”
“Dude, you grew up with the infamous Cross twins, whose omegin is infamous in his own way, and whose uncle is now mayor. Plus, your da spearheaded these new urgent care centers. You’re, like, a celebrity by extension or something.”
“I would much rather be anonymous, thank you.” As much as Gaven adored his Uncles Kell and Ronin, and their seventeen-year-old twins Emory and Caden, they’d had one too many childhood excursions ruined by nosy reporters or citizens who wanted to fawn over the rare double births. The twins were completely over the attention, as was their twenty-year-old brother Branson.
“Too bad we can’t trade lives,” Nicolo said. “I’d take yours in a heartbeat. Mine is so boring.”
“Boring is underrated, trust me.” He would love to have fewer famous family and friends, but this was the life Gaven had been dealt, and he’d do what he could with it. “Less about me, more about you. Anything good happen at that beta mixer the other night?”
Nicolo shrugged and ate more of his muffin, stalling. “Not really. I mean, I met a few guys I could totally be friends with but there was no chemistry. I’m just destined to be a lonely old man without a husband or kid.”
“You’re melodramatic, and you’re only nineteen. You have plenty of time to meet someone and fall in love.”
“Like you’re some old, dried-up alpha. We’re the same age. And all the studies show that omegas aren’t going into their first heat until closer to eighteen now, rather than sixteen like a generation ago. You have the same amount of time.”
True story. Thanks to a multitude of things, including new drugs that suppressed an omega’s pheromones so they could finish secondary school, most omegas didn’t go into heat until closer to eighteen now. They didn’t become fertile and produce natural slick to entice a potential alpha mate. Their scent didn’t change and become enticing to not only any unmated alpha around, but irresistible to the alpha who was their bondmate.
One of the biggest political and humanitarian successes in Sansbury history had been Kell Cross’s campaign to allow omegas to finish secondary school. Previously, they’d been required to drop out at sixteen when their scents became overwhelming to young alpha classmates. Now they could stay in school, and the university even had a specific wing and class schedule for omega students.
Gaven loved that someone he considered family had been part of that huge social change. And that so many of his omega friends were benefiting from those changes.
His mobile beeped with a text.
Da: Did you remember to get your suit from the cleaners?
Gaven snorted. Da got a little frantic before big events where his work as a private nurse and activist were on display. He replied that he’d pick up the suit on his way back from his coffee date with Nicolo. He did not mention he was glad Da had reminded him, or he’d have gotten all the way home without the suit. His memory for minor errands was terrible.
“So are you taking one of your omega buddies as a date tonight?” Nicolo asked.
“Nah.” Gaven finished the last of his biscotti. “Everyone is going with their parents to support mine, so we’ll all be there as one big group.”
“Just don’t punch Rei.”
“I haven’t laid a finger on him since primary school when he put a real freaking snake in my desk. He knows I hate snakes.” Gaven shuddered over the skinny, squirmy, smelly reptiles whose little forked tongues made them look positively evil.
“You’re afraid of snakes?” Nicolo hooted laughter. “A big, badass alpha afraid of snakes. Oh, my goddess.”
He knuckled Nicolo in the shoulder. “I said I hate them, not that I’m afraid of them. They’re just…ugly and gross. And we both got detention for that.” Da had been furious with Gaven for punching his friend, and he was eight years old the first time they had a serious talk about Gaven’s role as an alpha. That his job was to protect and lead in the world, but also to nurture an equal partnership with his future mate.
“So if you punched Rei way back then and he punched you a few weeks ago, doesn’t that kind of make you guys even?” Nicolo asked.
Gaven opened his mouth to instinctively reply no, they weren’t even. But maybe? Yes, it had hurt when Rei said he hoped Miko was his bondmate, but looking back it hadn’t come out as malicious. Simply Rei stating he also had feelings for the same omega. And chances were Miko would be the bondmate of someone none of them had even met yet, so why keep fighting over him?
But Gaven wasn’t ready to be the bigger man just yet. “I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”
“Stubborn alpha. You done?”
Gaven sucked down the last of his cool coffee and pushed the cup at Nicolo. “Yeah, thanks.”
Nicolo took their dishes to the far end of the service counter where customers returned empties. Gaven liked that Perks didn’t use disposable to-go cups. The Toveys wanted folks to slow down, sit down, and enjoy their drinks and snacks. And it produced less waste. Sansbury had an excellent recycling program starting up, and Gaven was eager to do what he could to spare the earth further harm.
He met Nicolo at the door, and they left together. Perks was in a quiet neighborhood that was a mix of residential homes and small businesses, and they walked a few blocks to a park to enjoy the summer sunshine. Their coffee dates weren’t always just sitting in Perks and chatting. Gaven genuinely missed his roommate now that the semester was over, and he enjoyed simply spending time with him.
They talked about nonsense while they roamed the small park, which was swarming with kids and their parents. Gaven had so many great memories of afternoons spent at local parks with his friends, running around and exhausting themselves with made-up games. Getting in trouble so many times because Branson had goaded him and Rei into doing something stupid or dangerous. Gaven had sprained his ankle doing just such a thing, and Da had been furious—not only at Gaven’s stupidity in thinking he could jump from the top of the jungle gym to the ground without hurting himself, but with Branson for goading Gaven into doing it.
Branson had been grounded for a week after that.
Nicolo called out to a classmate of his, and their trio spent a few minutes chatting under a maple tree. Gaven loved hanging around outside when the weather was good, and despite having an unusually warm spring, the first week of Summer Solstice was mild and sunny, and Gaven soaked it in. The weather, the friendship, the excitement of summer vacation.
His good mood made him want to walk back to Perks and talk to Rei about their fight, but doing it while Rei was on the clock was a bad idea. And Brogan wouldn’t appreciate the interruption. Maybe he’d call Rei’s mobile later. Or corner him at the ceremony tonight. Yeah, that was a good plan.
Poppa texted Gaven about remembering to pick up the flowers he’d ordered over the phone for Da, and Gaven nearly smacked himself on the forehead. He really should have made a list of his afternoon errands. Gaven responded with a thumbs-up emoji. Oh well. Maybe he was forgetful with everyday life things, but he excelled in math and science—which he’d need to know if he wanted to be as good a nurse as Da.
Eventually, Gaven had to leave the park, so he said goodbye to Nicolo and headed back to where he’d parked the car. It had been Poppa’s car for years, until Poppa couldn’t really drive anymore. Hard to do with a steel rod inserted in his left leg, making the knee completely unbendable. He hit the dry cleaners first for his suit and then popped into the floral shop. Poppa had a tradition of buying Da’s favorite flowers for any special occasion, but he couldn’t go get them himself anymore.
Both his parents were home when he arrived at the single-story house he’d lived in since Gaven was three. Part of leaving the apartment they’d lived in for years before Gaven was born had been Poppa’s knee issues. Part of it was having money to buy a nice, brand-new home in a good neighborhood. Gaven loved the house, and he loved the deck out back where he spent a lot of time in the sunshine.
Da met him at the door, his blond hair a mess and his eyes wide. “There you are,” Da said. “I thought you’d be home sooner.”
“I got caught up in the park with Nicolo.” Gaven tried to hide the flowers behind his back but Da was expecting them anyway. “And I had an errand for Poppa. But I’m here. We won’t be late.”
“I know we won’t, but this dedication is so important.”
“I know, Da. Deep breaths.” He’d have hugged the man if he had a free hand. “Where’s Poppa?”
“Working on dinner.”
Gaven draped his suit over the back of the nearest chair and then side-walked his way through the living room to the kitchen in the back of the house. Poppa was rolling out sheets of pasta on the pasta machine, and he paused in turning the crank to smile at Gaven. Ever since the rod was inserted, he’d quit working outside the house and dedicated himself to learning how to cook pretty much every single thing from scratch. Pasta was his newest obsession.
“You got them?” Poppa asked. As if Gaven standing sideways wasn’t a dead giveaway.
“Yup.” Gaven tucked the flowers into the sink for now, so he could get a vase from one of the lower cabinets. “Da seems a bit overly stressed about this. Like, worse than any other event I can think of.”
“Because this one is incredibly personal to Serge.” Poppa stopped fussing with the pasta sheets and turned to face him, voice low. “We told you that we named you after a good friend of your da’s who died young.”
“Yeah.”
He glanced at the kitchen archway but Da was nowhere to be seen. “He was a nurse like Serge, and they were best friends and roommates. One day, only a few months after Serge and I met, a man with a gun came into the ER while Serge and Gaven were working, and Gaven was shot. Serge blamed himself for a long time for not being able to save Gaven, even though it was a catastrophic wound.”
“Holy crap.” Gaven hadn’t known how violently his namesake had died. Part of him wanted to find Da, hug him, and tell him how sorry he was. But it had happened more than twenty-five years ago. Was there a time limit on condolences? “Oh wow.”
“That’s why he’s so wound up,” Poppa said. “And having urgent care centers around the province wouldn’t have saved the first Gaven, but seeing these centers named after him? Serge fought long and hard for this.”
“I get it. All I want to do is be there and support him, like you guys have always supported me.”
Poppa gave him a one-armed hug so he didn’t dust Gaven with flour. “You’re an amazing kid. Now go hang your suit up. Dinner will be ready in about thirty minutes.”
“I thought your pasta only takes, like, three minutes to boil?”
“It does, but the sauce needs more time to simmer.”
Gaven grinned on his way out of the kitchen, but his chest also felt tight. Not quite with grief but something similar. He couldn’t imagine the pain of losing a best friend to anything, much less such a violent act as a shooting. He’d grown up with so many amazing guys, plus Nicolo. He wasn’t sure how he’d survive losing any of his friends.
And he hoped to goddess he never had to find out.
Lone Wolf by Anna Martin
Chapter One
JACKSON WAS not the sort of guy people called on in an emergency.
He was the sort of person who stepped back when there was an emergency and let others do their thing. Knowing when to move away and let the experts take over was an important quality.
Today was not his day.
“I need help! Help!”
All he’d wanted was to pick up some fresh vegetables at Whole Foods, but a woman in the next aisle was screaming. Actually she wasn’t the only one screaming. There were a few other people doing the same thing, including a baby.
With a sigh, Jackson stuck his head around the corner, his curiosity a stronger instinct than the one to run away.
The woman screaming for help sat on the floor with a baby in her arms. A werewolf baby, by the looks of things, since her fangs were out.
Holy shit. That was definitely not supposed to happen.
“Sir!”
Double shit. The mother had made him, probably recognizing him as another wolf.
“Please.”
Jackson set down his basket and jogged over. By now, some of the store staff had gathered round and were ushering all the lookie-loos back. Apparently Jackson and the mom were the only werewolves in the store—just his damn luck.
“Is she okay?” he asked, nodding at the baby and keeping his fingers well away.
“She’s not even two yet,” the mom wailed.
Werewolves didn’t experience their first shift until puberty, most often somewhere between the ages of ten and fourteen. For an infant to have dropped her fangs already was… unusual.
“You should get her over to the Children’s Hospital,” Jackson said gently, still keeping his fingers away from the baby. He definitely didn’t want her to bite him with those fangs. She was a cute little thing, with chubby red cheeks, big brown eyes, and two delicate white canines overhanging her bottom lip that looked sharp as fuck. Thankfully the baby wasn’t screaming anymore. If anything, she looked confused by the noise her mother was making.
“I don’t drive,” the mom sobbed. “I got an Uber here.”
Jackson forced down the urge to sigh again. “Come on,” he said. “I’ll take you.”
THE MOM, Katelyn, and baby Ava were safely deposited at the Spokane Children’s Hospital emergency department. By the time they got to the hospital, Jackson felt somewhat responsible for them and walked Katelyn through the doors that led to the werewolf emergency room. It was set away from the human equivalent for a multitude of reasons, some rooted deep in old prejudice, others in practicality. Jackson tried not to think about it too hard. It was a blessing his mom worked here. Otherwise he wouldn’t have had a clue where to go.
He was curious to know what exactly had caused Ava to suddenly sprout fangs ten years earlier than she should have. He didn’t even know it was possible for baby teeth to be fangs. Jackson could sense a Wikipedia downward spiral in his near future, but despite his curiosity, he wasn’t about to stick around and wait for Katelyn and Ava to get a diagnosis.
There was a quick way to get back to his truck and a longer, more convoluted route, but the latter option meant he could avoid passing by the X-Ward. Once, when he was a kid, he’d accidentally glanced into the highly secure space where they kept people who had been bitten by wolves. The idea was to keep those humans safe while they waited to see if they were going to change, or if the antivenom would work if they’d administered it in time, but Jackson had vivid memories of a woman wailing and a teenager struggling to escape two nurses who were trying to restrain him. It looked like hell. His mom had dragged him away quickly when she’d noticed him staring, and lectured him all the way home about not sneaking off.
Though he understood logically why the ward was needed, it still sent a shiver down his spine. So he took the long route back to the parking lot and didn’t grouch about it.
The hospital was bustling with people, which just made Jackson want to retreat. He hated when people got all pushy, and he was definitely in the way, since he was neither a sick child nor someone caring for one.
He was in the process of escaping when a young man rushed down the corridor, replying to a message on his phone and definitely not looking where he was going. The guy barged right into Jackson, almost knocking him over.
“Sorry!” the guy called, already half a dozen steps away. He held up both hands and elegantly turned to stop. “Are you okay?”
Normally Jackson would have just muttered something rude under his breath and made a hasty retreat. But there was something wrong. Very, very wrong.
Maybe the guy saw the wrongness in Jackson’s expression because he hadn’t kept running to wherever was so important he didn’t have time to look where he was going. He took a careful step forward.
“You’re…,” Jackson started, but didn’t know how to finish the sentence.
“Hey, can I help?”
He was a little shorter and a lot slimmer than Jackson, with reddish brown hair and pale skin. He wore a lanyard with an ID badge, which meant he worked at the hospital. His face was twisted into gentle concern.
Jackson blinked hard.
“You’re my soul mate,” he said, the words feeling wrong in his mouth.
His heart gave an encouraging thump. Jackson felt sick, but there was no point denying it. The pull came right from his gut, making his vision sharpen and senses heighten. He blocked off everything around them instinctively, letting his world narrow to the two of them. The busy hospital all but melted away, leaving him intently focused on the young man in front of him.
Jackson was already in tune with this curious stranger, the one looking at him now like he was going mad. Maybe he was.
“I’m human.” The guy shook his head, like Jackson was wrong.
That wasn’t important. Jackson didn’t know how to explain it to himself, let alone to the poor guy standing in front of him now looking both shocked and terrified.
“I’m so sorry. I have to go,” the guy said, digging into his back pocket. He pulled out a dog-eared business card that he shoved at Jackson. “I have a meeting, but… you should call me.”
He was gone before Jackson could say anything else, disappearing around the corner. People kept rushing past Jackson, but he couldn’t make himself move. Eventually he looked down at the card.
Leo Gallagher
Music Therapist
Brought to Light by Eliot Grayson
I shot my arm out and caught him around the waist, neatly clotheslining him and sending him sprawling on the ground.
John let out a cry of surprise and pain and rolled onto his back, just in time for the other set of pounding feet to close in.
The guy I’d seen the night before, the sketchy one, came around the corner and launched himself at John, snarling something in a guttural language I couldn’t understand.
Sometimes, when I was in a situation like this, time slowed down. Became elastic. Every detail struck me at once, but I processed them individually: John’s wide, panicked blue eyes, sheened with tears, maybe; the flash of something in the other guy’s hand, a knife with a wickedly curved blade; the damp of mist or possibly the start of rain cooling my cheeks and settling in my hair; the weight of my gun in my hand.
John was my mark, a dead man the second Jesse told me we had to take the job. That was how it worked. There simply couldn’t be room for anything else.
I flipped the gun in my hand, grasping it neatly by the barrel, and time sped up again. John cried out, raising his bruised and gritty palms to fend off his attacker, and the grip of my pistol thwacked into the asshole’s temple with a meaty crunch. He collapsed like I’d cut his strings, his face smacking into the pavement and his limp arm falling across John’s legs. The knife gleamed against the dull concrete, reflecting the pearl-gray of the sky like a mirror.
John stared up at me, his pink lips parted, giving me a glimpse of his teeth. His tongue flicked out to wet his lower lip. “Is he dead?”
I shrugged. “Probably. Or will be, if no one gets him to a hospital.” I hadn’t flipped the gun around out of any desire to spare his life. I just hadn’t wanted the noise of a gunshot to attract attention.
John suddenly scrambled out from under the dead weight of the guy I’d maybe just killed, rolling to his knees and panting heavily, his head hanging between his shoulders like he was trying not to throw up.
Fucking civilians. I caught him around the upper arm and hauled him to his feet. He was as light as he looked. Dandelion fluff. His hair brushed my chin as he lurched upward, and a shiver went down my neck.
My fingers went all the way around his arm. I gave him a squeeze, and not a gentle one. He shuddered.
“Who the fuck is this, and what did he want?”
Of course, he was almost certainly my opposite number, hired to make sure the job got done. And that meant Jesse might be dead already, if our employers had decided we weren’t going to take the bait and sent in someone else.
A cold lump of dread settled in my stomach, but I ignored it. I couldn’t do anything for Jesse right then. Any problem that couldn’t be solved had to be shoved aside, and that was how it was.
Coming Up for Air by Amanda Meuwissen
Chapter One
IF HIS life had gone differently, maybe Leigh Hurley would have been an engineer working toward his master’s in thermodynamics by now instead of sinking to the bottom of the river.
At least he couldn’t tell how filthy the water was since it was midnight and he was plummeting fast into the dark depths, the glimmer of moonlight above him quickly disappearing. He was a good swimmer, not that it mattered with twenty-pound weights attached to his ankles. He had about two minutes before he passed out, and then it would be curtains.
Fighting against the panic clawing at his chest the same way his lungs begged for air, he forced his body to curl downward in a frantic attempt to reach the weights. They were cinder blocks attached with actual shackles. Under normal circumstances, he might have been able to remove them using one of his lockpicks, but he couldn’t see. A bitter mantra of “if only” followed his path downward like the bubbles of air escaping as he tried to think of some other way, any way to get out of this.
If only he wasn’t a criminal. If only he hadn’t been so damn opportunistic. If only he hadn’t gotten caught.
It had been a smart plan. The streets by the docks where Leigh lived were split in half between the Moretti brothers and Arthur Sweeney, who might have been Irish to their Italian, but that wasn’t the root of their animosity. Everything revolved around power in Cove City. At the end of the night, what mattered was which family had the most territory, like some old-fashioned trade of land equaling wealth, which was always true, and Leigh owned nothing, not even the apartment he could barely pay the rent on.
Since his best friend was Alvin Sweeney, Arthur’s son, Leigh played for their side, hoping to rise in the ranks on more than nepotism. Looking good to Sweeney Senior meant making a splash on the scene, so Leigh had been working overtime for months on small thefts that caused an increasing decline in how much the Morettis brought in from their protection racket.
Leigh gave most of what he stole to Sweeney, but some he returned to the neighboring mom-and-pop stores as a good Samaritan, and a little he kept for himself. This made the Morettis look weak, like they couldn’t protect their own. It was all about the long game and how it would make things easier for Sweeney to claim those streets in the months and years to come.
It would have worked, too, if they hadn’t been waiting for Leigh tonight.
“Nobody crosses the Morettis,” Leo, younger brother to Vincent and in charge of their muscle, had said before his goons dropped Leigh over the side of the docks.
Now he was going to drown with no one to remember him other than Alvin and maybe the handful of people in his building who relied on his technical talents and didn’t care if he was a runner for a mobster as long as their TVs and dishwashers worked.
It was such a waste, pushing him to struggle harder to swim upward after he gave up on the shackles, vainly trying to beat back fate, even though he knew he wasn’t strong enough and barely made an inch of headway before he continued to sink.
Soon he’d disappear, another good riddance that he doubted even his parole officer would miss for how often she sighed and told him to make something of himself instead of falling back into bad habits. But what was there to make of a life without privilege? Leigh had no prospects, no family, no education, only honed skills of survival. He’d been a thief since he could fit his hand inside a passing pocket. With his record, even at only twenty-five, there was no hope for him in this city that didn’t lean on Arthur Sweeney, and now he’d lost that opportunity too.
The water was cold even in spring since this part of the river was wider. The docks wouldn’t see any activity until morning, and not much then either at this location, though with a few shortcuts, it wasn’t far to Leigh’s apartment. He’d die close to home, if that meant anything. He just wished he’d been smarter, faster, and had another chance to do things better.
Those two minutes had to be up, because it was getting harder to fight, his mind sluggish and unable to think of a solution to save him. He was even starting to hallucinate, maybe dreaming, maybe already dead and fading away. A light shone in the blackness as he hit bottom. More like a glimmer of bare skin, because he’d swear he saw a face approaching as his mind grew hazier and his vision dimmed.
Somehow the face became clearer, though, beautiful too, like something ethereal—flawless features, concerned eyes, dark hair swaying in the water. If he was real, he would have been the exact sort of man who would have made Leigh take notice. Maybe the man was an angel, and Leigh’s passing wouldn’t be as painful or as terrifying as he’d feared, despite his lungs burning with the struggle to breathe.
But he didn’t deserve an angel. He wasn’t good in any sense of the word or worthy of heaven. He didn’t believe in love, not even in saying the words, because that was more damaging and hollower than being hated if it came from somewhere fake or turned into rubbish along the way. His father had taught him that early, and life only reaffirmed the dangers of love and trust over the years.
Scared as Leigh was, part of him believed he had this coming, but the angel in the water didn’t snarl or fade away. He came close enough that Leigh could make out every detail of his face, including occasional freckles and a wide smile. Then the beautiful man floated closer, looking back at Leigh in wonder, and captured his lips in a cold kiss.
A song filled his mind like when one got stuck in his head, playing distantly and sweet like he imagined this man’s voice might be—lovely but understated, just a tune without words.
Leigh was dying. He should have been filled with terror, but in his last moments, he felt calm to have had such a pleasant final dream.
The next moment, he was gasping for breath, somehow on shore, on the riverbank far enough from where he’d been dropped that Leo and his goons couldn’t see him, but still close enough to walk home. It didn’t make sense. The man in the water couldn’t be real. Cove City didn’t produce unknown saviors, yet when Leigh looked down at his ankles, the cinder blocks were gone.
Coughing into the sand and dirt, unsure how he’d been saved or if he’d been touched by some miracle, all Leigh knew was that he had to get home, and after he rested, he’d have precious little time to prevent this same fate from befalling him again tomorrow night.
With a mighty push, he thrust up onto his knees, staggered to his feet, and began the slow trek back to his apartment, trying to banish the vision of that lovely face from overriding what he knew could only have been a trick of the mind.
LEIGH DIDN’T mean to fall asleep when he reached home and shed his soaked clothing. He only planned to rest his eyes for a moment, but he’d underestimated how exhausted he was, and when he roused it was to a loud knock at his door, with the clock on his nightstand blinking 7:00 a.m.
He didn’t have time to be tired. That could already be Moretti goons or Sweeney himself, furious at Leigh for failing. It didn’t help that he didn’t feel as though he’d slept. His dreams had been filled with the face he imagined in the water. He didn’t think he’d ever seen a man like that before, but his mind had conjured such a perfect specimen for his final moments.
The kiss had been nice too.
Leigh couldn’t get distracted by phantoms, though. While he had no idea how the weights had come loose from his ankles or how he’d ended up on shore, it couldn’t have been some mystery man.
“I’m coming!” Leigh called when the knocking refused to cease. It wasn’t the Morettis or Sweeney or they would have kicked down the door by now. It had to be Miss Maggie. Only she ever got this uppity before 9:00 a.m.
Yanking the door open, Leigh stood in his sweats and long-sleeved T-shirt, barefoot and still chilled from his time in the river, but clean after a shower when he’d arrived home. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and scrubbed at the closely shorn length of his hair.
“What?”
Miss Maggie was indeed the person on the other side of his door, but she looked particularly surly this morning. “William,” she said sharply, using his given name, which he despised. “About time. I might be an old woman, but that does not mean I want to see some young man walking buck naked through my halls at all hours just because you had a wild night.”
“Excuse me?” Leigh took a moment to process what she was complaining about. He hadn’t started to undress while still in the hall last night, had he? He was out of it when he returned home, but not that disoriented.
“You know I support your lifestyle, whatever it may be, just so long as you keep the volume down after 11:00 p.m. and act respectfully, but this was just vulgar. Are you playing some game with the boy?”
“Game? Miss Maggie, I have no idea what you’re—”
But before he could finish, she yanked someone else into view, who was wearing what appeared to be one of her housecoats and nothing else, not even shoes, though that wasn’t what stopped Leigh short.
It was the man from the river. Same hair, same eyes, same everything.
Leigh really had died last night.
“William.”
Which meant he was in hell if he was still dealing with Maggie’s temper.
“Keep your evening activities confined to your apartment. Now, mind yourself, young man,” she said to the flesh and blood figure who’d saved Leigh’s life, “because I expect that nightgown returned at some point, preferably washed.”
She shoved the man into Leigh’s arms, and he had barely a second to register the full form of him, slim and tall, maybe half an inch taller than Leigh, and just as beautiful as he remembered, before Maggie hurried down the hall in a huff.
Leigh stumbled backward, causing the man to stumble with him, and pushed the door closed more on reflex than conscious choice. The man was real. Leigh hadn’t imagined him. But if he’d saved Leigh’s life, why was he only showing himself now?
And why the hell wasn’t he wearing any clothes?
“I found you,” he said in a breathless voice, as if in awe of Leigh, immediately evoking the memory of that same voice singing. “I knew I would, but still, I found you.”
Carefully Leigh pushed at the man to hold him in front of him so they could get their bearings. He didn’t seem very stable on his feet. Had he been drunk last night? Was that why he was swimming in the river at midnight naked and wandered all the way here in the same state? His eyes, large and almond-shaped, didn’t look intoxicated. With olive skin, a reddish tint to his black hair, and freckles, he looked as likely to be of South Pacific descent as Greek or Jewish, maybe all three.
“You are even more handsome than when I saw you in the water,” he said, with an intensity to how he stared that made Leigh shiver. The peek of long legs out of the housecoat was not helping his straying thoughts.
Leigh’s generally fair looks with blond hair and blue eyes had gotten him out of sticky situations before. He knew what he had and how to use it, but he didn’t think he compared with this lithe elfish beauty before him with a smile that lit up the whole apartment.
“It’s you,” he said, unable to articulate anything more than that. He pulled his hands from the man’s shoulders, thinking it too intimate considering he was wearing nothing more than a nightgown.
“Yes.” The man stepped into his space as if beckoned by a magnetic pull.
“You saved me. You found me.”
“My apologies it took so long. I hesitated to follow, and once I decided to, I had trouble finding my feet, as they say. I knew the Breath of Life would lead me to you, though. Our souls are intertwined now, William. Ah, but you prefer Leigh, don’t you?”
How…? “How do you know that?” And what was he talking about?
“You know my name as well.”
“No, I…. Tolomeo. Tolly,” he said before he could finish denying it. Had they met on the shore after all and Leigh simply didn’t remember?
“Yes,” Tolly said, smiling wider still.
This was too strange. Leigh’s head was pounding, he was exhausted, and he still had to worry about Sweeney and the Morettis. He could not get caught up with some weird nudist—flower child—whatever this man was—when his life was in shambles.
“Look, I don’t remember everything from last night, so if you explained this before, who you are, I’m sorry. I appreciate what you did. You saved my life, but it won’t stay saved for long—”
“Those people who tried to drown you will continue to wish you harm,” Tolly said.
“Yes. So if you came here expecting something more than my thanks, I hate to disappoint you, but I don’t have much to offer.”
“Oh, I am not like my brethren, I swear to you. I wish for no boon or life debt.”
Okay. Was this guy a method actor or something? Maybe he was just crazy. “What do you want from me, then?”
“I wish to stay with you,” Tolly said as matter-of-factly as asking for cab fare. “Forever.”
Definitely crazy.
Holding up his hands to ward off whatever reaction might come next, Leigh chose his words very carefully. “Tolly, I will give you something to wear and then maybe there’s someone we can call, okay? Or a hospital you came from?”
“I came from the sea,” Tolly said, unfazed by Leigh’s line of questioning. “Well, the river in this case, but all water is connected in my world. We can transport between depths through magic. I like bodies of water close to cities. The rest of my kin stay away, which I prefer, and I get to experience more of the human world.”
“Human world? Your… kin?”
“Merfolk.”
Leigh curtailed his reactions as best he could. “Tolly, is there anyone I can call to come get you?”
At last, a bit of that sunshine disposition flickered. “I have no one. No family or friends to speak of. That is why I chose to follow you. I was drawn to you, Leigh”—he stepped forward, making Leigh step back—“in the water, in your last moments, like I have never been drawn to anything. Others of my kin would have let you die, drowned you themselves, or forced a more self-serving pact, but I knew I had finally found the one who could give me legs.”
If this guy snapped, Leigh was fairly certain he could take him, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that. “You are not a mermaid. You’re a man. You’re on legs right now. You did not have a tail last night.”
“You only saw my face.”
“You didn’t have a tail because mermaids don’t exist!”
“I shall prove it to you. I need only to submerge in water to call out my tail. Then will you believe me? Your bathroom should have what I need.” Without waiting for an answer, he glanced around the apartment and pushed past Leigh, deeper inside.
Leigh needed to get this guy out of his home, even if he had saved him last night.
Merfolk? Seriously?
Tolly found the bathroom quick enough and proceeded to turn on the taps to the tub before Leigh could organize his thoughts for a proper protest.
He tried anyway. “Listen, I don’t have time for this.”
“I am used to cold water, but perhaps I shall try something warmer,” Tolly said as he held his hand under the water and adjusted the taps accordingly. “Is warm water nice?”
“I… yeah, usually. Can we please just talk about this—”
Tolly disrobed without shame, right there in front of Leigh, just shed the housecoat and stood there nude. He was even more beautiful bare, entirely hairless below the neck, thin like a swimmer but well-muscled, without a single scar or imperfection other than the sunspots that Leigh thought only enhanced how beautiful he was.
Being gorgeous and naked in Leigh’s bathroom did not change that he was clearly insane, however.
“Tolly, you can’t just…. We need to talk about this.” Leigh turned to stare at the wall. He was a hardened criminal. Sort of. Sometimes. It should not be this difficult to throw someone out of his home!
“Not until you believe me. Our conversation will go nowhere if you think me mad.”
He was a smart crazy person at least, but that didn’t help the situation. Leigh had to focus on the Morettis, on what to say when he saw Sweeney, on how to get himself out of this mess so he didn’t end up dead some other way tonight, without having to flee the city. He’d break parole if he did that, and the money he’d saved so far wouldn’t last him long on the run.
Maybe the Morettis didn’t know where he lived. If they did, surely they would have sent someone to rummage through his things, looking for that extra cash. Maybe they did know and someone was on their way now. No point in rushing over when they thought him dead.
“Tolly, just put the housecoat back on or grab a towel. I’ll get you some clothes—”
“Do you not find my form pleasing?”
Out of the corner of Leigh’s eye, he could tell Tolly stood facing him, hands running down his hips and thighs like he really was unused to legs. “It is very pleasing, but it’s not…. I hardly know you.”
“Ah yes, human decorum. I might fail at that on occasion, but I will try my best. I know so much of your world, but I have not experienced it firsthand. Still, you know me better than you think through our connection. The Breath of Life is a powerful bond. I am yours now. You are welcome to look at me.”
Leigh was certain some of the porn he’d watched over the years had lines like that. “Tolly….”
“I do not wish to make you uncomfortable. I will get into the tub to conceal myself until the water is high enough. Hopefully you will not find my tail displeasing.”
Tolly lowered himself into the tub, and Leigh allowed a glance in his direction. Even mostly hidden, he was enchanting to look at. Despite having come from the water last night, his hair had perfect body and poof to it. Why did someone so gorgeous and who had saved Leigh’s life have to be nuts?
“I have to figure out how to handle those men who tried to kill me. Do you understand?”
“Of course. I will help you.”
“No offense, but you’re a little skinny to be a bodyguard. This is going to take strategic planning.”
“I am an excellent planner. I often have to dodge others of my kin. I am not popular, as I do not conform to the merfolk ways. Kill or be killed—it loses all the magic of life, even when magic surrounds me in the water. How can one live like that?”
Leigh almost took the words as an attack, though he knew Tolly didn’t mean it that way. He’d never killed anyone before, but his plans to rise in the ranks with Sweeney meant one day he would. Kill or be killed was the only way he could survive in this city.
“You were right, warm water is nice, though the cold can be pleasant too.” Tolly tilted his head back and sank lower into the tub.
Scrubbing a hand down his face, Leigh was thinking of how to get this naked delusional poet out of his apartment without drawing the attention of his neighbors when he heard a strange wet slap and a contented sigh.
“There, you see? I am merfolk, but you gave me legs, and now, I am yours.”
The red glimmer in Leigh’s periphery before he looked up had to be an illusion because of how tired he was. There was no way it could be anything else.
But when his gaze focused on Tolly in the tub once more, it wasn’t a pair of feet propped on the edge but the unfurling of the most beautiful deep red tailfin he had ever laid eyes on, trimmed in gold-tipped scales.
“Holy shit.”
Davidson King, always had a hope that someday her daydreams would become real-life stories. As a child, you would often find her in her own world, thinking up the most insane situations. It may have taken her awhile, but she made her dream come true with her first published work, Snow Falling.
When she's not writing you can find her blogging away on Diverse Reader, her review and promotional site. She managed to wrangle herself a husband who matched her crazy and they hatched three wonderful children.
If you were to ask her what gave her the courage to finally publish, she'd tell you it was her amazing family and friends. Support is vital in all things and when you're afraid of your dreams, it will be your cheering section that will lift you up.
A.M. Arthur was born and raised in the same kind of small town that she likes to write about, a stone's throw from both beach resorts and generational farmland. She's been creating stories in her head since she was a child and scribbling them down nearly as long, in a losing battle to make the fictional voices stop. She credits an early fascination with male friendships (bromance hadn't been coined yet back then) with her later discovery of and subsequent love affair with m/m romance stories. A.M. Arthur's work is available from Carina Press, SMP Swerve, and Briggs-King Books.
When not exorcising the voices in her head, she toils away in a retail job that tests her patience and gives her lots of story fodder. She can also be found in her kitchen, pretending she's an amateur chef and trying to not poison herself or others with her cuisine experiments.
Anna MartinAnna Martin is from a picturesque seaside village in the southwest of England and now lives in the Bristol, a city that embraces her love for the arts. After spending most of her childhood making up stories, she studied English literature at university before attempting to turn her hand as a professional writer.
Apart from being physically dependent on her laptop, Anna is enthusiastic about writing and producing local grassroots theater (especially at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where she can be found every summer), going to visit friends in other countries, and reading anything thatís put under her nose.
Anna claims her entire career is due to the love, support, prereading, and creative ass kicking provided by her best friend Jennifer. Jennifer refuses to accept responsibility for anything Anna has written.
I’m an editor by day and a romance writer by night, at least on a good day. I’m more of a procrastinator by day and despairing eater of chocolate by night when inspiration doesn’t flow and my day-job clients are driving me to insanity. Go ahead and guess which of these is more common.
My steady childhood diet of pulp science fiction, classic tales of adventure, and romance novels surreptitiously borrowed from my grandmother eventually led me to writing; I picked up my first M/M romance a few years ago and I’ve been enjoying the genre as a reader and an author ever since.
Amanda Meuwissen is a bisexual and happily married geek. Primarily an M/M romance author with a focus on urban fantasy, she has a Bachelor of Arts in a personally designed Creative Writing major from St. Olaf College and is an avid consumer of fiction through film, prose, and video games. Amanda lives in Minneapolis, MN, with her husband, John, and their cat, Helga.
Davidson King
EMAIL: davidsonkingauthor@yahoo.com
AM Arthur
EMAIL: AM_Arthur@yahoo.com
Anna Martin
Eliot Grayson
Amanda Meuwissen
WEBSITE / NEWSLETTER / KOBO / B&N
iTUNES / GOOGLE PLAY / AUDIBLE
The Blood Boss by Davidson King
Save Me by AM Arthur
Lone Wolf by Anna Martin
Brought to Light by Eliot Grayson
Coming Up for Air by Amanda Meuwissen
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