Category: My Stories

Caladrius Bird

~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

There is this Roman myth about a luminescent snow-white bird known for its beauty and song…

CastleThe caladrius birds have amazing healing powers, so back in the day, they were often kept in the King’s court where they protected the royal family.  Some say that if the bird looks someone in the eye, it will take the sickness into itself and allow the person to live, but if it looks away, the sick person will die.

As often is with myths, the stories varies. According to some stories, all the bird has to do is look at an unwell person to heal them. In others, it has to touch its beak to the person’s mouth to take the disease into itself. Once it has, it has to disperse of it somehow. In some stories, the bird flies up into the sun where the sickness is burned away. But that’s not how it actually happens…

These birds are expensive, incredibly so, and the people dealing with them are cunning.  They can’t risk just anyone knowing what they’re doing, they can’t let anyone know they have a real, living caladrius bird in their possession.  There is a market for these creatures, you see. And if the wrong people hear about someone dealing with caladrius birds all sorts of bad things can happen.

In the free, the caladrius lives in the forest where it sleeps high up in the trees. It’s therefore important that, when in captivity, the caladrius gets to live in a large aviary filled with plants.

In the wild, the caladrius will find a mate and stay with them for the rest of their life. They develop an extra sense of their partner’s emotional state. If their mate is in trouble, the caladrius will feel it and come to help. If their partner is unhappy, they’ll comfort them by singing.

The caladrius has the most beautiful song. They sing when they’re happy, when they’re angry, when they’re afraid, when they mourn, when they’re in love. The song is at its most spellbinding when the caladrius is sad.

Every morning, the caladrius wakes at sunrise and sings to greet the day.

But you don’t find caladrius birds in the wild anymore…

When kept captive, the caladrius will come to see its keeper as its partner, but since it would prefer another caladrius it’s important not to allow it any contact with its own kind or the hard work to create a bond might be for nought. If they remain with their owner, they will eventually respond to their emotional state as they would a true mate.

Black Bird

Nash poured yet another beer down his gullet. The sounds in the bar were so fucking loud tonight—people everywhere, the same boring people.

A young blond was trying to get his attention by the bar. Nash recognized him, but it had to be a couple of months ago. He didn’t do repeats, and the sooner the guy got the message the better.

The bottom floor where they were sitting had the decor of an old-fashioned pub, tables, and chairs in dark wood and by the windows, there were booths made up of black leather sofas with tables screwed to the wall. The upper floor was more like a nightclub with a dance floor and its own bar. Luckily, the DJ hadn’t begun yet.

“What’s up with you today?” Gilbert frowned at him.

“Nothing. Tired is all.”

“Tired?” Gilbert looked at Ellis as if he would object to Nash being tired, but Ellis grinned. Most of his face hidden behind the shades he always wore when they were out among people. Nash didn’t like when he wore them.

It was easy to see if and when Ellis picked up on something when he didn’t wear those glasses—not knowing was annoying.

“Yes, tired. Not everyone wakes up at sundown, some of us have normal, tedious jobs to go to.”

“I don’t wake up at sundown and since when has being tired stopped you from being polite?”

“Gentlemen, gentlemen.” Ellis glanced at them over the glasses, his eyes shifting between hazel green and milky white. “There’s a bird in town.”

Nash frowned. As far as he knew there were thousands of birds in town. “A particular one you’re thinking of?” And since when were they ornithologists?

“Nope, that’s all I have for now.”

“You mean it’s a… vision or whatever?” What the hell could a bird mean?

“A whatever.” Ellis moved his hands like wings. “White one second, black the next.”

White? Nash pictured the guy in the coffee shop, the strange one, but he was a human, not a bird. He would’ve known if he was a shifter. Nash always sensed the shifters straight away, not that there were many. “Is it… Does it mean anything?”

“How would I know? I’m not the brain in the group.” Ellis raised his eyebrows before pushing his shades back in place.

“Gilbert?”

Gilbert flashed his fangs. “I’m pretty sure I’m the stomach of the group. Can we grab someone to eat? I’m starving.”

Black Bird will be released on the 16th of May.

Cover Reveal | Black Bird

~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

Want to know what appeared in my inbox yesterday? A book cover, yay!

Black Bird is a story I wrote a long time ago, but I never did fix that last little bit. So for more than a year, I had it on every to-do list I wrote, until I finally decided that enough is enough. Either I fix the things I needed to fix or I delete it.

I didn’t want to delete it.

So if pushy, growly werewolves is your thing, then keep an eye out because on May 16th another one will be released into this world. Nash isn’t the smoothes guy out there, and he isn’t the best listener, but in his defence, his mate keeps telling him to leave him alone. He can’t do that.

More information will follow shortly, but for now, I give you the cover.

Pre-order here!

black bird

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?

Practise Social Distancing by Reading

~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

Need some more books? Of course, you do! We all have our ways of dealing with this pandemic – I bake and there’s hardly any room left in this house because I’m growing things. How I’ll fit it all in our garden once it’s warm enough to bring the plants outside, I don’t know, but every day I put a few seeds in a pot and I feel like I’m at least doing something. False security at its best.

But, another great way to deal with social distancing is to read. I’ll get there soon, I hope, to that place when I can sit down and relax with a book. Right now I’m in a more frantic state *hysteric laugh-sob*. Nah, it’s not that bad…let’s pretend it’s not that bad.

A couple of weeks ago, JMS did a huge giveaway to help cure the boredom of quarantine. Now, we’re doing it again. It’s different books than in the last giveaway, and last I checked there were 96 titles.

So check it out!

My contribution this time around is Pine Tree Mary.

Pine Tree Mary

Hush slid off the moose, patted her on the flank, and went into the cave where he’d slept the last week or so. He didn’t have much in ways of belongings—a few dresses, a bearskin wrap, deerskin moccasins, and a few other items to keep him warm in the winter.
He chewed on a piece of dried meat, more to have something to do than out of hunger. Food, while nice to consume, wasn’t what kept him alive.
“You need to get rid of him.”
Hush bit his tongue in surprise as Solstice walked into the cave. The coppery taste of his blood mingled with the meat. He swallowed and winced as the too-big piece slid down his throat. He’d believed he’d managed to hide his whereabouts, though Solstice could just as easily tap into the animals’ consciousness as he could, so there was no hiding.
“Petal’s gonna have your head if that man doesn’t stop calling for you. Disturbs the entire forest.”
“He’s here?”
Solstice fluffed her fiery hair and gave Hush a pouty look. “Why isn’t he reacting to us?”
“I don’t know.”
“I think Petal hates that more than the disturbed peace.”
She probably did.
“Is he feeding you, Hush?”
The no was on the tip of his tongue, but he had, hadn’t he? Only a few trickles, but they had been there. “A little.”
She nodded. “Go to him.”
Of his sisters, Solstice was the least terrible.
Hush packed away the meat, grabbed his bag with all his belongings, and went toward the clearing. Solstice melted away between the trees and soon he heard the familiar sound of a moose moving away.
Hush’s heart was thudding in his throat as he neared the clearing. Manning was standing by the tree he’d been tied to. The thorny string was still there.
“We should remove it so no one hurt themselves on it.”
Manning whirled at his words.
“Hush.” His shoulders slumped as if he’d been…worried. Hush’s stomach somersaulted. No one had ever worried about him. It couldn’t be worry. He studied Manning for a few seconds. He was tired. His hair was tousled, the stubble on his cheek deliciously dark, and he looked far more worn out than when he’d left Hush at the police station. He needed energy.
“Come on.” Hush nodded in direction of the city. “You need to eat.” It was how humans recharged, right?
“Eat?” Manning didn’t move. His eyes slid from Hush’s face down his body and up again. A small, almost undetectable drizzle of desire spilled from him.
Hush smiled.

Pine Tree Mary

Detective Quinn Manning wants nothing more than to see Diamond Dace, one of Fagerdal’s most notorious drug lords, behind bars. After years of the man eluding the authorities, when Manning accidentally stumbles onto an opportunity to catch the powerful dealer red-handed, he doesn’t hesitate. But what should be a simple tail, instead drops Manning into a real-life world of myth and legend.

Hush is a hulder, a forest spirit also known as a pine tree Mary. Since the beginning of time, his people have lived in the forest, feeding off the energy they derive from the lust and desires of passing hunters. But Hush is an abomination, the only male of his kind.

After a lifetime of starvation, Hush has struck a deal with a human. A simple trade that will give the human what he desires and keep Hush from wasting away completely.

When Manning saves a young man from Diamond and one of his men, his view of reality is altered forever. And Hush, who has never met anyone like Manning, finds the man’s attraction to him enough to finally stave off his constant hunger.

When together they set out to rescue Manning’s partner, their connection to one another grows. But can a human detective have a future with a creature of the forest, a creature who isn’t supposed to exist?