Page 1 of The Purrfect Rival

ONE

The bell above the library door jingled, breaking the morning stillness. Kalyna looked up from her ledger to see Lucella burst through the entrance, her cheeks flushed with excitement and two steaming coffee cups clutched in her hands.

“You will not believe what I just heard at Honeycrisp Bakery,” Lucella announced loud enough to earn glares from the elderly bear shifter examining spell books in the corner. She lowered her voice but maintained her intensity as she placed a coffee on the circulation desk. “Mrs. Plumthorn was telling everyone about the new mayor.”

Kalyna accepted the offering with a grateful smile. “Let me guess—he’s planning to raise property taxes?”

“No, no, nothing boring like that.” Lucella leaned across the desk, hazel eyes sparkling. “According to Mrs. Plumthorn, who heard it directly from Sheriff Ironclaw’s nephew, our new lion mayor is absolutely gorgeous. And single. And—” she paused for dramatic effect, “—he’s coming to the council meeting today where you’ll be presenting.”

“Fascinating,” Kalyna said, returning to her ledger. The ancient pages fluttered slightly beneath her fingertips, reactingto her magic. “I’m sure Mayor Leonid will be thrilled to know the town is more interested in his marital status than his policies.”

“Don’t pretend you’re above curiosity.” Lucella hopped onto the edge of the desk, swinging her legs. “Mrs. Plumthorn said his eyes are pure gold, like actual molten gold, and when he speaks, it sounds like honey poured over gravel.”

Kalyna snorted. “That’s physically impossible, and frankly, concerning if true.”

“You know what I mean.” Lucella swatted Kalyna’s arm. “Oh, and she mentioned that when he toured the town square yesterday, three different women dropped their shopping bags just watching him walk by.”

“Perhaps he should look into a career as a professional distraction-er rather than mayor.” Kalyna flipped a page, but the corner of her mouth twitched upward. Lucella’s gossip sessions always brightened even the most stressful mornings.

“Not the point.” Lucella stole a pencil from the desk and twirled it between her fingers. “The point is this council meeting is your perfect opportunity to make an impression on someone other than the dusty books you’ve been married to for the past century.”

“I’m going to request library funding, not a dinner date.” Kalyna glanced up at the ceiling, where a new water stain had appeared overnight. “And speaking of my beloved dusty books, they’re in serious danger from that leaky roof.”

Lucella followed her gaze and winced. “That’s new, isn’t it?”

“As of this morning.” Kalyna sighed. “Adding it to my presentation for today. At this rate, I’ll need to take a sample of rotting wood to make my point.”

“Maybe you can use your fox magic to make the damage look even worse.” Lucella wiggled her fingers in a poor imitation of spellcasting. “A few well-placed illusions, and they’ll be throwing money at you.”

“Somehow I doubt deceiving the council would end well for me or the library.” Kalyna moved from behind the desk to straighten a row of reference books that didn’t need straightening. “Besides, my illusions are for entertainment, not fraud.”

“Speaking of entertainment—” Lucella slid off the desk and followed Kalyna between the stacks, “—Mrs. Plumthorn also mentioned that the new mayor is two hundred years old but looks thirty-six, owns half of the financial district, and once wrestled a rogue bear shifter into submission during a banking dispute.”

“That last part sounds made up.”

“It’s Mrs. Plumthorn,” Lucella said with a shrug. “Eighty percent gossip, twenty percent truth, one hundred percent commitment to the story.”

A young mother with twin fae children approached the desk, and Kalyna returned to welcome the interruption. By the time she’d helped them find picture books with non-fading illustrations, Lucella had disappeared into the biography section to reshelve returns.

The morning passed in a pleasant blur of routine—guiding a confused vampire to historical accounts of the town’s founding, helping a teenage witch locate a reference on herb substitutions, and carefully recording returns in the ancient ledger. All the while, her mind kept drifting to the council meeting looming that afternoon.

The library needed major structural repairs. Not the cosmetic touch-ups or minor fixes the annual budget covered, but the kind of overhaul that required serious financial commitment. Three centuries of magical books, scrolls, and artifacts had taken their toll on the building’s supports.

When the clock struck noon, Kalyna retreated to her office with the renovation sketches and budget estimates. Leaningback in her chair, she closed her eyes and let her fox magic gently flare, sensing the building around her. The wood beams in the west wing vibrated with subtle wrongness—not just age, but decay eating away at their cores.

Her office door swung open without a knock. “Lunch break for the workaholic,” Lucella announced, depositing a paper bag on the desk. “Tilly’s special—blackberry scones with honey butter. She said to tell you they’re enhanced with ‘calm and clarity,’ whatever that means.”

“It means she infused them with her fae magic,” Kalyna said, opening the bag. The heavenly aroma of fresh-baked pastry carried subtle notes of lavender and wild honey. “Bless that woman.”

“So.” Lucella dropped into the visitor’s chair. “Your presentation. How prepared are you to face the terrifying council and the allegedly heart-stopping mayor?”

“The presentation is ready,” Kalyna said, breaking off a piece of scone. “Whether they’ll approve the funding is another matter.”

“You need to show more passion,” Lucella declared. “Get dramatic! Tell them about the priceless grimoires that could be destroyed, the irreplaceable historical documents, the?—”

“The fact that basic safety regulations require us to close the west wing if we don’t fix the support beams,” Kalyna finished. “Trust me, I’ve covered all angles.”

Lucella narrowed her eyes. “You haven’t practiced with me.”

---