by E A Price
Shannon glared at Mike, who gave her a sheepish smile.
“Apparently, Shelly was in love with your husband, but also wanted to keep your trust fund money, so she made you disappear. She was worried about your body showing up, so she decided to keep you alive. I think the plan was to get Mike to marry her and eventually she was going to… dispose of you.”
“I never touched Shelly,” declared Mike, piously.
“While you were in the coma, you were kind of half-dead, so your spirit was haunting your house, and as I’m psychic, you sort of latched onto me.”
“Where’s Shelly now? I am going to pound her!” Shannon tried to get out of bed, but moving was actually harder than she remembered.
“Take it easy, lovebug,” murmured Mike.
“Ugh, I hate that nickname you idiot,” hissed Shannon.
Mike beamed. “Isn’t she wonderful? She’s just like her old self.”
She looked at Erin. “So you figured out what happened?”
Erin shrugged. “I had a vision which led me here.”
“Which almost got you killed,” muttered blondie.
Erin gave a patient shake of her head. “When I called the hospital, Shelly’s sister called her, and Shelly tried to hurt me, so I maced her and threatened to shoot her if she tried to move. She’s now under arrest.” Erin stroked her belly. “I may be pregnant, but I’m still an SEA agent.” That was said to blondie who was seriously scowling. “Apparently Shelly’s not so tough when she isn’t sneaking up on people in the dark with a syringe.”
“Ugh, what a nightmare. How long have I been here? Can we go home?”
Blondie took Erin’s hand and hurried her to the door. “We’ll let you get some rest.”
Mike said thank you to them before giving Shannon a guilty smile.
*
“What?! A year? A fucking year? And you sold my house?!” Shannon could be heard throughout the whole hospital.
Gunner whispered in her ear, “Let’s get out of here before she finds out we bought her house.”
Erin snickered as he led her to the elevator. “No wonder she was such a cranky ghost – she wasn’t a real ghost. Must have been how she managed to take control of Wes, even if it was only briefly. I hope he’s okay.”
He pursed her lips, and Erin rolled her eyes. “I’m fine, the babies are fine – we’re all fine.”
“You might not have been,” he ground out.
“But I am. I told you, I'm surprisingly capable. And instead of worrying about what might have happened, perhaps we should pick up where we left off on Valentine’s.”
He thawed slightly. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She ran her hands over his chest. “In fact, perhaps it’s about time that we spent a little time getting to know our new home. Now that it’s spook free.”
He wrapped his arms around her and growled before nipping the bonding mark on her neck. She trembled in his strong arms.
“We don’t have any furniture,” he breathed against her skin. “Mike removed all his stuff – it’s completely empty.”
“Well, I guess you’re just going to have to be creative. Just make sure you wear the Valentine’s underwear – that’s a dealbreaker.”
He chuckled. “Sounds like a plan. Mate. Mine.”
The end
Lucky Charmed
“And this is my desk.”
“Oooh!”
“This is where I do my work.”
“Ooooohhhh.”
“And this is my stapler.”
“Oh my! You are the most impressive male I have ever met. Your very own stapler? Oh me, oh my! I’m surprised I don’t just swoon right here and now.”
Diaz let out a dirty chuckle. Wes paused and cocked an eyebrow outside the slightly ajar door to Diaz’s office. He heard the definite sounds of kissing and his inner liger huffed and inhaled.
Diaz had a female in his office. Not just any female – a penguin shifter, not one he recognized. Only one penguin worked in the building, and this mystery penguin wasn’t her.
There was a sharp slap as the female squawked. “Not here!”
Diaz made an uncharacteristic whining noise. “But Pingu!”
“Don’t call me that,” she hissed, “and we are not having sex in your office!”
Diaz was known for his flirty nature, but actually bringing a female to work… now that was unheard of. The horny jaguar serial dated and Wes understood that he never even invited his females to his apartment, never mind where he worked.
This was definitely worth a look thought his liger, virtually grinning with malicious intent.
Wes banged on the door and barged right into the tiny office. Both Diaz and Wes were lead agents for teams who worked cases for the Supernatural Enforcers Agency. All of the lead agents had their own offices, which was a generous description – they were basically shoe-boxes. Gunner another team leader and a polar bear shifter could barely fit through the door of his office.
“Hey, Diaz.”
The jaguar spun in his chair, a growl on his face and a penguin shifter on his lap. The penguin blinked at him, and Wes allowed a huge smile to spread over his face.
Wes placed a hand over his heart and gave his best cute kitty face. “Pardon me; I didn't realize that Diaz had company. I’m Wes; it’s nice to meet you.”
Diaz, still growling, managed to scowl at the same time, while his arm tightened around the female. His hand, which had been resting lightly on her ass, squeezed proprietarily.
The penguin rolled her eyes and tapped Diaz on the shoulder. “Rude,” she murmured to him, before beaming at Wes.
Struggling to get away from Diaz’s possessive grip she leaned forward and shook Wes’ hand. “I’m Penny; it’s nice to meet you, too.”
“The pleasure is all mine,” he said with feeling.
Diaz didn’t like that at all. Yep, different when the shoe was on the other paw. Usually, Diaz flirted outrageously with other agents’ females.
But, Wes had to admit he was kind of surprised at her. She wasn’t anything like the usual tall, sleek but ultimately self-absorbed bombshells that Diaz occasionally turned up with at the bar they all frequented. She was cute and sparky. But that wasn’t to say she wasn’t exceedingly pretty. She had large silver eyes framed by long, dark lashes, as well as a silken curtain of black hair that flowed to the top of her ass and a small rosebud mouth. Her eyes seemed to be alight with mischief. She was on the small side with very rounded hips – which Diaz didn’t seem to want to let go of.
Wes nodded at Diaz, who was locked in a perma-scowl. “One of your suspects? Trying to annoy a confession out of her?”
Diaz snarled as Penny smirked. “No, I’m…”
“My girlfriend,” snapped Diaz.
Wes’ beast almost fell over trying to laugh. The lustiest, most flirtatious shifter in the whole SEA building was getting bent out of shape at introducing his girlfriend to another male. It was just too delicious.
“You sure? If he’s holding you hostage, blink once for yes and…”
“Wes!” snarled Diaz.
He held up his hands. “Okay, okay. You’re a brave, brave woman.”
Penny let out a suffering sigh. “I know.”
“If you two are done,” ground out Diaz. “We have lunch reservations.”
Penny giggled, “I’d hardly say getting drive-through and making out in the car counts as having reservations.”
Diaz grumbled, and Penny whispered something into his ear that Wes pretended not to hear - it was full of naughty promises for later. Diaz smiled, and his eyes flashed to the yellow of his beast for a couple of beats.
She pushed off his lap, and with great reluctance, he let her go.
Penny twinkled a smile at him. “I just have to visit the whizz palace and then I’m ready. Nice to meet you, Wes.”
“You, too,” he said, unable to hide his grin.
“Meet you in the lobby, Walt.”
Diaz grunted and stood up
so he could awkwardly maneuver her out the door, making sure she didn’t in any way touch Wes while taking the opportunity to pinch her ass cheeks. The moment she was out of sight, he swung murderous eyes in Wes’ direction.
“Choose your next words wisely,” warned the jaguar as he dropped back into his desk chair.
“Walt?”
“It’s my name.”
“No way? I thought your name was just Diaz, to be honest.”
Diaz fidgeted in his seat. “Well?”
“Well, what?”
The jaguar narrowed his eyes. “Aren’t you going to make some comment about Penny?”
“Is there anything I could say that wouldn’t make you smash me in the face?”
Diaz grinned. “Doubtful.”
“She’s…” he considered the next word carefully, “nice.”
The jaguar scrubbed a hand down his face. “She’s perfect is what she is.”
“So… a penguin?” Diaz was always more of the big cat kind of guy. Although, for a while he seemed to be trying out different shifter species. Out of natural curiosity, he said. It was the reason he gave for flirting with the hedgehog shifter nurse – and definitely not because it pissed off the surly wolf shifter who had a crush on her and who eventually mated her.
“You dare laugh and…”
Wes held up his hands. “Wouldn’t dream of it. So you and her… been dating long?” If they had, he had kept it very quiet.
“Since Christmas Eve. I saved her life,” he told him proudly.
Wes snorted. He heard the story of the Christmas Eve hostage situation. According to the tactical officer, Lake, a penguin shifter – who he now knew to be Penny - had raced to Diaz’s rescue on roller skates and saved his life.
“Surprised you haven’t introduced her to everyone.”
Looking back, it was kind of odd that Diaz had been pretty much AWOL from the bar since Christmas. Usually, he was there every night.
Diaz winced. “Yeah, she thought so, too. She was starting to think I was embarrassed about dating her, so I had to bring her here.”
“Are you?”
“No!” roared Diaz, making the tiny office and everything in it rattle. “First of all, I don’t get embarrassed. And second, I would never be embarrassed of her. Just didn’t want any of the assholes who work here sniffing around her.”
Wes noticed that in pride of place on Diaz’s desk was a framed photo of Penny wearing a tiny pair of hot pants, a tight, pink t-shirt that said ‘flappy racer’ and roller skates. It stood out against the photos of Diaz’s many family members and his Corvette. Actually, Penny’s photo was directly in front of the Corvette – the car that Diaz had previously claimed was the love of his life.
Diaz pulled a box out of his desk drawer and opened it to show Wes a ring. It was a dark pearl set amongst diamonds. “I’m planning on asking her to marry me on St. Patrick’s Day.”
Both Wes’ eyebrows rose. Diaz, the biggest hound dog – or hound cat – in the building, a male who rarely even told females his last name, was actually diving into marriage at warp speed.
“Wow, that’s… fast.”
Diaz smiled faintly as he looked at the ring. “She’s my mate. I’m not letting her get away. I’m going to ask her to marry me and bond with me.” He snapped the box shut. “I was just hoping to get it locked down before I had to introduce her to any of my horny bastard friends. Hell, I was hoping to get it locked down on Valentine’s Day, and I would have if it weren’t for that crew of strippers who were breaking into houses, giving people lap dances and stealing everything they could carry.”
Wes nodded grimly. He remembered when Diaz and his team arrested them. He’d never seen so many male thongs or baby-oiled pecs in one room. Some of the women they robbed wrote to them in prison.
“So, how come you didn’t introduce her to my team?”
Diaz scowled. “I’m not sharing her with any of the males in this building. I gave her a tour of the cafeteria, the gym because I knew it would be empty at this time of day, archives where they keep the zombies, the technicians’ labs because they’re all nerds – and there’s no way she’d choose a nerd over me, and I introduced her to every female in the building except for Charleen in tactical.”
Wes considered that was probably wise. Charleen, the ostrich shifter, was the female equivalent of Diaz, and she liked women, too.
He slapped Diaz on the back. “Good luck to you. And just remember, when she says no, the Stop ‘n’ Go has a sale on catnip.”
He was out the door before the punch could land.
*
Penny fiddled with the strap of her purse as she waited patiently for Diaz to arrive. Her inner penguin tried to pout disapprovingly. She was not insecure. She had no reason to be. He hadn’t said it, but she was sure that Diaz loved her. Pretty sure. She sometimes had a sixth sense about these things, and she had the same strong feeling of belief as when she was certain she had failed her driving test. Course, during the test, she’d flipped off two other drivers, run through a stop sign, accidentally got on the freeway and was pulled over for speeding – but that wasn’t the point.
Diaz certainly loved being with her. And as for the loving – that was incessant and incredible. They couldn’t even see a movie without being thrown out for indecency. Diaz could barely go a moment without touching her, and of course, she was powerless to resist his expert attentions.
Penny loved him. She was in no doubt about that. And hadn’t she been the one to insist that they take things a little slowly? Sure, they’d already met each other’s families on Christmas Day. Hers had been flabbergasted. His had been teasing. But other than that they’d just been steadily dating, and obviously having sex as often as possible. And she had been fine with that. When they first met she wasn’t ready to mate immediately and had wanted to take a little time to get to know one another. But now she knew him, and she was more than ready for the ‘L’ word.
As to the tingles of worry she was currently feeling, she just hadn’t realized how many females Diaz worked with. There hardly seemed to be any men in the building at all! The zombies didn’t count, and the technicians who cowered under Diaz’s panty-wetting glare when they dared even look at her were not even in the same league as her horny jaguar.
And the women in this building… ay chi-wow-wow!
If they weren’t lion shifters who looked like Valkyries, they were tiger shifters who looked like the grinning incarnation of a saucy joke. And she wasn’t even going to get started on the swan shifter whose long, graceful neck looked like it should have an elevator installed. There was just far too much beauty in the building, and it was pissing off her squat, grumpy bird.
She wasn’t some lithe, fast, predatory shifter - she was a penguin shifter who had a tendency to lose her temper and be sullen. Not to mention her huge ass.
And yet, her penguin reminded her, it was a peachy, round ass that Diaz couldn’t stop groping. An ass that he lustily told her he liked to see rocking in front of him when he took her over and over…
Penny fanned herself with her hands. Perhaps she had been a little too quick to eschew office sex.
The redheaded tiger shifter – Iris? Isis? – stomped out of the elevator dragging by the ear a tall, dashingly handsome, strawberry blonde man in a green suit. She pushed him into the lobby and let go of him.
“If I see you in this building again, it better be because you murdered someone!” she snapped before turning her furious attention to the guard at the security desk. “Do not let this idiot past you again!”
The brutal looking bear shifter guard held up his hands. “I didn’t.”
Her lips pursed before her attention swung back to the man in green and she barked, “What are you standing there for? Get out!”
He gave her a stern look and pulled a green bowler hat onto his head. “That’s not how it works, m’dear,” he said softly, in a slightly lilting accent. “The SEA caught me so now I have to perform three acts
before I’m free to go. I’m indentured to you until I do.”
The tigress curled her lip in derision. “Right, because you’re a leprechaun.”
Penny couldn’t help the snort that escaped. She managed to clamp her hands over her mouth before any more of her bubbling laughter got out, but not before the ‘leprechaun’ shot her a withering gaze.
“That’s right, m’darlin’.”
“You’re not a leprechaun. You’re a lunatic. Seek help,” came the caring response of the tigress, before she stomped back into the elevator.
The bear shifter guard narrowed his eyes at the self-proclaimed leprechaun, and the only other occupant of the lobby, a tall, geeky looking young man, tried to shuffle away as far as possible.
Penny couldn’t help herself. Perhaps it was an inquisitive nature. More likely it was just a sneering nature, one she currently shared with her penguin.
“So you really think you’re a leprechaun?” she asked.
He took off his hat and gave her a flourishing bow. “Seamus Fitzpatrick, at your service.”
Penny folded her arms. “Aha.”
“Perhaps there is something I…”
“Take it easy,” rumbled the bear, rising to become a seven-foot wall of broken-nosed ruggedness. “Try anything and they’ll have to carry you out of here in pieces.”
Seamus, unconcerned at the threat, beamed at the bear and donned his hat. “Now, really, I’m only here to help.”
“How come you’re so tall?” asked Penny. “I’ve eaten Lucky Charms before. You’re supposed to be tiny and smoke a pipe, and come with your own rainbow and pot of gold.”
“Yes, I can see you are truly an expert on the subject,” he chuckled.
“You’re too handsome to be a leprechaun,” she insisted.
He placed a hand on his heart. “You are too kind, m’dear. But I assure you, we come in all shapes and sizes. Though, I am particularly good looking.” He winked, and Penny rolled her eyes, which made him chortle.
The bear, whose nametag read Boris, huffed. “I did not let you upstairs, how did you get past me?”