GUEST POST :: This Mate Thing by Holly Day #Excerpt #GuestPost
✨ GUEST POST ✨
Hello everyone! Thank you, Addison, for allowing me to steal another spot on the blog.
I’m Holly Day, and I write MM romance stories, most of them paranormal, though I sometimes write something contemporary or sneak an alien in there. Every story I write is for a specific holiday of the National blah blah Day kind.
In this case, it’s for a week. We’re observing Dear Santa Letter Week, which is celebrated during the second week of November. The reason behind Dear Santa Letter Week is to entice children to write.
Since I needed a child to write a letter to Santa, I wrote a single dad story. It’s not something I do often. And, as mentioned above, I most often write paranormal stories, so of course, we have a wolf shifter.
Can’t have a story without a wolf shifter, right?
I was feeling a bit low, a bit stuck. I felt like I needed to do something different from what I normally do to get the spark back. I always write in third person, and almost always dual POV.
This Mate Thing also has dual POV, but I decided to write it in first person to challenge myself a bit. I can’t even remember how many stories I’ve written; it’s a few now, and I think I got stuck on autopilot. So, making this shift forced me to think differently, to maybe not build the story differently, but it makes a huge difference in how you tell a story, depending on whether you’re standing in your character’s shoes or watching them from above.
I had a lot of fun! It’s light-hearted. Boris, our wolf shifter, is a tad dramatic. I made him so for my own amusement LOL.
Simon is human and knows nothing about the supernatural world. He doesn’t believe in soulmates, and he definitely doesn’t believe in magic. He’s fought hard for his independence, and seven years ago, he adopted Ira, his nephew, when his sister passed away from breast cancer.
It’s not the life he’d pictured.
He loves Ira, would die for Ira, but he never saw himself as a father, and it’s hard being a single parent. Harder still when Simon is let go from his job, and Christmas is just around the corner.
To make matters worse, they have a new neighbor. It’s not that Simon dislikes him, but he makes him nervous.
Boris first came across his mate back in June. He had to do some investigating to find out where he lived, and then he had to convince a person to sell him a house across from Simon.
Since then, he’s been waiting for a way to get close to Simon and the kid. He hadn’t counted on kids, but what are you gonna do? You only have one mate, and if said mate has a kid, well, then he has a kid, and you adjust.
The problem is that Simon doesn’t want anything to do with him. Every time he tries to talk to Simon, he’s curt and standoffish. But Boris will not give up. He’ll sweep him off his feet, he’ll take care of Ira, and he’ll love Simon to the end of time. Too bad Simon is terrified of wolves and thinks the idea of soulmates is ridiculous.
If you’re in the mood for a quick and easy fated mates story, give this a go!
This Mate Thing
by Holly Day
Genre: Gay Paranormal Spicy Romance
Length: Novel / 47,744 Words / 186 Pages
Heat Rating: 4 Flames
🛒 Purchase Links
Blurb
For how long can you lie to your mate?
Boris Gifford is one lucky wolf! A few months ago, he found his mate, which is a blessing. There is just one problem. Simon is human, and in his excitement, Boris might have charged right at him in his wolf form, scaring him half to death.
Since then, he’s worked himself into Simon and his son’s lives, using food as bribes. But Simon doesn’t trust easily, and he’s very protective of his son. The more time that passes, the more worried Boris gets. He has to tell Simon the truth, but Simon doesn’t believe in anything supernatural, he’s terrified of wolves, and he doesn’t believe in soulmates.
Boris knows he has to come clean, but what if Simon rejects him when he realizes what he is?
Excerpt
It’s still dark when I park my car next to Zahrah’s at the edge of the Rutchester Nature Preserve, far away from any official parking lot. She’s leaning against the hood with a to-go cup in each hand. When I step out, she holds one out for me.
Conan, Luna, and Elora are waiting some distance away. I raise a hand in greeting before grabbing the offered cup.
“How did it go?” Zahrah sips her coffee while looking straight into my eyes.
“Good. They liked the pasta.”
She snorts. “Of course they did. Only idiots would dislike your chicken pasta.”
I hum and nod.
“What else?”
I shrug.
“Boris.” The tone makes me cringe.
“I don’t know.”
She narrows her eyes. “Did they run out of there? Did you say something stupid? Did you make the kid cry?”
“No!”
“What’s wrong then? You didn’t show your junk, did you? I told you not to. There was a kid there! Jesus Christ. You can’t act like with normal hook-ups.”
I heave a sigh. “Ira’s mother is dead.”
“Oh. Damn, that’s not good.”
No, it wasn’t.
“Now everything you do will be compared to her, and since she’s dead, Simon will turn her into some sort of saint in his mind. You don’t stand a chance. Sorry.”
I growl at her, which makes her laugh. Harlot. Then she scrunches her nose. “Seriously, though. It’s not great.”
“It was weird.”
Her gaze sweeps over my face. “Weird how?”
“Ira ran over to their house to get some papers, which reminds me, you’re buying cookies. It’s for a good cause.”
Before she can reply, three cars park around us, and several more of my pack mates tumble out of them. The air buzzes with energy, as it always does when the pack gathers to run. Eyes are gleaming in the dark, and several people are rolling their shoulders and cracking their knuckles.
“Continue before people start shifting.” Zahrah’s wolf is closer to the surface now, her eyes having shifted color, and I feel mine do the same. It’s hard not to get swept along.
“While he was over at their house, I asked Simon where Ira’s mother is. He said she’d passed away, breast cancer they found while she was pregnant with Ira. She refused treatment until he was born, but by then it was too late.”
“Fuck.” Zahrah rubs her chest and takes another sip of coffee.
“Yeah, but the weird part is, Simon isn’t Ira’s dad.”
“What?” Her voice is a little too loud, and several people turn to look at us.
I lower my voice, but I know it’s useless. Wolf hearing. “He said he believed she’d hooked up with someone at a bar, and he doesn’t know who Ira’s biological father is because she never told him.”
“Were they in an open relationship?”
“Huh. Maybe? I figured she cheated on him, but he didn’t sound upset. Or he was grief-stricken, but I’m pretty sure it was about her death, not about her being with someone else.”
She purses her lips and shrugs. “Open relationship or maybe they’re poly.”
“No!”
She cackles. “You don’t know that. You think because he’s your one and only, you have to be his, but maybe you’ll have to share him. Maybe he’s a swinger.”
“Fuck you, Zahrah.”
“No, I’m being serious. Are there any pink flamingos in his garden? Do they have a pineapple on the doorstep?”
I put the cup down and pull off my shirt. I need to run, but then I remember the cookies. People will disappear after the run. It’s better if I catch them now before they get into their fur.
I open my car door and reach inside. “Listen up, everyone!” Right as I speak, another car comes up the road and parks next to the other. Five people exit. Great. More cookies sold.
“You’re buying cookies.”
Conan grumbles, so I growl at him. “My kid is selling cookies for a fundraiser, and you’re buying. Come on over here. Form a line.” I hold up a pen and the paper.
Zahrah groans but walks up first—there is a reason she’s my best friend.
“Your kid?” Elora pulls a face. “You don’t have a kid.”
“I do now. My mate has a little boy.”
About the Author
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.
