The Hummingbird's Mate: The Paranormal Council, #11

By Laura Greenwood

Tomatoes are missing, and there's only one person who can get to the bottom of it.

If there's one thing that Jenna Sunangel takes seriously, it's her job. When she's assigned to the greenhouse where dryads are being stolen from, she uncovers more than just the missing produce.

Baxter Heirloom has never thought much about his mate, but when fate brings a beautiful hummingbird shifter to his workplace, he can't believe his luck, and will do everything he can to convince her that they're meant to be together. Even give her his tomatoes...
-
The Hummingbird's Mate is book eleven of The Paranormal Council, a fated mates paranormal romance series. It can be read as a standalone and includes a shifter-dryad m/f romance.

If you enjoy fated mates, light-hearted paranormal romances, intertwined standalones, a hint of steam, quick reads, and plenty of swoon, check out the complete Paranormal Council series today!

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Drowlgon Press
• Release date: Nov 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201931681

Laura Greenwood

Laura is a USA Today Bestselling Author of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and fantasy romance. When she's not writing, she drinks a lot of tea, tries to resist French macarons, and works towards a diploma in Egyptology. She lives in the UK, where most of her books are set. Laura specialises in quick reads, with healthy relationships and consent positive moments regardless of if she's writing light-hearted romance, mythology-heavy urban fantasy, or anything in between. You can find a full book list and more information on her website, or in The Paranormal Council Facebook Group. Happy Reading!

Book preview

Chapter One

Baxter

---

Someone had stolen his tomatoes.

Again.

Baxter growled as he studied the shorn off stems of his plant. The thief hadn't even had the decency to pick ripe ones. Surely everyone knew that all you had to do was tug on the fruit. If it came off, then it was ripe, if it resisted, then it needed to be left in order to ripen further.

At least the loss of the tomatoes wouldn't affect the bond he had with his plant. The tether he had as a dryad remained intact.

I'm sorry, he whispered to his plant. I promise I'll find out who did this. Not that he was allowed to do any of the things he was imagining if he did. There were laws in place for a reason. And this person was breaking them.

He straightened up and marched through the greenhouse towards his boss' office. This wasn't the first time plants had been stolen recently, and he needed to know that it had happened again.

The glass door to the main office swung open and one of the other workers stormed out, a thunderous look on her face.

Don't expect much, she muttered as she passed Baxter.

He sighed, but knew he couldn't ignore the thefts that were happening. Their boss needed to do something about it and sooner rather than later.

Baxter knocked a couple of times on the glass pane and waited for his boss to call him in.

Enter, a tired sounding voice responded.

The moment he stepped into the room, Baxter understood why Sharon had been so annoyed with their boss. The bags under his eyes and the crumpled clothes didn't give off an air of confidence when it came to sorting out important matters such as a thief in their midst.

Let's guess, someone's stolen your tomatoes? he asked, a resigned expression on his face.

Yes.

I've reported it, we're expecting someone to turn up from the High Council soon, but there's very little I can do, his boss said.

Can't we at least get some more security?

You know as well as I do that there's no budget left for that. We can't afford another night guard. Now, if you all want to take turns sleeping in the greenhouses to protect your plants, then that's fine by me. But I can't pay anyone for it.

That's not fair, Baxter started. For us, those plants are a matter of life or death.

His boss sighed and set down his pen. As you know, when you entered your contract here, you signed a waiver about housing your tether-plants in the greenhouse. There has always been a risk keeping them here, and now that's happening. As far as I'm aware, none of them have been damaged...

Baxter fumed inwardly. This was what happened when the higher-ups refused to put a dryad in the position of power over the others who worked in the greenhouse. While he didn't think his boss was a bad person, he clearly didn't understand the complexities that his workers suffered from in their day to day lives. There was no way that they could survive without their plants, and that was hard to get across to people who weren't dryads.

But damage is being done, Baxter insisted. The plants are being damaged when pieces of them are being stolen, especially when they're picking fruit and flowers before they've had time to properly mature...

His boss sighed and looked him in the eyes. I'm truly sorry for what you and the other dryads are going through, but there's very little we can do without the support of the High Council. They're sending someone and they should be here this week. That's all I know. And before you ask, no, I don't know the investigator's name or anything about their credentials. You'll find out as soon as I do and not a moment before that.

Thank you for letting me know, Baxter answered stiffly. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

He didn't wait for the other man to say anything and turned out to leave the office. He had too much to get one with to spend too long standing around and trying to get information out of someone who didn't want to give it.

The moment he stepped back into the main greenhouse he breathed a sigh of relief. Everything around him was green and vibrant, full of life. While he technically only needed his tomato plant to survive, it was invigorating being around so much greenery. It was what attracted so many dryads towards fields that dealt with plants. While he'd taken the botanist path himself, his friend Lia had decided to work with pharmaceuticals derived from natural things.

He waved to several of his co-workers, but didn't stop to talk to them. He needed to grab his notes from his locker so he could check on the health of the various plants under his control. Being distracted by the fate of his tomatoes and who would do such a despicable thing wasn't a good enough excuse to forget about the rest of his job.

Once he'd collected his