Hiya! I’m here as Holly today 😊 A couple of days ago, Squirrel Blue, the fourth squirrel story, was released, and I figured I’d share the first chapter with you.  

The day we’re celebrating this time is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day. I don’t think I’ve ever had a peanut butter cookie, but I’m sure they’re great.  

Shun is a squirrel who moves around a lot. He’s traveling together with his cousin, but one day, they’re attacked by a bunch of wolves. Shun is captured, and he has no idea what happened to Deneb, his cousin.  

Shun is taken to a restaurant where they dye his fur blue and crams him into a tiny cage, then he’s taken to a food expo where he’s supposed to play the mascot.  

Amir is at the food expo representing The Howling Moon, the shifter bar where he’s working. He has no idea what he’s doing there since all the visitors are human, and they don’t want human customers. He’s about to skip out of the whole thing when he spots a squirrel in a tiny cage.  

No way he’s leaving without freeing the poor thing.  

As I mentioned above, this is the fourth story in the A Scurry of Squirrels series, and like the previous ones, it’s a fated mates story with a squirrel and a wolf shifter. Read the first chapter below! 

Squirrel Blue

Squirrels do not belong in cages.  

Amir Kaplan works as a chef in a werewolf bar, which is why he’s so surprised when his boss sends him to a food expo for humans. He doesn’t like being around people, which his boss knows, and they don’t want human customers, so why is he there? The moment he spots a blue squirrel in a cage, he forgets all about the why, though.  

Shun Hartman is having a bad day, has had several bad days in a row. He and his squirrel cousin were running in squirrel form when Shun was captured by werewolves. They put him in a cage and dyed his fur blue, and now he’s at some sort of food fair. As if that wasn’t bad enough, there is this guy trying to steal him. Hadn’t the guy been another wolf shifter, he might have been fine with it, but how is he to know which is the better monster?  

Amir refuses to leave the expo without the squirrel. He doesn’t care what conflicts will follow, no squirrel should ever be put in a cage. Shun should run away the moment Amir frees him from the cage, right? No sane squirrel waits around until their werewolf rescuer gets hungry, but why does his heart ache as soon as he’s apart from Amir? 

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Paranormal Gay Romance Book: 34,709 words

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Chapter 1

Amir Kaplan looked out over the million booths representing restaurants and coffee shops in the area. He wanted to kill Gideon for sending him here.

It was a food expo with companies from the entire west coast. A yearly event held in Willstead, a place Amir never believed he’d visit. He preferred the woods to the city every day of the week.

He’d left his East Coast pack and moved to Doson a few years ago. Had moved to get away. He couldn’t handle being around too many people, but the Doson pack was small, and while he sometimes got lonely, he enjoyed life here far more than he’d expected to. Well, not today, but he could handle the normal days. Enjoy them too if he was lucky.

Doson was picturesque, and the pack members all had their own houses spread out outside the town center. Back in Kingshill, the pack members had lived together in one big house, and it had all but killed Amir.

He’d constantly been on edge—much like now. He’d told Gideon, his boss, he didn’t do well around people, and yet, he’d sent him here.

A woman with blue hair, two nose piercings, and ridiculously long nails stopped by his table. “The Howling Moon. I’ve been there.”

Amir inhaled—human. “You have?” It was a shifter bar, so Amir didn’t know what the hell Gideon was thinking when he’d booked them a place here. They didn’t want to attract humans, and the majority of the people here—both visitors and exhibitors—were human.

“Yes. It’s the weird place in Doson with the rude bartender.”

Ah… “Yup, that’s the one.”

“I was on a road trip with a friend, and we figured we’d stop for a bite of food.” She raised an eyebrow. “Worst service I’ve ever received.”

Amir nodded. “What about the food?” He took pride in his work. He might mostly flip burgers, but he loved food, loved cooking and baking, though the baking he mostly did at home. It was one of the things he loved the most about having moved to Doson—he had his own kitchen.

She shrugged. “I honestly can’t remember.” She frowned a little. “I think the burger was decent.”

Decent. He wanted to huff.

She drummed a nail against the table. “Right, I’ll be off. I only left my booth for a bathroom break. My boss will slaughter me if he comes by and finds me gone.”

“Which booth is yours? Maybe we can help each other out if we need a break.” Because fucking Gideon had sent him on his own. Anabell was supposed to come too, but something had come up, and instead of canceling, Gideon had told him to solve it as best he could.

Would leaving some fliers out on a table count as best he could? He’d bet it was what Gideon would have done.

She gestured at the corner booth up ahead.

“Squirrel Blue?” Was it why her hair was blue? He liked it. It was a cool color, but a little less cool if it was part of her work outfit.

“Yes, have you heard of it?” She beamed.

“No, sorry.”

She shrugged. “It’s in Fewood. We serve nuts in every meal, so don’t bring anyone allergic.”

Amir nodded. He’d never been to Fewood, but Jyran, Gideon’s mate, went on and on about the shoe store there. “The shoe shop.”

She beamed. “Yeah, it’s decent.”

Hmm, if the shoe store Jyran loved most in the whole wide world was decent, and his burger had been decent, then maybe it had been pretty damn good. He smiled, and she hesitated. Then she twirled a strand of hair between her fingers and popped her hip a little. “You should come check it out.”

Check the booth out, check Squirrel Blue out, or check her out? He’d never been with a human. Werewolf strength was real, so he’d fear hurting them, and what was the use in taking someone to bed if you couldn’t be yourself?

“I’ll be by in a bit.” He gestured at his sad excuse of a booth. Some of the exhibitors had eye-catching decorations, games where you could win a gift card or a free meal or whatnot, or stuff with the company name they gave away. His booth had bare walls and a few fliers on a table.

He didn’t blame people for not stopping to have a look.

The woman hurried away, and a few seconds later, Amir’s phone buzzed. A text.

Gideon: Where are the peanuts?

Amir snorted and typed back: No idea. Ask Jyran.

Jyran was a squirrel shifter, the first squirrel shifter Amir had met, and if someone could misplace nuts, it was him. Or he guessed Dahy and Raaz, the pack’s other two squirrel shifters, were equally good at it. But only one of them was at the bar.

His phone buzzed again.

Gideon: He says he put them in the freezer, but there are no nuts in the freezer.

Amir: I haven’t seen any nuts in the freezer since last month.

The three dots danced a second later.

Gideon: He thinks he put them in one of the bags with fries, but there are no fries.

No fries? There had to be fries. They wouldn’t get through a night without fries.

Amir: Where have all the fries gone? There were several boxes in the walk-in freezer yesterday.

He waited for a reply, but no dots moved on the screen. When seconds bled into a minute, and then five minutes, he pocketed the phone and sighed.

He rearranged the fliers. Maybe he should hurry off and buy some candy or something he could use to lure people in with. A bowl of gummy bears should help.

Then he pictured people sticking their grabby hands in the bowl and scrunched his nose. Nope, it had to be something with a wrapper on. He looked around. It wouldn’t take him many minutes to run into the grocery store across the street. He had his exhibitor pass so he’d get in again without having to stand in line. If there was a line.

He patted his pocket to make sure he had both his phone and the key card to his hotel room. It would not be fun if someone stole it while he was away, then he stepped around the table and headed in the direction of the Squirrel Blue booth.

His steps slowed as he took in the tiny cage on the table in front of the blue-haired woman. There was something blue inside it. His heart sped up and claws threatened to break through. Urgency pulsed through him.

Shit.

It couldn’t be a blue squirrel. It couldn’t. No way. Or if it was, it couldn’t be a real one.

He took a step closer, and a wave of prickling heat washed over him. Fuck, was he allergic to something?

A man bumped into him, and he peeled his lips back to show off his teeth before he realized where he was and swallowed the snarl wanting out. Shit.

His hands were clammy, his head spinning, and it was hard to breathe.

Anaphylaxis shock?

Nah, shifters didn’t have allergies. Had he been drugged somehow? But he hadn’t eaten or drunk anything, and he hadn’t touched anyone other than the asshole who’d bumped into him.

He took another few steps, which brought him right up to the table. The blue creature turned around, a terrified chatter filling the air.

Fuck, it was a squirrel. In a cage so tiny it hardly could turn around.

Amir inhaled and sneezed. The scent of hair dye was too strong for him to make out anything else. He didn’t need to smell it to know it was a squirrel, though.

The blue-haired woman beamed at him. “Hello, again.” He believed she might have been flirting, but he couldn’t look away from the squirrel for more than a fraction of a second.

Sometime later, he grew aware of her watching him with a confused expression. Had she asked something?

“Why do you have a squirrel?” He did not care if it was a natural squirrel or a shifter squirrel, it was cruel to shove it into such a tiny cage, not to mention dying the fur blue.

“It’s the restaurant mascot.”

Amir stared at her, fully aware his eyes had shifted to those of his wolf but praying she didn’t notice. “You dyed its fur.”

She huffed, her expression going steely. “I didn’t. Ingolf is the one who cares for the squirrels.”

“Who?”

“Ingolf.” Her voice was like a whip.

What kind of fucked up name was Ingolf? “And they are?”

For a moment, she looked confused. “He is my boss. Owner of Squirrel Blue.”

“I can’t believe you were allowed to bring a squirrel here. Aren’t they worried about visitor’s allergies?” He didn’t give a damn about allergies, though it would be sad if someone got ill because of the poor little creature. He was far more concerned about there being a squirrel in a cage, though. He studied it for a moment. There was no door. How the fuck did they open it?

The squirrel was pressed into the corner as far away from him as it could get. Poor thing. Could it scent him over the stink of the dye?

“I’m gonna head over to the store for a minute, can I get you anything?” Best to try to smooth things over with her. Maybe he could flirt a little to get her to drop her guard and then somehow steal the squirrel. He couldn’t release a blue squirrel into the wild, but hopefully, the dye would wash off.

“Could you get me a bottle of water? I was gonna head off to the cafeteria, but I don’t want to leave—” She gestured around the booth.

“Of course.” He nodded and walked away. How the hell did you steal a blue squirrel without getting spotted?

* * * *

Shun Hartman curled his paws around the black bars of his new prison. He couldn’t shift. The cage the fucking wolf had shoved him into wasn’t big enough. It was hardly big enough for him to turn around in. Had he been sure it would break when he shifted, he might have tried it, but he didn’t want to impersonate ground beef. Not today—or any other day.

He had to get out, though. As soon as they didn’t need him to look horrible in a cage, they’d eat him. But he wasn’t planning on killing himself in some crazed escape attempt. He had time to come up with a plan. Maybe.

“He’s a bit strange, isn’t he?” The woman, Marlene, Majorie, Morgan or something along those lines, poked him with a pen through the bars. She’d tried to pet him with a finger earlier, but he’d bitten her. Sadly, she’d pulled away before he could draw blood.

“Oh, I love Squirrel Blue!” A young woman waved animatedly as she talked to Merlyn or whatever. Shun ignored them. He had two days, or one and a half now, to get out of here. Once this expo was over, he’d be back in Fewood, surrounded by werewolves.

He’d spent several days in the restaurant, and it was crawling with wolves. He didn’t think Morgan was aware her colleagues could turn furry. Not the brightest shining bulb in the lamp store.

The only reason he was still alive was that they needed a blue squirrel to show off here.

They had one back at the restaurant. Shun had only been next to it during the terrible dyeing. It wasn’t a shifter, but it didn’t make it any less cruel. His eyes still stung from the treatment, and it had been a couple of days ago. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to use his nose again. All he could scent was the chemicals, and it was giving him a pounding headache.

He didn’t have time for headaches. He had to get out of there so he could find Deneb. They’d been together in a clearing when they’d been attacked by wolves, and he had no idea what had happened to him. Since he hadn’t been captured with Shun, he’d either gotten away or he’d been eaten.

He refused to accept the latter.

This fucking cage! He rattled the bars again. Or they didn’t rattle at all, it was only his arms moving. The wolf leader, he didn’t think he was the pack alpha, but Shun was no expert on wolf packs. Shun had dedicated his life to staying away from them. He got the feeling the wolf, Igor or whatever he was called, was the leader of the lackeys around him, but not the entire pack. He could be wrong. How many members did they normally have in a pack? Maybe the entire pack worked at the restaurant, and Ingolf or whatever was the alpha.

He lacked some edge, though. No doubt he was dangerous, but Shun had had the misfortune of running across wolves who’d made his skin tingle with a single look, power like a stinging slap. Iggy didn’t have it. Unless he kept it under wraps.

He pushed at the bars again. Nope. Didn’t budge. Iggy had welded it shut. Shun had been sure he’d died right there. Flambéed squirrel in a cage. Maybe it could’ve been the restaurant’s new signature dish.

A wave of prickles washed over him, and he let go of the bars in favor of pressing his back against them. It was the guy again. A threat.

Dark hair, dark eyes, nice broad shoulders Shun could hang onto—all of which painted a pretty picture if it hadn’t been for the deadly air around him.

Shun tried inhaling again, but his nose was fucked.

“Here you go.” The man handed a bottle over to Morgan who smiled and gave him a sultry look. Didn’t she at least suspect she was playing with fire? His sense of smell might not help him, but this guy was bad news. His brain was sending red flares of danger-danger-danger through his entire being.

Stupid humans—at least, he believed Merlyn was human. He hadn’t met her until after Ingolf or whatever had drowned him in blue.

The man placed his hand on the table near the cage, olive skin, strong fingers. He moved it a little closer while chatting to Morgan in an amused tone. The hand crept closer still, and Shun’s pulse picked up more. Would he try to grab him? He’d bite him if he tried to touch him.

He said something to make Morgan laugh, and while she was in the throes of it, the man pushed a piece of a cookie between the bars.

Shun dove for it. He might poison him, but they hadn’t fed him since yesterday morning and he was starving. To have a sliver of a chance to escape, he needed to eat.

He shoved it into his mouth wishing for the first time in history he had cheek pouches.

Peanut butter cookie. He almost purred. The man might be the devil himself but thank fuck for peanut butter cookies.

A few days ago, Holly’s Vampire’s Cupcake was released. It’s the second story in the Off the Paved Road series. 

The first story is Panther’s Luck, which I wrote back in 2023. The plan was always to turn it into a series, or maybe not when I started to write it, but once I had an idea of where it was going, I planned for it to be a series. Then other things happened, and I felt pressured to continue writing on the series I’d already started. 

Over and over again, I pushed this world back on the release schedule. I needed more dragons, more squirrels, more stories from Within the Walls, but Last Hope never let me go. I wanted to go back there. So I did. 

The second story is out now, yay! While it’s a new couple in this one, I think it’s best to read Panther’s Luck first. You’re probably fine with skipping it, but I think you’ll understand the world better if you read it.  

Below you can read the first chapter of Vampire’s Cupcake! 

Vampire’s Cupcake

Humans off the paved road are nothing but vampire food.

Eli Stark owns the only grocery store in Last Hope, and he does what he can to feed the people in the human settlement, but the food scarcity is real and most don’t have money to spend. When there is a change of members on the town board, things get even worse.

Thano Moonlight is the leader of the supernatural beings ruling the area around Last Hope. For the last ten months, they’ve ruled the human settlement as well, but it’s time to hand over the reins. If the humans want to make their lives harder, they should have the power to do so, but he’s reluctant to leave Eli behind.

When things turn critical in the town, Thano takes Eli to The Moonlight Ranch, but Eli can’t just abandon the people in Last Hope. They rely on him to make sure there is food to buy. If he has to choose between being with Thano or saving an entire village from starving, he should choose the village, right?

Buy links:

Gay Paranormal Romance: 62,047 words

JMS Books :: Amazon

Chapter 1

Eli looked out over the shelves in his shop in Last Hope and sighed. May was always a hard month. Every year, he believed he’d have things to sell, fooled himself into thinking the harvests would have started, and there would be vegetables in abundance, but there weren’t. Some produce should’ve come in, but the spring had been colder than normal.

Luckily, he had eggs. The chickens were laying. He wouldn’t have survived if they hadn’t been, but by God, he was sick of eggs. He ate them every day in every way he could think of.

The door opened, and Elijah Lucas, the hotel owner, stepped inside. Eli didn’t know what they’d do with a hotel in Last Hope, but Elijah had put a lot of effort into making the old one livable again. Humans weren’t allowed off the paved roads, and while there was one paved road going through Last Hope, no one was stupid enough to travel it unless they had to.

Wild country surrounded the once mid-sized city, and the others ruled there. Humans wandering off never came back.

The others had taken over before Eli was born. He’d never lived any other reality than of humans being prey and the others dictating the rules, but he’d heard the elderly talk about the before times. Times when humans had ruled—or had fooled themselves into believing they did. Times when there hadn’t been food scarcity and when culture had thrived and science had driven development.

Then humans had grown greedy, had wanted more and more and more. Megalomania had taken hold of the world leaders, and the others had had enough.

Between one day and the next, they’d wiped out all larger cities, and within a week, humans, the few who were still alive, were only allowed a few scattered settlements.

Eli had no way of knowing what was true and not. He’d grown up believing everything he’d been told, but for the last ten months, he’d been doing business with Ciar and Draven Moonlight. A panther and an eagle-owl shifter. And if it hadn’t been for them, Eli would be much worse off than he was.

“Do you have anything…” Elijah’s voice trailed off.

“Anything?”

He shrugged. “Edible.”

Elijah was on the small side. Thin—everyone was—but Eli believed he would’ve been slim even if he’d had an unlimited supply of food. It was the way he was built. The opposite of Eli who was tall and broad-shouldered and would’ve weighed a lot more if he’d had enough food.

His stomach growled. It would get better soon. The farmers in Fisherman’s Lake would soon have produce to sell him.

“What are you looking for?” Eli stroked his beard. It needed a trim, but it was a hassle, so he did it as seldom as possible. Sometimes he considered shaving it all off like Elijah did, but…

“I have a booking at the hotel, but I have nothing to feed them.”

A booking? As in someone coming to stay in Last Hope? Voluntarily? “What are they doing here?”

“I don’t know. A middle-aged man named Jack Ambrose. He didn’t tell me what brought him here.” Elijah gave him a hollow-eyed look, and something squeezed in Eli’s chest. He had never been close to Elijah. They’d lived all their lives in Last Hope, so they’d always known of each other, but Eli had made sure to keep his distance. It wasn’t safe, and he feared if he spent time with him, someone would notice the way his eyes tended to linger on Elijah’s plush lips and sparkling eyes. Except his eyes weren’t sparkling now, and the lips were chapped and pressed thin.

“Are you okay, Elijah?” Eli took a step closer, then glanced through the shop window out to the street and stilled.

“Yes, of course.” He plastered on a smile, but Eli didn’t reciprocate. Elijah sighed. “It’s a bit… I don’t have a lot of food. Or any, to be honest, but with the booking, I can…” He looked around the tiny shop.

“What do you need?”

“I need to serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and preferably eat myself.”

“I’ll give you a good deal on eggs.” It was what he had, and he’d replace the shop eggs with some of his own if he needed to. It was a good month to have chickens.

Elijah nodded and went to grab some eggs.

“I’m running low on everything other than eggs and meat, sorry.”

“At least you have something.” Some of Elijah’s spark was back.

“When do you need the food?” Eli eyed the meat display. He believed Ciar and Draven would deliver something soon.

“He’ll be arriving this afternoon, so I need to serve dinner today, then breakfast and lunch tomorrow.”

“And for how long is he staying?”

“He’s only booked one night so far, but he said he might prolong the stay if things went his way.”

Eli frowned. “He called you on the phone?”

The hotel had the only working phone in the settlement. Elijah had worked hard to get it up and running. Not all settlements had a working phone. It was hard to repair wires, and it all depended on what the others in the area allowed.

In Last Hope the other’s representative had always been Thano, the vampire leader from Moonlight Ranch. Eli shivered as he pictured him. Dark-haired, dark-eyed, danger in an immaculate suit.

About ten months ago, the sheriff and some locals had shot one of the vampires, and later that night, the others had swept through Last Hope, killing everyone who’d been on the town board. Everyone but Thano, of course.

Now half the board was made up by others and half by humans, but the humans kept switching their representatives, so Eli had no idea what was going on. He did not want to be on the board if it meant he’d be killed if someone acted irrationally. He shook his hand to rid it of the tension that had crept in. Nope, better to keep away from the others as best he could. He dealt with Ciar and Draven, most often through Romeo, Ciar’s human mate, which suited him fine. He trusted Romeo to do what he could to keep him safe.

“Yes, called from New Town.”

New Town was one of the bigger settlements, and he believed it was where Romeo was from.

Elijah looked around. “Potatoes?”

“I have some, but not much, and they’re not in the best shape.”

“Any canned?” Elijah studied the sprouting potatoes.

Canned? “No, sorry. Do you can potatoes?”

Elijah grimaced. “Mom used to. It changes the texture some, but at least they don’t go bad.”

But to do it, Eli would need jars. Containers of any kind were hard to come by, which was why he gave people a discount if they returned milk bottles and jars. Most people brought baskets or bags when they went shopping, but not everyone had something for flour or milk.

Elijah picked a handful of potatoes from the wicker basket Eli had put them in. Normally, he sewed potatoes into fabric bags, but with so many of them going bad, he couldn’t.

A few more weeks, and he was sure someone in Fisherman’s Lake would be able to sell him fresh ones. June was normally when the earliest came in. Hopefully, they would this year too. He relied on potatoes.

The door to the shop opened again, and both Eli and Elijah turned toward it. Danger dressed in a pristine black suit. Eli forgot how to breathe when Thano’s piercing eyes met his. Ice shot through him, and he swallowed hard, barely registering how Elijah moved toward the dairy section, farthest away from the entrance.

“Mr. Moonlight.” Eli dipped his head and noted a crow sitting on his shoulder. Shit. “Is there a problem?” others didn’t come in here, none other than Ciar and Draven. If the board forbade him to run his business, he’d die within a couple of months. He had his chickens and a few rabbits he kept for meat but with no income…

Thano rounded the counter and stood before him. He was shorter than Eli, reaching his chin, but it didn’t take away from the powerful impression. He looked straight into Eli’s eyes. “Cupcakes.”

Eli stared. “Sorry?” Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Elijah walking straight for the door now when Thano wasn’t blocking it and slipping out onto the sidewalk. Thano never looked away from Eli, and he nervously met his gaze. He’d met Thano before, but it was easier when Romeo was present. They respected Romeo despite him being human, but Eli was nothing more than living, breathing meat to them. Or he didn’t think Thano ate meat. He drank blood.

Thano glanced at the crow, his face still unmoving. “Romeo is reading us a book—” Eli did his best not to flinch. Books were forbidden. The human government had banned all pens and papers, banned all culture. There were no books, no music, no theatre—nothing to feed the soul or provoke thoughts. A thinking population was a dangerous population. “—about a witch who owns a bakery, and she’s making cupcakes. The crows want to give Romeo cupcakes as payment for the reading.”

Eli couldn’t find his voice. Romeo was reading to the crows? From a book? He’d be killed if someone found out. On the other hand, he was living together with a man, panther, whatever. He was with someone of the same sex as he was, which should’ve gotten him killed a long time ago.

Had Eli landed himself a boyfriend, he’d be dead the moment he stepped out of his house. Or maybe before. He held no illusions of the walls of his home keeping him safe.

The only reason Romeo was still alive was because no one dared to do anything for fear of what Ciar would do if someone touched his mate. Some days Eli envied Romeo. On other days—he met Thano’s gaze—he was glad he didn’t have to deal with the others more than he did.

“I’m sorry.” His voice was nothing more than a whisper.

“What are you sorry for?” The softness in Thano’s tone had him fighting a blush. What the fuck?

“I’ve never seen a cupcake in my entire life.”

The crow hopped off Thano’s shoulder and landed on the floor where it transformed into a naked woman with long tousled hair. Eli quickly looked away. Shit, he’d never seen a naked woman up close in his entire life, and he didn’t want to now either. What if someone entered the shop? He looked through the window, but no one was moving on the sidewalk outside.

“Have you never seen a cupcake?”

He kept his eyes glued to the crow’s eyes as he looked at her. She tilted her head as if she was still a bird, and he guessed she was. Only her form had changed.

“Not in reality. I’ve seen pictures.”

Excitement sparked in her eyes. “Do you have the pictures?”

“No, sorry. It was in a magazine I found when I was a kid.” He’d snuck out to the abandoned houses in the area between the settlement and the wild country. It belonged to the others, but he’d been curious. Some older boys had seen him with the magazine when he’d come back into Last Hope, had beaten the crap out of him and taken it from him, but for a short while, he’d held a treasure. He remembered the photos vividly, there had been a recipe and several different toppings shown in the image.

“A magazine.” She looked between Eli and Thano. “Where do I find a magazine?”

Eli chanced a glance at Thano. “They’re forbidden.”

“I’m breed. Your laws do not apply.”

His laws? He didn’t make the law. He’d been thrilled if books and magazines had been legal.

Her dark eyes pinned him in place. “Where did you find the magazine?”

“In one of the abandoned houses.” He’d never go into one now, but he’d been young and stupid.

She nodded and a black wave of feathers washed over her before she shrank and flew up to sit on Thano’s shoulder anew. Eli stared. He couldn’t help it. He’d seen Draven shift once, and it had blown his mind. How could a human body transform into a bird or the other way around?

“Most houses have been searched. When the paper ban came into effect, they raided all buildings. Should they have missed something, I fear the elements have gotten to it. Magazines don’t last long if they get wet.”

Thano gave an almost imperceptible nod.

Eli waited. Waited for them to leave or to ask something else, but they simply stood there watching him. He fidgeted, his gaze jumped from Thano to something in the shop, then back to Thano again. He was striking but oh-so-dangerous, and Eli didn’t want any trouble. He’d turned forty-one back in January, and the only reason he’d made it this far was because he’d been careful and done his best to avoid conflict. There had been moments in his youth when he’d been reckless, but not anymore. He cherished his life, however crappy it might be.

“What do you need to make cupcakes?”

Eli jumped when Thano finally spoke, then did his best to conceal it. “Oh… I’m not entirely sure, but you’ll need eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder or baking soda, and whatever you’ll flavor it with. The hard part will be the frosting.” Baking powder wasn’t easy to get hold of.

“What’s in the frosting?”

“I think it can be different things.”

“Then it can’t be too hard.”

Maybe not. Maybe it would work with simple whipped cream, though he believed it should be with cream cheese or buttercream or something. No reason to argue with a vampire, though. “You’re right, my bad.”

Thano’s eyes narrowed, and Eli took a step back.

“We’ll be back.” He walked toward the door.

“You’re welcome any day.” Eli dipped his head and got another narrow-eyed look in return. Fuck. Displeasing Thano could cost him his life.

* * * *

Thano Moonlight walked into the meeting room they used whenever the board was gathering. He’d disliked the meetings before when he’d been the only breed present, but now he detested them. All they did was discuss trivial things. They had before too, but then he’d only had to observe, and if it didn’t have any impact on The Moonlight Ranch, he’d disregard it.

When they had taken out the board ten months ago after they’d come for Romeo and had shot Emeric, he’d believed his life would get easier. They’d be a majority of breed, five compared to four humans. Whenever they voted about something, they’d be the majority. He hadn’t foreseen how flaky humans were. They were worse than crows. And they wanted rules for everything. Instead of having a leader who set the rules, they were squabbling about every little thing.

They’d spent weeks arguing about a phone. Who cared about a phone? Thano had never made a phone call in his entire life, and he wasn’t planning on starting now. The stupid thing was all the humans were in favor of Last Hope having a phone, but they’d bickered about where it should be. As it was now, it was at the hotel, but some found it unfair. Why should whoever owned the hotel, Thano never learned his name, have access to a phone when no one else did?

Considering he had paid the fee to have the wire or whatever connected, and was paying for all the other fees—there were always fees with humans—Thano didn’t understand what they were fighting about. It was the hotel owner’s phone. He’d never met him, or maybe he had, but he didn’t remember meeting him. The whole argument was silly, and it put him in a bad mood.

Fala walked in, dressed for once. She didn’t like to be in human form for long, and when she was, she seldom dressed, but Thano had explained how everyone needed to be in human form and dressed when they had a meeting.

Next Mabel Mallon entered. She was an annoying human who wanted to be able to tell everyone what to do. She’d been on the board for the last ten months while the other three humans had come and gone. Thano didn’t much care, but it was annoying to have to learn new names and try to remember what they looked like.

“Where is everyone?” Mabel glared at Thano and Fala before sitting as far away from Thano as she could. He’d realized they became nervous when he switched places, so he tried to do it every time. It was the only fun he had these days.

“I don’t know. Where are they, Mabel?” He gave her a blank look. It was another thing that made humans nervous—when he showed no expression and looked them in the eye.

Charles Riggle entered next. He’d only been on the board for a couple of weeks, and Thano hadn’t been able to determine if he was an annoying human or only a stupid one.

Next, Raven entered, and Thano nodded in greeting. He wasn’t pleased they had two birds on the board, but both Raven and Fala had wanted a spot and few others did, so… Ravens weren’t as easily distracted as crows, but Thano still didn’t like it.

Conal and Tuur entered next. Conal was the only wolf they had left. After Tatwulf had tried to get rid of Romeo last year, the wolves had left. First, about half of them had stalked away during the night without a word, then the rest in the following days. Conal was the only one who’d remained.

It worried Thano a little. They didn’t need wolves at The Moonlight Ranch, but the wolf pack had been second only to the crows in number, and they’d been in contact with humans. Without the wolves, some things got harder. And for Conal personally… Wolves were pack animals, and he was the only one who’d remained. He wasn’t as happy nowadays as he’d been before.

Tuur was a bear, massive and quiet. Thano didn’t know him well, but Armelle, the leader of the bears, trusted him, so Thano believed he was a good fit for the board.

Last to arrive were George Hillburn and Theodore Carner who came together. They were rough-looking men, both of them. Their clothes were worn thin, and their bodies looked like they were used to hard work. Both of them had cold, unflinching eyes. Thano was sure these were men Romeo would avoid.

Romeo knew humans. He could often tell if someone was dangerous or not simply by looking at them. Thano had tried to catalog things about the people that made Romeo stiffen when they were in town, but he still hadn’t mastered the skill. Maybe he should bring Romeo to a meeting simply to see his reaction, but it wasn’t important right now.

“Are we ready to start?” He looked around the table once everyone was seated.

There was a murmur, and Mabel brought out a notepad. It always surprised Thano when she did. Pens and papers were forbidden, but she had some, and she did nothing to hide them. It was something about her being the secretary and therefore having the right to make notes for the sake of the settlement, but where did she get them? If one human could get them, surely the rest could too.

“Last week, we discussed having the people from Fisherman’s Lake pay a fee to moor at the dock.” She tapped her pen.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Charles glanced at Thano only to quickly look away.

“We need the money.” Mabel stopped tapping.

“We also need to eat.”

“With a better economy, we can make Last Hope better. If the city core is in better shape, people might want to come here—”

And off they went. Thano tuned them out and looked out the window. Why humans couldn’t trade favors like normal individuals, he didn’t know. He could see the lake between two buildings. He’d only been to Fisherman’s Lake a few times, and it had been many years ago. It wasn’t big. A few farms and a cluster of smaller houses near the lakeside. Thano believed about fifty people were living there.

“Let’s vote.” Mabel’s voice cut through his thoughts.

Thano caught Raven’s gaze, and she gave him a barely-there shake of her head. What had he missed?

“Vote about what?”

Mabel huffed. “The toll.”

“What would the consequences be?”

Charles nodded and gestured at Thano only to then pale as if Thano would bite his hand. “Exactly. Consequences.”

“We’ve discussed it—”

Thano cut Mabel off. “Who would be affected by this?”

“Everyone!” Charles curled his hands into fists. “Since a great portion of our food comes from Fisherman’s Lake, Eli would have to pay more to get it into his shop—”

“No, they’re paying the toll, not Eli.” Mabel sounded angry now.

“Don’t be naive. They have to live just as much as we do. If they need to pay a toll, they’ll raise their prices so the profit is the same, then Eli has to raise the prices so his profit is the same, and then we have to pay more for food. Unless they take their products somewhere else altogether. Then we’ll starve.”

Thano nodded. It sounded logical. He might not know a lot about the human system, but if the people of Fisherman’s Lake could make more of a profit by selling their products elsewhere, then it made sense for them to do so. “Has anyone asked Eli?”

“Asked Eli what?” George was annoyed.

“What it would mean for the shop if there was a toll for everyone coming over the lake? What would it mean for his business?”

“He’ll adjust.”

Adjust. Was it a matter of adjusting? He looked at Tuur, Fala, Conal, and Raven. “I don’t think this is something that will affect us. If they starve to death, nothing will change for us.”

Mabel all but snarled, but Thano ignored her and focused on Conal. He was usually the one who could predict the humans’ behavior the best. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re right. It won’t affect The Moonlight Ranch unless Eli starves to death. Then Ciar and Draven will be… displeased.”

“No one will starve! It’s to get more money to Last Hope. The board gets the money, and we’ll invest it in… the sheriff’s office or something. We still don’t have a sheriff. It’s been ten months, and we don’t have anyone making sure the law is followed.” Mabel’s cheeks were flushed. Maybe Thano should help her get rid of some blood. He was hungry.

There was money in the budget for a sheriff already. Thano had hoped Emeric would take the position, and there was a glimmer of interest in his eyes every time he mentioned it, but he always declined.

“Talking about the sheriff.” Theodore cleared his throat and looked around the table. “I have a suggestion for the position.”

Mabel visibly brightened. “You do?”

“An acquaintance of mine, Jack Ambrose, is in town looking for a job. He worked law enforcement in New Town for many years.”

Thano didn’t want a human sheriff, but since no one had asked for the position, it might be a good idea to hire someone. They could always eat him if he misbehaved.