It’s been a long road, but now we’re here!
I wrote Black Bird back in 2018, right at the end of the year. I sent it to one on my beta readers who didn’t like it at all, and then I didn’t touch it for more than a year. I kept it on all my to-do lists and every time I was about to start a new story, I saw it there, mocking me LOL.
So, when this year started, I told myself it was gonna be my clean-up year, because Black Bird is far from the only story I move from to-do list to to-do list, it’s not even the only story I have lying around with beta notes attached to it.
And now, I’ve crossed it off my to-do list. Yay!
I have three releases coming up, and none of them are old stories I’ve fixed, so you see how well I’m doing on the whole clean-up year LOL.
But never mind that now! Today is the day Arlo Barman and Nash Silver step out into the world. It’s a paranormal M/M Romance with a werewolf and a caladrius bird. It’s hurt-comfort, age-gap, soulmates, opposites attract, size difference, small town, autumn, kidnapping, a love for plants, vampires, psychics, and lots of other nice things…like black phlegm.
Nash shoved the sandwich into his mouth to not have to talk to Ellis. The frown peeking up behind the shades was enough for Nash to know nothing fun would come from the conversation anyway.
“Your coffee, gentlemen.”
Nash tried to swallow, and swallow, but the bread got stuck in his throat. He tried coughing discreetly to get it unstuck all the while he was looking up at Arlo trying to smile and nod.
Worry shone in pale blue eyes—not the best way to impress someone. Ellis snorted, and Nash gave in and coughed for real, unclogging his throat—sexy as fuck.
“Are you okay?” Arlo reached out as if to touch him, but then he tensed, and dropped the hand with more force than necessary.
Nash blinked away the tears from his eyes and grabbed the coffee cup Arlo had placed before him. “Yeah, sure.” His voice was rough, and he took a mouthful of scalding coffee and fought the reaction to the burn.
“Are you sure?”
Arlo looked at him, his eyes— Then Arlo blinked and everything was normal. The tears must’ve fucked with his vision. “Yes, I’m fine.” He smiled, but before he could check Arlo’s eyes again, he nodded and went away.
“Smooth.” Ellis smirked.
“Fuck you.” There was no heat in the words, and while Nash wished he hadn’t choked in front of Arlo, he had to admit it was pretty funny.
“He’s an odd duck, that one.”
“Odd how?” Nash sipped on the coffee again, more carefully this time around.
“I don’t know, he’s just odd.” Ellis shrugged.
“Because you think he looks odd or because you’re sensing something?”
“Sensing?”
“Seeing.” Nash’s irritation spiked again. Ellis knew what the fuck he meant.
Ellis rubbed his temples. “I don’t know, I have a headache.”
“Hungover?”
“No, I only had one beer yesterday. It’s like it is too much, my brain’s scrambled.”
“Too much of what?”
Ellis shook his head. “It’s a bird, and Gilbert is unhappy—”
“Gilbert’s unhappy?” Nash had missed that. Sure he’d been a little grumpy yesterday, but he’d been hungry and he was always grumpy when hungry.
“No, not yet…I don’t think, but he will be unless something changes. And I keep seeing myself clutching my stomach—I never see myself, it’s like a rule for psychics, we don’t see ourselves.”
“There are rules for psychics? You ever met another psychic?”
“No, but since I’ve never seen myself before I’ve decided it’s a rule. It doesn’t matter, it’s… everything is jumbled, it doesn’t make sense, and lightning is drilling holes in my skull.”
Ellis was paler than usual, Nash had been too focused on Arlo to notice.
“And you’re chasing a bird.”
“I’m chasing a bird?” Nash had never chased a bird in his entire life, and he had no desire to change that.
“A black bird.”
“I’m chasing a blackbird?”
“You’re changed, clothes are ripped as if you’ve changed in a hurry, it’s dark and rainy, almost foggy, you know? And you’re running after a black bird.”
Nash rubbed his neck; he couldn’t think of one single reason that would make him chase a bird.
books2read.com/Black-Bird (20% off in new release in at JMS-Books)
After seven years of being on the move, Arlo Barman wants nothing more than a place to call home. But unbeknownst to him, Arlo is a caladrius healer, so staying in one place has never been an option. The compulsion to separate himself from those he’s healed is all-consuming and leaves him little choice but to pack up yet again.
Nash Silver is the only werewolf in his small coastal town. Living undetected in a human world is imperative for his kind, and he and his small circle of friends—a vampire and a psychic—have done so for decades. But Nash’s anonymous existence is jeopardized when a man with an enticing scent moves into town. From the moment Nash lays eyes on the stranger, nothing is more important than being close to him. Not even guarding his secret.
Arlo isn’t interested in a relationship or even a date, his past has taught him nothing good comes from it, but the rather pushy local popping up everywhere he goes has his heart somersaulting. If his heart is somersaulting or not doesn’t matter, because when Nash gets injured, Arlo is the only one who can save him.
Having used his powers, Arlo has to leave Nash and the cozy town he wanted to make his home, but can Nash survive being separated from his mate?
Ofelia Grand 