Accepting Love: Black Hollow, #4

By Cassidy K. O'Connor

What's a gargoyle to do when he finally finds his mate and she turns out to be a blood-thirsty mormo on the run and afraid to trust anyone.

Aristide likes his quiet life, reading and running the town bookstore. It isn't until a mormo shows up needing help does he realize he's not really been living, merely existing.

Tamiko Gray has been a prisoner for more years than she can remember. Forced to use her powers to lure men to her room where her captors are waiting to rob them. Desperate for freedom she escapes and finds herself in the mysterious town of Black Hollow.

When Tamiko's captors are closing in she's left with the choice of running again or letting her new friends help her. She never expected the quirky paranormal town would help her see she is worthy of accepting love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Celtic Hearts Press
• Release date: Sep 23, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215908167

Cassidy K. O'Connor

Cassidy K O'Connor is a born and raised Floridian who loves to travel but never forgets where her roots are. She married her high school sweetheart, they have 3 kids and a crazy dog. Travelling and reading are her two favorite hobbies. Cassidy loves all things Ireland and has been lucky enough to visit twice. Her first book 'The Evolution of Sam' was published August of 2014 and she has plans for many more.

Book preview

Accepting Love

A Black Hollow Story

Cassidy K. O’Connor

Accepting Love

Copyright 2020 Cassidy K. O’Connor

Published by Celtic Hearts Press

Cover Art by B Creative Design

Formatting by Celtic Formatting

Published by Celtic Hearts Press

All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Prologue

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

The End

The Black Hollow Series

~Other Books by the Author~

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my fellow Black Hollow authors, Sheri Lyn, Gracen Miller, Jennifer Wedmore, Robbie Cox, and J.C. Layne. You embraced our vision of Black Hollow and helped turn it into an amazing town everyone loves. You put up with all of our crazy maps, documents, schedules, and instant messages. I couldn’t have asked for a better group to create this world with.

What's a gargoyle to do when he finally finds his mate and she turns out to be a blood-thirsty mormo on the run and afraid to trust anyone.

Aristide likes his quiet life, reading and running the town bookstore. It isn't until a mormo shows up needing help does he realize he's not really been living, merely existing.

Tamiko Gray has been a prisoner for more years than she can remember. Forced to use her powers to lure men to her room where her captors are waiting to rob them. Desperate for freedom she escapes and finds herself in the mysterious town of Black Hollow.

When Tamiko's captors are closing in she's left with the choice of running again or letting her new friends help her. She never expected the quirky paranormal town would help her see she is worthy of accepting love.

Prologue

The slightest shuffling of leaves was the only sound in the forest. The tiny woman wearing a tattered ball gown was a bloody mess but she was free. It had taken years but she had managed to escape her captors. 

She looked up at the sky, snow flurries were falling faster and harder the further North she had walked. She slumped against a tree, surviving on the blood of bunnies was not enough to maintain her strength. She needed a plan, she had no doubt they were going to come looking for her. 

She closed her eyes to rest, as she fell asleep an image of a sign appeared in her head. A warmth spread through her chest. It gave her the energy to get up and keep moving. She didn’t know where she was going but she was trusting her gut. Wherever it led her it had to be better than where she had come from.

One

Aristide sat in the window seat of Parchment Paradise , the bookstore he had opened when he first came to Black Hollow. It was his favorite spot in town, he was surrounded by books and was within walking distance of all the food and coffee he could want. His life wasn’t exciting by most people’s standards but to him, it was perfect for a bookworm and self-proclaimed introvert.

The bell above the door rang as someone came in. Over here, he called out.

He jumped up and tugged on his clothes, nervous at the appearance of Seraphine. She was the town matriarch and the most powerful being Aristide had ever met. She’d never been anything but helpful but she still scared him. 

She smiled sweetly up at him. Aristide, Dear, I was wondering if you would be willing to drive me on a quick errand outside of town?

His jaw opened and closed a few times. He’d never spent more than a few minutes alone with Seraphine and now she wanted him to drive her somewhere? He glanced back and forth from her one purple eye to her one green eye, trying to determine if this was going to be a trap of some sort.

She stared up at him patiently, never batting a lash. Finally, he caved. Let me close up and I’ll take you wherever you need to go.

As he locked up the store he pointed to the back door. My car’s parked out there. He led her to his truck and held the door open for her.

Once they were settled, he pulled out onto Main Street and glanced over, unsure which way to turn. 

Seraphine folded her hands demurely in her lap and smiled at him. Turn right and drive for a bit, I’ll tell you when it’s time to stop.

He had a bad feeling about this but he had no choice. They sat in silence for the first few miles and he noticed Seraphine kept closing her eyes, her eyebrows drawn together like she was deep in thought. Then she would shake her head and return to staring out the window. She repeated this process a handful of times and Aristide was getting creeped out but he wasn’t going to interrupt her.

She reached out and grabbed his forearm. This is good, pull over here. 

Aristide glanced around, they were on an empty stretch of highway, there was nowhere to park and the snow was knee-deep. He knew better than to argue, he pulled onto the shoulder and turned to look at her expectantly.

She handed him her bag. You can carry this for me, we’ve got to take a bit of a walk.

He suddenly wished he had texted one of the guys and let them know what was happening. Seraphine may be a tiny woman but he had no doubt she could make him disappear if she really wanted to.

The tiny floral printed backpack looked ridiculous but he put it on his back and went around to help her down from the cab of the truck. He wanted both arms free in case she needed help traversing the woods. 

She hopped out of the cab, closed her eyes for a second then zeroed in on something off to their left. Without saying a word, she took off and walked surprisingly fast considering how short her legs were. 

They’d been walking for a while when Seraphine finally slowed her stride. She put her finger to her lips telling him to be quiet. 

He was really regretting his decision to go along with her when a faint scent reached his nose. His pupil’s dilated, his mouth watered and