Embedded Files
(Medically Necessary 3)
LGBTQ, Dark Fantasy, Steamy
Date Published: December 13, 2024
Publisher: Changeling Press
Without trust, nothing is sacred. Not even long-held beliefs.
Oliver’s terrible secret is eating both himself and his would-be mate alive. He and Amir have been apart for three months, and absence indeed makes the heart grow fonder. Unfortunately, there’s terror, pain, and deceit lying between them.
Amir thinks purging and confession are medically necessary for spiritual and physical well-being. Oliver will stop at almost nothing to hide his scars.
Can these two be mated in truth or will Oliver’s past and Amir’s unstated fears push them away before the werewolves’ most sacred holiday, Winter Solstice?
Excerpt
Copyright ©2024 Emily Carrington
August
In a very real sense, Oliver’s heart hadn’t ached this way in years. It was a mixture of longing and a sweet promise of eventual homecoming. He’d just sent his lover away on an airplane, back to New York. Amir would gather together his staff, choose a new doctor to take over his practice, and then be back down here to live with Oliver.
To become Oliver’s mate.
Werewolves didn’t have spouses. Except when they did. They also didn’t have Life Dancers. That was a psychic vampire thing, knowledge Oliver had gained over the last month. Wolves had mates, a name for their beloved, the person with whom they wanted to spend the rest of their lives.
He’d had a mate before. This time would be different. He’d protect his mate. He’d keep him safe, no matter the cost, and he wouldn’t allow his nightmares to drive them apart. To shove his lover toward the singular choice of suicide.
He pulled up in front of Llosgia Maxine’s house, where his heart told him he belonged. Granted, she hadn’t exactly accepted her title of alpha, or the duties commensurate with that status change. She would, though. He had faith. Well, mostly he had faith. Sometimes he worried that Tilthos Charles’s words would come true and Llosgia Maxine would choose to take up no title at all.
Except, of course, she’d already claimed Director of Werewolf Watch for herself. Maybe she couldn’t take on that responsibility and…
The front door opened and Tilthos Charles stepped out, looking even stronger than he had the night before, when he’d arrived at Llosgia Maxine’s and asked for a place for himself and his lover to sleep. Now, in the dimness of false dawn, the alpha above all alphas shouldn’t have been able to use his limited vision to see more than a car approaching. However, that didn’t seem to be the case because he smiled and waved as if he knew exactly who was arriving.
Oliver considered driving away. He didn’t want to hear the political answer as to why the Kreisha pack was still allowed to exist after all the shit three of its members had pulled. Geoffrey Huntington, Noah Travers, and Josiah Cobb had plotted to drive Tilthos Charles mad. They had made it so hearing his rightful title had caused him physical and psychic pain. They’d forced him to attack his lover, Luis. Now, though, surely Tilthos Charles was coming to tell him they’d been forgiven for some fucked-up political reason that boiled down to the alpha above all alphas… what? Didn’t want to kill? That might just be it.
The alpha above all alphas’ soft voice was in his head suddenly. Open the door, Oliver.
Oliver unlocked the doors. He waited for the alpha above all alphas to sit beside him, or order him to get out of the car, denying him his escape.
He acknowledged his expectations had no basis in reality, especially because everything he’d seen of Tilthos Charles when the leader was in his right mind was favorable. Still, he didn’t actually know how Tilthos Charles governed. He was only assuming, based on the one alpha he knew, that Tilthos Charles might have allowed power to go to his head.
“So uncharitable,” the alpha above all alphas said after opening the door. He sat in the passenger seat, folded his white cane, the symbol of his visual impairment, and then buckled himself in. “Feel free to drive if it will make you less edgy.”
“You’re reading my every thought?” Oliver asked. He’d assumed his shields were better than that.
“Not quite. You’re not projecting everything, I don’t think, but you’re very unhappy with me and that carries just fine.”
Oliver relocked the doors and pulled out of the driveway. “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere that you can drive and listen without getting us in an accident would be good.”
Oliver grunted.
To his amazement, the leader of most of the world’s werewolves on this side of the Atlantic laughed. “You sound like Luis when he’s unhappy. Please tell me what’s bothering you.”
Oliver couldn’t bring himself to accuse the alpha above all alphas of any wrongdoing. Instead, he asked, “What happened to the six wolves who attacked you?”
“Huntington, Travers, and Cobb have been placed with different packs, separated by quite a bit of geography. Their new alphas reassure me their movements will be closely observed.”
Oliver turned off Llosgia Maxine’s street and just headed south, away from Washington, DC. He knew he wouldn’t be able to drive in heavy traffic and listen. “Why are they still alive?”
“I’m not in the habit of killing every single wolf who’s tried a coup. There would be considerably fewer wolves in the world if I exacted that sort of revenge. They’re being watched by three alphas I trust implicitly and I’m sure these bastards will show their true colors again. And unlike in baseball, they only get two chances.” He turned his head away from Oliver. “They’re not the only ones I’m watching. Kreisha Alexander let this go on right under his nose. At best, the very best, that makes him not perceptive enough.”
He faced Oliver again. “I’m asking you to keep me informed if he does anything inappropriate, dangerous, or careless. I don’t order you because I don’t want to step on your agency that way.”
“Please order me,” Oliver blurted.
That got him a raised eyebrow.
“Kreisha Alexander is in the habit of ordering his wolves not to share things, good or bad, outside the pack. If I have your order first, and because you outrank him, I’ll be able to tattletale.” He grimaced. “That came out more bitter than I anticipated or meant. I’m sorry.”
Tilthos Charles seemed to have caught onto another part of his speech, however, because he said, “Is there anything you’re forbidden to share with me?” There was a growl in his voice.
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About the Author
Emily Carrington is a multipublished author of male/male and transgender women’s speculative fiction. Seeking a world made of equality, she created SearchLight to live out her dreams. But even SearchLight has its problems, and Emily is looking forward to working all of these out with a host of characters from dragons and genies to psychic vampires. And in the contemporary world she’s named “Sticks & Stones,” Emily has vowed to create small towns where prejudice is challenged by a passionate quest for equality. Find her on Facebook at Shapeshifter Central or on her website.
Contact Links
Author’s Website: https://www.emilycarringtonauthor.com/
Emily on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emily.carrington.370
Emily on Twitter: http://twitter.com/CarringtonEmily
Publisher on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok: @changelingpress
Pre-Order Today: https://books2read.com/trustissacred
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