Shifters in the Snow: Bundle of Joy: Seventeen Paranormal Romances of Winter Wolves, Merry Bears, and Holiday Spirits

by J. K Harper

  Amani raised her eyebrows at him.

  “I always keep a bunch of casseroles frozen. The person who takes care of this place always makes sure to stock my favorites.”

  “Then I’d love some eggplant parmesan, thank you.”

  Amani watched as he pulled out some sort of contraption that was made of glass.

  “The heating element is on top, you see?”

  Amani didn’t understand how the thing worked, but she pretended that she did and nodded.

  Within minutes, the frozen casserole was hot and warm. It would’ve taken a lot longer to preheat an oven, yet whatever he had used was a lot faster and better than a microwave. She dug in. The first bite was salty heaven. She swallowed and then asked Gerard, “What about our driver?”

  “He’ll go back to Virginia to draw their fire and confuse them. As far as they know, we just ducked out of sight and will go straight back to the hotel.”

  “What if he’s in danger?”

  Gerard shook his head. “He’s not. He’s ex-military. He can handle himself.”

  “I don’t even know his name.”

  “Not important.”

  “Unusual name.”

  Amani saw Gerard’s lips twitch, as if he wanted to smile.

  “It’s better for you not to know much about what’s going on.”

  “I’m not a child.”

  “I know.”

  Amani saw Gerard look at her boobs. She crossed her arms. “I don’t want to be treated like one.”

  “Listen, lady, we’re here to keep you safe. Do you have a VPN to log into work?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “We’re going to bounce the signal around when you go to work. You’ll still be fine — I have access to a variety of servers — but we need to figure out just what it is that they wanted you to stop researching. What have you done in the last week?”

  Amani pushed her hair out of her face. “Well…let’s see. I was looking into patterns for mass homicide shooters.”

  “And?”

  “The thing is, there isn’t a pattern on people driven to mass homicide. They tend to be male, yes, but there’s only one thing that’s consistent with school shootings.”

  “Which is?”

  “They always tell somebody first.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Why would the Sicarii want me? I was pulling records from some of the earlier school shootings. There are a lot more than you see on television, you know. There was one in Pennsylvania which was really weird. The kid got sent to a mental health institution and then disappeared.”

  “Disappeared as in ran off?”

  “No. The kid was in his bed the night before, but in the morning he was gone. He never showed up again.”

  “So he ran.”

  “That’s the weird thing about it. He was basically catatonic after the shooting — why would someone who could barely get out of bed run? And besides, the security of that place was like Fort Knox. But there’s no video footage of him getting out. He simply wasn’t there.”

  “Strange.”

  “Yeah, I tried to pull more information on it, but then I slammed into ‘classified’ information, so I had to back out.”

  “What was his name?”

  “Albert Braun. Why do you ask?”

  Gerard looked at her, his eyebrows raised.

  “He’s the leader of the Sicarii.”

  Sweat

  Amani

  Amani broke out in a cold sweat.

  “No.”

  “I’m sorry, but yes. He is.”

  “But he’s…he was such a normal child up until his shooting spree. He took the guns from his father’s hunting rifle collection and just…”

  “Killed a bunch of people? Does that sound like domestic terrorism?

  “Yeah.” Amani twisted her hands together. “So what does that mean for me?”

  “You need to stay out of sight for as long as you can.”

  “But what about meetings in DC?”

  “Can you take an extended absence?”

  “I can take twelve weeks off for a medical condition. Since they already have a doctor’s note for my anxiety, it should be no problem.”

  “Send in your request for twelve weeks of leave.”

  “Got it.”

  Amani put her plate in the sink — that eggplant parmesan was absolutely delicious and she’d have to figure out a way to ask someone for the recipe — and went to get out her laptop.

  “Wait, hold on.” Gerard went to the Internet router and adjusted something. “Okay, now we’re secure. Password is lovely.”

  Amani typed in the password and connected to her secure VPN. She looked at her research. All of it was public knowledge. She emailed it to herself, since she could access her email without logging onto the network.”

  “Okay, I’m backing up everything that I have about Albert Braun.”

  “Good.”

  Amani pulled up the form to request leave and asked for twelve weeks off. She had excellent job security, and her boss was incredibly easygoing. Her boss had a penchant for going on long vacations and used her unpaid leave time in full every year, so she wouldn’t begrudge Amani’s extended absence.

  “I requested it. I think she’ll approve it.”

  “That’s good to hear.” He put his own plate in the sink, rinsed off the dishes, and popped them into the dishwasher. He started the dishwasher before coming over to sit next to Amani.

  “Listen, I know that this is a lot to take in, but I’ll keep you safe. You know that, right?”

  Amani closed her laptop and looked him in the face.

  “I know.” She meant it. She felt safe here.

  And just like that, he reached for her. He was slow, so she could dodge if she wanted to. But she didn’t want to.

  She watched his hands and face get closer and closer. Suddenly one of his hands was at the base of her head while the other arm went around her body, drawing her close. His mouth touched hers.

  She felt like he was made of starlight. When he kissed her, she felt the light bursting inside of her, warming her from the inside out.

  He pulled back.

  “Wow.” Amani touched her mouth. Her lips were swollen from his kiss.

  He leaned back and crossed his arms. “Sorry. Just felt like doing that in the moment.”

  “Buddy, you’re welcome to do that whenever you feel like…” Amani never finished, because Gerard surged forward to kiss her again.

  This time, she couldn’t even think in complete sentences. She could only feel the warmth racing through her body, his expert lips making her feel things she’d never felt before.

  When they came up for air, Amani’s legs were around Gerard’s body. She was naked on top of the table.

  He put his hand under her chin.

  “Do you want this?”

  Amani felt herself balanced on a precipice, ready to jump.

  “Yes.”

  That was all Gerard needed. His hands quickly pushed her thighs a little further apart before pressing the head of his cock to her soft, wet entrance.

  “Warm, so warm,” he crooned as he pushed in another inch.

  His mouth came down on hers, his tongue pushing inside, forceful even though his entry was gentle. He pushed into her core a little further until she thought that her body would split in two. He was really big, but all she could do was take it. His tongue was in her mouth, so she couldn’t protest. His arms were on her hips, holding her still as he sank inside of her body.

  Then at last he was fully inside of her. The table moved with them as he pushed into her and withdrew, keeping up a steady rhythm.

  Her toes were curled and her thighs were shaking when finally she found her completion. Her back arched as she panted hard. He began to kiss the soft skin of her neck, biting her hard.

  Then he followed her over the cliff. She could feel his warmth flood her insides.

  “Again.”

  She was s
urprised to feel him rearrange her. Now her feet were on the floor and her stomach was on the table.

  “How can you still be hard? We just…”

  Amani stopped talking when she felt him enter her again. He’d just taken her, but now he was doing it all over again.

  This time, he pulled her hair and kept one hand on her shoulder. He rammed inside of her again and again until she thought that she’d die from pleasure. His rough handling was just as good as his slow and sweet loving. She was breathing hard as he took her over and over.

  At last, he whispered, “Come for me.” She felt her inner muscles flutter around him as his seed jetted inside of her body.

  He pulled out of her body and went to the sink to clean himself up. Amani watched him with half-closed eyes, exhausted by their two rounds of lovemaking. Then he wet a towel and brought it over to Amani, wiping between her thighs. The warm cloth felt nice and soothing. No other guy had ever cleaned her up like this. Well, it hadn’t been an issue since she’d never had sex without a condom.

  Uh oh.

  Proposal

  Amani

  “You didn’t wear a condom!”

  Amani stood up, trembling. Her eyes were wide.

  “It’s okay. I promise to do the right thing. We can get married.”

  “Married!” If Amani had had something to throw at him, she would’ve done it in a heartbeat. “We just had unprotected sex for the first time and you want to talk about marriage?” Her voice was loud enough to echo throughout the farmhouse.

  He just sat there with a smug look on his face. “If you’re pregnant, you’ll marry me.”

  “Did you do this on purpose?” she hissed. “What kind of sick game is this? Are there even people out to get me?”

  She screeched as he very suddenly stood up and pulled her into his lap. They were both still naked. He wrapped his arms around her even as she tried to squirm out of his lap.

  “Stop wiggling unless you want to go for round three.”

  She stopped struggling.

  “First of all, no, I didn’t make up the Sicarii. They really are out to get you. You must have scared them. Second, I was planning on asking you to marry me even before we had sex. Third, if you’re pregnant, we’ll get married. End of discussion.”

  “Did it occur to you that I might not want to marry you?”

  “What’s not to like? I’m rich. We have great sex. And I totally adore you. Just say yes.”

  Amani guessed that she could do worse.

  “I don’t know anything about you,” she protested. “And these circumstances are hardly ideal.”

  He rubbed his cheek against hers. He had a little light stubble. “You know the important parts. The rest we can learn as time goes by.”

  Gerard was crazy, certifiably crazy, but his proposition was seductive.

  “You’re crazy,” she said, trying to convince herself to look past the post-orgasm endorphins.

  “You’re mine,” Gerard said. He licked the side of her neck with his tongue, which felt strangely rough.

  She felt her willpower crumble as she felt the hard press of his growing erection under her.

  Suddenly she was turned so that her back was to Gerard’s chest. He was pulling her knees apart as he surged upward into her body. Her body felt as if it burst into flames when his hand went between her thighs to stimulate her.

  “Oh!”

  He picked up the pace, rubbing her faster until her entire body shook. She was one second away from orgasm when he put his hands on her waist and lifted her off of him.

  She tried to put him back inside when he said, “Say you’ll marry me.”

  “I’ll say anything if you’ll fuck me.” She tried to grab him but he dodged.

  “Marry me.”

  “Yes.” This time, he let her pull him to the right spot as she sank onto him. They cried out as they climaxed together. Amani put her head on his shoulder, breathing hard and loving the feeling of Gerard inside of her.

  Then they heard the roar of a motorcycle pulling up to the farmhouse.

  Jacobson

  Gerard

  “Stay here.” Gerard didn’t bother to put his pants on, but he did grab a gun from one of the drawers. From Amani’s swift intake of breath, he figured that she didn’t realized that guns were stashed all over the safe house.

  He moved to the side and motioned for Amani to get down.

  They both heard the loud knocks on the door.

  “Gerard? It’s me, man.”

  Gerard relaxed and put down his gun.

  “Hold it. I’ve got to get dressed.”

  He found his pants and shirt and pulled them on. He told Amani, “Go upstairs. Don’t come down until I tell you.”

  She went upstairs totally naked, her clothing still around the kitchen. Her suitcase was down here, so she’d need his help if she wanted to come down. What on earth was Jacobson doing here?

  He went to unlock the door.

  “What do you want?”

  “Dude, grouchy much? I’m dying of thirst.” He walked into the kitchen, bee-lining for the refrigerator. He stopped when he saw the discarded clothing everywhere.

  “Did I interrupt something?”

  Gerard said, “Yes.”

  Jacobson had a huge shit-eating grin on his face. “So this isn’t about going underground — it’s about getting some pussy in private.”

  Before he even realized what he was doing, his fist was crashing into Gerard’s face.

  “Hey! Stop it.”

  Gerard hissed, “Don’t talk about her like that. She’s going to be my wife.”

  “My bad,” Jacobson said, stepping back from Gerard.

  “Why are you here, Jacobson?”

  “Just wanted to check on you. Didn’t realize that you had company. I’ll go so you can get back to boning her or whatever.”

  Jacobson went out through the front door, whistling to himself. Gerard locked the door again.

  “Amani, it’s safe. It was just a friend.”

  Amani came down the stairs. “Who was it?”

  “Jacobson. He’s the one that I send out to this house to check things out. He must’ve noticed that I was here and came out to check on us.”

  “Where are we?”

  “West Virginia.”

  “I’ve never been here before.”

  “Yeah, it’s not too far away, but it’s far enough away from DC to fly under the radar.”

  “So…what should I do while I’m under lockdown? I don’t have to work.”

  “Just chill here.”

  “You realize that we’re basically in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do?”

  “I can think of something to do.”

  She slapped away his hand playfully. “I’m sore.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” She darted forward to kiss his cheek and then immediately stepped back. “But I’m going to need some recovery time before you can take me again.”

  “How about a shower?”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  Gerard shed his clothes and chased her upstairs. She laughed the whole way.

  They cleaned each other with a soapy loofah, washing away the sweat and other fluids. When they were both clean, they wrapped themselves in towels and went into the bedroom.

  “I don’t know why I’m so tired when I haven’t done much today than sit in a car, eat, and have sex.”

  Gerard kissed her cheek and bit her ear. He put an arm around her waist.

  “Sleep now.”

  She put her face against his shoulder, which sent warmth through his body. In another minute, she was asleep.

  Gerard wondered whether or not he should go to sleep. He figured that he might as well, since he didn’t want to move an inch.

  With a big yawn, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

  Left

  Amani

  When Amani woke up, she was the only person in the bed.

  “Gerard?�
�� she called.

  No answer.

  Amani made her way to the bathroom. When she was finished, she went downstairs to find her clothing.

  She found a note by Gerard: Be back soon.

  She put her clothing back on and went to his couch to lay down. She felt incredibly tired, even though she had just woken up.

  She reached for the TV remote. She prayed that he had service.

  Yup. He had satellite TV. She flicked through the channels, not finding anything good. She felt her eyelids drifting downwards.

  * * *

  When she woke up, the sun was down. Gerard still wasn’t there.

  * * *

  After the fourth day, Amani admitted to herself that Gerard wasn’t coming back. Either he’d ditched her, his so-called fiancée, in this safe house or he had just forgotten about her. Either way, she wasn’t going to pretend that she was Cinderella. She could save herself, thank you very much.

  Amani called her sister, who worked in some semi-secret position for the CIA, but she wasn’t a covert agent. She lived in a little gated community in Northern Virginia. She’d have a safe place for Amani to go, even if Amani couldn’t stay at her sister’s house.

  “Hello?”

  “Zuwena, it’s me.”

  “What’s up, baby sis?”

  “I need a place to stay.”

  “No problem. I have a guest bedroom. Come on over.”

  “No…I mean a secure place to stay.”

  “What’s going on?”

  Amani suppressed the urge to start crying. She told her sister the whole story.

  “And that’s why you’re all alone in a farmhouse in West Virginia?”

  “Can you get me?”

  “Can you tell me where you are?”

  Amani was straight-up crying now, but she pulled Google Maps up on her computer and asked it to locate her.

  “That can’t be right — it says that I’m in Iran?”

  “Use Google Maps on your phone.”

  “Will that cut off our call?”