by E A Price
“Gerry! Hurry up! Five minutes with me and you’ll forget all about that floozy squirrel!”
“Is it me or is she getting more obnoxious?” whispered Jessie.
“I heard that!” yelled Norma, making Jessie jump.
Gerry looked up at the door a moment before Brian, the moose shifter from the Tau team raced through it. And the one rumoured to have a crush on Norma.
“Director Sanders,” he panted, his face red and beaded with sweat but still managing to defer to his superior. “Where is she?”
“Norma?” Gerry frowned. “In there, chained to the toilet.” He inclined his head to the bathroom.
Brian ran a hand through his thinning hair. “Key, please.”
Gerry raised an eyebrow but wordlessly handed it over. Brian strode towards the bathroom, and Jessie placed a hand on his arm. “Be careful.”
He nodded and slipped into the room. There were some shouts of outrage – all from Norma, followed by a few crashes and then silence.
They waited a few moments. “Maybe she killed him,” suggested Jessie with an anxious grimace.
Her fears were unfounded as Brian walked out the room with his arm around Norma. He was smiling down at her while she gazed at him, adoringly. “I apologize for what happened, Director,” said Brian, never taking his eyes off Norma. “I’m taking Norma home, right, sugar plum?” The last part was directed at Norma.
“Whatever you say, snookums,” simpered the creature formerly known as Norma.
Neither Gerry nor Jessie argued as the couple walked away – with some difficulty because they appeared to be joined at the hip. They wouldn’t have argued anyway; they were far too flabbergasted – that was the only word for it - by the sight of Norma giggling, that neither could form words for five minutes.
“Wow,” said Jessie, eventually. “That was awesome. I didn’t know Brian had it in him.”
“No, indeed.”
Jessie beamed. “As long as Norma’s happy.”
“Quite.”
“And not trying to kill me.”
“Definitely,” he breathed in complete agreement with his beast, who, if Gerry didn’t know better, seemed to be snickering.
Jessie gripped his tie and pulled him down for a kiss. Her breath was hot against his mouth. “You know the handcuffs are still in there.” Her eyes flashed suggestively.
Gerry grinned with a predatory gleam. “Why Mrs. Sanders, I thought sex in the office was off limits.”
She fluttered her eyelashes. “I think I may make an exception this one time. It is Valentine’s Day, you know?” Her eyes flickered down to the bracelet on her wrist. Something she had at turns cooed and admonished him for since he gave it to her. She worried it was too expensive but adored it too much to give it back. “I have my present; maybe I should give you a present.”
Jessie pressed her curvy body against him, trapping his hard erection. He let out a groan that settled into a growl. “Damn, I wish it could be Valentine’s every day.”
She laughed as she pulled him into the bathroom. “C’mon, this floozy’s getting impatient.”
Gerry snorted as his snake roared in excitement. Mate.
The end
Shannon, the Annoying Ghost
“Just a couple more steps, babe. You know this would be easier if you just let me carry you.”
Erin clutched at her mate’s hand and smiled. “Pregnancy doesn’t make me incapable.”
“I like carrying you,” said Gunner. She could hear the smile in his voice.
“Yeah, well, a couple more months and I’m not sure I will be able to support my own weight,” grumbled Erin.
She still had four months left to go before her due date, but she was already huge. She blamed that on the extra passengers. When her polar bear shifter mate warned her that multiple births ran in his family, she really should have paid more attention. Now, she was pregnant with triplets and had no idea how she was going to cope with three little cubs running around all at once. Gunner had helpfully suggested that she quit her job, but that was met with a sour look, and he never brought it up again. Although he had managed to bamboozle her into cutting back her working hours, and given how tired she was all the time, she wasn’t sorry about that.
Erin was human and a psychic. They both worked as agents for the Supernatural Enforcers Agency in Los Lobos. It was love at first sight when Erin joined his team just less than a year ago. Well, lust at first sight. The love soon grew, and they mated, bonded, married and Erin got pregnant. To say it had been a whirlwind of a year was an understatement.
She was excited about the impending birth, but also nervous, and happy, and above all absolutely terrified. She really wished Cutter - another SEA agent - would stop making Alien jokes about the birth. She already worried about the size of the babies without fearing they may burst out of her stomach. Gunner assured her it would be a normal birth, and the babies would be normal size. But three at once was still scary. Although, if given the choice, she wouldn’t give up a single one. Soon they would be the proud parents of two boys and a girl, and yes, she already loved all of her brood dearly.
“Mind the step, babe.”
Gunner carefully lifted her up.
“You know this would be easier if I weren't blindfolded.”
“And spoil the surprise? We’re almost there.”
When Gunner told her he had a surprise for her for Valentine’s, she expected a box of chocolates (which would have been very welcome in spite of her ever spreading ass), or maybe even baby clothes (which they were definitely going to need). But his surprise involved a blindfold, a seemingly never ending car journey and an awkward walk because she was not so helpless that she would submit to being carried everywhere.
“Gunner,” she said wearily.
“We’re here, babe. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
He whipped the blindfold off, and she blinked at the bright Los Lobos sun. “Where are we?”
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck. “Our new home.”
“Our new…” Her voice trailed away as she caught sight of an enormous, beautiful house. It looked just like the Halliwell house from Charmed. Oh, she missed that show. “That’s our house?”
“Yep. You like?”
“It’s… it’s….” Tears pricked at her eyes. Damn pregnancy hormones.
“Perfect?” he murmured into her ear.
She nodded and sniffled, drawing his arms further around her. “I… I…”
“Love it?”
“Mmmm hmm. I’m…”
“An extremely lucky woman to have such a wonderful, handsome, sexually thrilling mate?”
He chuckled as she elbowed him. “Just wait until you see the inside,” he purred. “Four bedrooms – including a huge master bedroom with a walk-in closet, two and a half bathrooms, a huge kitchen, enormous garden for the cubs to run around in and a study which I figure we can turn into a playroom either for the cubs or us – if you get my drift.” He nipped her shoulder, and she moaned softly.
“I should never have made you watch Fifty Shades of Grey,” she muttered. “But really, this is incredible, Gunner. Can we afford it?”
“Sure, my parents gave us the down payment, so we’re golden.”
“I don’t want to owe them…”
“Gave, babe, not lent. They wanted to give us something for the cubs, and I said this would be the best thing. You’re not pissed at me for arranging all this are you?”
Erin did a slow spin in his arms to face him. Everything she did was slow these days. “I love it. It’s the best gift I’ve ever been given.”
“You mean other than the three little gifts right here.” He smoothed his hand over her swollen stomach and waggled his eyebrows while leering.
She rolled her eyes at him. “Now about our house, can we take a look today?”
“Yep. I was hoping we could actually start moving in today, but the owner’s been dragging his heels. Hopefully, he should be gone by
the end of the week. But he said we’re free to come in and start measuring for furniture or whatever. We’re going to need to buy more furniture.”
“I can’t wait.” She was particularly looking forward to buying the crib, or rather, cribs.
Gunner gave her a searching look. “You really are surprised, right?”
Erin frowned. “Of course. Why do you ask?”
He shrugged. “I just worried that you might get a vision of it, that’s all.”
“Nope, we are vision free on this one. This is the best surprise I’ve ever had.”
“You mean other than…”
“Are we looking at this house or what?” She tapped her foot impatiently.
Gunner beamed as he untangled his arms and took her hand. “C’mon, let me give you a tour.”
Erin stopped him and gently pulled him down for a kiss. His hands caressed her back before resting on her ass. She gave him a muffled ‘love you’ and he returned it with ‘well, you’re only human’ which earned him a playful slap on the shoulder.
When they finally pulled apart, she gave him a sheepish look. “Now I feel bad about what I got you for Valentine’s. I can take them back and get you something better.”
“Don’t you dare,” growled Gunner, his eyes flashed to the brown of his beast. “Besides, it’s too late; I’m already wearing them.”
He smirked as her eyes flicked to his groin. Yep, she’d bought him silky boxers with little horned devils printed all over them. Why? Because he was her horny devil. Seriously, in spite of her growing body, his lust for her never seemed to wane – in fact, it seemed to grow stronger every day. Last week she barely made it out of the house because he seemed intent on ripping all her clothes off and making love to her over and over. Yeah, it was a tough life.
Erin smiled at him. “I can’t wait to see them on.”
His chest heaved, and his eyes hooded. “Let’s go back to the apartment and…”
“Later,” she said firmly, “let’s go look at the new house first.”
Gunner let out a rumbling sigh. “Fine. But after…”
“Yes, after,” she laughed.
*
Erin couldn’t help the grin as she stepped inside the house. It was beautiful. Yes, she couldn’t definitely see their cubs running through he house creating havoc. Which, if they took after their father was quite likely.
When they approached the house, they spotted the current owner grappling with a sofa. After some nudging from Erin, Gunner had offered to help him. Erin had ogled her huge, brawny mate for a few moments, enjoying the way his muscles bunched as he easily lifted the heavy item. But then, curiosity had set in, and she just had to get a look at her new house. Erin had spent most of her childhood living in drab, awful hospitals and mental facilities because her family had found her psychic abilities unmanageable. The fact that she and Gunner would raise their children here brought tears to her eyes. Stupid hormones!
There was a crash followed by an exclamation of ‘shitballs’ from a female, and then, ‘that was an antique, you bitch’ from another female. Erin made her way into a living room. She found a young woman picking up pieces of what might have been a vase in its former life.
“Hello.”
The young woman looked up sharply and then relaxed a little on seeing Erin, although her eyes never lost a hint of wariness. “You must be the new owner,” she said flatly.
“Erin Christiansen, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Shelly Palmer.” She looked Erin up and down before smirking. “So you’re married to that gorgeous polar bear shifter, huh? He looks like he’d be a handful in the sack.”
Erin blushed and ignored that comment. “The house is gorgeous. I bet you’re sorry to leave it.”
Shelly snorted and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I think it’s an eyesore. All the houses around here are. They ought to tear them down and build something modern.”
“Fuck you, airhead,” snapped the other female voice Erin had heard. “The only place a bitch like you would feel at home is on a street corner.”
Erin looked around the room. There was no one else there. Shelly didn’t even flinch at the hateful words. Erin was about to ask Shelly, whom the voice belonged to when a person materialized right next to Shelly. She was a red-headed woman a few years older than Erin, a few inches shorter and a few pounds heavier – pre-baby weight, and she was glaring daggers at Shelly. Plus, she was definitely dead. The fact that she was walking through furniture was a testament to that.
The ghost was about to say something else when she noticed Erin gaping at her. “Holy shit! You can see me!” Her face lit up in ghostly glee.
Shelly, who had no idea that the ghost existed, never mind the fact that she was invading her personal space, scowled at Erin. “What’s wrong? If you’re going to be sick, use a bathroom otherwise I’ll have to clean it up.”
Erin managed a watery smile while avoiding looking at the ghost who was dancing around singing ‘she can see me’ over and over. “I’m fine; I’m just going to take a look around upstairs.”
With that, she waddled away, and actually managed to make it to one of the bedrooms before the spook popped up in front of her. Erin managed not to yelp, but only because she was expecting it.
The ghost folded her arms. “How come you can see me?”
“Psychic,” panted Erin, dropping down onto the bed. There was a heck of a lot of stairs in this house. Perhaps they could invest in a stair lift for the rest of her pregnancy. She pulled a bottle of water out of her purse and took a swig.
“Excellent! You can help me track down my murderer.”
“What?!”
The water went everywhere.
*
Erin perched on the edge of their bed mulling over what Shannon – the ghost – had told her. Shannon and her husband Mike lived in that house until a year ago when Shannon came home one evening and was attacked. She barely remembered it. She just walked in the front door, someone grabbed her, she felt a needle going into her neck and then… nothing. Next thing, she was a ghost, mooching around the house.
She’d watched as Mike panicked about the fact that she disappeared. He hounded the cops, he organized searches of the area, offered a reward, made countless appeals on TV, but it all amounted to nothing. Someone had killed Shannon, and her body was nowhere to be found.
Shannon wasn’t overly maudlin about the fact. No, she was stark raving mad. She tried screaming at her husband, but all to no avail. And she had to watch while Shelly – her husband’s perky, bitchy assistant (Shannon’s words) – came round to her house more and more. A month ago, Mike told Shelly he couldn’t live in the house that Shannon loved so much anymore and wanted to get rid of it. Shelly the sycophantic whore (Shannon’s words) agreed with him and pushed him to make a quick sale. Which would explain why Gunner got such a good deal.
However, now that Erin had arrived, Shannon seemed incredibly optimistic that she could do what the cops and her husband couldn’t. Namely, finding out what happened to her. In fact, Shannon had a specific wish list:
To find my killer. To find my body. To make sure I get a decent funeral. To set up an animal rescue center in my honor. To make sure my husband realizes that he’ll never be happy with another woman. To tell my husband’s assistant that she’s a total dog-faced whore. And to do the last one first.
When Erin had tried to reason with the spirit, Shannon became angry and threatened to haunt Erin and her children for the rest of their lives. Given that there was a chance her kids would be able to see ghosts, it wasn’t an idle threat.
Erin rubbed her temples. She had come to embrace her abilities, particularly given that she could use them to help people, but she did wish she could leave them at the office at the end of the day.
She was so wrapped up in her worries over Shannon, that she didn’t even notice her handsome mate striding into the bedroom wearing nothing but his Valentine’s Day boxers. He struck a few manly pose
s, flexing his muscles, but was dismayed to find that Erin wasn’t fainting with lust over him.
“You look really nice,” she murmured absently.
Gunner growled. Nice was not a good word. He kneeled in front of her and ran his hands up her legs. “I can sense your worry, babe. What’s going on in that pretty head? Is it about the house? Or the cubs? Because I swear to god, I will beat Cutter to a pulp if he’s been teasing you about Alien again.”
Erin placed her hands on his shoulders. “It’s nothing like that. But I’m afraid our new house is haunted.”
He blinked at her a few times before swearing under his breath. “I didn’t even think about that. Damnit, I should have bought a new house, that way nobody could have died in it, except maybe some careless construction workers. I’m sorry, babe. You don’t need this kind of stress.”
She melted for her protective mate and leaned forward to kiss his forehead. “That’s not really the problem. I’m fine with ghosts usually, but this one… she’s kind of pushy.”
Erin quickly explained about Shannon while Gunner went from mildly put out to outright livid at the ghost threatening his mate and unborn cubs. Not that he could do anything about it. Although he did start throwing around the word exorcist.
She rubbed his arms, trying to soothe him. “Try not to blame Shannon. I can’t imagine being murdered was easy to come to terms with.”
“I thought ghosts were supposed to be peaceful,” grumbled Gunner. “Why do we have to get the ghost from hell?”
Erin frowned. It was a point that had been niggling her all day, too. Ghosts, in general, were passive. They didn’t have feelings or emotions, which is why they weren’t exactly bad houseguests. Their friend and fellow SEA agent Isis was a little psychic, and her mom’s ghost lived with her and her mate, Raf full time. Raf couldn’t see or hear the ghost, but he often felt comforted by her presence. So why was Shannon still so bitter?
“Maybe we should consider looking into her case.”
Gunner grunted. “I remember seeing it on the news a year ago. I remember Mike offering rewards for her return. He mentioned his wife in passing today. But all he said was that this was her house, and he didn’t want to live in it without her.”