Page 4 of Little Howl of Moon

He called Lunamama, and he was correct. Luna would shred me to fucking pieces. Loved herso much, but I absolutely was not interested in dealing with that.

The thing was, I’d felt the disturbance the moment Layla’s powers burst the way they did. It’d created a ripple.

Just like the ripple a few months ago.

“All will be well,” I lied. “9:00 a.m., next Friday. Sound good?”

“Yep. I’ll see you sometime soon, I’m sure.”

I nodded and watched him go, wondering if I’d made the right decision.

I’d been wondering about that a lot recently.

The front door opened and Tana was right there, her eyes glowing perceptively in the dark. “I was sent to retrieve you.”

“I’m coming,” I chuckled.

“I want to meet his daughters,” Tana said.

I blinked. “What . . . what are you talking about?”

“Oliver,” she said. “The human. Your friend. I want to meet his daughters. One of them has something I need.”

I blew out a breath and shook my head, trying to hide my bewilderment. Tana shouldn’t have known anything about any of this, and yet she just knew. “Tana, no. Now, let’s go inside.”

She groaned, shut the door on me—rudely, I might add—and stormed away, loud enough that I could hear her stomping. Then, there was the unmistakable scent of burning in the air.

Great.

At times I was entirely convinced an ancient creature had reincarnated into our youngest. She was far tooall-knowingfor a twelve year old.

Then again, all the parenting guides I’d read said that was typical.

Maybe I needed to pull those books back out.

With a snap of my fingers, I materialized in the kitchen. Trixie handed me a mug as if she’d expected me to appear right there.

“All right, everyone,” I sighed.

All eyes turned to me. I felt the weight of their trust and love. They were my family and I would doanythingfor them.

I cleared my throat. “Let’s talk about Death.”

1 /HOWL ARE YOU?

Oliver

I was always thirty minutes early.

It was a bad habit, honestly. But after forty-eight years, it wasn’t one I’d ever shake. I’d learned it from my grandfather when he used to take me to football practice and we’d sit in the parking lot together in comfortable silence or listen to the radio until it was time to get out of the car.

Now, here I was, half an hour early for my first date with a monster.

Not only was it my first date with a monster, it was myfirstfirst date in over a decade.

I swallowed hard as I stared at the cafe doors across the quaint little street. A neon sign glowed in the window. They’d updated their logo since the last time I stopped by for a cup of coffee.Creature Cafeglowed bright, even in the rays of the morning sun. The red brick building had front windows overlooking bright pastel tables, where a few patrons sat outside drinking lattes and chatting.

Originally, I was supposed to go to the cafe location in the city, but I actually lived closer to this spot. My house was abouthalf an hour away, tucked between suburbs and surrounded by trees. Luckily, the Barista had agreed to arrange our date here instead. I didn’t really have a habit of going in the city unless it was to shop for kitchen ingredients at one of the fresh markets downtown.