Hummus on Rye by Karenna Colcroft

Literary Nymphs Interview

Title: Hummus on Rye

(Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat #4)

Author: Karenna Colcroft

Publisher: MLR Press

Genre: M/M paranormal (shifters)

Release Date: July 27, 2012

What inspired the story?

Hummus on Rye is the next installment in my Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat series, so the main inspiration was the need to continue Kyle Slidell and Tobias Rogan’s story. This one has some even darker themes than the previous books; Tobias is struggling now with PTSD-related issues stemming from the sexual assault during which he was changed into a werewolf at age fifteen. Even though that happened over three decades ago, Tobias had suppressed the memories and aftereffects so he could appear the strong, dominant Alpha he needed to be. Now that he has Kyle to lean on, he’s able to let down his guard a bit more. Unfortunately, that means that some of the things he’s suppressed are surfacing more. I’ve had my own struggles with PTSD, stemming from similar situations, and so some of my personal struggles fuel what Tobias deals with in the book.

I’m still not quite sure how I ended up with a psychic six-year-old boy living in the midst of the Boston North Pack, but since he showed up in Hummus on Rye, I have plans for him and his father. I’m keeping those a secret until future books, though.

EXCERPT:

“Where’s Tobias?” I asked.

“What’s going on?” Kirk pulled me away from the group he was standing with and back around the corner of the house. He spoke in a low voice, hopefully low enough to keep the others from hearing. “Tobias is in the house talking to Justin.”

Kirk wasn’t my first choice to tell this to. Tobias should hear it before he did. But Kirk was Tobias’s Beta, which meant it was one of his responsibilities to back up our Alpha. At least until he decided he wanted to be Alpha himself.

I took a deep breath. Kirk wouldn’t take this well. I spoke even more quietly than he had. “Mikey Damone’s been kidnapped. Well, his father says he’s missing. I don’t know if anyone’s determined for sure that it’s a kidnapping. But a so-called witness said they saw a little boy matching Mikey’s description with a white wolf.”

“Tobias is the only truly white wolf in Boston,” Kirk said. “Vera in City Pack is mostly white, but she has some light grey mixed in. And your fur isn’t really white.”

“Right,” I said, though I’d never noticed the grey in Vera’s fur. “That’s kind of my point. Mikey had nightmares about wolves. Two of the wolves he told me about from his dream looked like Roderic and Polly. The third sounded like Saul the way he looked when he attacked me in the park the other night.”

He didn’t argue with me about whether I’d actually seen Saul either. I was glad people were starting to listen to me, or at least humor me. “They took Mikey, you think.” It wasn’t a question. “And they’re trying to frame Tobias. Why would they do that?”

“Polly and Roderic were pissed about having a human child living in ‘our’ buildings,” I said. “Well, mostly Polly. I think Roderic was just backing her up. Maybe they’re trying to prove a point. Why would they frame Tobias? I don’t know. But I can imagine why Saul would.” I paused. “Fuck! He even warned us he was here, if we’d been paying attention.”

Kirk took a few seconds to process. “The wolf that contacted Justin. Irving. He said he was a member of Saul Hughes’s pack, and Devin said they didn’t have a wolf by that name.”

“Because it was Saul,” I said. “He’s been stalking Candace for months, and he has one hell of a grudge against Tobias, dating back before either of them were alphas. And in September, he had Tobias and Chal shot because he wanted control of both packs. Now Candace is here, and he’s taking his chance.”

Grimly, Kirk nodded. “We need to find Tobias.”

We hurried into the house through the back door, ignoring questions from the rest of our pack and a couple of City Pack members. It would be up to Tobias and Justin if they wanted to fill everyone in on what was going on. If the police decided to believe the wolf story, both our packs would be in jeopardy, and all the members would need to know about it.

Right then, I cared more about Mikey’s safety than the packs, which might have been slightly warped priorities. I didn’t care.

Justin and Tobias were upstairs in the bedroom Justin had chosen to use for the night. Kirk and I barged in without bothering to knock, and both alphas glared at us. “This better be important,” Tobias said.

“It is.” I walked right over to him. I didn’t care if he was pissed off. “I just got off the phone with Trey. Mikey’s missing.”

“We already knew that,” he snapped. “It can’t have anything to do with Polly and Roderic.”

“You don’t want to believe it does,” I said gently. “I understand that. You’re a good alpha, Tobias. Just because some of your pack members screw up doesn’t mean you’ve done something wrong. I believe it is them. I don’t think they did it on their own, though. A police officer came to Trey’s door while I was talking to him. She said a witness reported seeing a boy fitting Mikey’s description with a white wolf.”

For a moment, Tobias just stood there. Then he exploded. Before any of us could stop him, he tore pictures off the wall, smashed the window, even tried to lift the bed. The three of us just stood there, stunned, until finally Kirk and Justin moved and grabbed Tobias’s arms. He struggled against them and I thought he was going to break free.

Just as suddenly as he’d gone off, he relaxed. Justin and Kirk dragged him over to the bed and he sat on the edge of it, sobbing. I hadn’t even realized he’d begun to cry.

I knelt in front of him. “We know it wasn’t you. You were here with us.”

“I would never do anything to hurt a child.” He sounded like a child himself.

Where can we find your website?

My website is www.karennacolcroft.com. People can also find out more about me and my books, and chat about books and other things in general, on my Facebook group, http://www.facebook.com/groups/261093317316839/.

I’ll be at the GayRomLit convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico in October, so I hope to meet some readers there!