The Baby Shift- Maryland

by Becca Fanning

  “Time to grill,” he announced. “We can discuss your books all night.”

  Lisa

  Lisa couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen a man look this attractive. She tried to keep her mouth open from drooling while watching Lucas throw the steaks onto the grill. He kept lifting his shirt up because of the heat. Even during the night, the summers were hot at the lake. She’d followed him out with their drinks. Her head felt light-headed. Her thoughts were fanciful, filled with ideas about where his shirt could go. Off, forever, as far as she was concerned.

  “This’ll be quick,” he assured her as the meat to sizzle. He took his steak off almost immediately. He turned to her. She noted the adorable apron wrapped around his waist, a funny juxtaposition to his manly persona. “Well, I enjoyed the thriller about the woman discovering her husband was trying to kill her to continue his affair with her younger sister. Was that inspired by real-life events?”

  She blushed. “Not at all! Well, I think I might’ve read about a case in the newspaper that was a bit like this. But, nothing in my personal life.”

  “So, I don’t have to worry about your spurned, homicidal ex-lovers showing up to get revenge by burning down the lake house?” he asked with a snort. She shook her head with a laugh.

  “My boyfriends were way too boring for that kind of stuff,” she confessed. “My last boyfriend was an accountant for the government. That’s about as high-profile as they got.”

  “No super rich playboy billionaires?”

  “Not a chance.”

  He winked. “Lucky for me.” Before she could ask what he’d meant, he added, “How’s your new book coming?”

  Her disappointment was buried by the excitement in his interest. “Good. As good as it can go right now. It’s a story about a teenage girl discovering that her next-door neighbor might be a Shifter.”

  His smirk was irresistible. Her mouth went dry as his electric eyes landed on her. “A Wolf Shifter?”

  “I’ve been inspired by recent events,” she said slowly and cleared her throat. “I told you. I know it’s mad, but I can’t help but think about that wolf.”

  “Perhaps you could meet him,” he said. She straightened, her back a solid metal pole in an instant.

  “Really?”

  “The full moon is coming,” he said. “Three days.”

  Her heart beat wildly. Perhaps she could go out to the little cliff point near her house and meet him there. Her cheeks burned. To see the wolf up close? Her stomach flipped in excitement. “That would be amazing.”

  He pulled her steak off the grill. “Hope you’re hungry.” Her stomach growled fiercely in reply. They went back inside to the table that he’d set. He pulled out the roasted vegetables and brought a full pitcher of water with two glasses to the table. Better to drink some water, she realized. This whiskey was addicting.

  She pulled full glasses of water for both of them and chugged nearly half of hers. “That whiskey is dangerous.”

  “Yes,” he agreed. She shivered at his rumbling voice, the dark gruff tone sending lots of naughty ideas to the forefront of her mind. His muscles arms moved quickly to serve them. She inhaled the rising scent of their dinner. If she concentrated hard enough, she could smell Lucas’ signature minty musk through the food. It was almost as entrancing as the meal in front of her face.

  What would be the harm in a taste? Her mind was begging her. She swallowed the first cut of her steak, absolutely delicious in her mouth. Her thoughts weren’t on the meat, though, they were on the handsome Shifter in front of her. A man, a Shifter, who by all accounts was too handsome and too witty for his own good.

  “When’s your deadline?” he asked, bringing her out of her chaotic thoughts. She had to think about, rack her brain for the exact date.

  “End of summer,” she muttered. “I need to keep working.” The last bit, she said it with a bit of defeat.

  “No work tonight,” he said seriously. His command invigorated her. She trembled beneath her flannel shirt. “How are the vegetables?”

  “Amazing,” she said truthfully. Everything he’d cooked was delicious. “I didn’t know vegetables could taste this way.”

  He smirked. “The Clan chores helped growing up. I had kitchen duty often. They knew I hated laundry duty.”

  “Fair enough,” she said and took another bite. “Your future wife will be happy.” He let out a loud chuckle.

  “Mate,” he corrected her. “We don’t go by husband and wife. Just mates.”

  “Mate,” she repeated with a bit of a shiver. “Fascinating.” His eyes glittered, and the intensity of his stare brought a wave of heat up her neck. She swallowed her food while her stomach flipped. How he unnerved her with just a stare. She chugged the rest of her whiskey, feeling the heady flavor coming over her. “And you haven’t found one?”

  His fork and knife hovered above his plate, frozen in time. She blanched. Had she said the wrong thing? Instead, a slow smile broke over his face.

  “I haven’t,” he admitted. Was it her or was his body radiating heat? If she reached a bit across the table, she could brush her fingers across his arm. She could touch him, feel his heat. Her mouth turned to sand. “I’m still hunting.” He winked playfully.

  Hunting.

  She swayed on the inside. No, she was swaying at the table. He cried out as she dipped to the side in her seat, and he caught her quickly, his knife and fork flung to the ground. She groaned as his strong hands wrapped around her and pushed her upward.

  “Lisa?” he asked. But, his voice was a hazy wisp of smoke. She was dreaming, she was sure of it. That’s why she did what she did next. Without a care, she let her arms snake around his neck and pull him towards her in a kiss. The kiss burned fiercely, deliciously, like the whiskey on her breath. She moaned.

  And then there was darkness.

  Lucas

  There were terrible things that Lucas was considering when that human woman kissed him. First, was that he must continue it no matter what. Second, that he must always have her scent on him. Third, she was the only thing he wanted to hunt. As a mate, for life. For a moment, his animalistic urges began to overpower him as he responded.

  But logic and reason swam to his mind as soon as her eyes fluttered, and she fainted. He scooped her up and left their dinners, abandoned on the kitchen table. She was like a feather in his arms. He carried her to her bedroom and laid her down gently. As he was taking her pulse, her eyes fluttered open, suddenly clear.

  “What happened?” she asked in confusion.

  “You fainted for a moment,” he explained and urged her to lay down as she attempted to sit up. “Take a break. I think the whiskey is a bit strong for human bodies.” For any bodies, he wanted to add but didn’t. She was paler than usual. There was nothing of the ravishing blush in her cheeks. He pressed the back of her hand against her face. She sighed in relief at the contact. He chuckled. “You’re awfully warm.”

  “Your hand feels amazing,” she said. “So weird. I never get this way with drinking.”

  He coughed. “I believe the midwife makes this whiskey special.” Luckily, Lisa didn’t ask what he meant by this. Even after fainting, she looked gorgeous against her pale blue pillows. She looked up from beneath her lashes.

  “Did I do anything funny? I don’t really remember anything after complimenting your vegetables,” she confessed in a bashful voice. That voice would kill him! He’d never had so much power held over him by women since Star and Lisa had entered his life. He scratched the back of his neck.

  “You asked about Shifter mates,” he said carefully. “I mentioned that I didn’t have one.” Ah! There was the pink in her cheeks again. She looked as if she’d like to swallow another glass of that whiskey, but he fetched a glass of water for her.

  “I’m so curious when I drink,” she told him. “I think it’s part of being a writer.” Dare he say it, his hopeful heart was wishing that it wasn’t just her being a writer that brought about that questi
on. But, he was respectful, he nodded as if he understood.

  “It might be good information for your book,” he told her. He wasn’t lying, of course. It would be! “Do you want to continue dinner?”

  Her eyes went wide. He watched as she clasped her hands against her face in shock. “Your wonderful dinner!” She tried to scurry out of bed, but he was at her side to ease her gently onto her feet.

  “Together,” he told her. “We’ll go together.” She smiled up at him. Gods, her smile made his heart go a mile a minute. When had being around her done that? He didn’t have time to wonder. With her strength restored, she was practically tugging him along back to the kitchen.

  “I’ll be damned if I don’t eat this whole thing,” she said and upon seeing the whiskey bottle, “maybe we’ll save that for another night.” He laughed and they resumed their places, digging into the still-warm meals.

  She grinned suddenly. “This feels a bit like an awkward first date, huh?”

  He stared. “Date?”

  “Yeah, you know,” she gestured between them with a laugh. “Like a romantic date?”

  He blinked and shook his head. Whatever she was talking about, he wasn’t sure.

  Her jaw dropped open and she stared at him. “Do Shifters not do…dates? Like if you wanted to mate with someone, you spend time with them and go out to eat or to the movies or something.”

  Ohhhh. “You mean courting? Of course, we court.”

  She giggled. “You call it courting?!”

  He narrowed his eyes playfully. “What’s wrong with that?” he asked her. “Courting is a fine word for it. But, we don’t spend these ‘dates’ eating together or going to the movies. Often, we run together or hunt or spend time in communal spaces with our clan members, to make sure everyone gets along. Then, if you find that you’re serious with them, you begin to seriously court.”

  “What’s serious courting?”

  “You discuss your opinions and beliefs about love, companionship, raising children, how often you expect to Shift if you would like to stay with your clan. Those sorts of things.” He shrugged. He’d always taken for granted that he had this sort of knowledge. “What do humans do?”

  She swallowed a bite of her food and took a sip of water. “Well…” she began. “It’s not quite as intense, I think. Although maybe a lot more people wouldn’t get divorced if we did discuss thing like that. In the beginning, the dates are a lot of fun. Like this, just talking and getting to know one another while eating together, for example. Some people don’t discuss things like children or the future before they get married.”

  He blinked. “What’s the point of it?”

  “Love is powerful,” she said with a shrug.

  “So, you’ve felt so in love that you would disregard all those discussions?” he asked. She sucked in a sharp breath.

  “Not yet.”

  Yet. He bit back a smile. Interesting. “Fascinating,” he said. “Perhaps your main character in your book will come across a problem like this.”

  “Perhaps,” she replied softly.

  They cleaned everything up together. After a thousand compliments on his meal, his pride was soaring. They washed dishes next to one another, him scrubbing while she dried the dishes with a heavy rag or placed them on the dishrack.

  “Was it a good date?” he asked her. She gave a nervous laugh, although he wasn’t sure why.

  “Sure, it was.” She bit her lip. He could see from the corner of his eye that she wanted to say something, but her lips remained shut. They washed the dishes alongside each other and then they said goodnight. She hovered in the doorway as he stayed in the kitchen.

  “Thank you, Lucas.”

  And with that, she was gone.

  He sat at the table and stared at the bottle of whiskey, wondering if perhaps Bella the midwife had given him a love potion because something had dawned on him.

  He was in love.

  Lisa

  Lisa piled her hair on top of her head and fastened it with a clip. Everyone in the house was still sleeping, and she didn’t want to wake them. Three days, Lucas had told her, and she would see her wolf again. She dressed in dark clothes: a black shirt and dark jeans. Carefully, she crept out of the house through the sliding door on the back porch. She circled around the front of the house, admiring all of the work Lucas had done with the gardens.

  In the front yard, she waited, sitting on the stump that Lucas used to chop wood. Her hands ran over the ax marks in the stump. She shivered, remembering his seductive display of power when she watched him from the window. He was too handsome and funny for his own good.

  Mates. Courting. Shifters.

  Despite the muggy heat, she felt a chill throughout her body.

  A twig snapped behind her and she gasped, turning ‘round. There was nothing there. When she turned back, she nearly let out a scream. In the time that she’d been turned around, her wolf had appeared. He was poised on the jutting rock ledge, as she thought he might be, and staring out at the lake water. She opened her journal quickly and began to write the words as they came to her.

  Would he smell her? A slight breeze pushed against her back, and her heart gave a nervous shake. Perhaps the wind would carry her scent. She looked up and the wolf was gone. Her heart fell in disappointment. But, it wasn’t to last…

  “Blackbird.” A hoarse voice whispered. Husky, drawling, something from the shadows.

  She stiffened and turned. To her absolute horror and delight, her wolf took a step towards her from the edge of the garden.

  “You know my name,” was the only thing she could think of saying. And then, “You can talk?”

  His eyes flashed handsomely beneath the full moon. Somewhere in the distant, another wolf gave a howl. That would be the rest of the Shifter pack. He was even more beautiful up close. Gorgeous silver hair and golden eyes, eyes that reminded her of someone.

  They stayed frozen in silence for many moments. Until finally, her wolf took another step forward and began transforming.

  She gasped as she watched the large, strong limbs become human. The silver fading to a dark chocolate brown, the waves falling from the man’s head, which was bowed. He was kneeling on the ground, one knee on the ground and one up, his head leaned against it. She held her breath as slowly, slowly, slowly, the Shifter lifted his head to meet her eyes.

  “Lucas,” she breathed. Lucas. It’d always been Lucas. “You’re my wolf?”

  He was nude save for a cloth tied around his pelvis, a contraption that he’d one explained to her like a magic loincloth invented by his particular Clan to save for embarrassment in the event of a Shifter transforming among humans. His body was a regal sculpture beneath the moonlight.

  “It’s always been you.” She couldn’t explain the tears falling from her eyes, only that they were there and there was nothing she could do to stop them. An overwhelming sense of love and relief filled her. “I think I was always secretly hoping that it was you,” she admitted. He strode towards her with a confident step.

  “Lisa,” he whispered as he took her face in his hands. His fingers were warm, brushing away the tears gently. “I should’ve told you.”

  “I like the suspense,” she muttered. “How I must’ve embarrassed myself talking about this wolf when you knew that it was yourself all along…”

  “Wrong,” he said quickly. “I was overjoyed. I was ecstatic. But I didn’t know how to tell you.”

  “You can tell me now,” she said, looking up at him beneath her lashes wet with tears. “You can kiss me too.”

  He leaned down to capture her lips, a perfect searing of heat in the kiss. She moaned in pleasure as her hands went up to slip her hands through his gorgeous hair. Silver as a wolf, near black as a man. She would learn every part of his body, she decided. She promised as his arms snaked around her to pull her hard against him. His arousal was evident, she could feel it pressing against her stomach, and she moaned.

  “Not in the garden,” she
argued and tugged him out of the kiss. “I’m a human woman. I want a proper bed.”

  His smirk was enchanting beneath the moonlight. “As you wish.” He followed her into the house through the sliding door. They passed his room; Star was fast asleep in her rolling crib. As they walked, she got the sense that he was hunting her. Watching his prey. She shivered as she shut the door gently, so as not to wake Star.

  He was upon her in an instant. He snatched her up, kissing her with fiery white-hot promises of more, and gently tossing her onto the bed. He was an animal transformed, a Shifter with a man’s body but a primal need.

  He pulled back suddenly from his assault on her lips and neck, to grab her by the shoulders. “I love you. I love you as humans do.”

  “I love you too,” she whispered back. Their lips met again. He tugged violently on her clothes, seemingly desperate for their removal. She happily consented, helping him peel away the pesky layers of fabric. His hands went immediately to her breasts, massaging them with a gentle hand that knew to turn a bit rough at the right spot. She moaned wildly as she threw her head back and his tongue went to replace his hands’ motions. His tongue and lips were sending her into ecstasy already.

  She pawed for the scrap of material covering his member and found him, hard, in her hand through the fabric. He let out a guttural moan of absolute pleasure. She stroked him as he continued his pleasuring of her breasts. He went back up to kiss her again and then rested her cheek against him as she increased her stroking speed. The movement earned a grateful hot pant from him that hit her ear deliciously. He suddenly moved and pinned her hands against the mattress.

  “More,” he begged. He went to straddle her, and she felt his hardness press against her entrance. She nodded and he stripped the cloth off himself. He was as large as he’d felt beneath her hand, she considered with a blush. He posed himself at her entrance and interlaced their fingers together.