All Mai-Mai wants is to be left alone to run her coffee shop in peace, but disaster strikes again, this time in the form of a bigoted restaurant owner, social media crazies, and the biggest threat of all, a flaming arrow aimed at her head.

Mai becomes trapped in a deadly game with an assassin as she tries to get rid of the riots on her doorstep and understand the beast within her with the intimate help of a Dryad named Ptris. Can she maintain her relationship with her Gremlin Ry-Ry and uncover the mysteries of the deadly arrows before one of them hits their target?

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Excerpt

“Here’s a funny little madness we all play. Not all Fae are Elves, but all Elves are Fae… What the hell does that mean?” Mai stared down at the tiny little strip of paper in her hands and was torn between laughing at the absurdity of it all and questioning someone’s insane idea of a joke.

“Maybe some form of poetry?” Ry asked, his confusion evident in the tilt of his head the frown on his lips.

He had yet to tie his hair back for work and was dressed in a tight pair of denim jeans that really left nothing to the imagination. With his long fall of hair flowing free and his green eyes practically glowing in mirth, he lay spread across their bed like a butt model for some exotic jeans… or maybe one of those stock photos that writers threw on the covers of their steamy erotic novels. Either way, Mai was enjoying the view while trying to puzzle over the strange little poem that someone sent to her personal email. Ry-Ry, for his part, was being exactly what she needed at the time, something her Gremlin excelled in… being sexy as hell.

“It’s the beginning of a riddle… maybe?” Mai looked down at the purple screen of her laptop once more before closing it up and shooting her lover a longer glance. “Either way, I refuse to be late because of it. I have to open the cafe today because Kay-Kay and Bri are off on a romantic weekend getaway. That’s sweet and I’m all for new love, but it’s almost New Year’s and the place is still swamped.”

“That’s because you are Internet famous,” Ry-Ry teased, rolling to a sitting position on the bed like he was some extra in a porn flick and hidden musicians were about to start playing the boom chicka-wa-wa fuck me now music. Really, the play of muscles under his pale skin and broad black markings was more poetic than the lines on her email that had captured her attention. In fact, she was feeling a bit like Pavlov’s dog, drooling as he moved his fine, bare-chested self around the room. “Soon you will have no use for a poor little old mechanic like me.”

“As long as you keep my coffee machines brewing at maximum capacity, you’ll have a place in my life,” Mai swore as she forced herself to stop staring and tied her own hair back in a curly tail, not even bothering with trying to straighten her locks today. It was four days until New Year’s. With after-holiday shoppers, the returns people, kids and teens out to spend their Christmas cash, and the curious who were hanging around because of the news of the trial and conviction of that crazy-ass sobby human, Mai barely had any time for herself.

“Coffee machines.” He pouted cutely, walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her from behind. He leaned in to nibble at her bare nape before dotting her neck with small, soft kisses. “It takes so little to make you happy.”

“That’s because I have my priorities in line with success,” she teased back, reaching around to grab his upper arms in a comforting hold, snuggling into his body. Their minute height difference made morning snuggles like this easier. No need to bend or stretch, just lean back.

“And your coffee machines are in line with success in your life?” he asked nibbling at her ear.

“Business life.”

“And what about your personal life?”

“You keep doling out pregnancy free orgasms and erotic tongue baths and that will guarantee you a place in my bed.”

“So,” he said, “as long as I keep being your warm vibrator you won’t kick me out of bed?”

“Long-haired warm vibrator with a cute butt.” She nodded seriously. “It’s a hard job, I know --”

“You said hard,” he interrupted her with a snicker. “That’s what she said.”

“It’s a hard job,” she reiterated with a little emphasis on the word, “but you take orders better than my B.O.B.”

“Your battery-operated boyfriend not doing the job?”

“Oh, he comes out on nights you have to work late.” She laughed and he spun her around to drop a soft kiss on her lips.

“So he’s the man who’s there when I’m not. I feel so used.”

Mai snickered at his put-upon frown as she ran her hands through his silky, dark hair before cupping the back of his head and pulling him in for another kiss. “But you like that feeling,” she breathed, pulling away and trying to put her libido back where it belonged, in check while she attempted to go to work and keep her business running.

“You know I do, baby,” he purred. “But only when I’m being used by you.”

“Sweet talker.” Mai grinned as he dropped one more kiss on her lips before he pulled away to tend to his own long locks.

“Wait until you hear my talking tonight.” He peered at her over his shoulder, pulling his hair back into its usual tight, low pony tail.

“More, harder, yes?” Mai asked fighting down a flush of arousal as she watched him lift his hands over his head to pull on a T-shirt.

“More like ‘ouch,’ ‘ugh,’ and ‘my back.’ Got some imports that need rebuilt engines. I’m gonna need some TLC when I get home, baby. You gonna be up for it?”

“And by TLC you mean...?”

Themes: Bisexual, Pansexual & Gender Non-Conforming, Elves, Dragons & Magical Creatures, Magic, Multicultural & Interracial