by Amir Lane
At some point while he was lathering his hair, the door clicked open and shut again. When Lysander stepped out of the shower, he found a towel and a new set of clothes on the counter. Clothes that were clearly not Rohan’s, not unless he’d lost a good hundred pounds since buying them. Lysander could have fit another person in the t-shirt, and he had to tighten the drawstring on the sweats as tight as they would go. Sure, Lysander had lost some weight in the recent months, but he felt like he was drowning in these clothes.
Better than the trackpants he’d originally been in, and better than being naked.
The smell of food made his stomach growl and his mouth water as he descended back to the kitchen. Self-control be damned, he barely bothered to grab the fork Rohan offered out to him as he dug into the steaming containers laid out on the kitchen table.
Rice, chicken, noodles, vegetables. Holy crap, Lysander loved potatoes. He shovelled food into his mouth like the animal he was until he felt like he would puke.
Rohan sat opposite him, picking at some grilled chicken and watching him with curious eyes.
“Where’s your pack?” he asked.
The question caught Lysander off guard. He paused, swallowing down a chunk of zucchinni. Who knew zucchinni could taste good?
“Don’t have one. I did, but… Shit got complicated.”
“Do you live around here?”
Lysander shrugged and distracted himself with the fluffiest bread he’d ever seen. In his periphery, Rohan leaned forward and rested his chin on his knuckles.
“Do you have anywhere to stay?”
“I’ve got a truck. I’m parked somewhere—” Lysander motioned vaguely in the direction he’d come.
His stomach was starting to cramp. Maybe he shouldn’t have tried the bread. It didn’t stop him from shoving another piece into his mouth.
“We have an extra room,” Rohan said, making Lysander stop half-way through his bite. “If you don’t mind the smell of magic.”
Lysander lowered his bread to the plate, slowly to buy himself time to think. It would be nice to sleep in a real bed again. The area was great for shifting, and he wouldn’t have to worry about anyone finding out what he was.
“I can charge you rent, if you want. We can come up with a number that works.”
Lysander hesitated. That had to be too good to be true.
“Would your roommates be okay with that? Or your— landlord, or whatever?”
“My sister’s the landlord, but I’m in charge of our coven.”
“I could be a serial killer.”
“Are you?” Rohan asked, raising a dark eyebrow.
“Not that I’m aware of. But that’s probably what a serial killer would say, isn’t it?”
A playful smile tugged at Rohan’s lips. God, was Lysander a sucker for pretty boys.
“I think I’ll take my chances. I like you, Lisandros. I want you to live here.”
There was no way Lysander could say no to that. And Scott was nagging him to find a new pack. Yeah, they still sort of talked. Scott talked. It wasn’t awkward at all.
Lysander nodded, a smile of his own forming on his lips. He did miss belonging somewhere, being around other people, even if they weren’t other wolves.
“Yeah,” he said. “All right. I guess I can stick around for a bit.”
Rohan’s smile turned into a grin, and Lysander felt at home.
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Also by Amir Lane
Morrighan House Witches
Rise
Shadow Maker
Bad Omen
Panthera Onca (Coming Soon)
About the Author
Amir Lane is an LGBT+ supernatural and urban fantasy writer from Sudbury, Ontario. Engineer by trade, they spend most of their writing time in a small home office or in front of the TV watching every cop procedural on Netflix. They live in a world where magic is an every day occurrence, and they strive to bring that world to paper.
When not trying to figure out what kind of day job an incubus would have or what a Necromancer would go to school for, Amir enjoys visiting the nearest Dairy Queen, getting killed in video games, absorbing the contents of comic books, and freaking out over how fluffy the neighbour's dog is.
Amir loves to connect with readers online. They can be found on their Facebook page, and at their website where you can find out more about their work.
For more information about Amir, check out:
www.amirlane.com
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