Excerpt
“IT’S an arranged marriage and nothing more,” Kris argued. “Certainly nothing better. As a civilization we’ve gone back a hundred years or more since the Unveiling.”

Standing at the threshold of his home—again—Kris was staring down at Mr. Denham from the NFL, who’d developed an annoying habit of appearing on their doorstep every other day for about a week now. Adjusting his glasses dangling on the bridge of his nose, Mr. Denham smiled reassuringly. “I understand how upsetting this must be for you, Mr. Ellis. But it is far less dramatic than—”

“Than what exactly?” Kris held back his emotions, fighting the instinct to shout. “We are talking about me being the predestined mate of some person—a wolf—I’ve never even heard of. And just because some clinical tests say so, I’m just supposed to pack up my whole life and succumb to this prospect of becoming the unwilling sex slave for some stranger for all eternity.”

Mr. Denham was holding on to his composure very well, considering. “Your strength of conviction is an admirable trait, but you’re exaggerating, Kristopher, and I—”

Though Kris didn’t fail to notice Mr. Denham had taken stock of his most defining characteristic, he wasn’t about to give him an inch. Not even a pinky to the devil. “You will call me Mr. Ellis.” As Mr. Denham sighed patiently and repeated his surname in a formal manner, Kris continued as calmly as he could muster, “Is it a man or a woman?” Kris had to know at least that before this went any further.

Coughing uncomfortably, Denham stammered, “The NFL has been informed of your sexual preference—”

“It’s an orientation, not a preference! And just answer the damn question!”

Denham blinked, as if unaccustomed to discourtesy—which surprised Kris, since he was certain that the man must’ve been an unwelcome sight in most households. If people had wanted to get tested for possible mating with the numerous creatures of the formerly Unseen world, they’d already be in the system, and this personal approach would’ve been unnecessary. “Very well, Mr. Ellis. It is a man. This should be good news for you, considering your sexual orientation.”

It was a relief, Kris had to admit.

But in the end, it changed very little. The fact of the matter was he didn’t want to end up mated to some guy—a wolf, no less—he didn’t know, had never met, and would probably hate just for forcing him into this hopeless situation. Kris had plans for the future—and they didn’t include getting hitched to a wolf just because a few crummy blood tests confirmed they were physically bonded.

“If I could just suggest getting to know him first—” Mr. Denham started again, but Kris stopped him with a raised hand.

“Not interested. Try to get that through your thick skull.”

Slamming the door in Mr. Denham’s face had zero effect on his persistence, but Kris took mild pleasure in doing so anyway. At least it would take a day or so before he reemerged from beneath whatever rock he’d crawled under. Kris had googled enough to know that this man wasn’t a lycan himself—obviously, since he was bald—but that wasn’t surprising, since most of the organizations concerning the creatures of the formerly Unseen world tended to hire humans as their formal representatives. And apparently they didn’t have trouble finding people to do just that.

Yeah, even mythical monsters have their groupies, Kris pondered drily. Too bad for them—and one of them in particular—Kris wasn’t one of them.