Chapter 1
Eli looked out over the shelves in his shop in Last Hope and sighed.May was always a hard month.Every year, he believed he'd have things to sell, fooled himself into thinking the harvests would have started, and there would be vegetables in abundance, but there weren't.Some produce should've come in, but the spring had been colder than normal.
Luckily, he had eggs.The chickens were laying.He wouldn't have survived if they hadn't been, but by God, he was sick of eggs.He ate them every day in every way he could think of.
The door opened, and Elijah Lucas, the hotel owner, stepped inside.Eli didn't know what they'd do with a hotel in Last Hope, but Elijah had put a lot of effort into making the old one livable again.Humans weren't allowed off the paved roads, and while there was one paved road going through Last Hope, no one was stupid enough to travel it unless they had to.
Wild country surrounded the once mid-sized city, and the others ruled there.Humans wandering off never came back.
The others had taken over before Eli was born.He'd never lived any other reality than of humans being prey and the others dictating the rules, but he'd heard the elderly talk about the before times.Times when humans had ruled--or had fooled themselves into believing they did.Times when there hadn't been food scarcity and when culture had thrived and science had driven development.
Then humans had grown greedy, had wanted more and more and more.Megalomania had taken hold of the world leaders, and the others had had enough.
Between one day and the next, they'd wiped out all larger cities, and within a week, humans, the few who were still alive, were only allowed a few scattered settlements.
Eli had no way of knowing what was true and not.He'd grown up believing everything he'd been told, but for the last ten months, he'd been doing business with Ciar and Draven Moonlight.A panther and an eagle-owl shifter.And if it hadn't been for them, Eli would be much worse off than he was.
"Do you have anything..."Elijah's voice trailed off.
"Anything?"
He shrugged."Edible."
Elijah was on the small side.Thin--everyone was--but Eli believed he would've been slim even if he'd had an unlimited supply of food.It was the way he was built.The opposite of Eli who was tall and broad-shouldered and would've weighed a lot more if he'd had enough food.
His stomach growled.It would get better soon.The farmers in Fisherman's Lake would soon have produce to sell him.
"What are you looking for?"Eli stroked his beard.It needed a trim, but it was a hassle, so he did it as seldom as possible.Sometimes he considered shaving it all off like Elijah did, but...
"I have a booking at the hotel, but I have nothing to feed them."
A booking?As in someone coming to stay in Last Hope?Voluntarily?"What are they doing here?"
"I don't know.A middle-aged man named Jack Ambrose.He didn't tell me what brought him here."Elijah gave him a hollow-eyed look, and something squeezed in Eli's chest.He had never been close to Elijah.They'd lived all their lives in Last Hope, so they'd always known of each other, but Eli had made sure to keep his distance.It wasn't safe, and he feared if he spent time with him, someone would notice the way his eyes tended to linger on Elijah's plush lips and sparkling eyes.Except his eyes weren't sparkling now, and the lips were chapped and pressed thin.
"Are you okay, Elijah?"Eli took a step closer, then glanced through the shop window out to the street and stilled.
"Yes, of course."He plastered on a smile, but Eli didn't reciprocate.Elijah sighed."It's a bit...I don't have a lot of food.Or any, to be honest, but with the booking, I can..."He looked around the tiny shop.
"What do you need?"
"I need to serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and preferably eat myself."
"I'll give you a good deal on eggs."It was what he had, and he'd replace the shop eggs with some of his own if he needed to.It was a good month to have chickens.
Elijah nodded and went to grab some eggs.
"I'm running low on everything other than eggs and meat, sorry."
"At least you have something."Some of Elijah's spark was back.
"When do you need the food?"Eli eyed the meat display.He believed Ciar and Draven would deliver something soon.
"He'll be arriving this afternoon, so I need to serve dinner today, then breakfast and lunch tomorrow."
"And for how long is he staying?"
"He's only booked one night so far, but he said he might prolong the stay if things went his way."
