by D. M. Turner
Without waiting for an answer, he got to his feet and left the room. He grabbed the satellite phone off his desk in the study before going to the kitchen.
His father had left a thawed roast in the refrigerator. Colin pulled it out, set it on the counter, and found an onion in the crisper drawer of the fridge. If he chopped the roast into smaller pieces, it would cook quickly. Sautéed with diced onion would appeal to Tanya more than raw roast. She’d been a wolf for a year, but she still had an aversion to raw meat. He smiled and shook his head. So much for his repeated assertions during the previous summer that she’d adapt.
He cut the roast into bite-sized pieces and diced the onion. Once a large cast iron skillet was over the flame on the stove with a splash of oil to heat, he dialed Brett and Kelly’s number on the satellite phone, grateful his father insisted that all of them have either satellite or cellphones so they could be reached any time. Cellphones didn’t work in the mountains, so those who lived there had satellite phones. Without that, Colin would have to drive to Brett and Kelly’s home to talk to them.
“Hello?” Brett’s deep voice sounded almost lazy.
“Hey, Brett. It’s Colin. Could I possibly speak to Kelly?”
“Sure. Hang on a minute.”
Colin dumped meat and onions into the hot oil, the phone pinched between his ear and shoulder. He set the cutting board and knife in the sink.
“Hey, Colin, what’s up?”
“Kelly, I wondered if I could ask you a couple of questions.”
“Um, yeah, I guess.” Her hesitation struck him as odd at first.
Duh, dude, you didn’t tell her what it was about. “I imagine you’ve probably heard by now that Tanya’s gone into heat.”
“I did. How’s she doing?”
“Not great.” He sighed. “She’s really struggling.”
“What’s going on exactly?”
“Not wanting to be touched. Depression. Weepy. Desire to isolate.”
“From you, too?” The soft question held a note of understanding.
“Yes. I want to help her, but I have no idea how.”
“There’s nothing you can do, except be understanding. It has to run its course.”
“I figured as much.” He stirred the contents of the skillet with a plastic spatula. “How long will this last?”
“Up to a week, I think.”
Ugh. They were on day three. Not even halfway there?
“From what I understand, it varies. In my family, pre-estrus lasts five days. Mom said she knew an unrelated bitch who only went two days and another who went a full week. I wish I could be more specific.”
“Will it be consistent every year?”
“It should. Pay attention to how long it lasts this year, and that’ll give you a good idea of the duration each year from here on out.”
“Dad told me to keep my distance if that’s what she wants.” Maybe he’d been wrong? Hopefully?
“He’s right. I don’t think Tanya would get violent or anything, given her personality, but she might tear into you verbally, and that would make her feel bad. Just wait until she lets you know it’s okay.”
Why did people keep giving such vague advice? “How will I know when that is?”
Kelly chuckled. “Oh, you’ll know. Trust me. Hang on a sec.” She muffled the phone and spoke to Brett then came back. “Listen, Colin. Just be patient, and encourage Tanya to do the same. This will pass. It won’t last long. I have to go. Dinner’s ready.”
“Okay. Thanks.” He hung up the phone and laid it on the counter. Not much help there. Still no firm answers. About anything.
* * *
Tanya curled up on the bed, facing the windows that overlooked the back of the property. She hadn’t even bothered to get undressed. Too much work.
Why had she thought things would be any different with annual heats than they had been with a semi-monthly cycle? The doctor her mother had taken her to had said her cycles were so screwy because of hormonal issues. All he’d been able to suggest was birth control pills to level things out. Those had made her ill, even at the lowest dose possible, so she’d stopped taking them. They’d had nothing else to offer her.
Should werewolves have hormonal problems? Wolves were immune to colds, flus, cancers, and any other number of human ailments. They healed overnight, if well fed, from life-threatening injuries and broken bones. But hormone issues? She was stuck with those apparently. There truly was no justice in the world.
Colin had gotten a raw deal when he’d taken her as his mate. When would he realize that? The man’s eyes were bound to be opened sooner or later.
“Tanya? Are you awake?” His soft, gentle voice barely made a ripple in the quiet.
“Yes.”
“Dinner’s ready.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just not hungry.”
A brief silence passed. “If you’re sure….”
“I am.”
“I’ll eat and put the rest in the fridge. We can heat it up later if you get hungry.”
“Okay.”
“Um… I got hold of Kelly.”
Tanya rolled over to face him. “And?”
“She couldn’t tell me how long this will last, but the longest she knew about is a week.”
“A week like this?” An eternity wouldn’t have sounded any longer right then.
“Apparently, this early stage of heat doesn’t usually last that long though. She said it’ll pass. We just have to be patient.”
Easy for her to say. “I’m sorry.”
Colin smiled and knelt beside the bed, resting an elbow on the edge of it. “It’s not your fault. None of this is. It’s just the way of things. This will pass.”
“What if I go through all this, put you through all this, and we don’t get pregnant?”
He shrugged. “Then we’ll try again next year, and the year after that, and the year after that if necessary, until we do. We don’t age like humans, so there’s no rush. I love you, and we’re together. That’s all that matters. The rest is icing on the cake.”
New tears surged up. “How can you be so understanding?”
“How can I not?” He cocked his head with an expression of total bafflement. “When you love someone, you love them during both good and bad.”
“Yeah, but… you weren’t counting on this when you married me.”
“Maybe not, but how many people plan on their mates getting sick or injured? Do you really think Isaac expected Imelda to die from cancer when he chose to marry a human?”
“No.”
“But he loved her anyway, and he died with her because of it.” He balled his hands into fists. “What’s happening to you right now is temporary. It will pass, and our lives will fall into some state of normal.” That oh-so-familiar half-grin emerged, quirking the right side of his mouth. “If there is such a thing as normal in the lives of werewolves.”
She smiled, unable to find a laugh.
He patted the side of the bed with one hand and pushed to his feet. “I need to eat. If you decide to join me, I’ll be in the kitchen. Otherwise, I’ll join you in here after I’ve eaten.”
Tanya nodded. “I love you.”
Colin’s smile broadened. “I love you, too.”
Chapter 4
Residence of Colin & Tanya Campbell
Campbell Wildlife Preserve
Monday, June 20, 2016
1:26 AM. Or so the clock on the nightstand said when Tanya raised up to look over Colin at it. Her stomach growled again, unconcerned with the early hour. She had to get something to eat.
She climbed out of bed, careful not to jostle it and wake Colin, who continued to sleep soundly. Then she padded through the house on socked feet to the kitchen. Moonlight poured through skylights in the living room, kitchen, and breakfast nook, guiding her through the obstacle course of furniture. The waxing gibbous moon called to her, quickening her heart. When night fell next, the moon would be full.
Without turning on
overhead lights, since she hadn’t paid attention to where light switches were, she opened the refrigerator. The scent of blood filled her nose. Her stomach grumbled again, this time more forcefully.
She grabbed one of the smaller white-wrapped packets marked “Venison,” closed the door, and set it on the counter. Plates. Where were plates? And silverware, for that matter. She hunted through cabinets and drawers until she located both.
The small venison roast unwrapped, she studied it. Raw, the blood still in it tempted her nose. Normally that smell repulsed her. At that moment, disgust wasn’t even among the responses rolling through her. Her mouth watered.
She transferred the hunk of meat to the plate, stabbed it with a fork, sliced off a bite-sized piece with a knife from the nearby butcher block, and stuck it in her mouth. Closing her eyes, she savored it. She barely swallowed before putting another piece into her mouth.
The light turned on without warning, making her jump. She choked, whipped around, and then sighed and shook her head. “You scared me!”
Colin chuckled. “You don’t need to eat in the dark.” He glanced down at the plate. His brow furrowed. “Too hungry to cook it first?”
Tanya shrugged and turned back to her food. “I wanted it this way for some reason.” She cut a bite off and offered it to him. “You want some?”
He grinned and closed the distance between them to accept the chunk of meat, studying her as he chewed, his arms folded over his bare chest. Pajama bottoms hung low on his hips. His feet were bare.
She offered him every third bite until the roast was almost gone. Stomach content once again, she leaned a hip against the counter and sighed. For the first time in days, she didn’t feel like crawling out of her skin.
Another scent captured her attention. She sniffed, inhaling deeper then stepped closer to her mate. “You sure smell good.” Like soap, fresh air, and… male. The familiar scent of her mate but more. Desire unfurled in her center and spread outward. Tanya moved within easy reach of his body heat, which danced across her skin, and laid a hand on his folded arms.
The muscles under her fingers tightened, but Colin made no move to either leave or touch her. His nostrils flared, and his eyes darkened.
She leaned closer and brushed her lips against his chest, inhaling deeply.
He didn’t budge.
She raised up on her toes far enough to nip his collar bone.
He flinched but stood firm.
Tanya half-stepped back and cocked her head, studying his face. His wolf showed through yellow eyes. Was he angry? “Don’t you want me?”
“With every fiber of my being.”
“Then… why are you just standing there?”
“I don’t want to push. Dad and Kelly both warned me to wait until you’re ready.”
A slow smile crossed her face. She closed the tiny distance between them and leaned against him, wrapping her arms around his neck and trailing lips and teeth across the warm expanse of his chest. “What do I need to do to convince you I am?”
He apparently needed no further encouragement. His arms slipped around her, his hands cupping her backside and lifting her until her mouth met his. She wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him back with equal fervor. Colin carried her to the bedroom and lowered them both to the bed.
Chapter 5
Friday, June 24, 2016
THE sun would go down soon. Maybe getting dressed was moot. Tanya stood in the doorway, staring into the closet. They still needed to unpack everything, but there hadn’t been much opportunity since they’d moved in the weekend before. Well, opportunity or desire. She grinned. They’d definitely had more immediate… needs demanding their attention.
Warm arms slipped around her and drew her naked body back against a bare chest and stomach. Colin nuzzled the side of her neck, his breath tickling her skin. “What are you doing?”
Her breath caught for a moment, and she closed her eyes and leaned into him. “Thinking.”
“About?”
“The fact we haven’t gotten dressed all week.”
“Mm.” His perusal of her skin continued, his breath quickening. “What would be the point? We’d just get undressed again.”
Tanya chuckled and leaned away enough to look at him over her shoulder. “Don’t you find it the least bit scandalous that we’ve spent the last five days running around with no clothes on?”
“Nope.” He grinned, flashing that extra canine on the right side of his mouth. “We’re not in downtown Flagstaff here. Nobody but us to see.”
“I know, but still. Civilized people don’t run around the house naked for days on end.”
He leaned down to nip her ear lobe, sending desire through her again. “Ah, but see? There’s your mistake. We’re wolves, not civilized people. We can pretend to be domestic, but we’re not entirely domesticated.”
Breathless, she closed her eyes. “Good point.” She turned in his arms and raised her mouth to his. “Maybe we should prove just how wild we really are.”
* * *
Colin snuggled close to his sleeping mate, cradling the length of her back to his front. Eyes closed, he let the peace of her contented, relaxed breathing sweep over him.
The past few days had been a whirlwind. Though he’d enjoyed it more than he’d ever admit to anyone except Tanya, he also knew they couldn’t keep up the pace they’d set for much longer. For days, they’d eaten, barely slept, and made love. Nothing else. Most of the time, they’d barely talked. He wasn’t sure which of them had been more desperate for the other at times. Sleep had been a low priority, and the weariness dragging at him said that must end.
He smiled and nuzzled his wife’s hair. They’d never had a honeymoon, but the past week could certainly be said to have taken care of that little oversight. Given the intensity of their need for each other, if Tanya wasn’t pregnant, it wasn’t due to a lack of effort on their part.
What if she doesn’t get pregnant this time around?
She’d be so disappointed. He’d have to assure her once again that there was no rush. They had plenty of time. Perhaps the nursery had been premature. He should’ve waited on that until she was actually pregnant. He hadn’t meant to put pressure on her but feared that might be what it had done.
If Tanya hadn’t gotten pregnant in the past few days, he’d have to find a way to reassure her that they were fine as a couple. Yeah, he wanted children, but not at the expense of their relationship.
Chapter 6
Monday, October 24, 2016
THE ring of the phone pulled Tanya out of her writing. Not that it mattered much at the moment. She’d been stuck all morning. The cursor blinked at her, accusing. She’d even pulled out a pad of paper, thinking she might do better with pen and paper than using a keyboard. No such luck. Still stuck.
She rolled her chair to the other side of the study to grab the satellite phone off Colin’s desk. “Hello?”
“Hey, Tanya, it’s Jeremy.”
“Hi, Jeremy. Um… Colin’s out on patrol.”
“That’s okay. I called to talk to you.”
“Me?”
“I assume you know about Graham and Donna by now.”
She smiled. “Yeah. Ian told us last night that she’s pregnant. They’re really excited.”
“Yes, they are.” A long pause followed that left her wondering if she’d lost the call. “Um, actually that’s why I’m calling.”
Confusion wound through her. “What does it have to do with me?”
“I wondered if you might come to my office after lunch.”
“Uh… why?”
“There’s not much known about werewolf reproduction, and I don’t like feeling out of my element with my own species. Donna’s helping me with research. I hoped you and Kelly would as well.”
“What kind of research?”
He chuckled. “Sorry, I should’ve been more clear. I’m not planning to use you as a guinea pig. We have no idea if standard pregnancy tests work on
wolves, but we know ultrasound is solid. I, uh….” He cleared his throat. “I know from Ian that you had your first heat this past June. I wondered if you’d come in so we can run a pregnancy test and do an ultrasound. I promise, this is only for the sake of information gathering. I don’t intend to experiment on you.”
“I suppose that’d be okay.” Tanya smiled. “Truth be told, ever since we got Graham and Donna’s news last night, I’ve wondered if I might be pregnant. I’m not all that eager to wait until I start showing to know.”
“So… how about two?”
“I’ll be there. You’ll have to remind me where your office is though.” She wrote down the address and directions he provided. “See you this afternoon.”
* * *
She was early. Tanya knew that, but she couldn’t hang around the house anymore. She’d left a note on the counter for Colin, in case he arrived home before she did. It said only, “I ran into town. Be back soon. Love you.” She hadn’t been able to bring herself to give a reason for the trip. If it turned out to be pointless, she’d be disappointed enough without having to relay the information to him as well.
“Tanya Campbell?” The nurse in the open doorway scanned the room.
“Here.” Tanya raised her hand, picked up her purse, and got to her feet. She smiled, trying to suppress jitters.
The nurse led her through a maze of hallways then stopped in an alcove to pick up something before leading on. She stopped outside a door and offered what she’d picked up to Tanya. “Dr. Richardson put a note on your file for a pregnancy test. We need a urine sample.” The item in her hand was a collection cup.
Lovely. Dr. Richardson? Oh, she must mean Jeremy. Funny how Tanya had never heard his last name before.
She accepted the cup and pushed open the door. It led into a bathroom. She locked the door, did her business, and exited, handing the cup back to the nurse. The woman slapped a label on it and led Tanya to another room. She pushed open the door and smiled. “Dr. Richardson will be with you shortly.”
“Thank you.”
