Exclusive Excerpt: Moon Illusion by Michelle Osgood

Posted March 23, 2018 by Dale

Nathan Roberts was just your average polyamorous librarian living in Vancouver until his best friend, Deanna started dating a werewolf. While hosting the small pack in his apartment while they hid from the underground network of Huntsmen, Nathan enjoyed a casual fling with Cole, the pack leader’s brother. But now, he may just be falling for him.

When his neighbor is murdered, Nathan is convinced the death is linked to the supernatural, but Cole and their friends deny any paranormal connection. This leads to a fracture of trust in their relationship, and Cole’s pack is left to deal with an unknown killer on the loose. As Nathan pursues answers on his own, he must come to terms with the truth, and his feelings for Cole.

Release Date: March 22nd

Content warnings:

Chapter 5: Graphic violence and an animal death during a dream sequence
Chapters 7-8: Gore
Chapter 16: Animal death
Chapters 18-20: Graphic violence during a dream sequence
Chapters 33-44: Domestic abuse, graphic violence, stalking

Additional Themes

Insomnia, paranoia, alcohol and marijuana use

He took off: burst of speed, paws digging eagerly into the loam and muscles thrumming with energy, body lower to the ground, elongated spine with tail for balance. Sensory input came in differently. He was more body, less mind. He moved with instinct and freedom; reactions were first and thought came second in a different mindset to move through a different world.

Knowing that overheating when he’d barely begun would be miserable, Cole slowed to a lope. He could detect the freshwater scent of the stream now, lighter under the briny scent of the ocean and the sharp pine of the trees, and followed it.

Everything that wasn’t him, the woods, the air, or the water spilled away. His focus narrowed to the world immediately around him and expanded within that space. He stopped being Cole and started simply to be.

By the time he reached the stream he was hot enough that he’d slowed to a walk. He strode directly into the water. He dipped his head to drink and, once he’d satisfied his thirst, he lowered his body to rest as the cold water eddied around him.

Cooler now, he rose with water pouring from his pelt in streams. He shook and sent it flying—and wished suddenly, wrenchingly, that Nathan were there to yelp and scramble out of the spray. Angry with himself for letting that thought intrude, Cole picked his way out of the stream and took off on another run, leaving the image of a wet and affronted Nathan behind.

He stuck close to the stream, followed it to where it poured down a sudden drop into the woods. Cole came to a stop at the edge and sat, panting heavily.

The lake glimmered blue, framed by the gentle green hills that were almost mountainous. The cloudless sky was endless. It was easy here, easy to be a part of this ecosystem.

Part of him, always, wished quite simply to stay. It was not wanting, exactly, but an ache. It would be easy to exist like this. Others did, he was sure: lone wolves, as Ryn had been, possibly even entire packs.

Cole knew he couldn’t live that way. It wasn’t in him. A werewolf identity was difficult to describe. It wasn’t as simple as movies and romance novels would have humans believe. There wasn’t the wolf part and the human part of him—they weren’t separate entities, each warring for control. He wasn’t a wolf or a human. He was a werewolf: constantly, always, both. It was an identity of its own. No matter the physical form his body currently inhabited, he was never more of one and less of the other. And that meant that he needed his humanity as much as he needed this.

Michelle Osgood writes queer, feminist romance from her tiny apartment in Vancouver, BC. She loves stories in all media, especially those created by Shonda Rhimes, and dreams of one day owning a wine cellar to rival Olivia Pope’s. She is active in Vancouver’s poly and LGBTQ communities, never turns down a debate about pop culture, and is trying to learn how to cook. Her novels The Better to Kiss You With (2016) and Huntsmen (2017) were published by Interlude Press.