The BabyMakers’ Shared Property

by Hollie Hutchins

  As they turned the corner onto their street, their conversation was interrupted by muffled, panicked voices echoing from up ahead.

  “Hurry, let’s go!”

  “Someone’s coming!”

  Charlie stepped ahead of everyone and put a silencing finger to his lips. He slowed his pace. Alex and Teddy did the same.

  The voices ceased, the sound of footsteps replaced them. They were coming towards them. Teddy stepped in front of Alex and put his hand out to ensure she stayed behind him. Alex would normally not fall back so easily, but she’d just been given a clean bill of health from the doctor and she was not about to let something happen to her precious pup.

  Two figures emerged from the shadows and into the light of the streetlamp. One was large, bigger that Charlie and Teddy, the other was a tall, skinny kid. They were wearing all black and the skinny one was carrying a black duffle bag.

  “What are you punks up to?” said Charlie. He stopped a few feet short of the kids. “Why are you sneaking around our property in the dark?” The bigger one looked at the skinny one and Charlie turned his attention to the one in charge. “Answer me.”

  “How’s your dad?” he said, smiling. “We heard he had a little accident at work today.”

  Charlie closed the distance between them and grabbed the kid’s collar. “What do you know about it? Huh? Were you a part of it?” Alex saw a flicker of fear in the kid’s eye. “Tell me what you know and what you’re doing here right now, or I’ll gut you like the slimy bottom feeder you are.”

  The big one took a step towards them. Teddy moved closer to the group and a deep, threatening growl emanated from the wolf within him. Charlie’s breathing, Alex noticed, was labored and the kid’s features were beginning to morph. His eyes were growing larger and his nose longer.

  Charlie dropped the kid on the ground, causing the contents of the duffle bag to spill out all over the street. Charlie’s arms were outstretched and the hair on them was thickening. Claws sprouted where there were once fingernails. He threw his head back and howled.

  The howl must’ve been some signal to Teddy, because in that moment both brothers transformed. Their clothes were shredded, left in tatters on the sidewalk. The kid was now in his wolf form as well, which looked somehow even skinnier than his human form. His big friend took one look at the transformed Armstrong brothers and booked it the other way.

  Everyone was on all fours. Teddy and Charlie paced around the kid in a circle, every once in a while barking, growling, or snapping in his direction. In their wolf form, the two of them came up to Alex’s shoulder. On their hind legs, they’d be a good three or four feet taller than her. Charlie’s coat was white and gray, which contrasted beautifully with the green of his eyes. Teddy’s fur was a mixture of chocolate and hazelnut browns, speckled with flecks of gold-ish blond.

  The kid, to his credit, stood his ground. He barked and nipped back at them, and even lunged once at Teddy. After a few minutes of this song and dance, Charlie lifted a paw and swiped, lightly, at the kid’s face. He didn’t make contact, but it didn’t seem like he was trying to. It was a warning.

  The young wolf ceded the warning. He laid down, slowly, keeping his head lowered, then turned over onto his back, and exposed his belly. The Armstrong brothers shared a look, then stepped aside and allowed him to run to safety.

  Alex wasn’t sure what to do with herself. Aside from her run in with Hera in the woods, she’d never been this close to a weare in wolf form before. She didn’t know how much of their human memories and personalities they retained when they were transformed. Were they more wolf or man?

  Her questions were answered when Teddy and Charlie padded over to her, friendly and dog like. They took their place again, on either side of her, and the three of them headed for the gate entrance. Alex stopped to pick up the duffle bag and collect its spilled contents, which were made up of two spray paint cans and a junky cell phone.

  Three of the mansion security guards were at the front gate when they approached. Apparently the kids had tripped some alarm by getting too close to the wall around the property. On the wall next to the gate was the beginning of a graffiti message, which read “Death to All Sapien Lovers, Long Live Pu”

  Alex assumed the last word was supposed to say purebreds.

  “Can you send someone to clean it up?” she asked one of the guards who was escorting her back to the guest house. The brothers, still in wolf from, went sniffing around the perimeter of the mansion.

  “We already have somebody working on it, Ms. Greenford.” He stood on the steps by the front door as she went inside. “I will alert the chef that you are home and ask her to start on dinner.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Have a good night.”

  She closed the door behind her and was immediately met with the weight of her mother’s body against hers. “Thank god you’re okay. A guard came to warn us a few minutes ago that an alarm had been tripped and told us to stay locked inside here.” Uma touched her daughter’s face and peered into her eyes. “Are you hurt?” Hera was standing just behind them, looking concerned. Her nails had started to grow into claws, but otherwise, she was still in her human form.

  “I’m fine. It was some kids tagging the front wall.” Alex went to the kitchen. “Anyone up for some coffee?”

  “It’s nearly nine,” said Uma. “Are you sure you want more caffeine? Isn’t it bad for the baby?”

  “I’m not going to be sleeping much anyway.” Alex put the kettle on. “And I saw my doctor today. He said coffee wouldn’t hurt the baby. Hell, he said I could drink alcohol if I wanted. Apparently weare babies are stronger than most adult humans.”

  “It’s true,” said Hera. “My doctor told me the same thing when I was pregnant.”

  Uma shrugged. “Coffee it is then.” She picked up the phone sitting on the small table in the living room. “I better call the house if I’m going to be here all night.”

  Bartholomew and Xavier arrived home from the hospital the following morning. Alex and Teddy told them about the events of the previous night over breakfast in the main house. Charlie was sleeping in and Hera and Uma got a ride home earlier that morning.

  “This is an outrage!” Bartholomew’s face was red. “They came to my house and threatened my family! I’ll have them killed.”

  “I don’t think that’s the best solution,” said Xavier. He was in a wheelchair, but he was looking much better than he had the day before. The color had returned to his cheeks. “They didn’t hurt anybody.”

  “And they already got all the paint off,” said Teddy. “Really, dad, if we go after these kids it’ll be a public relations nightmare. Can you imagine the headline? ‘Council Head tears apart two teenagers for vandalism.’”

  “Teddy’s right.” Xavier rolled out from the table. “There’s got to be a better way to handle this. I’ll head into the office and talk with the rest of the council.”

  “I thought you were supposed to be taking it easy,” said Alex. “The doctor said you needed to rest for at least a week.”

  “I can rest at the office,” said Xavier. “Trust me, I feel fine. In fact, I’ll feel much better once we get all this stuff straightened out.” He started to leave the dining room. “Oh.” He stopped and looked back at Alex. “By the way, love the dress.”

  She bought it the day before. It was simple and black, with a scoop neck and a form fit. She’d never been able to wear anything like it out in public, but now that she was in the weare territory, safely behind the walls of the mansion, she thought it was about time she explored her much neglected feminine side.

  “Thanks.” She smoothed the front of her dress with her hands. He smiled at her and was gone.

  “I better go in as well,” said Bartholomew. “You think you guys can hold down the fort here?”

  Teddy nodded. “You got it.”

  Alex had just taken a bite of her croissant, but gave Bartholomew a thumbs up in response. With that, the head of
the council took his leave.

  “Looks like it’s just me, you, and Charlie. What do you feel like doing?”

  Alex thought for a moment. Her eyes wandered around the room and out the window, where her gaze landed on the pool. “Oh, I know.” She grinned. “Let’s swim.”

  Poolside Temptation

  The chlorine stung her eyes and the water sent chills down her spine, but Alex was having the time of her life. She’d never swum in a pool before. In fact, she’d only ever gone swimming once, in a lake near Hera’s house. But the water had been ice cold and mucky.

  She loved how it felt to move through the bright blue, overly sanitized water. She could hardly get enough of it. Teddy and Charlie weren’t too excited by the idea of swimming at first. They’d always grown up with the pool, so the novelty had worn off for them years ago. Charlie complained that his skin always felt weird after he swam and Teddy said he’d already put gel in his hair.

  Alex simply shrugged and told them she was fine with swimming alone. She promptly went to her guest house, changed into the new bathing suit she bought, ran the ten or so feet from her back door to the edge of the pool, and dove in. Within five minutes, both brothers had changed into their suits as well and joined her in the water.

  “Hey, stop it!” Charlie was splashing Alex. “Stop it!” She splashed him back. All the sudden she felt something on her thighs, then she was being pushed out of the water. Teddy had swum underneath her and she was now sitting on his shoulders. She squealed and laughed, until he tipped her legs up and she went tumbling back into the water.

  She coughed a few times when she came up from air, having swallowed some of the water.

  “Are you alright?” Teddy was swimming up to her, followed close behind by Charlie. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

  Alex went to the shallow end of the pool and sat on one of the steps, her legs still in the water. “I’m fine, seriously.” She splashed Teddy playfully. “Just don’t do it again.”

  Teddy laughed. “No promises.”

  She started coughing again.

  “I’ll go get you some water,” said Charlie. He pulled himself out of the pool with one quick move. The muscles in his arms pulsating and glistening. Alex forced herself to look down as he walked away.

  Teddy sat down on the step just below hers. She could feel his eyes on her, scanning up and down her body. He reached out a hand and touched her thigh. “What happened here?”

  She had a scar there, from ages ago. “I fell off Hera’s bunk bed when I was little. We were playing damsels and stealers and things got a little too rough.”

  “Damsels and stealers?”

  “It was this game we used to play, my friends and I. One of us would play the damsel, one would play the stealing, and one would play the knight. The stealer would try to catch the damsel, take her away to... well back then we didn’t really know where the women went after they were stolen, so we would always pretend the stealers took them to the weare territory... That was the scariest place we knew of back then.” Teddy nodded. Alex put a hand over her scar, suddenly feeling very exposed. “Anyway, the other one, the knight, would try to save the damsel. Sometimes the knight won, sometimes the stealer won.”

  “What about the damsel?” Teddy pulled himself up onto the step next to Alex. “Did she ever win?”

  Alex shook her head. His face was just inches from hers. “The damsel always loses.”

  He kissed her. His mouth tasted like chemicals and orange juice. She savored the taste and kissed him back. She was reminded of their time together. Each brother had his strengths, but Teddy had been the best kisser. He reached his arm around her waist and pulled her in. Her body ached for his, for all of theirs. She started to run her hands down his chest, and started undoing the tie that kept his shorts up. He grabbed her hands and pulled out of the kiss.

  “We have to stop.” He moved away from her on the step. “This will lead to nothing good.”

  Alex stood up. “You’re right. We got lost in the moment, but now the moment is over and we need to forget it ever happened.”

  “Agreed.”

  “I’m going to go check on Charlie,” she said. “He’s been taking a while with that water.” She looked up from Teddy and saw Charlie standing in the doorway holding a glass. How much did he see?

  Teddy stood up as well and waved to his brother. “What are you doing just standing there like a dope?”

  “Sorry.” Charlie shook his head and walked over. “Here’s your water.” He handed Alex the glass without looking at her.

  She took the water but didn’t drink it. “Charlie, I’m sorry.” Clearly he’d seen what happened. “We didn’t mean to kiss. It just sort of happened. You have to understand, my hormones have been driving me crazy lately and seeing you guys out here, with your shirts off and playing in the pool... We shouldn’t have let it go that far. It won’t happen again.”

  Charlie stared at the sidewalk for a bit. “It’s okay,” he said finally. “I understand. I know what it’s like to be around someone you’re attracted to and not be able to do anything about it.”

  “It’s torture,” said Teddy.

  “Xav feels it too, even if he doesn’t show it,” Charlie added. “I won’t tell him about this, if you guys don’t want me to.”

  “No we should,” said Alex. “I don’t want us to have any secrets. We’ll tell him tonight. We can have dinner together.”

  “I think that’s a great idea,” said Teddy. “And maybe we can all agree to dress really shabby tonight. You know, so we can downplay the attraction.”

  Alex smirked. “Sure, works for me.”

  They were quiet for an awkward moment.

  “So,” said Charlie. “Does this mean we are done swimming?”

  “It’s probably best we head inside,” said Teddy.

  “Okay,” said Alex. She pointed her feet in the direction of the house, then turned on her heel, placed a hand on both Teddy and Charlie’s chest, and shoved them both into the pool. “That’s for splashing me.”

  Charlie started to swim towards the edge. “You’re going to pay for that.”

  Alex screamed and ran for the house, her wet feet leaving small footprints on the hot concrete and her laughter echoing through the mansion.

  Dinner was simple, Alex made sure of that. She told the chef to keep the menu basic and to, under no circumstances, include any aphrodisiacs. Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, and rye rolls were served. They made pleasant conversation as they ate. Xavier gave them an update on what was going on at council hall.

  “The rest of the council was pretty shaken up about the whole thing,” he said. “But dad and I were able to dissuade some of their worries. He believes we should use this attack as a driving force for the movement. He says we need to show those who are working against peace that we will not back down. Frankly, I agree with him.”

  “I do too,” said Charlie. “We can’t back down now that it’s become personal. I don’t want to bring a child into a situation like this, especially a half-weare, half -human child.”

  Xavier nodded, and swallowed a sip of wine. “Exactly, and the baby is the perfect way to show we mean business. Once it’s born, dad wants to hold a big party. He’ll invite everyone in Swan City, so they can come meet you and our child. You will show them what good can come from peace between our communities.”

  Alex was about to put a bite of chicken into her mouth, but she brought it back to her plate instead. “That could work, but I would be lying if I said the idea didn’t give me some apprehension. I mean, are we sure it would be safe?”

  “No, we’re not sure,” said Teddy. His eyes were wide and his jaw locked. “This is a horrible idea. What if one of those maniacs shows up and this time he aims the gun at our Alex? Or at the baby?”

  “We will have the toughest, tightest security available, and we’ll screen everyone before letting them in.” Xavier looked at Alex. “I promise, we won’t let anything happen to you or
the baby.” Alex stared back at the eldest brother and tried to take comfort in his confident expression. “Just think about it, okay? We have plenty of time to decide.”

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ll think about it.”

  “You too, Teddy,” Xavier said to his brother. “Think about it.”

  “Sure, whatever,” Teddy grumbled.

  The rest of dinner passed mostly in silence. When they all finished their meals, Alex suggested they move to the living room for coffee or drinks. Xavier had already graduated from a wheelchair to a pair of crutches. He claimed the pain pills they gave him were doing the trick, but Alex caught him wincing a few times as he made his way across the room and to a chair by the fireplace.

  Alex opted for coffee instead of anything alcoholic, still not quite trusting what her doctor told her about alcohol. The brothers all had whisky. Soon, Alex was feeling toasty and the fire Charlie made was roaring. She knew there would not be a better time to bring up what happened in the pool.

  “Xav,” she started. “We have something to tell you.

  “That doesn’t sound good.” Xavier leaned forward in his seat, and leaned his weight on his uninjured leg. “What’s up?”

  “Today, while you were at work,” said Alex. “Teddy, Charlie, and I thought it would be fun to go swimming. Anyway, one thing led to another and through a series of small, inexcusable mistakes, Teddy and I ended up kissing. Er, rather, making out.”

  Xavier nodded. He sighed and threw back the rest of his drink. “Well, it was bound to happen at some point with one of us.” He laughed. “Honestly, I’m just surprised it wasn’t with Charlie.”

  “You and me both,” said Charlie.

  The four of them broke into laughter and all the tension from the pervious moment quickly left the room. Alex sipped her coffee and looked at the three brothers. She was feeling brave and, after everything that happened lately, she couldn’t shake the overwhelming sense of how short life was.

  “It’s just a bummer, you know?” she said. “Because it would be the best stress reliever. With all that’s been going on, my anxiety has been mounting and I’m sure the baby is feeling it too. Having sex would make me feel so much better.”