The Baby Shift: Michigan
Shifter Babies Of America 28
Becca Fanning
Copyright © 2019 by Becca Fanning
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
1. Gabriella
2. Edward
3. Gabriella
4. Edward
5. Gabriella
6. Edward
7. Gabriella
8. Edward
9. Gabriella
10. Edward
Also by Becca Fanning
Gabriella
On the outskirts of Ann Arbor, there was a quaint bed and breakfast with a weathered sign that read: The Pleasant Inn. Well, it wasn’t as much of an inn…more of a lovely country home offering four extra bedrooms with vintage décor from the fifties. The B&B had only a spattering of guests during their off season, but it didn’t look like there had been anyone there for sixty years when Gabriella set foot on the property. Her heart was heavy after the services for her grandmother last week.
To think, Nana Edna had left her this place. She glanced around at the property as the man in a suit, the family lawyer, looked at his watch.
“You’re welcome to do whatever you like with it,” he said. “Sell it, keep it open, it’s all your choice, Gabriella.”
She nodded numbly. His response had served only to overwhelm her even more. He placed a thick stack of paper down on the kitchen table. It kicked up a light layer of dust. Clearly, the old house hadn’t been disturbed for a week since her grandmother’s passing. The lawyer left, and she was completely alone. She glanced around the kitchen and spotted an old coffee press. She might as well be caffeinated. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear and dug around for some coffee grounds. While the press was on the stove, she began to explore the living room. God, Grandma had loved her old quilts.
Could she run a place like this? It was true that Gabriella had a simple office job. Nothing exciting, nothing like running a bed and breakfast. She frowned as she surveyed the area. The coffee maker began to whistle. She went to the kitchen to shut it off. The doorbell rang. She headed to the door, wondering if it was the lawyer. Perhaps he’d forgotten something.
Through the stain-glass section of the door, she could see a towering figure. She frowned. The lawyer had been rather short. “Coming!” she called as she approached. When she opened the door, her breath nearly left her completely.
He was handsome. More than handsome, really. Electric eyes and sharp cheekbones were staring down at her. She opened her mouth but couldn’t think of anything to say. He ran a hand through his mop of messy black hair, the green eyes glittering now. She noticed the duffel bag in his hand.
“I’m here for my reservation,” he said in a husky voice. Deep and dark and full of promises that she’d like to find out about. She raised her eyebrows and glanced at his bag.
“Sir,” she said, and his lips quirked upwards in amusement. “I’m sorry, but my grandmother passed away, and I’ve just inherited this place.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve been sent by my clan to this specific bed and breakfast for a reason. Happy to meet you…” he trailed off.
“Gabriella. But, I don’t know if I’m going to keep this place open…”
He reached for something in his pocket and handed it to her. “The name’s Edward. This is a contract between your grandmother and the Midnight Fang Clan for my stay. I’m booked for a year here. It has to be here.” He said the last part with a heavy tone. She blinked and read through the document. It was marked with a seal of a crescent moon and her grandmother’s own tidy signature, unmistakable from all the birthday cards that Gabriella had received from the old woman over the years.
She furrowed her brow and pressed a hand to her head. “Let me call the lawyer. Do you want to come in for coffee?” she asked. Anything to distract this handsome man. Talking about clans and the like and... Her breath hitched as he stepped into the light and she saw within his green eyes, the telltale golden specks that marked a Shifter. The air caught in her throat, but she showed him to the kitchen. She gave him the cup that she was going to drink and hurried to the other room to call. Emergency time.
“Ah, yes,” the lawyer said. “I forgot about the tenant coming. Silly me. Edna had mentioned him. Normally, he’d have to go elsewhere, but I’m afraid Shifter law is quite different. You can fight him in court if you’d like to hire me, but it may be expensive…as I understand it, he’s on a sacred quest for his clan…and well, the courts don’t deal well with the sacred. Not to mention, the press likes to talk a lot about discrimination against Shifter kinds these days, you know…” The man’s voice faded from her head. She was pacing back and forth in the other sitting room. A sacred quest? He had to stay here? She wanted to scream at the lawyer, at poor deceased Edna, at anyone. She ended the call.
Well, it looks like she might not have a choice. She pressed two fingers against her forehead to stop an impending headache that was threatening to show itself.
“Let me dust the room first,” she told him and marched upstairs without another word. She knew enough from her visits with her grandmother to know how to prepare one of the rooms. She gave him the room farthest from the other bedrooms on the second floor, hoping the distance would allow her to think.
Her phone rang. It was Alyssa, her childhood best friend.
“Did you inherit a secret fortune?” she asked playfully.
“Not quite,” Gabriella replied woefully. “I inherited a problem. It has to do with a handsome Shifter.”
“Handsome Shifter?” Alyssa echoed with a bit of confusion and worry. “How’s that a problem? What’s going on?”
“Apparently, my grandma made some weirdo contract with the local Shifter clan about this guy staying here for a year. It’s a spiritual quest or something.”
“Woman!” A cry came from down the hall. She furrowed her brow. Woman?
“Hold on, he’s yelling about something. Let me call you back.” Alyssa tried to protest, but Gabriella ended the call and came barreling down the hallway. The sound was coming from the front door. She saw her handsome guest hovering in the open doorway.
“First off, my name is Gabriella. And what? Is it the lawyer?” she asked as she approached. Finally, she got close enough to peek over his strong, broad shoulders.
“Worse,” he told her. “It’s a baby.”
They stared at the basket on the front porch. Her jaw dropped as she saw the squirming baby inside, beneath a thick knitted blanket. There was a note. She stooped down and grabbed it. Her eyes widened as she glanced back at him.
“It says Edward on the note. This baby…I think it’s for you.”
Edward
Every Shifter receives a spirit quest upon turning twenty-eight. It was a
rite of passage, a supernatural job of the highest caliber. He was prepared for anything. He’d spent months training his body and working among his clan brothers to prepare himself. Every morning, he meditated and did two hours of grueling fitness before even eating a single meal. It was meant to teach discipline, the training and the quest. But, this?
* * *
This was highly unexpected.
* * *
“This baby is for you, Edward.”
* * *
The human woman repeated her statement, but Edward was still staring at her with a blank expression. What on Earth was she talking about? He’d never been this close to a hum
an woman for so long. She smelled of flowers and vanilla. It went completely against the odor of pine needles and warm earth that he was used to.
She handed the note to him and then turned her attention to the baby. He ripped it open. It was the chief of his clan’s handwriting. There was no mistaking that narrow scrawl. It read:
* * *
Dear Edward, your quest has been decided by the council. You’re to raise this abandoned Shifter baby for a year. We’ve deposited the necessary funds into your account. The great wolf spirit looks down on you with grand blessings.
* * *
His blood pressure rocketed. A baby?! His friends had been given grand quests of seeking lost clan treasures, of hunting down rival clans to solve turf battles, of fantastic escapades! He opened his mouth and closed it, feeling like a fish caught on the line.
* * *
“What’s it say?” the pretty mortal woman asked. He couldn’t help but stare blankly at her and the baby. But, a small tug of guilt filled him. It wasn’t their fault that they were all in this situation. They hadn’t asked for this. His clan did. His own chief. An acidic feeling gripped his stomach.
* * *
All those months of training…all those hours of sweat, blood, and tears…for a baby? He couldn’t believe it. It was impossible to consider. The beautiful human woman blinked her eyes, looking like a stumbling deer in his eyes,
* * *
“I’m to…take care of it,” he said with a grunt. “For my quest.” Hearing it come out of his mouth was even more unbelievable, he couldn’t believe what he was actually saying. Him. A baby. Taking care of an actual child!
* * *
Her eyebrows shot upwards. “Do you know anything about taking care of a baby?” As if on cue, the little infant began to cry out. She went to brush the baby’s face and noticed something on the blanket. “Falon. His name is Falon. It’s embroidered on the blanket.”
* * *
“Falon,” he repeated as if that would help him process this moment of madness.
* * *
She glanced at him, her brows wrinkling together. He could feel the confusion coming off of her in waves. “Wait, is this typical for a Shifter quest?” She stood up and placed her hands on her hips with a frown.
* * *
“No,” he admitted slowly. He crossed his arms and looked down at the child. “What am I supposed to do with a baby?”
* * *
She threw her hands off her hips and into the air. “What they asked – raise him!”
* * *
“I come from a clan of highly trained warriors. We’re not meant to raise children like this.”
* * *
“You don’t have women warriors?” she asked with an impatient scowl. Her annoyance almost made him smile. God, she was ravishing even when she was annoying. He frowned. Now wasn’t the time for thoughts like that.
* * *
“Of course, we do. Mates take equal labor in their child-rearing, but—”
* * *
“But what?”
* * *
“I have no mate. I’m still among the unattached warriors.”
* * *
“So, like the bachelor werewolves?”
* * *
He snorted and rolled his eyes. She couldn’t understand the nature of a clan structure. “Sure.” He almost added “woman” but thought better of it. Gabriella. That was her name. “Gabriella.” Her eyebrows shot up as a small smile came to her face. It made her prettier, he thought. Not too bad, he considered. Perhaps the year wouldn’t be so terrible after all.
* * *
He glanced towards Falon, wrapped in his blankets. “Can you help me?” Him, asking for help. His mother would’ve laughed for a full hour if she’d see him now. But, what choice did he have? The human woman grinned.
* * *
“Today,” she agreed. “But tomorrow, you’re on Dad duty.”
Gabriella
“Mom, for the last time, he’s not my secret boyfriend. He’s a guest at Nana’s place,” Gabriella said in a strained voice as she sandwiched her phone against her shoulder while reaching for a box of diapers.
“Your place now,” her mother said in a cheery voice, “Gabriella, I wouldn’t be mad if you’d met someone. I think it’s nice that he has a baby. You were never one to talk about settling down, but maybe it would be nice—”
She cut her mother off. “Mom, just tell me what I need to get.” Based off the info that she’d given her mother about Falon, her mother gave an extensive list of baby food, diapers, and other necessities. After they’d finished talking, her mother sighed.
“Take care of yourself, honey. It’s okay to have some fun, you know.”
Gabriella groaned after she ended the call. Why were her parents always obsessed with her dating life? “They want grandchildren probably,” she muttered to Falon, who was sitting in his basket in the cart. She glanced around the aisle. Where had her lovely hot guest disappeared to? He couldn’t even stick around for a few minutes!
She sighed and navigated the cart through the aisles, grabbing a few things she would need for dinner…She had to provide his breakfast too. What did Shifters eat? She stocked up on breakfast sausages, eggs, and biscuits along with a heaping bag of coffee. She’d be needing the last item most of all. Falon watched her as she moved throughout the store. Funny, he was so quiet for a baby. She smiled at him, and his eyes twinkled. They looked a bit like Edward’s eyes, the golden flecks more pronounced beneath the fluorescent lights. She’d never been around many babies, but he seemed too good to be true in their first few hours together.
“Insane.” She heard a rumbling voice muttering under his breath. She turned around the corner and found Edward, chiseled arms crossed and glaring at the produce section.
“What’s insane?” she asked him, coming up from behind. He threw her an incredulous look as if she should know his every thought. A soccer mom was checking him out from behind a fruit display, not that Gabriella could blame her.
“Such gluttony!” he said with a sweep of his powerful hand. “There’s way too much food here for your local clans.”
“We don’t have clans,” she reminded him in a low whisper. The soccer mom was staring at them now. “And supermarkets always have this much food.” His jaw dropped, his handsome golden eyes nearly popping from his skull.
“You’re lying,” he accused.
“Not at all,” she said in a tired voice. “What do you like for food?”
“Vegetables, rice, and meat.” He frowned as he surveyed the market. “I don’t enjoy anything else.”
“I’m only making your breakfast,” she reminded him. She glanced at Falon, smiling as he looked between Edward and her. “And his, I guess.”
“Did you obtain all the supplies for—” He glanced at the baby. “The infant?”
“Falon,” she said firmly, rolling her eyes. He shot her a look.
“You find me annoying,” he accused, almost offended. How could such a brute of a man be so sensitive? She threw him a dirty look.
“I find you tiring,” she corrected. “There’s a big difference. I didn’t realize I was going to inherit an inn and a babysitting job today.” She wasn’t sure if the babysitting jab was more for looking after Edward or Falon…She tucked a stray hair behind her ear and began moving the cart towards the checkout. “Grab your debit card and let’s check out.”
He stared at her. “Was that the plastic rectangle?” He fished something out from his pocket and took out a sleek-looking black card. “They said the numbers were 8919.”
She shushed him, looking around. “Don’t say it so loudly. People steal debit cards.” He gave her a doubtful look.
“My reflexes are fast,” he assured her. She shook her head and grabbed a soda for herself in the checkout line. Sugar would help. Falon giggled. The cashier smiled down at him, her round eyes enlarged by her glasses.
“So handsome,” the older woman said. �
��You two make a beautiful couple though, so it makes sense.”
“Oh, we’re just friends,” Gabriella said quickly as she loaded all the groceries onto to the conveyor belt. Edward shifted beside her, watching the cashier with interest as she scanned the item with a pricing gun.
“Interesting magic,” he said. The cashier gave him a funny look. Gabriella cleared her throat and fiddled with the debit card.
“He’s not from here,” she said quickly and then swiped the debit card. She punched in the numbers, and the receipt printed out after a moment. The cashier handed over the receipt for their groceries with a troubled look. Gabriella rushed Falon and the cart out of the store as Edward trotted behind her.
“What next?” he asked.
“We load up the car and go home so you can start your journey as father of the year,” she informed him with a shrug. If he was looking to her for advice about parenting, he wasn’t going to find it.
“Why did that other human woman look at me funny?” he asked, his handsome face frowning as they climbed into the car. He’d easily loaded in all the groceries in quick movements while she fixed up Falon’s new car seat.
The Baby Shift- Michigan Page 1