Nick fought to control the bile rising up in his throat as he pulled off the lane and into the clearing. Jerking the handbrake on rather harder than necessary, he switched off the engine.
“It’ll be all right,” Julian said softly.
“You don’t know that.”
“Better than you do,” Julian told him, but the tone held no arrogance.
They got out of the car, and Julian looked around at the woodland, seeming to approve. Nick felt absurdly relieved—almost as if this were some kind of date. It was quiet here, the rush of traffic from the main road only a murmur, and the smell of damp earth and intriguing small creatures rose to meet Nick’s nostrils, calming him with its familiarity.
“What is this place?” Julian asked.
“It’s called the Godolphin Estate. An old country manor, built on top of an Iron Age hill fort, but it’s all gone to wrack and ruin, now.” Nick couldn’t keep the disapproval out of his voice at such wanton disregard of historical relics. “You can still see the remains of the fort—there’s a huge ring-shaped ditch in the middle of the woodlands.”
Julian nodded and with a complete lack of self-consciousness, began to strip, slinging his discarded clothes through the open door of the Mini Cooper. His skin seemed almost blue in the moonlight as long limbs were revealed. Nick found his heart beating faster, his breath quickening. Julian looked like some spirit of the forest, all slender lines and pale, perfect skin. Despite himself, Nick found his eyes falling to the boy’s groin. Silvery curls surrounded the most beautiful cock he’d ever seen, and Nick drank in the view as it began to rise slowly, as if resisting the force of his gaze. He could feel an answering pressure in his own groin and took an involuntary step forward.
All at once Julian’s form shifted. Confusing in its swiftness, the body he was scrutinising so eagerly seemed to twist, to writhe, but there was no convulsing in agony, and Julian didn’t even whimper as he became a wolf.
He was beautiful. Still slender, seeming half-grown, his fur shimmering in the moonlight. He trotted over to Nick and gave him a cautious sniff. Nick was appalled to realise he was still hard, aroused by the boy even in this form. For a moment he thought Julian was about to lick him—intimately.
Nick drew a deep, shuddering breath—and suddenly Julian was human again, smiling at him with mischief in his eyes, and the proximity was too much for Nick. He grabbed Julian’s hips and pulled the boy to him, hard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Nick Sewell. Non-conformist. Werewolf. The first puts him at odds with his colleagues’ idea of how an All Saints College lecturer should behave. The second, bestowed upon him by an ex-boyfriend, puts him at odds with himself.
There’s his tendency to change into a wolf on the full moon. And his visceral attraction to Julian Lauder, a troubled young German student. Despite his determination not to act on his desire, Nick’s brutal response to seeing Julian with another man frightens them both. At first.
Then Nick learns that Julian is not only a naturally submissive werewolf, but one who has learned better how to deal with just being a werewolf. That explains the attraction, but it doesn’t make it any easier when the tables are turned, and Julian—once the student—is now teaching Nick…who still isn’t happy about conforming to the “werewolf way”.
Meanwhile, reports of a strange wolf stalking the town barely register on Nick’s radar—until Julian disappears. Accusing eyes—both wolf and human—are turned toward Nick. Even with the help of friends, hope is growing as cold as the kidnapper’s trail. Unless Nick gives free rein to the wolf’s inhuman power…
Find Camwolf here as an ebook or on Kindle now or in print April 2012.
More werewolves are coming, too! Look for Midnight in Berlin from Samhain just as soon as JL’s editor has her way with it.
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JL Merrow also has a book coming out in early November, with nary a werewolf in sight.
A stranger could light up his world...or drive him deeper into darkness.
Will Golding needs a break from his usual routine, and he’s been looking forward to a holiday helping Baz, his friend-with-benefits, research a book about Isle of Wight ghosts. When an evening beach walk turns into a startling encounter with Marcus Devereux, Will can’t get his mind off the notoriously reclusive writer’s pale, perfect, naked body. And any interest in ghostly legends takes a back seat to the haunting secrets lying in Marcus’s past.
Marcus, painfully aware of his appearance, is accustomed to keeping to himself. But the memory of tall, athletic Will standing on the beach draws him out from behind defenses he’s maintained since age fourteen, when his parents were murdered. While his heart is hungry for human contact, though, his longtime guardian warns him that talking to anyone—particularly a journalist like Baz—is as dangerous as a day in the sun.
As Baz gets closer to the truth, the only thing adding up is the sizzling attraction between Will and Marcus. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that someone wants to let sleeping secrets lie…or Will and Baz could end up added to the island’s ghostly population.
Product Warnings: Contains perilous cliffs, elusive might-be ghosts, a secret tunnel, and skinny-dipping by moonlight.
From Samhain in November or preorder from Amazon.
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