QSFer Pelaam has a new MM paranormal steampunk book out: The Beast of the Loch.
Duncan Muir is a renowned zoologist, but as well as being a professor at a university, he works for a society investigating sightings and attacks by cryptids.
His latest mission is to Scotland where a marine cryptid is reputedly attacking the local sheep. He takes his faithful friend and right-hand man, Potts, to assist.
However, he finds another mystery when he meets the local laird, Lachlan MacIver. The man’s taciturn reputation in the village is at odds with the man Duncan comes to know.
As their relationship develops, the mystery deepens. The cryptids are real. However, Duncan is as equally certain they are innocent of the attacks as he is that Lachlan is in danger.
Duncan must solve the mystery to protect the man he’s grown to love.
Get It At Amazon
Excerpt
As keen as he was to be wandering around the loch, Duncan continued with his stroll around the village, and even had lunch in the tavern where Potts was staying. The food there was almost as good as the hotel’s but of much more basic fare. Duncan also took advantage to engage in conversation with a few of the locals, absorbing all they had to say about the curse and the legendary beast.
Now that he’d made sure that a good number of the locals identified him as a university professor hoping to discover a new form of marine animal, and weathered their assertions he’d be unsuccessful, Duncan felt it was time to wander around the loch.
Whistling softly, Duncan ambled in the direction of the water. The loch looked beautiful, stretching out into the distance, the sun glinting on the water. He inhaled again and smiled.
The peaceful scenery around him made it almost impossible for Duncan to remember why he was really there. Almost, but not entirely. His appreciation of the loch was as much professional as it was for aesthetic reasons.
The body of water was large and deep. Duncan stared around. In some places there was a small amount of sandy shoreline, in others, rocks barred the way into the water, and in some instances, one would need to dive from several feet, or more, up. However, there was no way to know for certain if one was diving into deep water or shallows with jagged rocks below.
The access to the shore wasn’t always an easy one, either. But that wasn’t an issue if it was a real cryptid Duncan was dealing with. Who was to say if it was amphibious, perhaps even an arthropod? A thick skin or a hard exoskeleton would protect against rocks. There could be any number of caves around the loch that went underground and then opened into caverns which had pools within them.
Duncan began walking around the loch, not particularly paying attention to his direction, but when he looked up, he was quite near to the house. It looked impressive in its dark granite as it towering over the loch.
“Hello there. Are you lost?” A man came into view and Duncan berated himself for not having noticed him sooner.
“No. Just wandering around the loch. I haven’t strayed onto private land, have I?” Duncan was certain he hadn’t seen any notices.
“Oh, no. Not at all. But I don’t see many people out here. The villagers tend to stay away, and we’re not really a notable holiday destination.”
“Are you the house’s gamekeeper?” Duncan couldn’t quite pick what job the man before him would do. A few inches shorter than Duncan himself, his rangier frame suggested someone who might be more of an outdoor worker. Easy enough on the eye, though, with his smooth cheeks, shoulder-length red-gold hair, and eyes as green as emeralds.
“Um, oh, where are my manners. Erm, no. My name is MacIver, Lachlan MacIver, at your service, sir.”
“Duncan Muir, at yours, sir.” Duncan hoped he’d disguised his surprise. The man before him was nothing like the picture of the detached and reserved laird of the manor he’d imagined him to be. Duncan indicated the house. “The same Mr. MacIver…?”
“Ah, yes. That’s me.” Lachlan nodded, gave a self-deprecating smile, and then shrugged. “Not what you were expecting? I’m used to that.”
“I meant no offence, sir.” Duncan apologized immediately, the last thing he needed was to aggravate the laird of the house, but Lachlan held up a hand.
“No, really. People seem to have this notion that I’m aloof and unfriendly. I know I don’t go into the village, but … well, I got the impression that because of the cellars, I wasn’t really welcome. At least Madeleine, um, Mrs. MacIver is still able to take tea with the local ladies. And I do go a little farther afield for parties. But it’s a lonely life. Still, I can manage for a few months.”
“You’re not planning on staying then?” Duncan asked. Why did he open the cellars if he didn’t intend to live here long term?” Duncan hoped he’d injected enough of a casual tone, not wanting to sound too eager for more information.
“Well … it’s complicated.” Lachlan sighed heavily, then smiled at Duncan. “What brings you here?”
“The legend of the loch, or rather its beast. My university thought it would be a feather in their cap if one of its teachers were to find proof the beast existed, or rather, a new type of amphibious creature, perhaps. For my part, it would be rather prestigious to have a new kind of marine life named after me.”
“Oh, I see. You’re probably the first person who would be happy for the beast to be real.”
“Do you think it is?” Duncan was curious as to Lachlan’s opinion and hoped the other man would be open to speaking of it.
“I don’t honestly know.” Lachlan’s expression turned sorrowful, and Duncan reined in a desire to wrap an arm around him. Instead, Lachlan wrapped his own arms around his slender body and gazed out at the loch over Duncan’s shoulder. “Madeleine is scornful, of course, and I suppose I don’t blame her. Too much imagination she says.”
“Calls what too much imagination?” Duncan frowned. The man before him seemed such a gentle, unassuming soul. Duncan’s protective instincts were firing on all cylinders. Having met the man, it was ludicrous to imagine how some people viewed him.
“Well, that I believe in creatures which exist that others would call myths or legends. I’m not saying I go around with a silver bullet in my pistol in case of werewolves, or a cross and garlic in case of a vampire. But … is it too much to believe that there might be something unknown in the depths of the lake?”
Author Bio
Living in clean, green New Zealand, Pelaam is a best-selling, multi-published author of M/M romance and erotica across time and space.
When not writing she can be found indulging in her other passions of cookery and wine appreciation.