The Complete Wild Series (Emily Hunter Series)

by Lane Hart

  The new security was fine with me, and helped put my mind somewhat at ease. I didn’t really think we had to worry about someone breaking in, especially not for the purpose of getting to Lucas or Ben. Although nowadays I guess you couldn’t be too careful.

  Within a few weeks, Ben and I both looked like pros when it came to washing, feeding and changing Lucas. Ben was such a great dad, and I knew it almost killed him when it was time for him to go back to work. I also missed having a tag team partner to share the night feedings with, but I could always nap during the day if I needed to.

  My mom and Ben's mom were both huge helps with grocery shopping, chores around the house, and babysitting whenever I needed a few minutes to shower or catch up on my sleep. We were all starting to get into a comfortable routine. Although, I hadn’t been out in public yet with Lucas since it was so cold outside, and we didn't want to put ourselves at a greater risk of exposure to animals.

  One Thursday night, a few weeks after Ben had gone back to work, he surprised me by bringing home a box of puppies. He had never brought home animals from work, so I knew it must have been important.

  “Hey, baby," he said as he sat the box down in the living room. "I couldn’t leave these little guys at the office, and no one else could take them in. They lost their mother so I’m going to have to feed them with bottles until I can get them to eat hard food. I’ll find homes for them as soon as possible,” he explained quickly, probably thinking I would get upset that he'd brought them home.

  “It’s okay. You know I don’t mind.” I’d always wondered why we didn’t have any pets, but thought it was because neither of us were ever home when we both worked so much.

  As I walked around with Lucas on my shoulder patting his back trying to get him to burp, I took a peek into the box.

  “Aw. They're really cute.” The four puppies looked like they might be a yellow lab or golden retriever mix.

  “Yeah, they’re only about four weeks old. In another week or two they should be ready to be adopted. I’ll put up a flyer on the bulletin board at work to see if we can find homes for them.”

  “You sure we couldn’t keep just one?” I asked as I grew more attached to the cute little guys, watching them stumble around on their short little legs as they whimpered.

  “Um, no, I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

  “Okay. Why not? Are you afraid they'll hurt Luke?” I asked him.

  “No, it’s just, well, when I’m around the same animal for too long the urge to shift is stronger. That’s why I've never had any pets. If we had one, I wouldn't have as much control over my shifting, and I wouldn't be surprised if, over time, I'd wake up the middle of the night looking like our pet,” he explained.

  “Well, that’s a pretty good reason,” I responded. After thinking about it for a second I asked, “Will their being here for a few days cause problems for you and Luke?”

  We'd taken to sometimes calling him the shortened nickname. Or more like Ben had taken to it. He just liked saying, "Luke, I am your father."

  “They shouldn’t. I’ll be at work most of those few days, and I'm sure he’s too young to feel the pull to shift yet. We' can just make sure he doesn't get too close to them.”

  “Alright then." If he wasn't concerned then I wouldn't be either, and they were really cute.

  Chapter Nine

  The next day I got a really big surprise. I laid Luke down on his tummy time mat while I made a quick trip to the bathroom. When I came back he wasn’t on the mat. What the fudge? (I was trying to improve my language now that I was a mother).

  Lucas was a newborn. He couldn't crawl. Heck, he can’t even scoot!

  I looked over and saw his footie pajamas moving. I felt cold chills run down my spine as I went to get a closer look. There was a wiggling puppy in them.

  "Shit!" I exclaimed, then covered my mouth. I stooped down to pick him up from the over-sized outfit, and held him out, looking him over. He seemed to be okay, other than being a freaking dog!

  I grabbed the phone and was in such a panic it took a few tries to find Ben’s name in my contact list.

  He answered on the fourth ring. “Hey, Em. I’m with a client, can I call you right back?”

  “NO! You can’t call me back! This is an emergency! Your son is a puppy! A freaking puppy!” I screamed into the phone as I held the struggling puppy to me.

  “Okay, calm down -,”

  “How long is he going to be a freaking puppy? We've got to do something!" I interrupted him before he could finish whatever it was he was going to say.

  “Baby, take a deep breath, and let it out. I’m on my way. Just keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t wander around the house. Okay?”

  Like I was really going to let him wander around the house? I wanted to scream some more but it wasn't really doing any good. “Fine, but hurry!”

  After Ben got home we sat and rubbed Lucas the puppy for over thirty minutes, waiting for him to turn back into our baby.

  Tired of the monotony, my urge to yell came back. "I thought you said the puppies wouldn't make him shift!"

  "Sorry," Ben said with a frown and shrug.

  Finally, there was a slight prickling in the air and Luke shifted back in my arms to his regular newborn baby self.

  “Oh, thank God!” I screamed as I held him to my shoulder and rocked him, feeling him over to make sure he was okay.

  “Ben, can you please try to find another home for the puppies. They are adorable and all, but that was one of the worst experiences of my life.”

  “Yeah, let me make a few calls and try to find someone,” he said as he walked out of the room. I knew this was just as tough on him as it was for me, and could tell he felt bad that Lucas had shifted so soon. I didn’t even remember letting him see the puppies, so it was even more surprising. I hoped this didn’t mean he was going to ultra-sensitive around animals.

  Chapter

  Ten

  Later that night, after the puppies had gone to a new home, and we were settling into bed, Ben told me he was sorry again.

  “It’s alright, you didn’t know he would shift this soon,” I told him as I turned out the bedside lamp, and climbed into bed under the sheets.

  “That’s not what I meant,” he said quietly as he rolled over to face me. “Well, I’m sorry for that too, but I meant I’m sorry to put you through all this.”

  Now I felt terrible. “Don’t say that,” I told him as I snuggled against him. “This is not your fault. It’s not like you made yourself this way. You were born a shifter, and there’s nothing we can do to change that.”

  He shrugged and shut his eyes. “Sometimes I wonder. I mean, if you hadn’t come up unexpectedly pregnant, and you knew what I was, would you, I don’t know, would you have decided not to risk having a baby like Lucas?”

  My breath caught and I jerked back from him as I realized what he was saying. “How could you say such a thing?” I felt my eyes start to tear up and my throat tighten. “I love Lucas so much and I couldn’t even imagine our life without him. If I had it to do all over again I wouldn’t change anything. I don't care how difficult it may be for us.”

  Ben reached over and pulled me to his chest. “Thank you,” he whispered with his lips against my ear. “I love you so much.”

  “I love you too,” I whispered as I curled up closer to him, reaching around his back and pulling his hips closer to mine. “And I wouldn’t mind making a few more babies with you.”

  Ben breath caught, and then he froze in hesitation as I felt a stirring down low where he was pressed against me.

  I’d been cleared by my doctor for all activities about two weeks ago, but I hadn’t exactly been in the mood. I felt less than sexy with the extra fifteen pounds of sagging baby weight, leaking breasts, and weeks of exhaustion weighing heavy on me.

  But right at this moment, I was feeling more like myself than I’d felt in months. Ben had not rushed me to get back into the swing of things, or eve
n brought it up, but I knew it had been way too long for both of us.

  He pulled back to look at me as his voice lowered, “Are you sure you feel like it?”

  I had a sudden pang of doubt that Ben didn’t find me as attractive as he had before I got pregnant. “Yes,” I answered, “If you’re not disgusted by me,” I quietly added.

  He kissed me softly on my lips, and then kissed his way down my neck. “I thought you were beautiful before I knew your name, and I want you now more than ever.” I shivered as my body automatically responded to his touch.

  His hand started feeling its way down my leg, until he got to my bare thigh. I moaned in anticipation as my body started to tingle. I pulled Ben's shirt over his head and then reached down to free him from his pants, too impatient to remove them.

  Our lips met again and our kiss became frantic and intense. It had been so long since we’d been together, and I felt like I was going to explode.

  I was so relieved to have the intimacy between the two of us again. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed his touch, and needed to feel that closeness with him.

  Chapter

  Eleven

  It wasn’t long after the puppy incident that Lucas shifted for the second time in his life. I freaked out almost as badly as the first time.

  Lucas had been wearing a long-sleeved onesie someone had given us at a baby shower. There was a tiny yellow duck on it, and that was all it took. I didn’t know he had even seen the darn animal.

  At least this time he was only a little duckling for about fifteen minutes before he turned back. We decided it wasn’t going to be safe for him to be out in public anytime soon.

  One afternoon a few weeks later, my mom called and offered to bring over lasagna for dinner. I eagerly accepted the chance of having a night off from the kitchen.

  I looked out the living room window when I thought I heard her car pull into our driveway, and gasped as I saw an unfamiliar black Explorer pull in behind her.

  A feeling of dread came over me. I watched as a tall muscular man, with a clean shaven head and dark suit, emerged from the driver’s side. He was accompanied by a smaller man with a military haircut and a similar dark suit.

  My mom looked worried as she watched them for a moment before slowly getting out of her car. Maybe she had been speeding or ran a red light. But these guys didn’t look like traffic cops. No, they looked more like agents. Federal agents. I’d seen several of them during my years in a criminal law office, and if that's what they were then this was bad news. Really, really bad news.

  I wanted to run and grab my phone to call Ben, but I didn’t have the time. They were already walking up the front sidewalk and I had the interior door standing wide open in anticipation of my mom’s visit.

  I had a moment of slight relief that Lucas was asleep in his nursery, and as far away from these guys as he could get.

  I took a few deep breaths to settle my heart rate and breathing before leaving the window and opening the glass door. I plastered the most believable smile on my face I could before I opened it.

  “Hi, Mom. Who are your friends?” The two men were right on her heels.

  I didn’t miss the terrified look in my mom’s eyes as she looked up at me, but it only took a second for her to cover it up with her usual tough exterior.

  “Hey sweetie,” she said as she leaned in to give me a side hug and kiss on the cheek. “I thought you were expecting guests,” she said, telling me she had no clue who these guys were either. Carrying her aluminum foil covered glass dish, she walked past me and into the kitchen.

  I turned to the two men who were standing on the steps looking stony and cold with matching frowns and hard eyes.

  “Hi, can I help you gentlemen?” I asked in my most innocent and sweet voice.

  “Mrs. Hunter, I’m Agent Rhodes and this is Agent Barnes,” answered the bigger suit in the front. I was guessing he was in charge. He made me feel even more uncomfortable when he looked me up and down, pausing over certain areas of my body longer than was appropriate.

  I looked back and forth between the two men waiting for them to say more, and trying not to let my face give away my nervousness.

  “We’ve got a couple questions, if you have a minute to sit down and talk with us,” he said without really asking, then flashing me a smile that made me feel sick.

  “Um, okay. I bet you guys know my boss, Jack Justice? He’s a criminal defense attorney in Charlotte,” I said, implying two things simultaneously - that I wasn’t an idiot when it came to my rights and the law, and that I’d have my former boss on their asses quicker than they could blink.

  The shorter man looked up at me and then back over to his boss, looking a little uneasy. Good.

  “How about we just sit down a minute to talk to you about our current investigation,” Agent Rhodes responded.

  “Sure, come in and have a seat.”

  What was I going to say, “Screw you, and get out of my house?” That would only make me look more suspicious, whatever it was they thought was going on. Although, I had an uncomfortable inkling as to what this might be about.

  Agent Rhodes sat down on the edge of the couch but Agent Barnes remained standing. I quickly looked around for my mom as I took a seat. She was heading back into the living room from the kitchen, ready to hear what the men had to say. There was no small talk to get things started.

  “Mrs. Hunter, we had an unusual report a few weeks ago from a Ms. Mary Womack. Ms. Womack was quite upset when she talked to our agents.” He paused to see if I would show any recognition at the name.

  My heart had stopped when he had said, 'Mary'. That was the name of the nurse from the hospital that had seen Ben as a cat. I didn’t know her last name, but I was willing to bet it was Womack.

  When I didn’t say anything in response he went on. “Now, this seems silly to even say, but Ms. Womack is a nurse at Charlotte Regional Hospital, and she swears that she saw your husband, Benjamin Hunter, turn into a, um, cat at the hospital during the delivery of your son.”

  I felt like I had been punched in the stomach and all the air was knocked out of me. My chest was starting to ache from a lack of oxygen. I knew I had to pull it together so they wouldn't see how upset they were making me.

  I looked at my mom and then exhaled as I laughed, trying to get her to play along. She was able to squeak out something that sounded sort of like a coughing chuckle.

  “You are right, Agent Rhodes was it? That's one of the strangest things I’ve ever heard. I can’t wait to share it with my husband.” It sure as hell was crazy and unbelievable, even though it was true.

  Agent Rhodes shifted himself on the couch. He looked uneasy talking about something so odd. I was pretty sure the feds had never dealt with anything like this before.

  “Well, Mrs. Hunter, that’s what we all thought at first too. Then we had Ms. Womack take a lie detector test and she passed with flying colors. We’ve since started an investigation into your husband and his past. He’s a veterinarian in the area, correct?”

  For the love of God! I knew polygraphs were not admissible in court, but that didn’t mean law enforcement agencies had stopped using them for interrogation of suspects and witnesses. It also didn't mean that they weren’t accurate.

  Since anyone with a phonebook could find out from the yellow pages where Ben worked, I didn’t mind answering that question. “Yes sir, he is.”

  My mom had collected more of her wits, and tried to come to my defense. “What do the rantings of a crazy woman have to do with my daughter and her husband, Agent Rhodes?”

  The agent turned to look at my mother more closely. I tried to relax a tad with his eyes off me, and then glanced over and realized Agent Barnes hadn’t stopped watching me.

  “Well, Mrs. Jennings, you are Julie Jennings correct?”

  Shit! They had done their homework. My mom only looked slightly caught off guard by the fact that he already knew her name.

  “Yes, that’s me,”
she said snidely as she straightened her spine defiantly.

  “Well, Mrs. Jennings, we wanted to give your daughter and yourself a chance to talk candidly with us, and avoid being caught up in what could be a very dangerous investigation.”

  Ah-ha! So they were going to try and threaten and intimidate us into telling them Ben’s secret. Now they were just making me angry.

  “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you,” I said standing up to indicate our little heart to heart was over. “But we can’t help you with this idiotic pursuit you’re on. I'm actually surprised that the federal government is wasting time and tax payers’ money on this sort of nonsense."

  I went and stood by the front door with my arms crossed over my chest, waiting for them to start moving. I had one last parting comment to for them as they finally stood up to leave.

  "I’m sorry you've wasted your time, but if you'd give me one of your cards I’ll pass your contact information on to my boss, Jack.” That’s me threatening you jackasses. How dare they come into my house and threaten my family.

  Agent Rhodes had started in the direction of the door then jerked to a stop for an instant before throwing his air of nonchalance back over himself.

  "Why, Mrs. Hunter, that makes me more than a little suspicious that you know more than you're telling us if you are planning on bringing your boss into this matter. Why do you think you need to involve a criminal defense attorney?"

  Oh, I was really starting to hate this guy.

  "After working for Jack for five years I know for a fact that innocent people need attorneys more than the guilty do, to protect them from malicious prosecutions." Which was actually the truth. It’s really hard to prove that you didn’t do something. The only problem was that in most criminal cases there was usually a ton of evidence against our clients, and there were very few of them who got off because they were truly innocent.