by Rhys Ford
“Why are we talking about my grandmother?” Joe caught his breath, exhaling hard. “Not who I want in bed with us right now.”
“Just weird, and that’s where my head went,” Levi said, shrugging as best he could while tangled up against Joe. “Maybe it’s a Peacekeeper thing. I’ve got a piece of a puzzle that’s not fitting into the whole, so I’ve got to poke at it. I mean, she’s a Strega. Big S. And she doesn’t talk about it to her kids or the favorite grandson. It’s her legacy. Hell, it’s your legacy. You could be off turning people into frogs someplace instead of lying here with me—”
“Lying here with you is a hell of a lot nicer than any frog transformations I’d probably screw up. You’d end up with three-headed tadpoles, and some tree hugger would want to shut down SF because the pigeons suddenly speak Italian. ’Sides, it’s not really that complex. She promised my dad she wouldn’t pull any of the grandkids into it. He’s not a believer, or so she told me. Or maybe he is and he’s scared of it,” Joe confessed softly. “I think he knows something’s up but doesn’t want to really look at it, and I sure as hell ain’t asking him. My dad’s very much an evidence-in-hand kind of person. I guess she thought I was too. And if I hadn’t seen the bikers coming around St. Con’s, I probably never would have ever known. And how shitty would that be, because then I’d never have met you.”
“It’s kind of funny you came sniffing around because you found out some of the Vikings were in town.” Making himself comfortable against Joe’s side, Levi squirmed down into the pillows and yawned. “Especially since it was your grandmother who suggested Zhou and the Vikings use me as their Peacekeeper for their arbitration. So in a lot of ways, I’ve got Toni to thank for landing you on my doorstep… and my bed.”
“Yeah, my grandmother definitely likes to stir the pot,” he admitted, sleep tugging at him. It was cool enough for a thin sheet and Levi against him to keep him warm enough to fall off, but Joe was reluctant to go under, enjoying having Levi with him while the night embraced the city streets. “Remind me tomorrow to thank her, and then after that, she and I are going to have some very long talks about secrets. Because something tells me, there’s a hell of a lot more that I don’t know, and she’s the best place for me to start.”
“Probably,” Levi agreed, his words slurred with sleep. “And you might want to start off with the five red stars she’s got tattooed under her arm. Because your grandmother’s not just a strega, she’s also on the region’s Peacekeeper council. So technically, right now? I’m sleeping with my boss’s grandson.”
TWO WEEKS after he’d first led Joe into his bed, Levi was stretched out over the mattress on his back, naked and staring up at the ceiling as the sun stretched its intrusive fingers across his bedroom. Joe lay next to him, silver-shot hair wild from Levi’s fingers and probably still slightly damp from the 4:00 a.m. shower they’d taken after Joe came home from a long night’s work. The summer had turned muggy, bringing in a damp heat to lave over the daylight hours, but the evenings were a welcome relief. Even better, since Joe came around to help close the pub if he finished work early or if an investigation stream went into the wee hours. Levi spent the time waiting in the apartment, closing out the books for the night, and keeping some food hot for when Joe came in.
When.
Not if but when.
Levi felt the air shift as Joe slowly woke up. One thing he’d found out about Zanetti was the man did not wake up instantly like most people in Levi’s family. He shook sleep off in stages, unpeeling layers of slumber from his consciousness until his eyes were finally clear and bright and he was able to take on the world again. Murmuring, Joe’s breathing deepened, and a familiar crackle of awareness ran over Levi’s skin, much like the surge of energy he felt before he shifted. His world fit around him, pieces he didn’t know were missing falling into place simply by the presence of a strega-blooded Italian cop with a nose for trouble and justice.
“Hey,” Joe mumbled, scrubbing at his eyes. “God, my mouth tastes like I sucked on fish butts while I slept.”
“Nice,” Levi drawled. “Forget kissing me until you brush your teeth.”
“Babe, I’m not even sure I’d talk to myself before I brush my teeth,” Joe replied, sliding out of bed and giving Levi a good look at his tight ass as he padded toward the bathroom. “And man, I’ve got to piss. Be right back. Don’t get dressed. I’ve got plans for you. Unless you need to go.”
“I’ve already been to the bathroom. Had plans to get up, but the bed reached out and grabbed me.” Levi sat up, resting his weight on his elbows and grinning at the sight of Joe standing in the bathroom door, framed by the wood-trimmed opening in the dark blue wall. “I tried fighting it, but it was too strong, so I finally gave up and decided to wait until you could rescue me.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Joe shot back, stepping into the bathroom far enough for his words to echo against the tiles. “I was the one who set the trap. Because you know, plans.”
“Plans better include waffles, because dinner was a hot dog last night at nine,” Levi shouted toward the bathroom as the door closed. “Shit, I don’t even know if I have waffles.”
His cell phone jangled for his attention from its perch on the night table. Stretching over the bed, Levi grabbed it from the charging pad, only to drag the sheets across his waist when he saw the number on the screen. Fighting a grimace and hoping he had enough money in his bank account, he answered tentatively, “Hello?”
“Dad? Did I wake you up? You sound like you’re still in bed,” Declan chortled across the line. “Didn’t we talk about you going to bed at a decent time? You’re getting old, dude. Man needs his sleep.”
“I’m not only going to pull the door off your room, but I’m going to roll your bed into the alleyway and rent it out to racoons.” He glanced at the clock. “It’s not even ten. Close but not yet. And not that I don’t want to hear from you, but you’ve got two days left in camp, and how the hell did you get a hold of a phone?”
“Borrowed it from Brad. He said I could call you, because so far, I’ve done no property damage—even accidentally—and he figured you were just waiting to be handed a bill once they dropped me off.” Declan cleared his throat. “Can you switch to vid? I want to show you something cool.”
A quick glance toward the bathroom door assured Levi it was closed, mostly because he and Joe hadn’t quite hammered out how to talk to Declan about their relationship. All he could hope for was Declan’s fairly steady personality to maintain its course. He’d never had something serious with anyone while raising Deck, and the uncertainty of how his son would react was a heavier weight than the red stars tattooed under his arm.
“Sure, kiddo. Let me just hit the button,” Levi replied, turning his phone so Declan wouldn’t give him shit about not filming horizontally. “There, before you bitch about it.”
The kid looked good. Less like a kid, actually, and Levi sat staring at his son’s face while Declan excitedly babbled about how camp was going and what they’d done over the past few weeks. His voice deepened, then pitched back up in rolls, quickly losing the baby squeak of a cub when he laughed, and Levi’s heart twisted a bit, knowing he’d miss the little boy he used to be able to lift up into the air. A bit of scruff speckled Deck’s chin—more of a ghost of color than anything else, but it was there. There was a confidence about the kid—the young man—he’d sent off in a van to be with others like him, to find a place among supernaturals who needed to live peacefully in a mundane world.
“Okay, so let me show you what I called about. Hold on. I’m going to move the phone. Make sure to tell me if you can’t see me.” Declan set the device into something, shifting it so Levi could see the wood-paneled office he was calling from. “I need to change. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Couldn’t have grown out much. It’s only been a couple of weeks and….” Levi stared at the screen while his son shook off the fine powder of his skin, his fur glistening under the office’s pale fluoresc
ent lights. “What the hell have you done to yourself, kiddo?”
The Pomeranian cut was the same, turning Declan’s wolfish shape into a cute tumble of foxy features. It had definitely grown out a bit—at least two inches—but instead of the familiar Keller Black, his fur was a riot of colors near his skin. From what Levi could see, the colors were mostly hexagons, a short patchwork rainbow tipped with long black strands spreading over Deck’s back, shoulders, and flanks. His face and muzzle seemed mostly untouched except for a curious dot of pink at the tip of his right ear.
“Are we…?” Levi struggled to find a word to fill in the echoing void eating through his thoughts.
For the life of him, no parenting book ever written could have prepared him for what he was seeing, and he knew a phone call to his mother for help would only be met with riotous laughter to the point of gasping breathing and tears. Stepping carefully around a teenaged boy’s ego was a delicate thing, but a shifter in a hormonal flux made things even worse, and Levi was fairly certain his response to Declan’s coat of many colors would be a fixed point in his kid’s life.
“Are we happy about this?” he asked cautiously, angling his head to get a better look at Declan’s coat. “I mean, that’s some saturation. It looks… good. The colors blend well together. I mean, it doesn’t look like someone melted a box of crayons on you. It looks like the color placements were done well so they don’t clash. Help me out here, kid. What happened?”
Declan was tugging his jeans on when Joe came out of the bathroom, singing a bad rendition of some song Levi didn’t recognize. Levi barely had time to react to Joe’s striding into the bedroom wearing a pair of sweats, a smile, and a towel over his head to rub off any excess water. A groan slithered out of Levi’s mouth when Declan visibly perked up and grinned at him.
“Who’s that?” Deck leaned forward as if he could see around the phone’s edge. “Tell me that’s Strega Zanetti’s grandson. Please? Because I have a hundred bucks riding on you guys hooking up before I turn sixteen.”
Joe froze in place, eyes wide and filled with a little panic. Mouthing at Levi, he said he would leave, motioning to the door, but Levi sighed, shaking his head while waving him over. “Might as well say hi. Because apparently my kid’s bet on me. And I was going to ask who the hell set it all up, but I only have one person that comes to mind.”
“Shit, who else do you know meddles as much?” Declan snorted. “Toni’s been trying to get that guy into the pub for, like, a year now. I figured it was just a matter of time. So long as you’re playing it safe and he treats you right—because that’s what you tell me—I don’t care. But see, here’s the thing, Dad. If he hurts you, then I’m going to have to call in reinforcements to break his legs, and the last thing I want to do is start a war between the shifters and the strega. Now, you’re not going to guess who I met at the camp exchange. Kawika’s niece, Ka’ena, is here, and man, she’s got some juice. Can’t wait for you to meet her. Well, you might already have, but Dad, I think I’m in love.”
“That’s cool, kiddo,” Levi murmured, looking up to meet Joe’s amused gaze. “I think I am too.”
“Only fair,” Joe whispered, leaning over to kiss the top of Levi’s head while Declan continued to talk about the sloe-eyed girl who’d given him rainbow fur. “Since I’ve pretty much known since our first kiss. And we seriously have to talk to my nana. Because, babe, you might be the greatest gift she’s given me, but man—”
Levi tilted his face up, kissing Joe’s throat, and said, “She’s a pain in the ass.”
Coming Soon from TA Moore
The last monster died a hundred years ago. At least, that’s what the monsters want you to think.
Half-monster Cash just wants to keep his head down and raise his daughter, Ellie, to be an upstanding member of monstrous society. Even if she’d rather spend the summer with her human friends than learn the art of man traps at Camp Dark Hollow.
So the last person Cash wants to see is her uncle Arkady Abascal, who’s also Cash’s ex-boyfriend.
Arkady has more than Ellie’s summer plans on his mind. He’s there to enlist Cash to find out who’s been selling monster secrets. Cash hasn’t gotten any better at telling Arkady no, but it’s not just his weakness for Arkady that makes him agree. The Prodigium thinks an Abascal exposed them to humans, and now the whole family is at risk—including Ellie.
Recruited to help Arkady identify the culprit—or frame a scapegoat—Cash finds the machinations of monstrous power easier to navigate than his feelings for Arkady. At least, at first. But when things get bloody, he wishes romantic disasters were all he had to worry about….
BRU BAKER got her first taste of life as a writer at the tender age of four, when she started publishing a weekly newspaper for her family. What they called nosiness she called a nose for news, and no one was surprised when she ended up with degrees in journalism and political science and started a career in journalism.
Bru spent more than a decade writing for newspapers before making the jump to fiction. Whether it’s creating her own characters or getting caught up in someone else’s, there’s no denying that Bru is happiest when she’s engrossed in a story. She and her husband have two children, which means a lot of her books get written from the sidelines of various sports practices.
Website: www.bru-baker.com
Blog: www.bru-baker.blogspot.com
Twitter: @bru_baker
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bru.baker79
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/6608093.Bru_Baker
Email: [email protected]
JENN MOFFATT is a proud nerd. Raised on Star Trek, Dark Shadows, The Wild Wild West, and James Bond, she learned not to be afraid of things that go bump in the night and to have hope for the future of humanity. She grew up wanting to be a member of the Addams Family or part of the crew of the USS Enterprise—and she still does.
She’s been soaked to the skin for Chinese New Year and walked in the fog in Frisco. Went to high school in Sin City, and no, she didn’t live in a casino. Lived on the slope of an active volcano, and used to snorkel between classes in college on the Big Island. Now she lives in San Diego where she gets to see the ocean and wildflowers in the desert on the same day.
Jenn was born disabled, which gives her a deep understanding of what it’s like to be different, but she’s never let it hold her back. It just means she gets pretty good parking.
Find Jenn:
Twitter: @thatvulcanbitch
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thatvulcanb1tch
Instagram: @thatvulcanbitch
Website: jennmoffattwrites.com
TA MOORE is a Northern Irish writer of romantic suspense, urban fantasy, and contemporary romance novels. A childhood in a rural seaside town fostered a suspicious nature, a love of mystery, and a streak of black humour a mile wide. As her grandmother always said, “She’d laugh at a bad thing, that one,” mind you, that was the pot calling the kettle black. TA studied history, Irish mythology, and English at University, mostly because she has always loved a good story. She has worked as a journalist, a finance manager, and in the arts sectors before she finally gave in to a lifelong desire to write.
Coffee, Doc Marten boots, and good friends are the essential things in life. Spiders, mayo, and heels are to be avoided.
Website: www.nevertobetold.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TA.Moores
Twitter: @tammy_moore
RHYS FORD is an award-winning author with several long-running LGBT+ mystery, thriller, paranormal, and urban fantasy series and is a two-time LAMBDA finalist with her Murder and Mayhem novels. She is also a 2017 Gold and Silver Medal winner in the Florida Authors and Publishers President’s Book Awards for her novels Ink and Shadows and Hanging the Stars. She is published by Dreamspinner Press and DSP Publications.
She shares the house with Harley, a gray tuxedo with a flower on her face, Badger, a disgruntled alley cat who isn’t sure living inside is a step up the social l
adder, as well as a ginger cairn terrorist named Gus. Rhys is also enslaved to the upkeep of a 1979 Pontiac Firebird and enjoys murdering make-believe people.
Rhys can be found at the following locations:
Blog: www.rhysford.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rhys.ford.author
Twitter: @Rhys_Ford
By Jenn Moffatt
Bad, Dad, and Dangerous Anthology
Christmas Ghosts
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
By Bru Baker
All in a Day’s Work
Bad, Dad, and Dangerous Anthology
Branded
The Buyout
Campfire Confessions
Diving In
Downward Facing Dreamboat
Holidays Are Where Your Heart Is
Homemade from the Heart
King of the Kitchen
Late Bloomer
The Magic of Weihnachten
More Than Okay
With Lex Chase: Some Assembly Required
Talk Turkey
Traditions from the Heart
DREAMSPUN BEYOND
CAMP H.O.W.L.
Camp H.O.W.L.
Under a Blue Moon
Hiding In Plain Sight
CONNOLL PACK
Stealing His Heart
DREAMSPUN DESIRES
Tall, Dark, and Deported
DROPPING ANCHOR
Island House
Finding Home
Playing House
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
By TA Moore
Bad, Dad, and Dangerous Anthology