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

Mateo checked his bag in at the desk outside the double doors. “You sure you want to go in?” Mateo said. “It’ll be pretty crowded, so I understand if you’re not comfortable.”


“I promised I would dance with you, and I intend to keep that promise.” Dazi smiled weakly. “What’s the worst that could happen, anyway?”


Fortunately, that question didn’t come back to bite him in the ass. While the dance floor was indeed stuffed with people in everything from hoods like the one Mateo was now wearing to full fursuits, there were complimentary water dispensers around the edge of the room near tables selling glow sticks for a dollar each. Mateo threw down a five-dollar bill, so the vendor gave them a sixth for free. Fully hydrated and decked out in their glowing bands, Mateo and Dazi joined the fray.


Chapter 23