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Author Name: Liv Olteano
Book Name: A Counselor Among Wolves
Series: Leader Murders
Book Two
(Recommended to be read in order)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: AngstyG
Release
Date: May 8, 2015
Blurb:
Sequel
to A Tooth for a Fang
Leader
Murders: Case Two
Five dead leaders,
their bodies arranged in a pentagram. Treason, lies, and backstabbing. A
make-believe affair that turns into a real mating.
Timothy Sands is a PBI counselor, half-fey,
half-elf, with a secret crush on Herman Weiss, PBI director. As a new chapter
is added to the Leader Murders, it is Weiss’s responsibility to investigate
what seems an impossible-to-solve case. The other problem? Weiss is suffering
from rages, and his only salvation lies in Tim’s emotional-grid-balancing
skills. They only have to pretend to be a couple for Tim to use his talents,
and he owes Weiss a big favor. Piece of cake, right?
The fey might be involved in the Leader Murders.
Someone on the Council might be their ally, and another prominent PBI figure
looks more and more suspicious as they investigate. The stakes are upped when
Timothy’s father, the Fey King, threatens to leave the Council destitute if
they don’t hand Timothy over to him. Weiss’s brilliant solution? Mating Timothy
and forcing the Council into protecting him.
There’s only one small hitch in that plan: instead
of protecting one, the Council might decide to get rid of two.
Pages or Words: 230 pages
Categories: Crime fiction, Fiction, Gay
Fiction, M/M Romance, Mystery, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy
Excerpt:
He looked up, those gorgeous eyes focused on me like
lasers. “Until we sort this out, Sands, you’re my new partner.”
No freaking way.
“What?”
“You heard me,” he grumbled. “In case I get a rage,
you have to be there to prevent me from lashing out. We both know you can, as
fey.”
Of course he had to use the right word now that he
was angling for something.
“And we both know I’m not allowed to,” I added,
shaking my head. “The Fey Act prevents us from exercising our… special
abilities on Council territory. Going against that would make me a criminal
before the Council. I might like you alive, but I like me alive even more.”
Weiss stood to his full, impressive height and
stepped close to me. I expected some sort of intimidation act. He was Weiss
after all—that came to him naturally. His hulking shape loomed over me, his
breathing becoming the only thing I could hear. I swallowed and fought the urge
to run the hell out of there.
“Look up, Edelweiss,” he almost purred.
The tone was so incongruous with everything Weiss
was that I did look up, wide-eyed. All the better, since him standing and me
sitting gave me an almost cruel close-up with his crotch.
“There’s an exception from the Fey Act,” he said,
grinning crookedly.
“What?” I screeched, shaking my head.
“Think about it, it would fit. You’d watch over my
temper, make sure I won’t do anything I’d regret later. Buy me enough time to
find out what’s going on,” he added, his gaze turning sad.
This was just too much. “Is this a prank?” I asked
incredulously. “You can’t be asking me to hook up.”
He grabbed my arms and pulled me to my feet.
“Listen, Edel. If you report me, they’ll put me down. You know they will—it’s
the law. The Council can’t afford to do me—of all people—any favors, not after
Amanda. They won’t invest the time to look into it. What they will do is write
it off as terminal rages and cap me. I’m not asking you to hook up. Just
pretend that we’re together for a while… until we figure out what’s going on
with me. If we can’t find anything that can be solved in a couple of weeks,
I’ll go to the Council and turn myself in. Please,” he whispered. “Do it for
Alf at least, if not as a favor to me.”
I gulped. “That’s low, Weiss, bringing your
seven-year-old into it.”
His gaze darkened. “If I get a rage when he’s
around….” He trailed off and shook his head. “I’m asking you to prevent me from
killing innocents. Begging isn’t my thing. But I am begging you to help me now.
I’m that desperate.”
“Must be. Nobody ever comes through the door unless
under dire circumstances,” I said flatly. “There are other fey around. You
could hook up with one of them—for real. They’d level your emotional grid on
instinct. Why do you need me?”
“Because I trust you,” he stated simply. “And so
does the Council. Trusting someone new would be… difficult right now, for
everyone.”
“I understand that, but if you got a fey to fall for
you for real, then—”
“Then I’d make the same mistake I did with Amanda,”
he said, looking down. “I may have been an idiot then, but I’d like to think
I’ve learned some lessons from the whole fucking ordeal. You’re my only option,
Sands.”
Weiss leaned in closer, too close. His scent invaded
my lungs, the warmth of his body bringing sweat to my temples again. Blood
pounded through my veins, the illusion I could somehow, by some miracle, get to
touch his lips getting me high. I focused on my thoughts, ignoring my body.
This was when it really mattered that I didn’t give myself away. This was when
I had to stand my ground, not let my private desires get in the way of my
ethics. Ethics were important for a therapist… but Weiss wrapped his arms
around me slowly, as if giving me time to bolt. I didn’t try, I didn’t move… I
didn’t even dare breathe, waiting to feel his arms close around me. I hated
myself instantly for it, but after years of dreaming, and hoping, and stealing
glances… the man of my hot, sweaty dreams was going to hold me.
“If I have to actually seduce you, then I will,
Edel,” he whispered with a grin in his voice.
I flattened my lips. “Oh, because I’m that easy, you
think?”
He chuckled in a self-deprecating way. “Because I’m
that desperate.”
My heart broke a little. Of course he’d think
seducing me was such a terrible task that he’d only resort to it out of sheer
desperation. I tried to hide my hurt feelings, brush them under the carpet. I
looked down, hoping my gaze wouldn’t give me away. “You’re not my type,” I
stated coldly.
“You were Travis’s boyfriend for a while there, so I
know you like the leader type.”
Shit, this was just what I needed. His mentioning
Travis didn’t help at all with my conviction to not do this. I’d broken up with
Travis because I’d realized I was actually pining away after Weiss the whole
time Travis and I were together. Either Weiss knew, or his killer alpha
instincts were pushing him in the right direction. If I balanced his emotions
without us being a couple officially, the Council would find out. They had fey
consultants to keep an eye out for anyone fiddling with emotional grids. They’d
take me in, PBI counselor or not. And Weiss did have a point on the trust
thing. He’d have to trust some stranger with a secret that would get him
killed, were it to get out.
When alphas got terminal rages, it wasn’t treatable.
Their hormones turned them into wild, senseless monsters—they had to be put
down, for everyone’s sake. A raving mad Weiss would be even more dangerous than
anyone. His family was known for their incredible genes and strength. The
thought alone gave me the chills. If the Council got wind of this, they’d put
him down—no doubt about it. I couldn’t, in good conscience, turn down his plan,
not under these circumstances. Not when a seven-year-old kid—whose mom was
going to be executed this week—depended on him.
Weiss was all Alf would have. I couldn’t allow the
poor kid to become an orphan. Nobody would ever take in a Weiss alpha-to-be,
and we all knew Alf had the alpha hormones. Weiss had gotten him tested. Only a
matter of time before the kid reached adulthood and the hormones started
flooding his system. I couldn’t just leave Weiss to his
fate, not when he’d saved my life five years ago.
Not when the thought of a world without him strangled me.
I looked up. “Don’t try to pull that crap with me.
I’ll help you because, despite this bastard move of yours, you’re a good guy.
I’ll help because you have a seven-year-old son who’s about to lose his mother,
and you’re all he’s got. I’ll do this because it’s scientifically interesting
to explore the case. But don’t think you can sucker me into it with a grope or
a fuck. I can help you right now because I’m half fey. That also means I know
when you’re pretending…. I know what you feel as you’re feeling it. You can’t
bullshit me, Weiss. And stop calling me Edel.”
He chuckled darkly and took two steps back,
assessing me with more interest than he’d ever shown. “Well, go figure. Little
Edel has some teeth of his own, and he knows how to bite.”
“I don’t think that pissing me off is what you
should go for right now.”
“Maybe not. But it’s fun.”
“Get out of here, Weiss. Go home, think on this
until tomorrow morning. If you’re set on going ahead with it, we’ll start this
show then.”
He stuck his hands in his pockets and cocked his
head to the side. “Oh, no. You’re coming home with me. Don’t look so stricken,
we’ll just pretend to be a couple. But we won’t pretend the being together
part. We are going to be together, all the time, from now until we figure this
shit out. I can’t take the chance of a rage happening when I’m at home.”
I shivered. “You mean you want us to be nose to nose
24-7? Are you insane?”
He snorted. “I don’t think therapists are allowed to
use the word. Not nose to nose literally, unless your magic trick requires it?”
“We don’t have to be too close, but in the same
house for sure. I’m not strong enough to pull it off over long distances,” I
begrudgingly admitted.
It wasn’t something to be proud of. The whole couple
dispensation had been given in the Fey Act because being involved with someone
made fey balance their lover’s emotional grid on reflex. We couldn’t really
help doing it for our lovers—those we actually loved, to be precise. It didn’t
matter where they were. But for a long-term singleton fey like me, it was a
rusty skill to balance emotional grids. My balancing muscles were dusty and
flappy from lack of use. The fact I had a crush on him did help, though I hoped
he didn’t know about it. But it would still be hard work for me.
“There you go,” he said. “You’re coming home with me
until we solve this shitty situation.”
“You mean you want us to actually live together
while we’re pretending?”
He nodded.
“Starting tonight?” I asked in a faint voice.
He nodded again.
“It won’t look good. You’re still officially with
Amanda, even if her execution is just around the corner.”
“You think anyone will be outraged because I’m
betraying her? If anything, it will
show my pack that I still have some sort of balls. They might start doubting
that fact after what Amanda did. Besides, a mating is just like a human
marriage. Putting an end to it officially is more of a technicality when it’s
clear everything is over. It doesn’t keep some from moving on. It wouldn’t keep
a werewolf alpha from moving on. It won’t.”
“You’re going to use a fling with me as proof of
balls? Seriously?”
“Actually, I’ll be using it as my chance to keep
breathing. But if my pack thinks I’m over Amanda, I certainly won’t mind it.
Nobody will. And it won’t look like a fling at all.”
“Sweet flapping wings, what have I gotten myself
into?” I muttered, shaking my head and looking at him.
“You’re saving my life, Sands. Shitting around
aside, I’ll owe you big time. I’m sure it’ll come in handy to have the PBI
director at your mercy,” he added.
I breathed out slowly. “Yeah… I can just picture you
being at my mercy, totally in character for you.”
He laughed—loud, full, and rich. The sound made my
heart jump in my throat, and I found myself shaking my head and smiling. I
allowed warmth to spread through my heart for a moment. Looking on the bright
side, I’d get to spend a lot of time with my crush. He was probably annoying,
had smelly morning breath, and farted while he slept. After a week or two of
that, I’d finally get over him. And I would earn a lot of favors from him in
the long run, provided he didn’t end up dead during this experiment—and didn’t
get me killed either. I knew just the thing his support would work wonders on.
He wouldn’t like it, I was sure, but that was the funny part about favors: once
you owed them, you had to deliver.
All I had to do was spend all of my time with a man
I’d been fantasizing about for years, balance his emotional grid, and not give
away my stupid crush. How hard could that be?
Sales Links:
About the
author:
Liv Olteano is a voracious reader, music lover, and
coffee addict extraordinaire. And occasional geek. Okay, more than occasional.
She believes stories are the best kind of magic
there is. And life would be horrible without magic. Her hobbies include losing
herself in the minds and souls of characters, giving up countless nights of
sleep to get to know said characters, and trying to introduce them to the
world. Sometimes they appreciate her efforts. The process would probably go
quicker if they’d bring her a cup of coffee now and then when stopping by.
Characters—what can you do, right?
Liv has a penchant for quirky stories and is a
reverent lover of diversity. She can be found loitering around the Internet at
odd hours and being generally awkward and goofy at all times.
Where to find the author:
Facebook
Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/LiviaOlteano
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