by Riley Moreno
A few minutes later, Yuri marveled at the size of the erection that Marcus dropped into her mouth as she lay on her back on her table, her books and papers scattered randomly on the surrounding floor. Lucius squeezed her breasts as he slid slowly in and out between her legs, spread-eagled before him, her soft round butt swallowing whole the formidable package he had to offer.
It was a strange boat they road that evening in the gathering gloom, there in the faculty room of the Peri Heights Community High School, but one that surely, and pleasurably led to memories that lingered on the mind a while, and led to one destination, especially with a child on the way, which they all could cherish and appreciate: Peace.
The End
Pregnant by the Panther
Paranormal Shifter Romance
By: Riley Moreno
Chapter One
Father and Son
Sonya was starving. Diesel had made her breakfast in bed, a stack of waffles under a mountain of clotted cream and rivers of syrup; but that felt like hours ago. Her stomach grumbled, her knees hurt, her feet were cramping and the woman just wouldn’t shut up.
“He’s very sensitive,” the woman was stick thin with oversized glasses that made her look like a starved owl. “He only eats canned tuna, and almond milk. I really don’t see what the problem could be. He was fine after his last visit with Dr. Brennen. But now he’s temperamental and won’t come when I call him. Mr. Snagalpuss, meow for Mommy;” the creamy white Persian stared at the floor, “come on pussy, pussy. See!”
“Please fill in these forms,” Sonya said pushing papers at the woman. “Dr. Brennen will look in to your cat.”
“Mr. Snagalpuss,” the woman corrected.
“Your cat will be fine,” Sonya said, disliking the woman immensely. “Fill in the forms and hand them to Lucy over there,” she pointed to the front desk. Lucy, a young woman with bright blue hair, was glaring at the woman with the cat. “I’m going out to lunch, Luc,” she waved at the girl who waved at her then started scolding the woman for going straight in to a doctor’s room without speaking to reception first.
Sonya took off her white coat, picked up her bag and checked her reflection in the mirror above the sink in her office bathroom. Her hazel eyes looked tired; her face was swollen and rounder, even her nose looked bigger. Her caramel colored hair shone though, glistening thick and long down her shoulders. Sonya took a surreptitious look down at her bloated body and her swelling stomach and grimaced.
The weather forecast was sunny with a possible snow storm by the end of the week. The last of the winters offering, it was going to be big and last for days before spring finally came in. Sonya breathed in the piney scent and enjoyed the feel of sun on her cold skin.
She walked two blocks to the Windmill Café, an old windmill turned in to a restaurant in Waterville. Shifter Grove was a thirty minute drive from Waterville city and Sonya worked in the veterinarian clinic of Dr. Brennen as an assistant doctor. She wouldn’t have bothered walking that far on her swollen legs if they didn’t serve fantastic gargantuan portions of fried fish and chips.
Sonya was meeting her friends for lunch. Diesel’s birthday was in a weeks’ time and she wanted to plan the final details. There was also the matter of her present. She wanted to give Diesel something that was meaningful, that he would love. Diesel had given her so much she wanted to give back just as much.
Diesel Wake was Sonya’s boyfriend, a WerePanther and the Sheriff of Shifter Grove. He was also the father of the baby Sonya was pregnant with. Sonya had been on the run from her ex-boyfriend, a WereTiger mercenary who killed people for a living, when she had met Diesel in Shifter Grove, a town where Shifter’s and non-Shifter’s lived in peace and harmony. Diesel had given her a home to stay and his protection. Belonging to broken homes, both Diesel and Sonya had wanted a loving family and Diesel had won her heart and her loyalty.
Her pregnancy had been a surprise for them both but a pleasant one. Sonya had contemplated marriage but Diesel hadn’t been comfortable with that. Sonya understood; never having seen a marriage that lasted she didn’t see the point of the institute of marriage. They didn’t need an official document telling them they loved each other.
Sonya settled in to a booth, ordered herself a lemonade, took out her planner and waited for her friends. She jotted down the things that still needed to be taken care of. Then she turned to the page which gave her the most anxiety these days:
Diesel’s birthday present.
Samantha slipped in to the booth, her ass making squeaky noises against the plastic upholstery. She brushed her red hair out of her face, slipped out of her heavy coat and signaled to the waitress.
“Root beer please,” she said, then turned to Sonya. “Hi.”
Sonya grinned.
Samantha was a WereFox. She had the long pinched face of a wily fox in the bushes, the bright red hair that was almost orange and big round, pink rimmed eyes that gave her a perpetually surprised expression. Samantha was a twitchy woman who thought too fast, spoke too fast and did things too fast like her entire life was a hair trigger away from falling around her ears.
Samantha’s husband Larry, the mechanic in Shifter Grove, had hit on Sonya her first day in town. Sonya didn’t feel guilty about that. She felt sorry that Samantha had such a creepy husband.
“Where’s everyone else?” Sonya asked.
“Oh Kathrine is having an argument with this man who took our parking spot,” Samantha waved towards the entrance eagerly perusing the menu, “And Claus needed to get some eye cream. I think I’ll have the chicken.”
Katherine and Claus slid in to the booth as well. Clause, pink, hook-nosed and spindly legged, shooed Samantha to slide in further. Katherine looked self-satisfied. There were scrapes on her knuckles.
“You punched him didn’t you?” Samantha said.
“Thrice,” Claus rolled his eyes.
Katherine grinned.
They ordered lunch and gossiped about the people they knew in Shifter Grove and Waterville; the city wasn’t very fond of its adjacent town of Shifter Grove and the feeling was mutual but they kept their animosity under the surface for a friendlier environment for the children to grow in.
Samantha checked the checklist of all the preparations that had been made for the party and Sonya distributed the last handful of tasks.
“Have you had any luck?” Samantha asked when they tallied the number of people who would be coming.
“I have a lead,” Sonya shrugged, dejected. “But it’s a place in upstate New York. I was planning on calling first and gauging a reaction before I went ahead.”
“What if he’s an asshole?” Claus asked, sipping his iced tea, his feathery soft eyebrows up in his hairline. “What if he’s this unsavory character who doesn’t really care that he has a son?”
“Then I hang up and hope he doesn’t find us,” Sonya shrugged.
Diesel had never known his father, his mother breaking up with him when she’d found out he was a Shifter. She had never mentioned him, his name, where he lived or what he looked like. Martha Cousins had fallen pregnant, left her family home in the middle of the night and moved to Brooklyn to avoid shame. She had dropped her last name to pull on her ex-boyfriends like a jacket to cover her sin and told people she was a war widow. Sonya had seen pictures of Diesel’s mother, spade jawed and blonde, the woman looked nothing like Diesel except the blue eyes. She was sure Diesel looked like his father.
Sonya had been piecing together information, searching for every Wake in America and needless to say there were over thousands. She began looking for men who had lived in Albany in the late 70’s and come up with fifty men. Out of those fifty forty five were still alive. Sonya had been tracking them all down, and after a grueling process of elimination that had taken months she was down to one man.
Andrew Wake; owner of a general store in Poughkeepsie, was a Vietnam vet and was in Albany in 1979, the year Diesel was conceived. Sonya had his address and number burning
a hole in her pocketbook but she hadn’t found the courage to call; what if Andrew Wake wasn’t Diesel’s father, what then? She had no more names to go to. And what if he was and not worth knowing? Would Diesel thank her for uniting him with a father he wasn’t even sure he wanted to know?
“I think what you’re doing is amazing,” Claus said, “It’s always a punch in the gut for a man if their father’s a jerk but at least you know where your good side comes from. Diesel’s mother abandoned him; that’s hard. He needs to know if his father was better.”
Claus had been born in to a family of Shifter’s. WereBoars, one and all, they had been embarrassed by Claus, the only WereFlamingo. His father took it as a personal insult, bullying him when he was a baby, insinuating that his mother had cuckolded him till he had sent Claus to the ER. His mother had picked him up when he was discharged and driven out of the beatnik Texas town, just the two of them, and moved to Shifter Grove.
“Or maybe he doesn’t,” Katherine shrugged. Katherine’s parents had abandoned her on a gas station in the middle of nowhere. She had just started showing signs of her WereBear nature and they hadn’t wanted one in the house. Katherine remembered her sisters screaming and pounding the windows as their parents sped away. Katherine missed her sisters’ sometimes, never her parents.
“I’m sure if he’s a jerk Sonya will know when she talks to him,” Samantha said. “It’s completely your call.”
Sonya sighed.
“I’ll regret it if I don’t,” she sighed, and held Katherine’s hand. “We’ve all had shitty parents but at least we know who they were. And I know Diesel often wonders about his dad but he’s too stung by his mother’s reaction to try and find him.”
Sonya stared at the number.
“I’ll call him tonight,” Sonya decided, crossing her fingers below the table.
Chapter Two
Call Me Trouble
Diesel Wake chewed his lip absentmindedly. His eyes were glazed. The blue glow of the computer screen made his face look pale and ghostly. He was sitting in the Sheriff’s office searching for the right crib and reading up on the first few months of a baby’s life.
It wasn’t hard being the Sheriff of Shifter Grove; after serving in the Navy SEAL Black Ops for over a decade this was a walk in the park, but even simpler. Nothing much happened in Shifter Grove except for disputes that occurred after a night of Shifting; it mostly involved the young ones who didn’t have much control over their shifting yet. Chicken coops invaded, attacks on barns.
For a community of Shifters it was a very peaceful place but the county rules still demanded that Shifter Grove needed at least two deputies. Kyle had retired six months ago and Diesel was looking for someone new. Only three people had applied; all three of them made up people by the trolling teenagers that plagued Diesel’s life.
Diesel ran a hand over his face, massaging his cheeks and jaw. His stomach rumbled when he heard the sound of a car pulling up in front of the office. Diesel cleared his desk in anticipation of the lunch he’d sent his deputy, Bill Hart, to grab from Pig Out.
“About damn time,” he said when the door opened but it wasn’t Bill.
A tall woman stood there. She had dark hair, alabaster skin and piercing green eyes. She was wearing a short skirt above leggings and a sweater that hugged every curve. She was small-waisted with big breasts and looked like a super model who’d just come off a runway somewhere in New York.
“Hi,” she said in a husky voice, “is this the Sheriff’s office? I’m looking for Sheriff Wake.”
“Y,” Diesel cleared his throat, “Yes. I’m Diesel. The Sheriff. How may I help you?”
“I’m Melanie Beal,” she said, her accent lilted slightly but Diesel couldn’t place it. “I moved to Shifter Grove about a week ago. I saw the ad in the paper, you’re looking for a deputy?”
“Yes,” Diesel said, strangely lost for words.
“Well I’d like to apply if the post is still open,” Melanie smiled, perfect dazzling teeth. “I was a police officer in Georgia. I have my CV here if you want,” she held a piece of paper out.
“Oh,” Diesel said.
Melanie looked at him with raised brows. Diesel made no move to take the piece of paper. He had been wondering if this was a daydream and was completely lost in thought when Bill walked in.
“Joe is a bastard,” Bill said looking at the floor to manage his steps. “But he’s a bastard who gives us extra fries. Well wow, hello?” Bill had placed the food on his desk and just caught sight of Melanie. “I’m Bill,” he said, the pimples on his chin turning redder as he blushed like a fool.
“Melanie,” she said. “But you can call me Mel.”
“Melanie’s applied for the post of deputy,” Diesel finally managed to say.
“That’s great!” Bill said and his excitement was palpable.
“So do I get the job?” Melanie asked.
“That depends; I need to know if you’re a Shifter.” Diesel said.
“Oh yes,” Melanie said as if they were talking about the weather, “I’m a WerePanther.”
“No way!” Bill squealed. “So is Diesel!”
“Really?” Melanie looked Diesel up and down and Diesel had to stop himself from blushing under her attention.
“Would you like to join us for lunch?” Bill asked. “Joe always gives us extra.”
“No thank you, I just ate,” Melanie said not looking at Bill. “When can I join?” she asked Diesel, her eyes never leaving his.
“Tomorrow work for you?” Diesel asked.
“It does,” Melanie said a flirty smile touching her lips. “Thank you so much. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She waved and left a cloud of perfume in her wake. Bill was staring after her unabashed, so was Diesel. Where had she come from? Here he was thinking of coercing Larry or Reed into doing a part time stint and here comes Melanie Beal, WerePanther and ex police officer with a sexy young body and an attitude to match to solve all his problems.
“Something tells me she’s going to be more trouble than she’s worth,” Bill said biting in to his hot dog, relish running down his chin.
Diesel couldn’t help but agree.
~*~
Diesel walked in through his front door. Everyone in Shifter Grove lived in cabins at least three to four miles apart. It made shifting easier and fewer tragedies occurred when you lived far away. Sonya had transformed his house ever since she moved in. The front door was painted a bright red, the gables turquoise, the living room was a burnished brown, the sofa upholstered Caribbean blue. There were framed pictures on the mantle above the fireplace, posters on the wall, comfy cushions on a rocking chair on the back porch and a fire roaring in the fireplace.
Eric Clapton was singing of love from the stereo.
Diesel remembered the hovel it had been and how inviting and warm it was now. He padded to the kitchen where Sonya was standing at the stove in just an oversized shirt stirring a sauce, her luscious hips swaying to the music. Diesel walked up to her, encircling her waist. He couldn’t get his arms around all the way, her belly had gotten so big. Diesel felt a nudge on his hand.
“Baby says hello,” Sonya crooned, kissing his jaw.
Diesel kissed her lips, tucking her caramel blonde hair behind her ear.
“And how’s the baby Mama?” he asked nuzzling in to her, inhaling her smell.
“Tired,” she said. “But fine.”
“Not too tired, I hope,” Diesel said cupping her breasts and Sonya chuckled.
“Never too tired for that,” she snuck a hand back and stroked his bulging erection.
Diesel reached out a hand and turned the stove off. The bubbling sauce simmering down as he slid his hands underneath the shirt pleased to find nothing below. Sonya moaned impatiently, taking his uniform off and sliding her lips on his stiff rod. Diesel loved the feel of her tongue on his shaft, her lips kissing the tip before opening up like a blooming flower.
He’d been afraid in the beginning,
not sure if he’d hurt her or the baby if they continued to have sex the way they used to but Sonya had put his fears to rest, demanding more sex as her libido rose higher in the months after the nausea abated.
He loved watching her naked body. Her breasts, always big, were rounder and fuller than before; Diesel had watched, fascinated, as her nipples turned darker, her face glowing with an inner light when she slept with her hand firmly on her belly.
The love he had for this woman had eclipsed everything else in his life. He had never been sad, not really, a little lonely maybe, but it wasn’t till Sonya pulled in to his drive that he realized he had never been truly happy either.
They lazed on the sofa after making love, tucking in to the spaghetti Bolognese and watching an old movie on TV. Sonya’s feet were tucked under Diesel’s thighs, his weight providing her swollen feet some relief.
“She had feeds her cat tuna and almond milk and expects it to be a sprightly little thing,” Sonya was saying. “Who gives their cat almond milk?”
“Crazy cat ladies?” Diesel said.
“How was work?” Sonya asked. “Not too boring I hope.”
“We finally filled in the deputy post,” Diesel said sopping up the sauce with a dinner roll. “A new resident of Shifter Grove. Moved from Georgia, was a cop there.”
“What’s his Shit?” Sonya asked.
“Her,” Diesel corrected and Sonya lifted her brows in surprise. “She’s a WerePanther just like me.”
“That’s cool,” Sonya said. “What’s her name?”
“Melanie Beal,” Diesel said. “She’s staring work tomorrow.”
