by Jessica Snow
Liam nodded and leaned in, his golden eyes brimming with love, and gave her a soft kiss. "And I wouldn’t have it any other way."
Part III
Chapter 37
Kat ran her fingers through her hair, trying to tuck that one loose strand that never seemed to stay in place behind her ear as she looked for her children. They were doing what the cubs seem to do best, which was play hide and seek. Unfortunately for Kat, Elizabeth, Liam, and the other members of her new ad hoc family, babies who were a part human, part werewolf, and part werebear learned to walk in their animal form much faster than their human counterparts. Despite being only three months old, the cubs had an unnerving ability to disappear into the cracks and crevices of the cave that she was currently calling home for hours on end, despite their parents’ best efforts to find them.
“Where the hell are they?” asked Elizabeth as she moved around the small cooking area that had been set up for Kat’s use if you could call a hibachi grill and a bottled propane stove a ‘cooking area.’ “Seriously the three of them have more hiding ability than children ten times their age. I thought you two were supposed to be some sort of supernatural were-beings. How do you give birth to a trio of ninjas?”
“That's probably due to my side of the family,” said Liam as he came in the front of the cave. “You know wolves are good at being stealthy. By the way, they’re definitely not outside.”
“Well come on Super Nose, they’re your kids why can’t you smell them in here?” Elizabeth griped back. “I thought you could smell a squirrel fart at five miles.”
Liam growled, but after knowing Elizabeth for nine months, he knew that his mate’s friend was only trying to express her frustration. Still, he wasn’t used to being spoken to this way, but then again, he never anticipated leading a ragtag group that was barely able to call itself a pack like this before meeting Katerina. “Kat, please explain to your friend again how our children have soaked this entire space with their smell and so it’s impossible to track them within the cave.”
“I think you did a pretty good job of that yourself just now,” Kat replied, feeling the beginnings of another frustrating bout of cabin fever coming on. It sucked being stuck in the cave or in the immediate woods surrounding it for her own safety since giving birth. She wanted to get out, she had things to do! “Keep looking, they’ve got to be here somewhere.”
Inside of her, there were two voices constantly talking to Kat. On one hand, the side of her that was worried about her father and sister was constantly yammering for the chance at freedom from the cave that she had spent most of the past four months inside. She wanted to use her abilities, even if they were not well-trained yet, to try to find her missing father and sister. On the other hand, there was the constant voice of her mothering instinct which has grown so loud since learning that she was pregnant. It was the same voice that guided her and helped her tame some of her temper that she was still struggling with when it came to her bear side.
“Well, in any case, I’m going to make sure I put my butt right in front of the door of the cave,” Elizabeth said, dusting off her jeans as she gave up the search. “I figure that either they’ll get hungry and come to Mama, or they’ll get bored and come to Mama and Papa. Either way, if they stay in the cave we’re fine. They just better know that their Aunt Lizzie isn’t happy with them.”
Liam looked like he was about to argue with the plan, but saw the wisdom of Elizabeth’s comment. “I’ll keep looking around but you’re probably right. What do you say, Kat?”
Kat looked at her mate, feeling the intense mix of emotions that still didn’t feel quite normal even after all the months of her and Liam being together. With the addition of the triplets, her normal desires for his hot ripped body coupled with the frustration she had over her inability to control her shifting, plus the fact that her father and her sister were missing, left Kat with the feeling that things were spiraling out of control. “Whatever,” she grunted turning at heading back towards the food area they had set up on one side of the cave. When she was feeling this way, it usually came across as her being grumpy. “I’m going to get a snack.”
Elizabeth noticed the tension between Kat and Liam so excused herself to go all the way to the front of the cave, setting up a small lawn chair outside. Kat watched her feeling full relief as well as fear at the ease at which her friend carried the .50 caliber pistol that was strapped to her hip. She still was nowhere near as combat-effective as Ashley, her appointed Guardian, but Elizabeth was trying her best to be a babysitter, a peacemaker, and a good friend. Kat went back to the pantry, although it was little more than a cooler and a small footlocker with some basics in it. After a minute, Liam followed. “Hey what’s going on?” he asked, keeping his voice low enough that Elizabeth could not hear, but to Kat’s super sensitive hearing it was clear as day. “You know the little ones are just trying to play.”
“I know that,” Kat said softly, opening the footlocker and rooting around. “I know they’re just trying to play, but it worries me, Liam. They are three months old, and I have yet to see them in anything looking like a human form. Are we to have children or are we to have pets?”
“Dammit Kat, that’s not fucking fair,” Liam growled his eyes swirling with gold. Kat knew she had touched a nerve within him. He had known he was a werewolf from birth, and from that time on he was a little boy he had grown accustomed to the two sides of his personality. To him, his wolf side was just as important and just as much a part of him as his human side. For Kat, she was still getting used to the idea that she was a shapeshifter even though she had been one since birth as well. Of course, since her powers didn’t manifest themselves until nine months ago, she had a lot of catching up to do. “The triplets are just reacting instinctually. To what, I can’t say for sure, but they’ve got to sense the danger we’re in.”
Kat sighed deeply and selected a one-pound piece of salami that was in the footlocker before closing it up. “I know, I know,” she said closing the latch. “But dammit Liam, I’ve been stuck in this cave for almost four months now. The only chance I get to see the sun is when Elizabeth or Ashley is willing to watch them as they sleep. I still have no fucking clue where my father or my sister is. All I know is that my father is the captive of some group of psychos call the Wardens and that Ashley is not able to find out jack shit from them, they’re not talking yet.”
“We are all trying our best Kat,” Liam said, his voice softening and his eyes going from the angry swirling gold specks to a different type of swirling, a slight huskiness coming to his voice that stirred the passions deep within her. Perhaps some women lost interest in sex after giving birth, but for Kat, having a mate who was the living embodiment of masculine hotness just drove her even wilder. If anything, she was more frustrated than ever because of it. It felt weird wanting to fuck Liam when the cave didn’t even have walls to make rooms to put the triplets in so that they could fuck in a different space. Still, though, the way he was looking at her right now left butterflies in her stomach and a growing heat between her thick feminine thighs. “Listen, I have to go into town to get some supplies and to check on some leads to see if I can find McKenzie. But tonight, my mate, I want to run beneath the moonlight with you.”
Kat shivered at the implications of what Liam said. She might not be able to control her change very well, but the idea of being in the woods with Liam meant only one thing. “You know I may not be able to shift,” she said looking down at the growing bulge in his pants. “You might have to just settle for my hairless human body.”
“Like that ever stopped me before,” Liam growled lustfully, smirking. “Although sometimes maybe, when you have better control of your transformation, we can see if a wolf and a bear can get it on that way. I’ll see you later.”
Liam pulled Kat to him, wrapping his powerful arms around her body and lifting her up, a thrill that never had left her. No other man she had ever been with was strong enough to make her feel small and the s
ensation of his powerful hands squeezing her ass while he kissed her hotly, his tongue invading her mouth claiming her as his mate again left her breathless wondering if Elizabeth would say too much if they just got it on in the middle of the cave right here right now.
When Liam pulled away she could see that he had the same thoughts in his head. “I’ll hold you to that my alpha,” she purred back, running her hand over his muscular chest and down his washboard stomach. “I wonder would it be called doggy style still?”
Liam chuckled, shrugging. “I don’t care what we call it, I just call it that I want my mate. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
As Liam left, Kat walked up to the front of the cave with him, settling herself down next to the still relaxing Elizabeth. who had found her favorite spot that caught the best of the afternoon sunlight next to the entrance. She had brought the chair up a few months ago, and while it was far too flimsy for Kat, she still appreciated that her friend was trying to add a few homey touches to the cave. “Hey. I wanted to wait until stud boy was gone,” Elizabeth said pulling the phone out from the pocket of her jeans. “Your ex called again. And again. And again.”
“Fuck,” Kat grumbled, taking the phone from Elizabeth and looking at the display. There were more than just three phone calls, but also a text message from Kevin, her pathetic fuck stain of an ex-boyfriend. After getting dumped by him, she had found Liam and he was left with a massive case of buyer’s regret after Lori, the blonde bimbo dumbass bitch who he cheated on Kat with, had left him as well. “What the fuck does he want now?”
“Same shit, different day,” Elizabeth said as Kat checked the text messages which said she was right. She couldn’t just tell him to totally fuck off since he had seen her transform into her bear form, as well as a lot more. She might claim that he had hit his head and that it was all just the side effects of a concussion, but there had been too much shit he had seen. She had to keep an eye on him. “You know I’m not one for violence but I really wouldn’t mind if Ashley or maybe Zack took his head off.”
“Yeah, well Zack has his own problems right now,” Kat said, reading the pathetic text message from Kevin and deleting it. Hey, beautiful, I was really kinda hoping that you’d seen the light and give the best guy around another chance. Whiny, begging, and arrogant all at once. How the fuck did he pull it off, anyway? “He’s still carrying a major torch for McKenzie while dealing with Carly, who has her sights set on him. I’m just glad he’s nowhere near as fucked up in the head as his sister.”
“That's pretty fucking hard actually,” Elizabeth replied with a dark chuckle. “Do you really think that Crystal is gone?”
“No fucking clue, but until I either see her body or Zack tells me that he cannot sense his sister anymore, I’m not taking any chances.”
She was going to say more, but suddenly she got the, unfortunately, familiar sensation that had started to creep over her for the past few months, ever since she had shared a cup of wine with the vampire Theon. What had he put in that wine anyway, or was it some side effect of his attempt at using his eyes to hypnotize her? How are you doing today?
Dammit, I told you to stop sending me messages this way! Not unless you have information on my sister or my father!
She could feel rather than hear Theon’s chuckle as he replied. I know what you said but it’s very difficult to get a woman such as you off my mind. When you are ready to pay me a visit, I have so much other information we can share together.
Maybe I look like your long-lost Eva but I’m not her dammit. You keep this up and my mate is going to take your fucking head off.
I doubt that.
His voice disappeared from her mind, and Kat was left looking out the front of the cave at the forest below. Elizabeth gave her a strange look and she knew that she had been spacing out while trying to hold the mental conversation with Theon. “You okay?”
Kat hadn’t told anyone, not even her friends about the persistent mental link between her and Theon. She knew she could not tell Liam, he was already insanely jealous enough as it was. Besides, werewolves and vampires hated each other perhaps even more than both groups supposedly hated werebears. Then again, that hatred didn’t stop both men from lusting after her and Liam making her his mate. Still, she didn’t quite trust Theon, even if she felt that he did not mean her any harm. “Yeah, I’m fine, just a little preoccupied. Kind of common these days.”
“Yeah well, I hate to say it but you two were not as quiet as you thought you were. No problem, though, I totally get it. I’ll tell Ashley tonight to watch the cubs while you to go for a walk.”
Kat laughed, glancing over at her friend. Elizabeth, who, more than any of the other people in her life, seemed to have adjusted to the new reality easier than the others, despite her total lack of preparation or training. She even encouraged Liam and Kat to try and have ‘couples time’ when they could. “Okay, okay. Well, can you blame me?”
“Not at all,” Elizabeth said. “I just wish that your man had a little brother or somebody else that was like him that would look at me the same way he looks at you. Ashley tells me that one time I may have gotten it on with another werewolf, but I have no damn clue who it was, or if I could trust his ass if we ran into each other again.”
“Give it time. I’m still hopeful that we can get this settled and maybe I can move back into a normal house instead of living all Clan of the Cave Bear.”
Elizabeth laughed softly, both of them shared an affection for the old book series. “That would be cool too.”
Her phone rang again and she saw that it was Kevin. “God fucking dammit,” Kat hissed, hitting the pickup button. She didn’t want to, but enough was enough. “What the fuck do you want, Kevin?”
“Come on Kat, I’m just seeing how you’re doing,” Kevin whined in her ear. “You know it’s been hard to keep up with you since you guys moved out of the townhouse.”
“You don’t need to be keeping up with me, remember?” Kat answered. “Besides, don’t you have enough problems on your plate?”
“What are you talking about?” Kevin tried to bullshit, but Kat could read him like a book after all this time. Ninety-nine percent bullshit, one percent ignorance. “You know how I am, things are going really good.”
“So, you’re back in your place that you were getting evicted from?” Kat asked Elizabeth, giving her an ironic grin. “Or have you found a new place?”
“Ah, yeah… about that,” Kevin said, and Kat prepared herself for his most recent line of shit. “I am just scraping together what I need for the deposit now. I know it’s a lot to ask, but maybe you could help me out?”
“You've got to be fucking kidding me,” Kat nearly exploded. “I am a new mother of triplets, my father and my sister are missing, and here you are trying to hit me up for cash? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Come on Kat, I’m living in my mother’s basement. Do you know how embarrassing that shit is?” Kevin moaned as if living in a basement was the worst place he could end up. If he needed help that badly, Kat knew a few other caves they’d rejected because they were too small, he was welcome to one of them. “Seriously, I feel like I’m back in fucking high school.”
“If you paid better attention in high school you would have this fucking problem. Or do you need a reminder? Ashley would be happy to give you a refresher.” Kat smiled at the painful hiss Kevin made about her scathing comment. He might claim that he didn’t remember a thing about Kat’s shapeshifting abilities, but he certainly remembered enough about Ashley grabbing him by the balls and nearly castrating him with her bare hands for at least a little bit of the fear to stay in his brain.
“No thanks.”
“Then this conversation is finished. Goodbye.” Kat hung up and passed the phone back to Elizabeth, who made it disappear into her pocket. Just then, Kat heard a soft whimpering whining sound behind her, and turned to see her three little babies come creeping out of the shadows, their tummies obviously empty and wanting att
ention from their Mommy. “Well, I knew you three would show up eventually,” Kat said mock angrily, but it was impossible to stay angry at those three cute little fuzzy faces for too long. “I guess you want a little bit of Mommy’s milk?”
Two of her babies climbed into Kat’s lap, while the third went over to Elizabeth crawling into her lap for a snuggle. Distrustful at first, they’d accepted Elizabeth now as part of their small family, and cuddled with her easily. Elizabeth grunted as the third baby sat down in her lap. “OOOF! You're getting big!”
“They're just going to get bigger,” a new voice said from downslope. Kat looked down, no longer surprised at how quiet her friend Ashley could be when she was in full Guardian mode. She was just glad that her friend had ditched the Gothic leather and latex dominatrix like outfits for something at least slightly more appropriate for the setting, black military-like gear that at least looked like something a normal person might wear every occasionally. Even if it did make Ashley look like some nerd’s version of a GI Joe character, what with her tits making her t-shirt very hourglass shaped. “Hey. I’ve got good news.”
“Please tell me that you found my father,” Kat said as she lifted her shirt and with no shame at all let one of her babies attach to each of her own massive breasts. “Or that you found that psycho bitch’s body.”
“No dice on the second, but I do have a lead on the first. Where is Liam?”
“He's going into town for a few hours to get some supplies,” Elizabeth said, scratching the cub in her lap behind his head. “Hey, Kat, which one do I have again?”
All three of her triplets had nearly identical colored fur and facial shapes, but to Kat, the smell of each of her babies was unique and immediately identifiable. “That’s Hunter,” Kat said. “I’ve got Edward and Selena. So, Ashley, what’s this about my father?”