Paws & Order (Blackthorn Bay #1)
Prologue
If you ask ten people where Blackthorn Bay is, you'll get twelve different answers.
The humans will tell you it's a small coastal town tucked somewhere along the Pacific Northwest, famous for its foggy mornings, excellent bakeries, and annual Fall Harvest Festival.
The monsters will tell you it's one of the few places in the world where they can live openly, without glamour spells or disguises.
The witches will insist the town sits directly on top of three intersecting ley lines.
The vampires claim that's nonsense.
The ghosts refuse to comment.
Whatever the truth may be, Blackthorn Bay has always attracted the unusual.
Monsters walk the streets alongside humans. Vampires own bookstores. Demons run city hall. Witches operate bakeries. Ghosts occasionally make coffee.
Most residents have learned not to ask too many questions.
Life in Blackthorn Bay follows its own peculiar rhythm.
The coffee is strong.
The gossip travels faster than magic.
And everyone knows everyone else's business before breakfast.
It is, by all accounts, a wonderful place to live.
Unless you're looking for privacy.
Then you're doomed.
Because Blackthorn Bay has a habit of meddling.
Sometimes that meddling comes in the form of a nosy neighbor.
Sometimes it's an overenthusiastic witch.
Sometimes it's an entire town determined to help you find happiness whether you asked for it or not.
And occasionally...
It's fate.
The people who arrive in Blackthorn Bay often believe they're searching for something.
A fresh start.
A second chance.
A place to belong.
What they usually discover is that the town was searching for them first.
Welcome to Blackthorn Bay.
Watch out for the ghosts.
They're romantics.