BOOK TOUR: Wards and Warlocks by A.K. Nevermore (Excerpt & Giveaway)

 

Wards and Warlocks

Star-Crossed Chronicles Book 2

by AK Nevermore

Genre: Spicy M/M Small-Town Paranormal Romance

 

Karma can kiss it.

When Felix Simms took over the position of mayor in the
small town of Havers-by-the-Sea, he had no idea he’d inherit so many problems.
Between the town of Fayet suing them for magical appropriation, a looming
budget crisis, and the butt cheek bandit’s reign of terror, the last thing
Felix needs is to be saddled with his delinquent sister’s urchins over the
holidays. And he certainly doesn’t have time to deal with Liam Montgomery
trying to make amends for suggesting the disastrous “polycule proposal” that broke
Felix’s heart senior year.

But Liam is desperate to prove he and Felix are meant to be
together. Unfortunately, Liam’s pending divorce has taken a nasty turn, and
juggling that and the Havers’s rumor mill is seriously affecting his mental
health.

Meanwhile, a new threat is rising, putting all of Havers in
danger. To face it, Felix and Liam have to put their differences aside. Because
if they can’t, it’s not just the town that’s in jeopardy, it’s everyone they
love, and Jena and Chase will be the first to fall.

Magic happens and
sparks fly in the small town of Havers-By-the-Sea when a sassy warlock with
oodles of style crosses paths with an angsty shifter. WARDS AND WARLOCKS, a
spicy standalone slow burn M/M paranormal romance novel in the Star-Crossed
Chronicles series by AK Nevermore.

 

✦ Grumpy Warlock MMC Who’s
Totally Over It
✦ Mechanic Shifter MMC With Baggage
✦ Witchy Bestie With Ride-or-💀
Vibes
✦ Enemies-to-Lovers
✦ LGBTQ+ Rep (M/M Romance)
✦ Second Chance Romance
✦ Slow Burn
✦ Small Town
✦ Chosen Family
✦ Messy Ex Drama
✦ Mental Health Rep
✦ Dark Secret
✦ Identity Crisis
✦ Emotional Scars

💋
𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒆
𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥
= 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Explicit Scenes ~ Very Hot

***

Liam ignored the mom squad that’d descended upon him, plastering a grin on his face and nodding whenever there was a pause in the conversation. Shit, had he just agreed to dinner? It was hard to focus over his inner wolf’s keening, but he probably had given the way the rest of them were glaring at Miranda Clarke. Whatever. Wasn’t happening. He glanced past them, his heart in his throat as Felix walked away.

Liam bit back a curse. He’d fucked up again. He’d known Felix was still pissed at him, but that’d been so long ago… Liam chewed his lip. He just—God, Felix was so damned adorable in that massive parka with his checkered loafers and wild curls. Liam knew he should’ve kept his distance, but he just wanted to drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness. To explain. He’d been such a fucking asshole. So stupid.

He puffed out his cheeks, kicking himself for not listening to Kelsey. His twin sister was right, he needed to give Felix space, but all her advice went out the window the second Liam had seen the warlock. Damn it, he needed to play it cool. Felix would run screaming if he had any idea of what shit show was playing between Liam’s ears. He smiled at Miranda, no fucking clue what she was talking about. Some Yule party? Didn’t matter. He was pretty sure all of them would be running if they knew how medicated he needed to be just to stand there.

Christ, maybe he should spill his guts.

No. He needed to keep his shit together, especially with this damned divorce. Felix would come around. Liam had to believe that, but he couldn’t rush it, no matter how badly his wolf wanted him to. He had to think, take his time, and be consistent. Show up and prove he could be there without strings attached.

No squirreling, no obsessing, and stay medicated.

Jesus, that sounded like the same laundry list the marriage counselor had thrown at him before it all went to—

“What are you doing here?”

Shit.

Liam closed his eyes for a breath before he turned, the mom squad scattering. Jenny stood just behind him, glaring. His soon-to-be-ex-wife looked haggard, far too thin and pale, with dark circles rimming her eyes. His weren’t much better, but he’d found a brand of under-eye patches and some concealer that worked miracles. Unfortunately, he didn’t think she’d appreciate the recommendation.

He forced himself to smile at her. Amicable. Be amicable. “Hey, Jenny, I just—”

“We talked about this, Liam,” she hissed, glancing askance at the surrounding crowd. “You have the paperwork. There’s no reason for you to be here.”

He nodded, rocking back on his heels. “Right. Yeah. I know.”

She shook her head hard enough to send her platinum locks swaying beneath her knitted cap and pulled her scarf tighter around her throat. “Then why did you come? Pete wants to take out a restraining order on you, and shit like this makes me think it might be a good idea. If it’s about the money—”

It wasn’t, but. “That doesn’t exactly help the situation,” Liam muttered, one eye on the listening crowd, slower than usual to hurry away, despite the cold.

A pair of slim tow-headed kids came out of the school and stopped when they saw him. That had to be the twins. Derek and Cassi. They’d still been in diapers when he’d left, and Jenny’d been pregnant with Mike, the youngest. God, they looked just like her, aside from their eyes. Those were a luminescent green, instead of a shifter’s brown. Liam searched their features for any resemblance to him. It was stupid. He knew there wouldn’t be, though he couldn’t say he saw anything of Pete in them, either. Whatever, it didn’t matter who their father was. It wasn’t Liam.

You are not the father…

A fist clenched around his heart. How it was worse seeing it in black and white than it had been hearing her spit it at him still didn’t make any sense, but there it was.

“I told you, the money’s gone,” she said, hurrying over and herding them toward a crappy minivan. “All of it.”

Money. It’d never been about the fucking money. Not for him at least. What he’d sent home he could’ve swallowed losing, but the loans she and Pete had taken out in Liam’s name, how in the fuck was he ever going to pay them back?

And if he pressed charges against her, what was going to happen to those kids?

Goddamn it. Liam’s jaw tensed as the minivan door hitched as it slid to the side, and the twins climbed in. He got a brief glimpse of another little blond boy in a booster seat. She slammed the door shut twice before it latched, then glared at Liam one last time, rounding to the driver’s side and joining them. He stood there, watching them drive away, not one of them looking back.

Neither had Felix.

Merry fucking Christmas. Liam blew out a breath and slowly walked down the street toward Cups. Yep. He’d fucked up all right. He grimaced, cursing himself. With the benefit of hindsight, he was able to pinpoint the exact moment he’d pissed everything away. What the fuck had he been thinking? God, if he had a time machine, he’d go back and kick his own ass for that bullshit he’d spewed at prom. Since then, nothing had gone the way it was supposed to.

And he had no one to blame but himself.

Damn it. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. He’d checked all the boxes. Had gotten the wife, kids—a house with a picket fence and the stupid degree to pay for it—and everything had still fallen to shit.

He’d tried. He’d really fucking tried to keep Jenny happy, but…“What did you expect, Liam? Even when you’re here, you’re not. I need someone who isn’t just going through the motions, someone who’s going to treasure me, and I can’t keep pretending this is working.”

He couldn’t either, and not divorcing her then and there had been fucking stupid, but that goddamned alpha part of him…he wasn’t, and needed to stop trying to be one. Every time he let his wolf rear up, things just got worse.

Liam sighed and pulled the door to Cups open, the bell above tinging. Garlands decorated the walls and low holiday jazz played. The little tables that dotted the space were packed with people chatting over coffee and having late lunches. Greta Hornsby, the proprietress, glanced up at him as she rang a customer out, the line at the counter two people deep. He smiled at her and stepped to the back, hoping a double mocha espresso would put a better spin on the day.

“Hey, Liam,” Becky Swann said, turning to him and twirling a bleach blonde lock around her finger. “Long time, no see.”

“Yeah.” He forced another smile and looked away, hoping she would get the hint.

“I heard your divorce isn’t going so hot. You know, if you ever need someone to talk to,” she said, as she smoothed her hand down his chest and fiddled with his scarf, “I’m more than happy to listen.”

Go away. His smile widened, bordering on rictus. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

She batted his arm coyly. “Do. I’ll certainly be thinking of you…I can’t believe Jenny was fucking Pete Randall for all those years behind your back. It’s no wonder you left. You deserve better.”

Did he? Because he was pretty sure that was on him, too. Liam took a deep breath, not in the mood to discuss their open marriage, or the reasons for it. Like everything else, it’d sounded like a good idea at the time, but—

“Is it true all of those kids are really his?” she pressed, way too close to him.

His hackles rose, and he swallowed a surge of bile-tainted anger, stepping around her to the counter. “Double mocha espresso, to go.” Fuck, coming in here had been a bad idea.

Greta frowned as she rang it up with something akin to pity on her face.

“Berry frap,” Becky chimed in, oblivious as she added it to his tab. The rest of the shop’s customers had gone silent, chewing very quietly as they waited for his answer.

They weren’t getting one.

“Order up!” Kelsey called through the little window. His sister’s gaze landed on him and her brows furrowed. She tilted her head toward the side entrance, and he nodded, handing Greta his card. She ran it, and he took it along with his cup, though he couldn’t say coffee sounded very appetizing anymore.

“Well, like I said, if you ever want to talk…” Becky twirled her hair again.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll call you,” he said, heading for the exit.

“Wait, I didn’t give you my—”

The door closed behind him, cutting her off, and Liam scooted around the side of the building before she caught up with him. Goddamn it. The last thing he needed was to hook up with Becky Swann, Miranda Clarke, or any of his other past conquests looking to relive high school.

Christ, but it had seemed so much easier then. He’d just been having fun, male, female, it didn’t matter with who—until Felix, and then—then it got complicated.

And nothing Liam had done since had improved the situation.

He leaned against Cups’ pink brick wall and knocked his head against it. Stupid, stupid, stupid—

“You know that’s not actually gonna knock any sense into you, right?” Kelsey asked, slipping outside. “Here. I screwed up an order,” she said, tossing him a bag stamped with holly sprigs and shivering as she pulled her sweater closer to her throat.

“Thanks,” he muttered.

“You see Jenny?” his sister asked.

“Yeah, but I didn’t…she didn’t give me a chance to ask about Sarah.” The other kids might not be his, but their oldest’s paternity test had come back inconclusive. They were running it again, but with the holidays, it could be another three weeks before they knew anything for sure. He’d hoped to spend some time with her in the interim, but unfortunately, Sarah was old enough to remember him. More specifically, him leaving.

Kelsey grunted. “She can’t keep you from your kid, Liam.”

“She can if Sarah doesn’t want to see me.” And given the shit show that’d ensued the last time he’d tried, she didn’t. Christ, could he blame her? Pete had gone mental.

His sister chewed her nail. “You’re still going to therapy and taking your meds, right?”

“Yeah.” For all the good it was doing. If Sarah’s paternity test came back as a match, his stint in the psych ward after Samhain wasn’t going to help his case for joint custody, that was for sure. Regardless, he couldn’t afford to fuck up again, and a restraining order would set fire to any chances he had of seeing her, period.

Especially if they found out what’d happened in Los Huego. He’d done his best to bury it, but there’d been too many people there to guarantee his past wouldn’t come knocking at some point.

Kelsey blew out her cheeks, her breath clouding as soon as it left her lips. “Look, I gotta get back inside, but why don’t you come with me to Jena’s tomorrow for dinner? They’re having an early Yule party, and she and Chase are always asking about you. They’d love to see you, and Aggie’s making lasagna again. The last time they sent me home with a week’s worth of leftovers. I know there’ll be enough for one more at the table.”

He looked up, blinking back tears. “I dunno…”

“Liam.” His sister put a hand on his arm. “You shouldn’t be alone so much, and people care about you. You need to let them and get out of your head once in a while. This front you put up…it’s not healthy. You’re allowed to feel shit.”

Like shit, yeah. He did plenty of that. He ducked his face from her and swept a hand over his eyes. “Sure, okay. What time tomorrow?”

“Six.” She raised her brow like she didn’t believe him.

Be consistent. Show up and prove you can be there for them.

He blew out a breath. That went for the rest of his family, too.

“Okay. I’ll be there.”

 

What readers are
saying:

If you want a romance with family drama and magic then
this is the book to read. – Sandra, Goodreads

Weres and Warlocks was everything I hoped it would be. My
sweet baby Felix finally got his happily ever after after all, not that there
wasn’t some bumps along the way.
Such a great little holiday read. It has a little bit of everything in it. Some
spice, some yearning, a little bit of magic, found family, and I love a good
animal sidekick. I stayed up until 2am this morning to finish it because I
couldn’t go another day without knowing how it ends.

-In a world of ink, Goodreads

I highly recommend reading this, especially if you like
magic/paranormal books – Kerry Batchelor

 

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