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As if crushin’ on a shifter wasn’t bad enough, I had to go and date one.
A mage and a shifter walk into a bar… No, that’s the whole joke.
Magi and shifters don’t mix, and yet I find myself in a relationship with Cosmo, a lion shifter. And on top of that, Cosmo, and all his pride members, consider my brothers and me to be a part of their pride. Three magi in a shifter pride. Who would’ve ever thought?
Navigating our connection while trying to figure out what’s going on in the world isn’t easy. Trusting that Cosmo means forever when he says it? Even harder. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned since meeting the Ono-Nais, it’s that taking a risk with my heart will be worth it to be a part of their lives.
The Shackles That Hold Us is a 113K novel and the second book in the MM urban fantasy series, The Magi Accounts. It’s recommended to read the series in order because it has an ongoing storyline.
*Intended for adults only. Please read the trigger warnings at the beginning of this novel.
Michele is giving away a $20 Amazon Gift Card with this tour:
The Shackles That Hold Us
Exclusive Excerpt
Dare finished telling us a silly story about when Charlie was a kid that had us all laughing, and when I calmed, I said, “Now you have to tell us something embarrassing about Cos.”
Dare shot Cos a smirk, and Cos said, “Uh, no. No, you don’t have to do that.”
I turned a grin to my boyfriend. “What are you afraid they’re going to tell us, huh?”
His eyes were wide as he shook his head, and it only made me laugh harder.
Zara said, “Oh, I have a good one.”
“No,” Cos whined, making everyone laugh.
Zara ignored him. “When Cos was about fourteen-ish, I think, he had a huge crush on the mailman.”
Cos groaned loudly and buried his face in his hands, muttering, “No. Anything but that one. How do you even remember that, Z? You were like seven.”
She shrugged. “I laughed so hard the memory was burned into my mind forever.”
I chuckled again, and Cosmo’s sister ignored him entirely, continuing as if he hadn’t interrupted her. “Every afternoon, Cos would set up some kind of obstacle course in the front yard that he’d go through as soon as the mailman came to our street. I guess he was trying to impress the guy or something, but Luce and I thought it was really funny because Cos would always turn bright red and stumble over his words if he actually got up the courage to speak to the guy.” She let out a laugh, and she and Charlie shared an amused grin.
Luce said, “So we used to watch him from the front window every day so we could tease him at dinner.”
Dare said, “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”
Luce added, “How could you forget that little mating dance he used to do?”
“Why haven’t you ever done a mating dance for me?” I asked, and everyone cracked up.
Cosmo groaned. “Oh my god, no. It wasn’t a mating dance. And there will never, ever, ever be one. For fuck’s sake.” He groaned again, making me chuckle.
“Guess he liked the mailman more than you,” Zara said, and Cos flipped her off.
I couldn’t stop my ridiculously amused grin if I’d wanted to.
Charlie groaned. “I wish I could remember this, but I was too little.” He smirked. “The story is always hilarious, though.”
“Shut up, asses,” Cos murmured from behind his hands.
I was already laughing pretty hard, and I knew they hadn’t even gotten to the funny part yet.
Zara laughed. “So this one time, Cos had done a really complicated course in the front yard, and he took so long to set it up that he didn’t have time to practice ahead of time. Luce and I sat by the window and watched, like usual, and when the mailman finally made it to our sidewalk—” She trailed off, giggling like crazy. Her laughter making me laugh.
Luce looked amused, and since Zara could hardly breathe, she picked up the story, saying, “So the dude turns down our sidewalk, and Cos starts his little course, running around the yard, jumping over stuff, and when he gets to the front porch, he climbs up on the outside of the railing and picks up this rope.” Now she started laughing, too, but she managed to keep talking through it. “He’d tied the rope to a branch on the tree in the front yard, and I guess he thought he was going to swing across the yard like Tarzan or something, only when he jumped off the porch, the rope just came down immediately—” She cut off with another laugh.
Zara kept the story going. “It looked like he just purposefully faceplanted on the ground. Like he was trying to dive into a pool.”
“It did!” Luce said, cracking up.
Their amusement made me laugh harder, and Cosmo’s groaning was making it worse.
Zara said, her voice higher than usual, “But that wasn’t the worst part.”
Luce picked up. “The mailman had seen the whole thing, and he rushes over to Cos—”
“And has to peel him out of the mud.”
“The entire front half of him, including his face, was just absolutely covered in mud.”
“And the mailman… he was trying to make sure Cos wasn’t hurt, and when he managed to get some of the mud off his face, he thought Cos was bruised, but he wasn’t. He was just really red from embarrassment.”
Luce laughed harder. “I’ve never seen him so red in my life.”
Jude laughed and said, “Please tell me you have pictures.”
Cos said, “No, you can’t—”
“Of course we have pictures! What kind of sister do you think I am?” Luce asked, pulling up her HID.
“Oh my goddess, you really have some?” I asked, laughing hard.
She nodded. “I wish I would’ve turned my recorder on, but I only thought to take some pictures when the mailman was helping him up.”
Dare said with a huge grin, “Cos made a point to be in his bedroom whenever the mailman came after that. He was too embarrassed to see his crush again.”
“Oh my god, make it stop,” Cos said with a groan.
I laughed, and when Luce moved closer to me to show me the pictures, Cosmo’s hand shot out, covering my eyes. “No. You can’t look at that. You’ll never see me the same.”
Chuckling, I pushed his hand away and looked at Luce’s HID. It was hard to see him under all that mud, but I’d recognize those golden eyes anywhere. He was a lanky kid, but somehow still had some muscles—not surprising considering his alphaness—and what I could see of his face was definitely really red.
“You’re so cute,” I said, trying not to laugh too hard.
“Shut up,” Cos murmured.
That made me crack up.
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Michele is married to an awesome guy that puts up with her and all the burnt dinners she makes—hey, sometimes characters are a bit distracting, and who doesn’t plot when they’re supposed to be cooking? They live together in Baltimore, Maryland with two little monsters, three-legged and four-legged fiends, and a little old man (aka their two sons, their two cats, and their senior dog). She hopes to rescue another cat soon, and if her hubby wouldn’t kill her, she’d get more than one… and maybe a few more dogs as well.
She loves creating worlds filled with lots of love, chosen family, and of course, magic, but she also likes making the characters fight for that happy ending. She hopes to one day write all the stories in her head—even if there are too many to count!
Author Website: https://michelenotaro.com/
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