by Ivy Hayes
We did that yesterday before we had the meeting with his family. They wanted to fill in his sister and mother to what is going on while discussing the betrayal of his father. It went much better than we thought it would.
We started by telling them that Gregory and I were both shifters. We did not shift for them, as we did not want to undress in front of everyone, but we told them all about our abilities. I described flying and what it felt like. I explained how I have never wanted to hurt anyone, just live a normal life, but that hasn’t been easy being on the run.
After we had our turn, his mother decided to share her secret, that she is also a shifter. Gregory already knew and he had told me earlier in the day, but it was a shock to Gwen and Grant. I felt so much hope, in her moment of truth. She has been living here for nearly thirty years, shifting in secret and has been perfectly safe. Plus, her husband, a former bloodthirsty Ridder is now her biggest protector. I have no doubt that the reason she has been so safe is due to him keeping the Ridders far from town.
I also feel much better about his part of my attack. I understand where he was coming from. He had no idea who I was and only knew what the others told him – that I was horrifically dangerous. I would have done the exact same thing if it meant keeping risk away from my family. Now, I trust that he is on our side and in the same way, Gregory and I will have his protection.
One day, I will have to get the full story from Gregory’s mother on how she converted Lord Cliffden from his old ways.
Things have already started to change. Gregory expressed a desire for me to move into the manor with him and I accepted. I decided to leave my job at Nash’s. After all this, I will have a hard time being around strangers for a while and he completely understood. Gregory’s mom hinted at her pleasure of me moving in, as apparently there is a lot of things she could use an extra woman’s hands for. I will be happy to help.
I am floored by how fast his family accepted me.
Last night, as we were falling asleep, I finally told Gregory about my family. I told him about how my sister died and that it resulted in my shift. I told him how I left my family, without any notice. I told him how I was eager to search for them and he offered to go with me. Once the construction project is done we are going to fly over to my old town and look for them.
I am not even sure if they are still there, but it is somewhere to start. I will try and get them to move to Cliffden, but if they won’t we will keep visiting them. I realize leaving them was one of the biggest mistakes of my life and I am eager to rectify that mistake.
Right now, I am waiting for Gregory in our room. We are going to fly for the first time since all the trouble. He should be here soon, as he was just finishing up plans for the construction project. They start in two days, so time is starting to become critical.
I feel slightly guilty, as he won’t leave my side to head the project. Instead, he is relying on Grant and another guy from town, Aaron. My arguments for him going are only hitting brick walls, so I decided to stop fighting it.
I am glancing out the window when I hear the door open. Instead of turning around, I let him approach, not taking my eyes from outside. It is a cloudless sky, with a slight wind. A perfect night for flying, it should be a blast.
He approaches me from behind and wraps me up in a big hug, “Good evening, my love. See anything interesting?”
“Only that it is an ideal night for flying. You might even be able to keep up with me,” I say, and he laughs.
“I doubt it!”
“Yeah, probably not. But don’t worry, I won’t fly away from you.” He brushes my hair over my shoulder, then starts kissing my exposed neck. “Mmm, that feels good.”
“Oh Yeah,” he moves his hands to cup my breasts, “And how does this feel?”
“That’s alright?”
“Just alright, Hmm, I can do better than that.” He picks me up and carries me over to the bed. Not even bothering with taking my clothes off, he lays me down, then immediately bends down under my skirt.
“You’re right, that just might be better.” And he dives in.
We spend a long time loving each other, taking time to please one another. When we are spent, holding each other, I add, “I still want to fly tonight, you’re not too tired, are you?”
“Of course not, my sweet-eagle. Shall we go?”
With renewed energy, I jump up and run towards the window. He laughs out and follows me, my excitement is infectious. It takes us no time at all to climb onto the roof where we stand hand and hand, preparing to shift, then the unexpected happens.
Gregory shifts, no problem, but I am unable to. All it usually takes is a simple thought, I tell myself to shift and I do, but tonight I can’t.
Gregory is hovering right in front of me and the sudden realization washes over me. Next, something I did not think would happen, does. I start crying tears of joy. Not understanding my tears, Gregory shifts back and moves to console me.
I let him hold me and say, “I can’t shift!”
“What happened? Was this from the attack.”
I pull back, “No! Not at all. Do you really not know why a woman becomes incapable of shifting?”
He looks at me and he is thoroughly confused. “No?”
“You really haven’t spent any time with other shifters. Let me give you a clue, this will last for about nine months.” I watch his face, letting him figure it out for himself and I know the second he does. His face transforms from confused to joyous.
He whoops then grabs me and spins me around. I will admit, it was terrifying, I haven’t been afraid of heights in years, but this time, if we had fallen, I wouldn’t have been able to fly myself to safety. I yelped, “Put me down!”
Of course, he ignores my command but thankfully stops twirling me. He pulls me in close and hugs me, “You’re Pregnant!”
“Yes, I am. We are going to have a little one.”
“I have never been happier than I am at this moment.”
With that, we climbed back down and fell asleep after hours of talking about our future child.
EPILOGUE – ASH
It’s been two months since the Ridders kidnapped me and things have never been better. My initial hesitations with Gregory’s father quickly vanished after I saw him with his wife. They are deeply in love. If he could love her, another shifter that much, I have no doubts he will fully welcome me into the family.
Shortly after the excitement died down, Gregory and I got married. He was eager to do it as fast as possible, no doubt because of the baby. I was eager because I love him and could not wait to be a part of a family again.
It was a small affair held on the manor's grounds. His family was in attendance, of course, and I invited Nash. I had borrowed one of Gwen's dresses, that Rose was able to tailor to fit me correctly. The whole wedding was simple, and it was absolutely perfect.
After the wedding, we hadn't told people about the baby. We decided to wait until things progressed a little bit more. Now that I am finally starting to show, we figured tonight would be a good night to pass the news along. It will be a night of much excitement, as this is the day Parker arrives for his six-month stay.
Gwen has been a wreck all week, she is not excited about the prospect. She is still convinced that this is all a plan by her father to get her to marry Parker, but she assures me that will never happen. I have asked Gregory if he knows anything and he always shrugs me off, which means he does. Of course, I don’t tell Gwen this, it would only worry her more. From what I have heard about Parker, I think she actually has a chance to like him, if only she allows herself to open up.
As I said, it will be quite the exciting night. Gwen promised to make some sort of a scene if they so much as sat Parker on the same side of the table as her. I am positive she would do just that. In the time I have gotten to know her, I have grown to love her. Gwen is a strong, intelligent woman, and she was kind to me from the very first day. I hope that one day, she will start to feel like
a sister to me. Not replacing the one I lost but becoming a whole new one.
I really want to see her happy, so I hope this goes well with Parker. She shouldn’t be so hesitant, after all, she already admitted to me her lamentation about the lack of prospects in Cliffden. Apparently, no one here has so much as sparked her interests.
Feeling Gregory move beside me, I roll over to face him and say, “Good morning.”
He blearily opens his eyes, “Good morning, my love. Why are you waking us up so early?”
I let out a small laugh, “My sweet, it’s well into the morning, you were out too late.” And he was, the construction project officially ended yesterday, so he and Grant stayed out late into the night celebrating with all the men who worked on the project. They shut down Nash’s and I have a good idea that Nash was the reason things lasted so long, he loves to celebrate.
He groans, “I know, but I couldn’t just leave.”
“Yes, of course,” I lean over and give him a light kiss, “If you wake up now, I promise to give you a treat before breakfast.”
At that, he opened his eyes, and I could see the fog from last night was already starting to fade, as fast as his penis was hardening. “And what did you have in mind?”
“Something that would make both of us feel spectacular,” I say, then climb up to kiss him deeply.
We spent some time loving each other. Our day started as it always does now, happy and with each other.
◆◆◆
For more on Ivy's work, check out her blog at:
ivyhayesbooks.wordpress.com
◆◆◆