Tuesday Teaser 5/5/2026

5/5/2026

Forge took off his sunglasses and carefully scrutinized the body. Wasn’t it his luck an alleged soulmate showed up in Boggslake to disrupt Forge’s life but, judging from how he felt right then, was also possibly hanging around a murder scene?

“I hope it’s not starting up again,” he grumbled. The thought that Forge’s soulmate could be a killer was shoved away.

“You know we’ve never tied any of the missing persons or unsolved murders together.” Stewie leaned over Forge’s shoulder.

“Uh-huh.” Forge stood and moved out of the way of Lucas’s team. “They must be connected. This isn’t the first victim found like this.” Stewie and Lucas nodded. “I’m betting Lucas will find no sign of a struggle and that he had sex not long before he died.”

Forge wasn’t sure why, or what caused it, but the hair along the back of his neck rose, and there was a slight tingle across his scalp. He took a careful look around the area. Partway down the street, standing in the space between two homes, a man was watching them.

A man who reminded him of Declan and was everything Forge found alluring. The second he saw Forge watching him, the man ducked behind the farthest house.

“What?” Stewie asked. “See something?”

“Maybe. I’m going to check it out.” Forge jogged toward the spot where he’d seen the guy. The same young man showing up in front of the bookstore and now here in less than an hour and at a murder scene was too much of a coincidence. Forge had some questions to ask.

Forge glanced over his shoulder. No one was paying attention to him. Everyone was occupied with the body. He covered the distance to where the young man had been in less than half the time it would have taken the fastest human runner. The backyards on this street overlooked Lake Erie and all of them had steps going down to the water’s edge.

The lush green carpet of grass was sprinkled with what remained of flower and vegetable gardens. There was an assortment of lawn furniture, and one nearby yard had a child’s play area. He kept to the yards without fencing around them and headed toward the closest set of steps.

“He must have gone down here,” Forge said and rubbed the back of his head. It was possible the guy had darted into a garage or house, but Forge’s gut was telling him no. Moving as quickly as possible without slipping on the stone steps and ending up going down on his ass, Forge made his way to the beach.

Declan had been a fur trapper when he’d first come to the New World and later passed on his considerable tracking skills to Forge. In a way, it was Declan who’d taught Forge many of the skills he used as a detective. This day, he was an irritated detective. He was already feeling he’d lost track of a possible suspect.

No one was there, yet Forge couldn’t shake the feeling he wasn’t alone. He wandered down the beach a few yards. Water splashing against the shore and spraying up made him go closer for a better look. The lake’s edge here wasn’t gently sloping sand but a sharp lip of concrete. Hunkering on the ledge, Forge leaned over for a look.

The wall ran a good half mile in either direction. He could see large spots that were darker than the surrounding area. Forge had read about the secret rooms constructed all along Lake Erie during Prohibition. At one time illegal booze and guns were stashed in them. One could only access the rooms by going under water. At high tide, many of the outer parts of the rooms were completely submerged. He’d never been in one.

More than likely he’d have to get wet to justify the expense of divers. Forge was still contemplating getting a dive team when he heard shouting.

“Stop. Wait!”

The voice sounded familiar, but Forge couldn’t place it. That always annoyed him. Turning, he looked up at the top of the stairs. Then he squinted and shook his head. The voice’s owner made Forge stare in a type of horrified wonder, like one looked at a train wreck.

The fact his cock picked then to persistently remind him of its presence with a few twitches and throbs didn’t help.

It was a man, though the dread Forge was feeling might have been less if it’d been a woman. The guy wore what appeared to be homemade steampunk goggles with dark lenses, a long-sleeved black shirt, and black jeans.

“Sweet mother of God, is that a cape?” Forge muttered and took a few steps forward. “No, stop, don’t—”

His warning was too late. The oddly dressed man began to run down the steps—the slippery, wet steps, waving his arms. He’d gone about three steps when his feet slid out from under him and his rear hit the stone stairs. The man yelped, and Forge’s cock gave another twitch. He had the fleeting thought of how disturbing on several levels that was.

“What the hell?” Forge ran to the bottom of the stairs.

Bouncing head over heels down the steps, the guy finally flopped to one side and rolled the remainder of the way down, finishing his descent with a hearty splash in the chilly lake water.

Floundering and shouting, the man slapped the lake’s surface, went under, bobbed up, and spit water out of his mouth, and garbled, “Can’t… swim.”

Throwing his arms wide, Forge grumbled, “It’s not as if vampires drown.”

The guy went under, the water churned, but he didn’t come to the surface. Jerking his jacket off and dropping it to the ground, Forge made sure his phone was with the garment.

“This has got to be a joke. A really bad joke.” Forge ran to the edge and dove in. The only thing that prevented him from ejaculating the second his fingers touched the man was the cold water. He shuddered when he pulled the guy against his chest and wrapped one arm around him, using the other to help propel them to the surface.

When he got to the concrete edge, he hefted the guy over and onto the ground. Forge hoisted himself out of the water and hit the guy, who looked to be in his twenties, between the shoulder blades to expel lake water.

A shiver and spark of electricity ran from Forge’s palm and coursed down his spine to settle in his groin.

This couldn’t be his soulmate. Yet even as he finished that thought, he knew, and there was no denying what his body was telling him. The fool dressed as some superhero wannabe in a really bad outfit was Jonas Forge’s mate for eternity.

Forge wondered if other vampires would penalize him for killing his soulmate.