by Sy Walker
Eyes closed and drifting off to sleep, she suddenly was entertained by a thought. Am I going to keep having normal cravings, or am I going to start craving salmon and honey soon?
CHAPTER SIX
Strange Cravings
Trish was all for hanging out with Maggie the following day, while Luke was at work. Despite his wanting them to just stay at his house together, the two friends met up and went into the city. Trish seemed as excited to get out of the house for a while as Maggie was.
“You need to tell me all about everything,” Trish said as soon as Maggie got into the car and shut the door. “How you came to be with this bear guy, who the fuck this dangerous dude is, and how the hell you’re pregnant.”
Maggie laughed. It was all such a long story.
“Also, where do you want to go?” Trish asked. “I just put gas in this puppy, so we can go anywhere as long as it’s fairly local.”
“Let’s do lunch,” Maggie said, making sure to say it in the poshest way possible. “Anywhere. It’s your choice, because I owe you.”
Trish smiled at that and hit the gas, heading north on the highway.
“When you went to work the other day – god, it really was only a few days ago… Anyway, you went to work and I downloaded this stupid dating app for shifters. Tony always hated shifters. And I can’t say I whole-heartedly blame him now. When I met up with the werewolf guy, I knew pretty quickly that I’d made a mistake.”
“Was he hot?”
Maggie rolled her eyes slightly. “Yeah, that’s part of the problem. I thought he was hot and it would be fun, but it turned out that he was threatening almost from the get-go. Anyway, when I refused to go home with him, he got really mad and was probably about to start hitting me when Luke stepped in.”
“I need to meet this Luke guy. He sounds like a saint.”
Smiling, Maggie nodded a little. “He is, kind of. He took me to his place in order to keep me safe. He gave me snacks and helped me feel better. And, you know… One thing led to another. He is handsome and gentle. You’d never know that he is a werebear, except that he is massive. I think he might be a grizzly bear.”
Trish’s eyes flashed mischievously. “Now I definitely have to meet him.”
“I never knew you had a thing for bears,” Maggie laughed.
“I didn’t either!”
It felt good to joke around again. Maggie was so tired of worrying and being scared. She wanted to be able to have fun and live again, like a normal person.
Well, a normal person who was dating a man who could turn into a bear.
They arrived at a little diner place that Maggie had never seen before, let alone eaten in. She was impressed with Trish. Her stomach was starting to growl. As she looked down at herself, she noticed that her stomach was really starting to show now. At least the side effects of pregnancy would not last as long, but they were likely to hit her all at once instead of little by little.
“I am craving everything,” Maggie said as she sat down and looked over the menu.
Trish smirked at her. “I can’t blame you. That little bear that you’re carrying must be starving.”
Maggie stuck her tongue out at her, but she was not wrong. At the rate the baby was growing, it was no wonder that she felt hungry just about all of the time now.
They watched the people pass by as they sat at the table on the diner’s sidewalk patio, waiting on their food. “I’m so sorry for getting you involved in all of this,” Maggie said. “I have to tell you, when you did not answer your phone, I was so afraid I had lost you.”
Shaking her head, Trish smiled at her. “Don’t be sorry. And don’t be so dramatic.”
All in all, it felt good to spend some time together. Maggie got Trish caught up with everything and Trish told her how she was doing at her parents’ place. Apparently, they appreciated any excuse to have her stay with them, which both annoyed Trish and made her happy. It was good to have that option.
Suddenly, while they were chatting over their paninis, a motorcycle revved its engine on the street nearby. Maggie looked over and, horror-stricken, realized who the bike belonged to.
Keith stared icily back at her. He made a whole show of revving his engine loudly, then he put on some sunglasses and sped away.
“Shit,” Maggie said. She was so panicked at the sight of him that she had remained completely still and silent while he was there. Now she turned to Trish. “That was Keith.”
Trish suddenly looked a lot more concerned than usual. Her usual joviality was gone and in its place was fear. “Should we go?”
Maggie nodded faintly. “I think so.”
They packaged up the remains of their sandwiches and Maggie paid for their lunch, since it was payback for everything Trish was now dealing with. Add a rush to get back home to the list, she thought gloomily.
Maggie was thankful that she was out with her friend and did not have to drive herself back to Luke’s place. She doubted very much that she would have been able to drive in a straight line, she was so scared of Keith. She did not even know why. He had been bossy and bordering on violent, she supposed, but he hadn’t actually done anything. She supposed that the threat of him maybe doing something was scary enough.
“Thank you,” she said when Trish dropped her off back at Luke’s place. “Now make sure that you drive fast but not crazy fast, and get home safely. Please text me as soon as you get in.”
Trish smiled at her. “Okay, Mom.”
With a slightly nervous but still amused laugh, Maggie closed her car door and rushed back into Luke’s house. As soon as she got inside and made sure the door was closed and locked, she sat on the couch and called him.
Alarmingly, the call went straight to voicemail. She knew that he was probably busy at his job, but she had expected that Luke would answer when she needed him.
“Hi, Luke, it’s Maggie,” she said after the tone. “I’m fine and at home now, but I went out to lunch with Trish, which was probably a stupid idea now, in hindsight. Keith showed up on his motorcycle and looked right at me. I don’t know if he knew that I was there or what, but he looked at me like he wanted to get me… So we rushed back and Trish dropped me off here. She is on her way home now. Please please call me back as soon as you get this. Bye.”
She hung up and set her phone aside, close to her so she could answer it as soon as possible. She glanced out the window and immediately found herself wishing that Luke’s place was not quite so big, with not quite so many windows. Maggie got up from the couch and paced around for a few moments, phone in hand, then she went to the refrigerator and poured herself a tall glass of juice. This stress couldn’t be good for the baby, and it was no picnic for her either.
Finally, her phone started to ring. She answered it halfway into the second ring.
“I just got your call and I’m on my way,” Luke said. “I’m in the car right now.”
“Please be careful,” Maggie implored him. “It wouldn’t be good if you got in an accident now.”
He chuckled softly. “I’ll be careful. Just stay right where you are, don’t open the door for anyone and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
She nodded a little before realizing, with a smirk, that that was a wasted gesture. “I love you,” she said faintly.
It just came out of her. She could not take it back, even if she wanted to. Which she didn’t.
The words hung in the air for a moment. Then, just as faintly, Luke replied, “I love you.”
Once their call was ended, Maggie went back to the couch and just hugged her pillow. She did her best to lay low in case there was any chance that Keith had shown up and was watching her through the windows.
She closed her eyes and did her best to focus on breathing and slowing down her heart rate. She needed to relax, even though it was hard. Panicking would only make the next few hours worse.
Suddenly, her phone notified her that she had a new text.
Got home safely. No sign of that guy th
e whole way back. Hope you’re safe too. Keep me updated. xo
Luke got home about thirty minutes later. He parked his truck in the driveway and came inside the house, letting the door shut behind him. He rushed to the couch and hugged Maggie. She felt much better now that he was home with her.
“I never should have left the house,” she said. “I never should have done it. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he said, kissing her and cupping her face in his hands. “You should be allowed to leave the house without some asshole threatening you.”
Just then, there was a bang on the door. Maggie jumped and tears welled up in her eyes. “This is all my fault!” she cried.
“Shh,” Luke cautioned her. “Go into the bedroom and close the door. Now.” He directed her without raising his voice, keeping his eyes on the front door the whole time in case the unknown intruder might barge in at any moment.
Maggie did not argue with him. She got off the couch and dashed down the hallway, closing the bedroom door as soon as she got inside, sitting up against it in an effort to keep it securely closed.
Luke went to the front door. “Who is it?” he called.
“I said I’d be back,” Keith’s familiar voice snarled.
Suddenly, the door slammed open with the weight of his foot against it. Once he had kicked the door in, the werewolf came into the house, smirking a little at the sight of the broken, useless wood as it now lay in a heap on the floor.
Maggie jumped, making sure to keep leaning against the door so no one could burst in. From the sound of it, however, her weight alone would not be enough to keep out Keith if he really wanted to come in. She looked around, trying to think if there was anything in the bedroom that would serve as a better barricade.
In the blink of an eye, Keith shifted into his werewolf form. Meanwhile, with a low growl, Luke’s eyes flickered from his gentle blue to the golden brown of a bear’s eyes as he shifted into his other – and possibly true – form of a grizzly bear.
There was so much growling and howling going on that Maggie could not help but open the door just a sliver so she could see what was going on. When she noticed that neither man-animal was actually paying the slightest attention to the bedroom door, she opened it a little wider, careful to keep it from squeaking or making any other sound.
Watching them, Maggie held her breath. She was so afraid that Luke was going to lose. He was so much older than Keith. He moved slower because of his size, but his movements were much more powerful. Whenever his swipes made contact with Keith’s small, wolf form, he ended up tossing him practically all the way across the room. She thought that perhaps his massive size would be key in defeating Keith, but she still worried that the swifter, more agile wolf would find some way of tricking or surprising Luke into a grave error.
She bit her lip, wishing that she could somehow join the fight but knowing that Luke would not have that. She needed to protect their baby, and the only way that she would be able to do that was by staying out of the way.
Keith suddenly brought his nose into the air, sniffing. “I can smell the girl,” he barked. “You can’t hide her from me forever.”
That was the challenge that Luke had been waiting for. He leapt at Keith, taking his small canine head into his mouth. Maggie looked away, hearing an unsettling crunch. Thankfully, Keith’s head was not entirely crushed and he was dropped back to the ground. Maggie did not know what she would have actually done if Luke had murdered someone for her sake. She supposed that that sort of thing happened all the time with shifters, but that did not mean that she liked or condoned it herself.
Keith was letting out all sorts of whines and yips now. His head was bleeding terribly and Maggie realized that his jaw had been the cause of the crunching sound. His mouth hung open as blood poured out of it. Luke pushed him along on the floor toward the gaping front door.
“Get out,” he snarled. “And never show your ugly face around here again, or so help me it will be your neck next time.”
When the wolf shakily got back to his feet, Maggie noticed with some small amount of triumph that she would feel bad about later that his tail was between his legs. Keith left the house, scampering away like any other animal might. It was unsafe to shift back now. There was a chance that he would never recover.
Good.
As soon as Keith was completely gone, Maggie opened the bedroom door the rest of the way. Luke was bloodied and clearly in pain as he slowly slipped back into his human form, but he was smiling at her. “Hi,” he said.
Wordlessly, Maggie fell into his arms. He held her there for a moment before, wincing, he had to pull away again.
“Are you hurt badly?” she asked him, a new kind of worried. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”
He shook his head slightly. “I’ll be all right,” he said. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. She was obviously shaken up by what had happened, but his heroism was more than enough to make her feel better. “I was so worried about you, but you are so much bigger and stronger than him. He didn’t stand a chance.”
Luke smiled at her. “That’s because no one messes with Papa Bear.”
Maggie wanted to hug him again, but his wincing was starting to grow more frequent so instead of grabbing him and possibly injuring him further, she went into the kitchen and got some ice and wet rags for his wounds.
He had quite a few gashes on his arms and face, and one deep one on his lower abdomen. She wondered if there was a chance that he had broken something, like a rib maybe, and that was why it seemed to hurt him every time he breathed. Carefully she guided him to a chair at his dining room table.
Maggie pulled his shirt off of him and gasped when she saw the cuts and scratches. She went to work right away cleaning the wound on the side of his belly. He hissed at the feel of the warm rag on his sensitive, injured skin but he did not lash out at her.
“I owe you for a lot of things,” she said. “And now I owe you for my life.”
He looked into her eyes. “It’s a life worth saving.”
She blushed a little. Then, slowly and carefully so she would not hurt him more, she kissed his lips. Before she could stop him, he pulled her down onto his lap. He kissed her deeply, causing her to drop the rag and him to drop the makeshift ice pack that he had been holding to his arm. “I’m in a lot of pain right now,” he gasped out between passionate, earnest kisses. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to fuck you.”
He startled her by standing up, holding Maggie in his sore arms. He carried her to the breakfast bar, laying her atop of it and then getting on top of her. He kissed her lips, cheeks and all down her neck. Then, quickly, he removed her shirt, kissing the tops of her breasts and down her enlarged tummy. He took her panties into his hands and pulled them off of her, letting them fall to the floor and join the other discarded clothes. Then he kissed her inner thighs before bringing his tongue to her clit.
Maggie’s eyelashes fluttered a bit as she looked down at him, then she closed her eyes as the pleasure took over her body. She hadn’t imagined that they would be having sex so soon after the whole ordeal with Keith, and even less so did she imagine that they’d be doing it on the breakfast bar.
With one hand, Luke fumbled with his pants. He lowered them and climbed fully on top of her, careful not to move too fast for her. “You want this?” he asked her. “Huh?”
Licking her lips, she nodded eagerly. “Yes,” she said. Her voice came out at barely a whisper, which caused him to smile.
“Good,” he said then. “Because I want you to come for me. I want you to come for your hero bear.”
He thrust his big cock inside of her, focusing on the parts that he knew felt best, both to Maggie and to him. She clawed at the air, enjoying the combination of the cool, smooth granite countertop with the heat of their bodies joining together.
Because he was in pain and because their situation was rather precarious, he did not go quite as crazy as he otherwise might have.
After a few blissful movements of moving against her g-spot and listening as Maggie moaned and shouted his name, Luke pulled out. “Turn around,” he commanded. “Carefully.”
She did as he bid her, feeling the coolness on her knees now. He plowed back into her and she could feel herself stretching to let him in. Leaning down, Luke kissed her back, fondling Maggie’s boobs as he felt himself getting ready to orgasm.
“Oh, baby, you feel so good,” he groaned against the skin of her back. Suddenly, he reached up and put a big hand over her mouth. He sped up his thrusts and came inside of her. “Ffffuck!” he bellowed. “Aaahhh.”
Maggie held tightly to the counter as Luke pulled out of her then and headed to the bathroom. She noticed that he limped a little. His back was probably killing him, especially now. She smiled, shaking her head.
“Take some aspirin,” she recommended.
She wondered if she was going to be the death of him. He probably would not complain if she was the reason for his suffering, especially if it was purely due to passionate sex.
After a few moments, she heard the shower start. Maggie was used to Luke’s post-sex habits by now. Slowly, she got herself down from the counter, using the stools as ladders back to the ground. The blood in his brain must have been otherwise occupied or surely he would have helped her down…
And that’s when she noticed the wide open front door.
Maggie did not feel shy. She mostly felt amused and perhaps a little remorseful for the neighbors. She was not a quiet lover by any means. She had been so taken up with the emotions and the passion of Luke that she had completely forgotten about their little door problem.
Thankfully, he was a handyman and he would be able to fix it.
Knowing Luke, he would be more concerned about the fact that someone could come in and hurt Maggie than about the neighbors being able to hear the amazing sex they were having.
She did her best to collect her clothing and snake along the counter so she was in the kitchen, hidden away from the wide doorway behind her. She drank some more juice and put her clothes back on.