Across from him was a full-length mirror. In it he could see himself, dressed in a thin jacket with a plain, white t-shirt underneath. His jeans were dark, almost black, and beneath the hem of his jeans his odd socks glowed green and yellow. Footsteps sounded behind him. He peered over his shoulder and saw Angelo standing in the doorway, his hands holding onto the frame on both sides.
“Look at you,” Angelo said.
“Look at yourself,” Antonio smiled at him. “Do you ever wear normal clothes?”
Angelo looked down at himself. He was wearing a sport jacket that made his shoulders look broader than they were, and his arms thicker. Underneath was a light blue shirt and his pants matched the jacket, the darkest blue possible before turning to black. “Is there something wrong with my suit?”
Antonio smiled and shook his head before approaching Angelo. He kissed him on the nose. “Nothing wrong with your suits. But, the way you look, you put me to shame.”
“Come,” Angelo said. “Let’s take that walk.”
They walked through the busy streets of Little Italy hand-in-hand. Antonio’s left hand was still in bandages but it had stopped bleeding a few days ago, already starting to heal. They wound their way left onto Centre Street and continued down until they were at the park by Brooklyn Bridge. Antonio smiled when he saw the bridge through the green leaves of the trees that bristled in the breeze.
They crossed across the concrete path etched into the park, with grass on either side of them, hidden behind a black metal fence. Trees towered above their heads, rustling and dropping the occasional leaf onto the path in front of them. The sun was out, shining brightly and heating the earth, but the trees gave them respite from the heat.
They passed the teal fence surrounding the Subway stairs and turned right down the path, slowly making their way past City Hall. When they reached the water fountain, the sound of the water splashing and rushing through the jets, they slowed their walk to a stop.
“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” Angelo asked. He closed his eyes and took in a long, deep breath of fresh air.
“I didn’t realize you were such a nature lover,” Antonio said as he watched his husband breathing.
“I’m not really,” Angelo said. “I love the city more than nature, but these parks, dotted here and there, they make me feel so peaceful.”
Antonio laughed and pulled Angelo close for a kiss, surprising him. The men shared a blissful laugh, the sun beaming down on them with the smell of green life all around them.
Their peaceful afternoon was stopped short by the sound of three ear-splitting bangs. Pop, pop, pop. They echoed off the buildings around them. Other people in the park shrieked upon seeing the person who had fired, then they sprinted for their lives. Chaos ensued. Running men, women, and children knocked into each other as they all scurried like rats, trying to find an exit. Traffic stood still in the roads as drivers tried to see where the shots had come from.
Antonio gripped hold of Angelo’s hand as his eyes searched through the crowd of people, trying to find out where the noise came from. Angelo was doing the same, his eyes darting madly from side to side, searching all the faces that passed him by. Instead of moving with the throngs of people, the two men decided to stay still to avoid being shoved down and trampled. With their arms pressed close, their hands clutched together, they waited until the park emptied.
A man was walking calmly toward them, from the way they had come. Antonio saw him and tugged at Angelo’s hand. He was tall, olive-skinned and had large, black sunglasses covering his eyes. His clothes were all black—a black sport jacket, a black shirt and tie, and black pants with matching black dress shoes. He looked ominous, like a shadow moving through daylight. Antonio held his breath as the man kept approaching.
When the man’s hand raised, pointing a gun at the men, Angelo jumped in front of Antonio to protect him. Five more shots were fired, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, one after the other in awful speed. Antonio clutched at Angelo’s back and arms with both his hands, unable to feel the sting of the wounds on his hand opening, beginning to bleed into his bandages. Angelo screamed something but Antonio couldn’t make out the words. All the sounds around him were blurring together. He couldn’t pick out Angelo’s voice from the rest of the screams and honking horns.
Four more shots were fired, slower this time, as if the man was trying to aim now. Angelo stumbled backwards as blood sprayed out of his shoulder, splattering onto Antonio’s face. He screamed, a loud guttural sound, as he stared at the exit wound on Angelo’s shoulder. Blood cascaded out of the wound, dripping down his jacket to stain and ruin it. Antonio looked at the man, who was now joined by two other men. Neither of them had guns, he was glad to see. The man who had shot at them tossed his gun aside as he approached them, out of rounds.
His face was pressed into a scowl as his mouth opened and closed, distorting into strange shapes as he shouted at them. Then his expression changed. All of the muscles in his face relaxed as the blood drained away from his cheeks, making his skin turn pale. Antonio felt Angelo’s body vibrating, inches away from his own. His hands were balled into fists as his entire body shook. At first Antonio mistook it for simple rage. Then thick hairs began to sprout on his neck, covering him in fur. The stitches in his suit creaked under the pressure as his body morphed and grew underneath.
Antonio stepped back from Angelo, letting him go quickly, as his body almost doubled in size. As his clothes fell away in tattered scraps, and Antonio saw his body was covered in fur from head to toe. His hands had changed into paws with long, sharp claws. A snout had grown from his nose, his jaw had shifted and elongated into a muzzle with sharp, white teeth jutting out of his gums.
Antonio took a step toward his husband, who had now changed into a beast he could only describe as a huge, lumbering wolf. “Angelo?”
The wolf turned, snarled at him, then bounded off on all fours. It headed for the three men who had come to attack them, possibly kill them. Antonio took his chance. He turned on his heels and sprinted out of the park, madly searching for somewhere to hide.
*************
Angelo could smell their fear. It came off them in sickly waves, smelling dank and musty yet strangely sweet. He glanced between them. The man in the middle was the one who had shot him, dressed all in black. The two beside him were dressed in blue suits, less spectacular and less expensive clothing. They were much more afraid than the man in the middle. Angelo lowered on all fours, preparing his legs to spring into action to throw his body at the blue suit on the left. He jumped precisely onto him, his claws digging into his chest and shredding his sport jacket into thin ribbons.
The man screamed as blood gushed out of him. Angelo wasted no time, though. He turned to the other blue man, pouncing on him the same way as he did before. His claws ruined that man’s chest, too. They were both sprawled on the ground, bleeding onto the concrete slabs below, crying and shrieking. The man in the middle was stunned, staring at Angelo with wide eyes and an open, shocked mouth.
Angelo pounced on the man in the black, digging his claws into each shoulder. He snarled at the man, sniffing his face with his snout as he writhed in pain beneath him. He wiggled what used to be his fingers, causing his claws to shred the man’s insides exactly where Angelo himself had been shot. He removed his claws sharply, ripping new savage cuts into the man’s flesh, as he turned his attention to the mans stomach. With one, quick swipe of his right arm, he sheared the man clean in two.
The blue men were screaming as they watched their leader die. Angelo looked at them, the pathetic little men that they were, and decided to spare them. Maybe they would die before an ambulance could arrive, but he doubted it. Let them live to tell the tale, let them repeat these words to their friends: never fuck with a Li Fonti.
Angelo retreated and turned to face his love. It was then he realized that Antonio was nowhere to be seen. His eyes searched the desolate park around him. As he turned his head he caught a whiff of fear and colog
ne. Antonio, he thought. All four of his legs moved at once, leaving the scene, following the scent with his nose. It lead him across the road, only to turn left onto another street, then sharply right onto an alleyway.
It was dark there, completely devoid of all life apart from the one, human scent. He slowed to a walk until he was in the middle of the alley. It was here that the scent was the strongest, pooled around him like water. Hidden behind a dumpster, Antonio was sat against a wall, breathing hard and fast. Angelo looked down to him and watched as droplets of blood fell from his mouth to splash down onto Antonio’s jeans.
“A-a-a-angelo?” he asked, his voice quivering in fear.
At the sound of his terrified voice, Angelo’s body erupted into tingles. His fur receded into his skin and his body shrank back to its normal size. He stood in the alley, cold and naked, in front of his cowering husband.
“D-d-did you k-kill them?”
“Only one,” Angelo said. His looked at his hands, covered in sticky blood.
Antonio leapt up from the floor and jumped into Angelo’s arms, squeezing him tighter than he ever had before. As his body began to tremble with his cries, Angelo hugged him back. Soon Angelo pried the man off him and looked at his clothes. Antonio was covered in blood—their attacker’s blood.
“W-what are you?” Antonio asked, his eyes thick with tears.
“Many things,” Angelo said. “Dangerous is the first thing that comes to mind.”
“Why didn’t you tell me what you are?”
“For this exact reason,” Angelo said. “Seeing someone recoil in fear from me is not a nice thing to experience.”
Antonio swallowed as color returned to his cheeks. “You didn’t kill me. I thought you were going to when you growled at me but… you went after them. And just now, you saw how frightened I was and you… you…”
“I didn’t try to change back to human. It just happened, I don’t control it. As for those men… They tried to kill us,” Angelo said. “They could have killed you. When I get angry, when I lose my temper, I…”
“You change into someone else, something else,” Antonio said.
“Yes,” Angelo sighed and averted his eyes to look down the alleyway, back to the road. “I guess we’re over, then.”
Antonio grabbed Angelo’s face roughly. “No.”
“But… you’re so afraid of me.”
“I was afraid of them, not you,” Antonio said, smiling. “When you saw I was scared you changed back, even if you didn’t mean to. It happened. It made me feel safe. I trust you.”
“I can’t control myself,” Angelo said, tears stinging his eyes. “It’s not safe for you.”
“I can help you control it,” Antonio said. “Let me help you. I’m not giving up on you. I won’t. We will find a way for you to control the beast inside you. Together.”
Angelo kissed his lips once as he stifled a sob. As their lips parted, their foreheads touched and leaned against one another. It was then that Angelo saw he was still naked and he let out a low, grumbling laugh.
*************************************************
Join my exclusive reader’s club for special offers and more Mpreg romances
http://bit.ly/2k8uWAr
***************************************************
Omega’s Swamp Thing
Description:
In the swamps of Dulac, Louisiana rumors of a beast with the head of a crocodile, the body of a panther, and the limbs of a man have been circulating for weeks. Some claim it is the spawn of Satan, others the work of powerful voodoo. Most just say that if people value their lives they will stay clear of the beast or risk losing their lives to it.
Caleb Mirand has every intention of staying clear of the swamps. It’s his friends who seem to have a death wish. Unfortunately for him, it’s not them who runs into the Beast of Dulac when they attempt to get video of the creature late one night.
It’s not his friends who find out the monster’s true identity a shifter named Emeric Benoit. It’s also not his friends who wind up falling in love with the shaggy haired, golden eyed man who can take on the shape of a crocodile or a panther at the blink of an eye.
Dragged into a world of magic and conflict, Caleb finds himself clinging onto Emeric, and giving everything he has to make sure that they get to stay together. Its them against the world, and as long as he has anything to say about it he’s not going to let anyone take away his monster.
*****************************
The stories had been circulating Dulac, Louisiana for a nearly three years. Tales of a creature with the body of panther, the head of a crocodile, and the limbs of a man that roamed through the swamps in search of prey to drag into the muddy waters of the bogs that surrounded the town.
According to the gossip around town, the beast was a man-eater, a relation of Bigfoot, a demon, or the ghost of a man who had been swallowed up by the swamp that turned into a monster to get revenge on those who let him die. One group of fishermen swore they had seen the creature drag a full grown deer into the trees to tear apart with his powerful maw. Another hunter insisted that it had been nearly ten feet long and had tried to tear a hole in his boat.
None of that made the beast sound like something that should be found.
So of course, Caleb Mirande’s friends had decided that they would be the ones to track down and finally film the Beast of the Dulac Swamp.
“Your hands are shakin’ so bad I’m afraid you’re gonna drop the camera before we even get the boat in the water, Caleb!” Caleb’s best friend, Alexis, grinned as her brother, Jason, started up their father’s airboat. “Relax! We probably won’t even find anything.”
“Then why are we going?” Caleb demanded, glancing up at the gradually disappearing sunlight coloring the sky purple above the trees.
“Because if we get video of this monster we’re gonna be rich!” Cameron, Alexis’ boyfriend grinned toothily, sitting down next to Alexis and popping open a beer as their boat lurched forward across the murky water.
Grumbling to himself softly, Caleb pulled his grey field jacket further around his slender form, the camcorder resting on his lap. He wouldn’t exactly call himself monster hunter material. He was small: standing at 5’10 in his combat boots and scrawny.
His mother claimed he was a late bloomer, and that he would get his father’s bulk when he got into his twenties. Looking at his 6’2 football star little brother he found that rather hard to believe. Still, he liked to claim he was at least the better looking out of the two. Despite his lack of interest in them, girls seemed to find his unkempt dirty blond hair, freckles, and hazel eyes attractive.
Too bad he had absolutely no desire to date any of them.
“Where did Mr. Foster say he and his son saw the beast anyway?” Cameron sounded off about thirty minutes into their mosquito filled adventure, into the depths of the swamp. Pulling out their map, Alexis spread it out on the floor of the boat. Pulling out a flashlight, she held it over the paper.
“He saw the thing right here,” She explained, her pointing to a blue ink circle, pushing her black hair out of her face with an excited grin. “That couple visiting from Texas said they saw him in a grove not too far away. So I’m guessing our best luck is going to be to check out this general area.”
“Great, I was hoping that you didn’t think this out,” Caleb sighed, glancing into the water and grimacing when he saw a pair of eyes stare back at him from the surface before sinking below the depths again. “Remind me, when I graduate, I’m moving as far away from these swamps as possible.”
“Scaredy-cat,” Jason teased from the steering wheel, pulling the boat up to a patch of dry ground that marked the start of the area where the men had seen the beast.
“Shut up, man,” Caleb grumbled, nudging the man and pulling out a cigarette and bringing it to his lips in an attempt to calm his nerves. Lighting it with shaking hands, he took a drag before lifting up the camera.
“Ready
?” Alexis beamed, fixing her hair as Caleb gave her the thumbs up and started the recording. “Hello, America! My name is Alexis, and I’m here with Caleb, Jason, and Cameron searching for a creature who has been terrorizing our small town of Dulac for just over three years.”
Following the woman around as she began to recite the urban myths surrounding the creature, Caleb sighed and nervously glanced up into the swampy waters. They were after a monster, but he was more worried about the animals that he knew were out there. The last thing he wanted was to get eaten by a croc or bitten by a snake.
Grimacing when he tripped over a root, he swore and stumbled a bit, dropping his camera into the sludge at the base of the tree.
“Damn it…” he grumbled as his friends continued to talk and laugh. Kneeling down and peeling it from the mud he froze when a menacing growl sounded behind him.
Warm breath ghosting over his back, Caleb’s heart stopped dead in his chest. His friends had frozen when they heard the growl as well, and turning around slowly they all let out the same terrified noise that he had been holding in.
“Holy shit it’s real!” Cameron screamed as he turned and took off running into the trees while Jason lifted up the gun he had brought from the boat and fired it at the beast. Behind him, he heard the beast lurch and took the opportunity to lurch forward away from it.
Taking off into the woods, it took only a few seconds to lose track of his friends. They were too far ahead. It was too dark. His feet catching on roots and sticking in the mud, he swore as he heard the sound of something massive rushing at him through the forest.
“Guys?!” he cried, stumbling up to a river bank and swearing when he didn’t see the airboat. Turning when he heard a hiss, he yelped and stumbled back as a gator burst from the murky water.
Omega Wanted: Bad Boy Mpreg Romance Page 15