Mateo, a jaguar nagual descended from Mayan shamans, attends the Northern Nevada Con-fur-ence furry convention to hide in plain sight. Who will look twice at a long, black tail and inhuman yellow eyes when there are neon huskies and dancing dragons around? There Mateo meets Dazi, a mountain lion skin-walker who is at the con with friends from his Shoshone-Paiute reservation. They want to find out if the furries are close to stumbling across their tribe of shifters. When these two big cats rub up against each other, their cultures collide in a way neither Mateo nor Dazi could predict. But Mateo has trouble being entirely human around his alluring new companion, and Dazi puts his tribe at risk when he reveals their secrets to an outsider. Can Mateo and Dazi overcome their natural secretive and bestial instincts to find their purr-fect ending?

Beasts Like Us

The four of them remained in their seats at the back of the room as everyone else filed out. Kuhma and Tommo wanted to find food, but Dazi wanted only to find the other skin-walker. The man in black walked past, and the scent Dazi had been following was stronger than ever. His target was sighted, and his hunting instincts were kicking in.


They planned to split up and get something to eat, but Dazi didn’t want to lose the man in black. He nudged Kesi and pointed at him as he blended in among the fake-skins.


“That’s the one,” Dazi whispered. “I’m sure of it.”


Kesi narrowed her eyes. “Okay,” she whispered back. “You follow him. Text me if you need help, otherwise we’ll wait for you in the artists’ hall. Remember, gather what information you can, then come straight back.”


Chapter 4