Camwolf by J. L. Merrow

Author:J. L. Merrow
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Shapeshifters, M/M Paranormal, Source: Amazon
ISBN: 9781609284565
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Published: 2011-05-01T00:00:00+00:00

The University Arms was perhaps not the most exclusive hotel in Cambridge—the Garden House, down by the river, was generally considered to hold that honour—but it did have a certain old-world grandeur. The chandelier in the lobby could have been a stand-in for the one in The Phantom of the Opera, and some of the staff even spoke with English accents.

Nick was directed to a lift of the old-fashioned cage sort, with a plaque commemorating its installation by Waygood Otis himself in 1927. Nick wondered irrelevantly, as he slammed the iron gate shut, what had happened to names like Waygood. It was probably ripe for rediscovery by modern generations—he could easily imagine a couple of chavs looking fondly at their newborn, one of them saying “Yeah, Chantelle, he looks way good.” A portrait of the man himself stared back at Nick from the lift wall. He didn’t look like he’d have much of a sense of humour about his name or, indeed, anything else. Nick felt a childish urge to make a rude gesture at him, but instead pulled open the gate once more as the lift juddered to a halt.

The Markhams were staying in suite 321, which was the most expensive in the place. Nick straightened his shoulders as he knocked on the door, reminding himself that, as a fellow of a Cambridge college, he had no reason to feel ill-at-ease in such surroundings. Nevertheless, it took all his effort not to jump when a stern voice shouted “Come in.”

As he stepped into the room, Nick’s eyes fell first upon a blonde woman standing by the window, her face pale in the grey autumn light. Julian’s mother, she must be—but Christ, she could have passed for his twin sister. Same hair, same slender beauty…same troubled eyes. No wonder the boy had a difficult relationship with his father. There must have been nothing of the man in him.

Markham was a stiff figure at her side, somewhat round-shouldered in the manner of the unusually tall man who spends his life bending down to talk to people. His arm hovered constantly around his wife’s shoulders, but it seemed to Nick more of a protective than a possessive gesture.

“Ah. Sewell?” Markham stepped forward, hand outstretched.

Nick took it mechanically. Markham’s grip was cautiously firm, as if he worried smaller fingers might be crushed by his outsize grasp. “Mr. Markham. And Mrs. Markham. I can’t tell you how sorry I am that we’re meeting under such difficult circumstances.”

Elisabeth Markham gave a wan smile. “You must call me Lili. I know…my son has written to me about you.”

Well, that at least was a relief. Probably. Nick hadn’t been looking forward to dealing with a mother coping with the dual blows of her son’s disappearance and the revelation of his homosexual relationship with an older man. “Oh? He, ah, didn’t mention that to me,” Nick stalled, hoping she’d let slip just what Julian had said about him.

“He finds it difficult, sometimes, to be open with people. He’s just a boy.

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