Quarterback Lion: A Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance

by Lilly Pink

  It started at his hand where he still had it resting on her belly, and the light made its way up his arms until his whole body was lit up just like Olivia’s.

  “Wow,” Jessica said, her voice nearly a whisper. “That is incredible. How did you do that?” She looked at Olivia expectantly.

  Olivia looked over at Greg’s cousin and shook her head. “I didn’t do that,” she said.

  Greg looked up from her belly finally, and looked over at his cousin as well. “She isn’t joking. I think that everyone was right. This was the babies’ doing, not Olivia’s.”

  “How can you be sure?” Jessica asked him.

  “Because I watched them do it,” Greg told her. “The light began at her stomach right after I felt the babies move under my hand.”

  “Son,” his mother said, joining the conversation. “The babies are far too young for that. You won’t be able to feel them moving for several more months, especially from the outside like that.”

  “No, he’s right,” said Olivia. “I felt them moving too. I could feel them moving inside of me, and I felt them when I laid my hands over Greg’s on my belly as well.”

  “Amazing,” Joseph muttered. “I have heard rumors, or myths, of this happening, but I never imagined that it could really happen.”

  Olivia quickly turned her head to look at Greg, and he saw the concern written on her face. He didn’t blame her; he was also feeling a bit worried now.

  “Joseph, now is not the time to be cryptic. What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Your children will come to term much faster than normal children do.”

  Greg saw Olivia visibly relax before she said, “Okay, so it is a lion-shifter thing then.” She looked around at their friends and family, waiting on an answer. When everyone just looked around the table like they were waiting for someone else to answer her, or they didn’t comprehend what she had said, Olivia continued. “Lion-shifter babies. I am guessing that they don’t take nine months in the womb like human children do in order to come full term.”

  Greg was glad when his mother responded to Olivia. He didn’t know much about the pregnancies of lion-shifter females.

  “Lion-shifter women are not pregnant as long as a human woman, but it is still long enough that you should not be feeling the babies’ movements already. Normal pregnancy for a lion-shifter is usually around thirty-five weeks.”

  “So what were you talking about then, Joseph?” Greg asked their puzzling friend.

  “Your children were conceived during your mating,” Joseph said.

  “Okay,” Greg said, hoping that was all of the prompting that Joseph would need to go on. Sometimes the way he liked to talk in short clips was very frustrating.

  “When children are conceived during the mating of a king and his queen, they are especially gifted, and one of those gifts are that they are developed to full term within two to three months. However, I have never heard of this kind of conception where a true born female queen lion-shifter is involved. Considering how powerful Olivia has proven to be over the past several weeks, your unborn children may be the two most powerful lion-shifters ever to be born.”

  “Holy shit!” Jessica exclaimed. “I am so glad you joined our pride, and that I am officially your best friend. Seems that you are the best thing to happen to our kind in centuries, and there is definitely never a dull moment with you.”

  Everyone laughed at Jessica’s words, but Greg couldn’t help but focus on everything that Joseph had just told them. Jessica had it exactly right when she said holy shit. It was certainly a lot to take in. Not bad news, but definitely not anything that Greg had been prepared for, and he knew if he hadn’t been prepared for all of that news, then Olivia was definitely not expecting that kind of news.

  When Greg heard Olivia begin laughing he looked at her in surprise. “What,” she said between her laughter, “are you really surprised? Nothing with me has been normal since I transitioned into a shifter, so why should my pregnancy be any different, if we are honest with ourselves.”

  Greg smiled brightly at his mate. God, he loved her so much. His mother jumped up and clapped her hands together.

  “If the babies will be here in the next couple months then we better start shopping for them.”

  Jessica jumped up and shrieked in agreement, then she grabbed Olivia’s hands to pull her up to join them, but Olivia paused.

  “I am not so sure it is a good idea for me to be going out in public right now, actually.”

  “Why not, babe?” Greg asked his mate.

  “Because I can’t control my powers right now, or the babies’ powers, whatever,” she said and she sighed in frustration. “Anyway, I think it might be hard to explain to the people in the baby stores if rays of light suddenly start shooting out of my stomach and then my whole body lights up.”

  “Damn, she is right,” said Jessica, who was now pouting.

  “Well, then that means that we will just be able to throw you a wonderful, surprise baby shower,” Greg’s mom chimed in, trying to cheer Olivia up. “It isn’t any fun having a baby shower when you know what everyone got you beforehand anyway.”

  Olivia smiled at his mother, but Greg knew that she was not truly placated. He could see that she was just trying to hide her disappointment behind a brave smile, only it was not going to work on him. However, he had been wanting to do something nice for her so he knew that this was a great opportunity.

  “Actually, that will work out perfect for the plans I had made for us tonight,” Greg said, and Olivia looked at him like he was talking about something foreign.

  “What plans?” she asked him.

  “Well, I know that you have been wanting to visit with Jimmy since everything went down,” Greg told her. “So, I arranged an evening of dinner and movies and Jimmy will be joining us.”

  Greg watched as Olivia’s face lit up with happiness for a moment before the side look took her face again. “But Greg, won’t we just have the same issue at a movie theater that we would have had at the baby store? Hell, it will be darker in the movie theater which means it would be even more obvious if I started to glow. Not to mention, we have already figured out that if I touch you while the babies light is showing, then the light is going to transfer to you as well.”

  “Olivia, don’t worry babe. We are not going to a movie theater; we are going to have the movies here. We have a huge big screen in the basement to watch the movies on, and I thought that we could order pizza and have popcorn while we hung out. Unless, of course, there is something else you would rather eat. You are the one eating for our children right now, so you get the choice of what we’re going to have for dinner.”

  Olivia covered her mouth with both of her hands, and Greg saw her eyes begin to shimmer with unshed tears. “You are pretty amazing. Do you know that Greg Wilds?”

  Olivia stood up on her tip toes and placed a soft warm kiss on Greg’s lips. When she pulled back from the kiss, she kept her arms around his neck and Greg wrapped his around her waist.

  “Actually, I would say that I am the lucky one. I definitely won the lottery when I found you.”

  Olivia smiled, and Greg heard his cousin in the background making gagging sounds.

  “Oh my God, you so guys are sickeningly sweet. It makes me want to barf.”

  Olivia picked a cloth napkin up from the table and threw it at Jessica, and it hit her right between her eyes.

  Greg pointed at her and started laughing, “Maybe you shouldn’t tease your all-powerful queen there, cousin.”

  “Ha, whatever,” Jessica scoffed. “She is my best friend and I will tease her whenever I want to. Besides, you two really are gross.”

  Olivia looked up at Greg and rolled her eyes with a smile on her face, and couldn’t help but laugh again. After the way the morning had started out, with her being so afraid of what was happening to her, losing control of her powers, and seeing her roll her eyes at his cousin’s less than witty repertoire made for a much
better evening.

  CHAPTER 15

  Olivia

  Olivia was overjoyed when Jimmy got to their home that evening. It had actually only been a few days since she saw him last, but with everything that had been going on, it still felt like it had been forever. When Jimmy came and he immediately ran up to Olivia, and embraced her in a tight hug.

  “Olivia,” Jimmy said, “I have missed you so much, and I was so worried about what was going to happen to all of you. I am glad that you made it out safely.”

  “Jimmy you didn’t need to worry about me,” Olivia said. She held him out at arm’s length, and was running her eyes over him everywhere, scanning him for any sign that he had taken ill again. She still couldn’t believe that she had somehow cured his cancer with her light power.

  “How are you doing? How are you feeling? Have you been back to the doctor yet, to get new scans to make sure that the cancer is really gone?” Olivia was rambling but she couldn’t stop herself. Because of her, Jimmy had almost been killed by the Diochantis, and she needed to know that he was okay for sure.

  Obviously, they hadn’t caused his cancer, but if the one good thing he could get out of such a terrifying experience was to be cancer-free, then Olivia wanted to make sure that miracle was for real.

  Jimmy laughed at her and shook his head. “Olivia, I am fine,” Jimmy told her. “Actually, I am way better than fine. I can’t remember a time in my life when I ever felt as good as I feel now.”

  Olivia had tears in her eyes again and she could feel them getting ready to fall down her cheeks. She decided that it had to be her hormones from her speedy pregnancy that was causing her to be so emotional today.

  “Jimmy, I cannot even begin to tell you how happy that that makes me. I only wish that you didn’t have to get hurt in the process, by an enemy you didn’t even know existed, by the way, in order for you to get better. That part is on me too.”

  This time when Jimmy shook his head the look on his face was much more serious, and he gripped Olivia’s shoulders with his hands when he spoke. “No, Olivia that was not your fault, and I don’t want to hear you blame yourself for those evil creatures kidnapping me ever again. You had absolutely no control over them. What they did was an effort to hurt the entire world. It wasn’t about you, and it wasn’t about me. It was all about them living out their evil dream of world domination, or whatever.”

  “Yeah, but they never would’ve went after you if it had not been for me,” Olivia said and she sounded so guilty. “It was all a ploy to catch me so that they could use my blood for their spells. You never would’ve been on their radar, Jimmy, if it had not been for me.”

  “That is enough of that, Olivia,” Jimmy said to her in the sternest voice she had ever heard him use. “Now, enough with all of the heavy stuff. I was promised dinner and a movie with popcorn.”

  At Jimmy’s mentioning of food, Olivia’s stomach growled. Clearly, the twins were ready for dinner as well.

  Olivia looked down at her stomach and smiled. When she placed her hands there and smoothed out her shirt she heard Jimmy gasp. Immediately her eyes flew back up to his face, thinking that something was wrong.

  “Jimmy, what is it? What’s wrong?”

  “How are you showing already?” Jimmy asked her and Olivia noticed that his voice was a little high pitched. “I know that I’m only sixteen, and I’ve never had any children of my own, but I do know enough to know that after only a couple weeks you should not be showing already. Twins or not, that is not normal.”

  “Jimmy, I know that you know I am not one hundred percent human anymore.” Olivia paused. She was waiting for some kind of sign from Jimmy that he had heard her words, and comprehended what she had just said. When Jimmy gave her a slow nod, she went on. “Well, it turns out I am a little more special than most of my kind. Because of that, it looks like Greg and my babies are also going to be extraordinarily gifted.”

  “That makes sense, Olivia, but it still doesn’t explain why you’re already showing when you are only a few weeks pregnant at most.”

  “Right. Since I am specially gifted, and combined with a very special circumstance, the babies are growing at a much faster rate than normal.”

  “How much faster?” Jimmy asked.

  “They will come to full term in two or three months.”

  Olivia watched Jimmy, studying his face and waiting to see if he was going to freak out. In the past few days he had his world turned upside down and learned way too much, way too fast about the world outside of the human race. She just prayed that this wasn’t the straw that was going to send him running away from her.

  She had had to give up so much of her human life when she mated Greg and became a lion shifter herself, but Jimmy was the one thing she had been able to hold onto even if it worked in a much smaller capacity. Olivia did not want to lose him out of her life. He was like a child of her own, and she could not imagine never seeing his face again.

  “Wow,” Jimmy said, and Olivia could hear the wonder in his voice, “that is pretty amazing. I bet that there are a lot of women out there who would be pretty jealous if they knew you only had to be pregnant for a couple of months. I know that I have heard my mother complain about how long nine months could be when you had a child growing inside of you, who was sitting on your bladder and kicking you in the ribs twenty-four seven.”

  “Jimmy, your mother loves you very much.” Olivia said.

  Jimmy smiled back at Olivia, “Oh, I know that she does, but still doesn’t mean that carrying me around for nine months didn’t feel like a lifetime for her.”

  Olivia laughed and popped him on the arm playfully. “Alright, mister, let’s go see if Greg has dinner ready for us. Me and these babies are starving.”

  Not surprisingly, Jimmy did not have any arguments with that. Teenage boys were always hungry. Just on a chance that he would be, Greg was making pizza for their dinner, and he even got an actual popcorn making machine to make their popcorn with, so that the movie night experience would be more realistic.

  “Hey, babe,” Greg said when Olivia walked into the basement with Jimmy trailing closely behind her. “You have perfect timing, the pizza just got done and it smells delicious. Jimmy, it is great to see you again. I’m really glad that you were able to make it tonight. Olivia has missed you a ton.”

  “Thanks, Greg,” Jimmy replied. “Thank you for inviting me. And don’t worry, I have missed her too.”

  Greg carried the pizzas over to the coffee table that was set up in front of the couch where they would be watching their movie, and set them down. When Jimmy realized that the couch reclined on the ends, he grabbed the plate full of pizza and propped his feet up, ready for the movie to start.

  Olivia was right up next to Greg while he fixed her plate of pizza. She smiled to herself when she thought about him catering to her as if she could not help herself. If he was already being this sweet, and wanted to do everything for her, she didn’t imagine how much worse it was going to get before she had these babies. Olivia did not mind though, because she knew that Greg did it all out of love for her and for their unborn children, and it just made her love him even more.

  ***Luckily, Greg had thought ahead and asked Jimmy’s parents to allow him to stay the night because he was currently snoring at the end of the couch after having fallen asleep before the movie ended.

  “Do you think I should carry him up to a bed, or just leave him there?” Greg asked Olivia when the movie ended.

  “Yes, please,” Olivia replied. “If he sleeps there all night his neck will be killing him in the morning. A grumpy Jimmy who didn’t get good sleep is a nightmare that nobody should have to see.”

  Greg laughed at Olivia and she raised her eyebrow and stared at him. “You might think I’m joking, but you haven’t stayed with him overnight as many times as I have in the past several years. The boy is grouchy and so not a morning person.”

  Greg held his hands up in surrender. “No problem, babe. I alre
ady have a room set up for him anyway, and he isn’t very heavy so carrying him up a set of stairs will not be difficult.”

  “Thank you,” Olivia said, and then she covered her mouth before a yawn e escaped from her. “I think I’m going to head on up to bed myself.” Olivia stood up from the couch, and walked over and gave Greg a kiss before turning and heading for the stairs herself.

  “I’ll be there just as soon as I get him to his bedroom,” Greg told her as she left the room.

  The next morning after having had a communal shower with her mate, Olivia made her way to the room where Jimmy was supposed to be sleeping, but he was not there. It was only about 9:30 in the morning so Olivia thought that it was strange that Jimmy would have already gotten up and left the room.

  But she could smell the breakfast food in the kitchen herself and thought that might have woken Jimmy up and lured him to the kitchen. When the smell of the food cooking in the kitchen made Olivia’s stomach growl she also headed downstairs. She was expecting to run into Jimmy when she got there, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  “Good morning, everyone,” Olivia said when she walked into the kitchen and made her way to the refrigerator to get something to drink. While she was pouring herself a glass of orange juice, she looked around the room and asked, “Has anyone seen Jimmy this morning?”

  “No, darling,” said Jane in response to Olivia’s question. “I have been up since seven this morning and I haven’t seen him come out of his room.”

  Olivia was suddenly overtaken with the feeling of pure dread, and she just knew that something was wrong. “Did you already check in his room?” asked Jessica.

  Olivia nodded her head yes when she said, “Yeah, that was the first place I looked. Jimmy is never up this early unless someone makes him get up, so I had just assumed he would still be sleeping and I was going to wake him up to come have breakfast. When I found his room empty I just assumed he had been woken up by the smell of breakfast cooking, and that he was already in the kitchen so that he could eat.”