Come Out Swinging
Sam Hall
Come Out Swinging
Come Out Swinging © Sam Hall 2021
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except for in the case of brief quotations for the use in critical articles or reviews.
Cover art and design by CJ Romano
The characters and events depicted in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Created with Vellum
Stalk me!
Stalk me!
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Author Note
This book is written in Australian English, which is a weird lovechild of British and American English. We tend to spell things the way the Brits do (expect a lot more u’s), yet also use American slang and swear more than both combined.
While many people have gone over this book, trying to find all the typos and other mistakes, they just keep on popping up like bloody rabbits. If you spot one, don’t report it to Amazon, drop me an email at the below address so I can fix the issue.
Trigger Warning
This book deals with the following issues:
Inferred child abuse at the end of the book, but nothing is seen or happens on or off screen.
Neglectful parents, addiction, abuse of women. A flashback shows brief scenes of a parent in the throes of alcohol addiction. The attitudes about addiction are the character’s, not mine (I believe it to be a disease). These are mostly inferred or happen off screen in Chapter 42.
A member of the family who comes out is gay and is being pressured and coerced into a role they do not want.
A family member is attacked and hurt very badly in Chapter 18, with the bad guys intending to rape them.
A note for Christian readers:
I’m an atheist, so sometimes I play fast and loose with people’s religions, but I don’t mean to do so in a way that’s offensive. Having said that, it doesn’t mean it isn’t. In the book a character talks about the impact of Christianity being great for humans, not for wolf shifters. It could be construed as blaming the religion as the reason why some of the bad treatment of nix arises.
Rest assured that’s not actually it. People use religion as an excuse all the time to do hurtful things. Most people try to treat others the best they can by whatever religious or ethical code they follow, but then there’s those others…
A note about the kink in the book:
I did consult with some readers who are members of the community and now know a lot of the kink in the scenes included do not follow good practice. So for the love of all that’s holy, if interested in experimenting, consult with reputable, authoritative sites to get a good grounding in safe, sane play, not paranormal romance books!
Contents
Stalk me!
Author Note
Trigger Warning
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Epilogue
Stalk me!
Chapter 1
I woke up to pain, so much pain, to the sound of machines that go ping, and him. My eyes opened reluctantly, seeming to anticipate the sharp stab of light that made me want to flinch back, but I couldn’t. My muscles, my body, they didn’t obey my orders. Partly because I was wrapped up tight under blankets in the hospital, and partly because of him. Lorcan gasped, his eyes flicking open as if jerked from sleep, those mossy eyes containing so many more shades of green and brown than I’d ever thought possible. He just blinked for a second from where he lay beside me, staring for what felt like an age, only one single tear falling from his eye to alert me to how he felt. Then he was up, off the bed, making sure he still had a hand on my shoulder as he pushed the nurse call button repeatedly.
“Hey,” he said, trying for calm and failing utterly. “It’s OK, you’re in the hospital. Someone—”
“Smacked me in the head with a baseball bat.”
I barely croaked out the words, my mouth bone-dry, resulting in a fit of coughing. Lorcan finally relinquished his hold, reaching for a cup of water with a straw and bringing it to my lips. His hand rubbed my shoulder blades as I struggled to sit up and take mouthfuls of the blessed water. The world felt like it swayed and rolled violently in response, and every movement brought with it a stab of pain so intense, I had to push the water away to pant through each wave.
“It’s OK, love. The doctor’s coming. You’re gonna be OK. The boys, they’re—”
His words came out hurried, rushed, desperate to fill me in on everything, while I struggled to just keep on breathing.
“Ms Spehr! You’re awake. Let’s sit you back again. Nurse, some more pillows!” The doctor’s tone was a familiar one, the war between professionalism and pack hierarchy being fought within it. “That’s it.” He bent over me, looking me over closely before pulling out one of those penlights that they always seem to use in hospital dramas. I jerked back when he flashed them in my eyes, provoking a growl from Lorcan. Then the door filled, Mason ambling in with two cups of coffee in hand, looking like he’d been dragged backwards through a bush, the bags under his eyes and the unruly mess of his hair telling me how he’d been coping. But he looked up belatedly, finally sensing all the fuss, and just stared.
I’d always known Mason Klein was my mate, and I knew it now. His gaze contained a kind of vulnerability, a completely naked, throbbing pain, it felt like it
