FIRST LINES FRIDAY 56: Familiar Business

“Bloody hell, where is Isaac?” Cicero asked. “I’m freezing my arse off out here.”

The clock tower atop the Coven showed half past eleven, which made Isaac half an hour late already. With just a week to go until Christmas, winter had set in with a vengeance: the wind whipped through the hair Cicero had so carefully fixed and turned the tip of his nose to ice. If it started snowing, he was giving up on Isaac and going straight back to the barracks. He was not getting wet for a man who couldn’t be bothered to show up on time.

Even if they had been best friends, once.

Tom arched a brow. “I’m so sorry,” he said dryly. “What should I be doing?”

“I don’t know.” Cicero shrugged awkwardly. “Demanding I bond with you immediately.”

“You’re confusing me with Noah.”

“Then shouting dramatically and waving your hands.”

“Now you’re confusing me with yourself.”

Cicero burst out laughing. “You arse!”

Will a dark history doom their future together?

New York copper Tom Halloran is a man with a past. If anyone finds out he once ran with the notorious O’Connell tunnel gang, he’ll spend the rest of his life doing hard time behind bars. But Tom’s secret is threatened when a horrible murder on his beat seems to have been caused by the same ancient magic that killed his gang.

Cat shifter Cicero is determined to investigate the disappearance of one friend and the death of another, even though no one else believes the cases are connected. When the trail of his investigation crosses Tom’s, the very bohemian Cicero instinctively recognizes the uncultured Irish patrolman as his witch. Though they’re completely unsuited to one another, Cicero has no choice but to work alongside Tom…all the while fighting against the passion growing within.

Tom knows that taking Cicero as his familiar would only lead to discovery and disaster. Yet as the heat between them builds, Tom’s need for the other man threatens to overcome every rational argument against becoming involved.

But when their investigation uncovers a conspiracy that threatens all of New York, Tom must make the hardest decision of his life: to live a lie and gain his heart’s desire, or to confess the truth and sacrifice it all.