Hiya! Thank you, lovely Nell, for allowing me to steal a spot on your blog again. This month we’re celebrating Drowsy Driving Prevention Week. It’s between November 6th and November 13th, following right after the end of Daylight Saving Time – the US Daylight Saving Time. Where Nell and I are at Daylight Saving Time ended on October 30th, and if you had any idea how many times we’ve discussed the stupidity of changing clocks, you’d find it funny that I picked a holiday that’s related to it.
I’ll have to say the story as such doesn’t even mention changing time, it’s not part of the plot at all. It’s more focused on driving when drowsy. Drowsy Driving Prevention Week was created to draw attention to the thousands of deaths and injuries that are caused because of tired drivers.
In Returning to the Werewolf, Lex is out driving in the middle of the night. He’s just been to his grandmother’s funeral, and when the walls of the motel where he’s staying are threatening to crush him, he decides to drive home instead. But he lives a long way from Warwood, it takes about seven hours to drive, and between Warwood and civilisation there is nothing but long stretches of pine forests.
He’s tired, exhausted, heartbroken, and there is nowhere he can stop. There is nothing but long stretches of woods and snowy roads, so when he sees a naked man standing in the snow and then turning into a wolf, he assumes he’s fallen asleep and is dreaming.
He slams the brakes because human or wolf or whatever it is, he doesn’t want to hit it. He slides off the road. He’s not injured, but the screen of his phone shatters and he can’t get the car back up on the lane, and the naked man is a wolf. A wolf who has friends.
As Lex sits in the quickly cooling car, more and more wolves gather on the road, and he is sure they’re gonna eat him. That is until a hulking man steps out of the woods with a spade resting on his shoulder.
The wolves melt into the woods, and when the man knocks on the window of his car, Lex realises it’s Cash.
Seventeen years ago, he loved Cash. He was sure they were going to spend the rest of their lives together, but when Lex needed him the most, Cash wasn’t there.
Cash is a werewolf and the enforcer of the local pack. Running away with Lex as they talked about when they were teens wasn’t an option, but now when Lex is back near Warwood, Cash has no plans of letting him go. Seventeen years have gone by, and there hasn’t been a day when Cash hasn’t regretted letting Lex down.
If you’re in the mood for snow, werewolves and second chances, check it out!
Blurb:
Lex Gray was in love once. He was young and gave his heart to Cash Udolph, who he believed would be with him forever. When his world fell apart, Cash was nowhere to be found. Lex left Warwood, the tiniest village ever placed on a map, and swore never to come back. Seventeen years later, he’s there to attend his grandmother’s funeral.
Lex needs to get out of Warwood, but driving in the middle of the night might not have been his best idea. A naked man jumps up on the road only to turn into a wolf before his eyes, and Lex slams the brakes hard enough to slide off the road. When Cash is called in to sort a situation with a human, he never expected the human to be his Lex. He’s been given a second chance, but Lex wants to leave as soon as possible. Can Cash convince Lex to allow him back into his life before the tow truck gets there?
Paranormal Gay Romance: 20,870 words
Buy links:
JMS Books :: Amazon
Excerpt:
Lex relented. He couldn’t feel his feet anymore, and the cold had crept into his bones. If he stayed in the car much longer, he’d turn into an ice cube. He pushed open the door, forced Cash to move out of the way, and stepped out. Lex wasn’t short, but he had nothing on Cash. It wasn’t only the height. It was his bulk, and the energy around him, that always made Lex feel dainty. It had never bothered him. The opposite, rather, for he could relax around Cash, as if he’d protect him from all evil.
This was before he broke his heart.
Lex had never recovered. He didn’t sit alone in his apartment and pine, but he’d never allowed anyone to get under his skin the way he’d allowed Cash. He’d never fallen as deeply, never again loved without caution. He’d never loved at all. He’d had partners, boyfriends, and he’d been engaged once. Though seeing his fiancé make out with his closest colleague in the parking lot in broad daylight had put an end to the relationship. Lex hadn’t mourned the loss, which should have told him something.
He’d been infatuated a few times, but he’d never fully given himself to anyone after Cash.
The last few years, Lex had concluded he was better off on his own. He and his fat, lazy tabby cat, Mr. M, lived a great life. He worked and when he got home; they cuddled in front of the TV. Things could be worse.
“Aren’t you afraid of the wolves?” Lex scanned the woods. They’d go in there? The wolves might have scattered when they heard Cash approach, but he’d seen the way they’d measured Lex. It hadn’t been to fit him for a coffin, more like how much seasoning they’d need when they put him on the grill rack.
Cash froze. “The wolves?”
“Ah, yeah, there was a pack of wolves. They ran off right before you approached. It was how I ended up in the ditch. I was driving, and all of a sudden there was a wolf on the road.” He didn’t mention there being a naked man. It had to have been a dream. “I hit the brakes because it wouldn’t move, and the car spun.”
Cash looked him up and down. “Did it roll?”
Lex frowned. “No, it stood there staring at me. Poor thing must’ve been terrified, but then it looked like it wanted to eat me, so I hopped back into the car.”
“The car, did you spin or—” He indicated the car rolling around with his fingers.
“Oh, spun a lap or two. No biggie. It would’ve been fine had I not ended up in the ditch.”
Cash growled, an honest to God growl. Maybe he’d lived out here with the wolves a bit too long.
“Why are you carrying a spade?” Maybe he should have led with that. He might think he knew Cash. His gut told him he could trust him despite his heart’s objections, but what if he’d turned into a murderer and only had lured Lex out of the car so he could bury him?
“Heard you slide off the road and figured I might have to dig you out.”
“You heard me slide off the road?” Lex put as much disbelief into the question as he could. Not only had it taken Cash a long time to show up, but there was no way he could’ve heard him slide off the road. The snow softened the sounds, and it hadn’t been a violent collision.
Cash frowned at him. “Come on.”
“Uh-huh.” But Lex shook his head. It was a clear lie. Lex had always been good at telling when someone lied. It was in the air around them. And it was why Cash leaving him had hurt so much. He hadn’t been prepared, hadn’t seen it coming. He’d been young and naive and hadn’t been looking for signs of betrayal. Same with his dad. He hadn’t had a clue he was a homophobe, though how he’d missed it was a mystery. Lex had learned a lot that day.
About Holly Day
According to Holly Day, no day should go by uncelebrated and all of them deserve a story. If she’ll have the time to write them remains to be seen. She lives in rural Sweden with a husband, four children, more pets than most, and wouldn’t last a day without coffee.
Holly gets up at the crack of dawn most days of the week to write gay romance stories. She believes in equality in fiction and in real life. Diversity matters. Representation matters. Visibility matters. We can change the world one story at the time.
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