Celebrations in the Season of Long Nights

By Mere Rain

Having escaped his abusive family by winning a scholarship to college, Shahin promised himself he would never go back. So when his plans for winter break fall through and he's left homeless for a month, he decides he'd rather camp in the park than go home. But he doesn't realize it's the solstice, the longest night of the year, the start of the season when the supernatural is at its strongest.


Yima is a demon-hunter, a duty passed down through his family. He doesn't resent it, but it does get lonely, especially since his work is at its most difficult and dangerous when everyone else is celebrating with family. After he rescues Shahin from an demon attack and finds that he has nowhere safe to stay, he takes him back to his flat. He just arrived in town and hasn't even gotten the electricity turned on, leaving the two men with little to do but talk.


It isn't a surprise when they end up in bed, though what at first feels like a temporary comfort grows over days spent together into a deeper bond. Nomadic Yima has to find a way to stay without demons coming after his lover, and Shahin has to decide whether he can risk his heart loving a man who constantly puts his life in danger.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mischief Corner Books
• Release date: Dec 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386839958

Book preview

Celebrations in the Season of Long Nights

Celebrations in the Season of Long Nights

Escape from the Holidays

Mere Rain

Edited by

Jaymi E

Mischief Corner Books, LLC

Copyright

This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this book ONLY. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from the authors. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

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Cover Artist: Catherine Dair

Editor: Jaymi E

First Edition

Celebrations in the Season of Long Nights © 2018 Mere Rain

All Rights Reserved.

Published in the United States of America.

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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: Celebrations in the Season of Long Nights is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are fictionalized. Any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The story contains explicit sexual content and is intended for adult readers.

Any person depicted in the Licensed Art Material is a model and is being used solely for illustrative purposes.

PUBLISHER

Mischief Corner Books, LLC

Dedication

For Hafez, poet of love and wine.

Contents

Acknowledgement

Winter Solstice

Christmas

New Year

Twelfth Night

One Month

Sadeh

Dear Reader

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About Mere Rain

Also by Mere Rain

About Mischief Corner Books

Acknowledgement

In Celebrations in the Season of Long Nights a poem is mentioned that we would like to acknowledge:

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Imagination Does Not Exist by 14th century Persian poet, Hafiz

Winter Solstice

Blake and Misha are commiserating about how horrible the holidays will be.

They'll be so bored, their parents are so annoying, their relatives give such stupid gifts, no parties, chores, and they'll miss each other soooo much!

And then they're sucking face and don't even notice when he walks away so that he doesn't start yelling at them about how lucky, how fucking blessed they are to have safe homes and loving families who want to spend time with them and make them happy.

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Shahin looks out over the frozen river, hands in his pockets because his gloves aren't warm enough. It's the coldest it's been so far this semester, gray and damp. Today there are no dumb kids daring one another to ignore the warning signs: Thin ice. He feels like he's been on thin ice his whole damn life. But not now, he reminds himself. Now everything is fine. Not having anywhere to live for the next month is just a pothole in the road to the future. A cold, unpleasant detour, maybe, but nothing like as bad as the things he's already gotten through.

He rubs his forearm and then his collarbone. The cold makes them ache, sometimes, in the places where his father broke them.

I wouldn't.

The voice makes him jump. He didn't think anyone was nearby. He doesn't answer right away, because he feels a little breathless. Also, he isn't sure whether the man thinks Shahin is suicidal or just reckless.

He's neither. He's strong and careful. He made himself walk away from all the rivers before this one by promising himself this future: scholarship, college far away, never going home again, making something of his life. The future that is now.

Wishing he were dead is just a souvenir of the past, a habit he'll break sooner or later.

Now the stranger is looking at him instead of the icy river. He's older than Shahin by at least a decade. Dark hair, straight nose, strong jaw. Good-looking, although not in a Hollywood or collegiate