Solstice is for lovers.
Winnie:
Ever since the accident that left my raven form flightless, it’s like everyone sees what I can’t do and the rest of me stopped mattering. My haven, the one place I’ve regained my confidence, is the pool. So when I have babysitting duty for a noisy flock of my youngest relatives during their winter holidays, I take the entire boisterous crew of shifter kids to open swim.
Naturally, it goes disastrously wrong. But no one dies or even gets seriously injured, so I can’t regret the choice too much. Especially since when the dust settles, I get Gillian’s number. Nominally, so I can check up on her niece after the misunderstanding between the kids under our care.
Except, the more we talk, the more I’m falling for the stunning octopus shifter. Ever since trusting the wrong person ended with my wing snapped, the thought of letting anyone else in has terrified me. But letting Gillian past my guard doesn’t feel like a freefall; the way she looks at me and listens to me makes me feel as strong as I do in the pool. She makes me want to believe in solstice miracles, like when I was a kid, keeping vigil and staring up into the longest night of the year wishing on stars.
Gillian:
Winter solstice is coming, and for my fellow octopus shifters, that’s a time for gathering our loved ones close to share warmth. It’s also a time for renewal. And the anniversary of my mom abandoning me for being queer. It’s always felt like an endurance trial, like it is for octopuses in nature, the static ones who can’t shift into a human form.
This year, it’s also the date I’ve set to tell my sister that I appreciate her taking me in and helping me get through university, but I’m moving out. I need to prove to myself I can stand on my own two feet, or failing that, at least on all eight of my octopus’s arms. Except that an incident with my niece during open swim makes me feel anything but capable, and now Trudy isn’t talking to me.
Enter Winnie. I’ve always been a sucker for authoritative women, so when Winnie talks me down from the scariest few moments of my life, I’m already halfway smitten. I have no problem giving her my number so she can check up on me and my niece. And when she follows through on that kindness, I’m tempted to share, well, everything. And she listens like she wants me to hear it all.
Winnie makes keeping each other awake through the longest night sound more like a promise and less like something to be survived. Solstice is coming, and this year, that might be worth celebrating.
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Winnie:
Ever since the accident that left my raven form flightless, it’s like everyone sees what I can’t do and the rest of me stopped mattering. My haven, the one place I’ve regained my confidence, is the pool. So when I have babysitting duty for a noisy flock of my youngest relatives during their winter holidays, I take the entire boisterous crew of shifter kids to open swim.
Naturally, it goes disastrously wrong. But no one dies or even gets seriously injured, so I can’t regret the choice too much. Especially since when the dust settles, I get Gillian’s number. Nominally, so I can check up on her niece after the misunderstanding between the kids under our care.
Except, the more we talk, the more I’m falling for the stunning octopus shifter. Ever since trusting the wrong person ended with my wing snapped, the thought of letting anyone else in has terrified me. But letting Gillian past my guard doesn’t feel like a freefall; the way she looks at me and listens to me makes me feel as strong as I do in the pool. She makes me want to believe in solstice miracles, like when I was a kid, keeping vigil and staring up into the longest night of the year wishing on stars.
Gillian:
Winter solstice is coming, and for my fellow octopus shifters, that’s a time for gathering our loved ones close to share warmth. It’s also a time for renewal. And the anniversary of my mom abandoning me for being queer. It’s always felt like an endurance trial, like it is for octopuses in nature, the static ones who can’t shift into a human form.
This year, it’s also the date I’ve set to tell my sister that I appreciate her taking me in and helping me get through university, but I’m moving out. I need to prove to myself I can stand on my own two feet, or failing that, at least on all eight of my octopus’s arms. Except that an incident with my niece during open swim makes me feel anything but capable, and now Trudy isn’t talking to me.
Enter Winnie. I’ve always been a sucker for authoritative women, so when Winnie talks me down from the scariest few moments of my life, I’m already halfway smitten. I have no problem giving her my number so she can check up on me and my niece. And when she follows through on that kindness, I’m tempted to share, well, everything. And she listens like she wants me to hear it all.
Winnie makes keeping each other awake through the longest night sound more like a promise and less like something to be survived. Solstice is coming, and this year, that might be worth celebrating.
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Used availability for Alex Silver's Suckers for Solstice