by Sky Winters
“You aren’t mad?” I was dumbfounded. I hadn’t expected his reaction.
“Mad? Why would I be mad? This is amazing fucking news! I’m going to have a baby with the woman I love.” Time came to a grinding halt.
Love? Was it love between the two of us? I had been under the impression that it was lust. Well, mostly lust with a healthy amount of affection and respect sprinkled in. I wasn’t sure how to answer and judging by the look on Walker’s face, I thought he’d rather I forgot he said anything at all.
Since I wasn’t sure about my feelings for him, I decided to drop the subject for the time being in favor of a much more pressing one. “Babies,” I announced pointing to the two dark spots on the ultrasound.
“What?” Walker asked, snapping out of his daze.
“Babies; as in plural. We are having twins, and apparently big ones. My doctor said I look like I’m about two months along, which is nuts.”
Walker sighed and handed me back the photo. “We need to talk.”
Shit. “Here it comes, the rejection.”
“No! No, no. Are you kidding? I wasn’t planning on letting you go and considering the circumstances now, you’re stuck with me.” He grinned, an expression that quickly melted away. “You’re pregnancy is going to go by fast. Shifter babies develop especially quick.” He paused to weigh my reaction before continuing. “The Wraith’s aren’t just a club, we’re also able to shift from people to animals; specifically wolves.”
I felt like someone dropped ice down my back. “Those are just stories! There is no such thing.” I’m having babies with a delusional crazy person.
“Sure, but the stories are based in reality. They have to come from somewhere.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Look, I don’t want to discuss this here. Let’s go and I’ll explain everything when we’re around safe company.” He held his hand out to me.
Of course, I hesitated. Walker just told me he was a goddamn werewolf. I should be running and screaming in the other direction, but my feet had become rooted to the spot. I wrestled with what I should do. This could be the part where the crazy man wanted to make me his bride or kill me. There were enough of those stories floating around in the world too.
In the end, I decided to hear him out.
Chapter 6
Joker’s was quiet compared to the first night I was there. Walker dragged me over to a booth in the furthest corner away from the smoke and sensitive ears.
“So now that we’re among ‘safe company’, are you going to tell me what this craziness is all about?” I demanded. Walker looked down at his hands. I couldn’t believe it. He actually looked nervous!
“Have you ever heard the Native American stories about skin walkers? You know, animals that take on human form?”
“No. Can’t say that I have.”
“Okay. I’ll give you the short version. In the old legends, the skin walkers were the priests of the tribe that had gone astray down an evil path. They had killed a close family member so they were able to become animal at night.”
I was skeptical, but told myself to keep an open mind. I always had the option to run away and change my name later.
“Only part of that is true. You have to perform an evil deed, but you also have to have the bloodline to do it. Neither of my parents could shift, but I guess they had the ability to if they would have just killed.”
“Wouldn’t they have had to kill their parents or one of their children to do that?”
Walker shook his head and waved to the bartender. “No. That part of the legend is off too. I didn’t. I had been in a bar fight with the old president of the Wraiths actually. We both got loaded and I hit on his girlfriend.” I cocked an eyebrow at that salacious detail, but didn’t interrupt.
“Naturally, he got pissed and things got physical. I had been in plenty of fights before, but something was different that night. I can’t really explain it since it was a feeling more than anything.” The bartender interrupted and took our drink orders.
I was on the edge of my seat at that point and annoyed at her for the disruption. I didn’t want a drink; I wanted to hear the end. When the bartender left he continued, “I remember punching him in the nose and knocking him to the ground, there’s a big hole where I must have blacked out and then the next thing I know. I’m standing over him, his face looking like hamburger meat. I had beaten him to death.”
I slouched back in my seat with an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. That was a lot of information to absorb and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to. The father of my twins was a murderer. Sure he claimed to not remember, but I couldn’t be sure of that.
“There’s another thing you should know about the babies…”
“Walker Lewis!” A voice boomed through the bar, jarring me out of my thoughts. “Get your sorry ass over here and pledge yourself to me.” Danny had arrived to make the evening even worse for me. Great.
“Hell no. In fact,” Walker stood up and composed himself. An air of authority had settled around him, “You get on your knees and pledge yourself to me.”
The two men closed the space between each other and stood toe to toe. Danny had about an inch on Walker’s height, but Walker had the advantage of being roughly fifteen years younger. I should have wanted to giggle at the absurdity of the tough guy standoff, but the tension between them tossed the silliness right out of the room.
“I ain’t pledgin’ nothin’, Walker. I’m the leader of this club and you will accept that. On your knees, now,” Danny growled.
“Go fuck yourself,” Walker said evenly, “there is no way you are allowed to be the leader anymore. Tell me something. What is it that a true alpha should be able to do that the others can’t?”
Danny scoffed and took a step back. “Get a human girl pregnant. Why are you asking stupid questions?”
Walker tilted his head, making sure he had the attention of every person in the bar. He had Danny on the ropes and needed everyone to know it. “And how is that going for you and your wife? She’s totally human, right?”
Danny narrowed his eyes and snarled. “That is none of your business, you piece of shit.”
“Temper temper, Danny. We’re just having a talk.” Walker leered at his soon to be former alpha. “It sounds like, no babies then. Am I right?”
Danny refused to answer. His faces had broken out in red blotches and he kept opening and closing his fists at his side.
“My lovely girl over here just happens to be pregnant with twins, my twins to be exact. So tell me then, who should kneel to whom?” Walker’s face lit up in epiphany. “Hang on. This explains everything. You knew. You knew I was the true alpha, didn’t you?”
Danny sputtered an attempted explanation, but Walker cut him off, “You spent the last fifteen years busting me down and running me out because I was a threat to your title. Oh, you motherfucker. You are good.” Walker smiled and wagged a finger at Danny.
“Tell you what. All will be forgiven if you just hit the floor and pledge your unwavering loyalty to me.” Something in the room had changed just then. I looked at the faces of the other men in the bar. Most were focused on Walker, some were on Danny waiting for him to do something, and a few were scrutinizing me for signs that Walker’s claim was true.
Danny made a move that caught my eye. He shed his jacket and dropped to all fours on the floor in front of Walker. His skin rippled and popped. In a blink a grizzled wolf was lying where Danny used to be. Walker followed suit and turned into the most gorgeous sable wolf I had ever seen. Danny had rolled over onto his back, exposing his belly in a posture of submission. While staring into the face of the older wolf he put one paw on his rivals belly and growled.
I rubbed my eyes thinking they had suddenly gone bad. There was no way the two arguing men had just turned into animals. I looked around the room for the reactions of the others and while being glued to the story unfolding, none of them looked shocked.
Oh wow. Walker was telling the truth. As har
d as my brain tried to rationalize what just happened, it couldn’t. There was no rational explanation for what just happened other than it was something supernatural, which is batshit crazy.
Now my life had gotten tangled up in it and I didn’t know what to do. I splayed a hand over my belly, what would become of my babies? If the realization that Walker was telling the truth and shifted in front of me was the warm up punch, then the realization that my little babies could be just like him was the knockout punch. I felt woozy and had to sit down.
I stuck my head between my knees and closed my eyes. My breathing was ragged and labored despite my best effort to calm it. The insanity was too much.
“Lyla are you okay? Do you need anything?” I could hear Walker’s voice, but he sounded fuzzy and far away. I shook my head in response. I didn’t want to answer him, not just yet.
He bundled me into his arms where I finally broke down and wept. I just let him hold me there until his t-shirt was soaked and I was dried out.
“Lyla, is there anything I can do to help?” Walker murmured.
“Yes. Take me home.”
Walker laid me down on my old threadbare couch. His concern for me was touching and warmed some of the icy feelings I felt for him in that moment. I had rolled over to keep my back to him. I just couldn’t look at him. He had told me the truth and yet I still felt betrayed somehow.
“Lyla. Talk to me. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong. Honestly, you’re freaking me the fuck out.” I could hear the anxiety in Walker’s voice, but I still wrestled with how to handle this. I could let him know how I was feeling, but there was that other side that hoped if I ignored him he would just go away.
I decided to talk to him. I rolled over and looked Walker square in the eye, he has to understand what I just went through. “You turned into a dog! I watched you drop on all fours and sprout fur. What I believed to be reality has been dashed to pieces so you’ll have to excuse me for being less than chatty.”
Walker grabbed my hand and stroked my fingers. “You have every right to feel that way. If the roles had been reversed I would probably feel the same. If you want me to go, I will.”
I sighed and sat up. “No. Don’t go. I’ll come to terms with it. I want you to stay with me.” I placed his hand over my still flat belly. “Our babies need you. I’m shaken, but that doesn’t change the way I feel about you, Walker.”
He freed his hand and slid his arm around my waist, pulling me to the edge of the cushions. “Oh? And how do you feel about me?”
I leaned in almost close enough for our lips to brush. “I need you, Walker. I can’t imagine my life without you.” I was dangerously close to uttering the L-word, but had to proceed with caution. The goal was to keep him around, not to run him off.
Walker stroked my face and grasped my neck. “I love you, Lyla. I’ll give you all the time you need to get used to my life, but I have to have you as a part of it.”
I was elated to hear those words. “Say it again.” I whispered.
“I love you, Lyla.”
I lost myself and kissed him with all of the passion and love I had coursing through my body. This tough, strange, and special man loved me. He came out of nowhere and the one-night stand he was supposed to be was stretching into forever. It would take time to get used to the wolfy thing, but I loved him and in time would not only come to accept it, but embrace it as well.
THE END RETURN TO TOC
ComeShift Series: Nicholas
That son of a bitch! After five long years of busting my hump for his stupid ad agency, he fired me with nothing more than a “good luck in all your future endeavors” letter. The walk of shame through the halls of the office was the most painful one I’ve ever had to make. I kept my head up, but I could feel every pair of eyes glued to me as I marched my way out the door with my chin in the air. Crying would have to be saved for later.
Getting fired was just the cherry on the shit sundae that was my week. I guess that’s what I get for telling my boss I didn’t want to be his undercover sex toy anymore. After nearly a year of secret rendezvous and lunch break trysts, I had grown to have feelings for the selfish bastard. I wanted commitment, he danced around the issue, and I pulled the plug.
Shortly after our commitment conversation, I had come to the realization that I had just enough dignity and self-respect left to understand that I needed and deserved better than some lecherous chubby-chaser. That was on Friday. Here it was, Monday, and I was no longer welcome at the ad agency of Johnson, Decker, and Fuller.
Deep down I knew that I was better off. Both the position and the man were painfully toxic, and had been corroding my sanity for years. I was going to take a week, decompress, and throw myself a pity party before launching into a job search that would hopefully, be very brief.
I lived in Chicago. You couldn’t throw a rock in this town without hitting an ad building or an exec glued to his phone. The market was competitive here, but I wasn’t afraid to slide down the ladder for a little while if it meant that I’d have bigger opportunities later.
I got halfway to the parking garage when my phone vibrated in my pocket. A photo of me and my best friend, Mia popped up on my screen. “Hello?”
“Nicole, tell me you don’t have plans tonight.”
“Seriously, I don’t have plans tonight. Why?”
“Get yourself sexied up because tonight because Bear Knuckle Brawlers is playing downtown, and I have an extra ticket.”
A night out with my favorite girl catching an amazing local band sounded tempting, but the warning signal went off in my head reminding me that I was now unemployed and shouldn’t be spending anything. “That sounds like so much fun, Mia, but I’m going to have to pass. I just got let go today, and I need to be careful with my money until I can find something else.”
“You got fired? I thought you just found out you were in line for a promotion.”
Way to rub salt in the wound. “I was. I blew it when I told Anthony I didn’t want to play anymore unless he committed. He saw my call, and raised me my salary. The best part of the whole thing is, he could have called to tell me over the weekend, but instead he waited until I already sat through our stupid Monday meeting to drop the ax.” Ugh, that thought depressed me even more.
“So come out anyway. You don’t have to buy a ticket and chances are, if you turn on the charm, you won’t have to buy your own drinks either. Please come out with me? Please, please, please?”
I could practically hear her pouting through the phone. She did have a point though. Even if I ended up buying myself one beer, going out with Mia tonight wouldn’t break me. “Okay. I’ll come along. What time is the show?”
“Yay! The doors open at eight, and the band goes on at nine. I think you’ll have a really good time tonight, and by the sound of your day today, you need to blow off some steam.”
“Boy do I! There’s a part of me that thought about suing for wrongful termination, but the agency is lawyered to the rafters. I wouldn’t stand a chance against them in court.”
“I’d still look into it. Even if you don’t personally get anything out of it, you could still get a lot of attention on the firm and the situation in general. Who knows, by speaking up you might help give other women in a similar situation the power to speak up and change a few things.”
Every now and then, Mia would find a point so profound that it would throw me completely for a loop. “You’re right. I’ll consider it. Thanks. See you around seven-thirty?”
“Yup. And don’t be tardy bitch! Later.”
And with that sign off, she went right back to normal.
After unlocking my car and tossing my box in the backseat, I sat behind the wheel staring off into outer space. I didn’t want to contemplate my next move, but I knew that I would have to. I had enough in savings to get me through the next five months; six if I committed myself to eating rice and beans for the entire time. That might not be such a bad idea. It’s not like I c
ouldn’t stand to lose a few pounds.
With a sigh of frustration, I turned the key and backed out of my parking spot. For now I’d have to file all that away into the Scarlett O’Hara part of my brain that would handle it tomorrow.
“Nicole! I’m over here!” The only part of Mia I could see was her well-decorated hand waving around over everybody’s heads. The woman dressed like a gypsy when we went out, and tonight was no exception. Her wrists jingled from the stack of bangles she wore and she was wearing a hair accessory that was part headband and part chain that lay down the part of her straight black hair and around her head. She had a distinctive look and I had to admit, it suited her well. Of course she had that to-die-for olive complexion too.
When I caught up to her, Mia hugged me tight. “I am so sorry about your job. That prick had no right to fire you. You’re better than that.”
We broke apart before I answered. “Thank you. The blow still stings, but it’s nothing a cocktail can’t take care of.”
We chatted about nothing in particular as the line inched closer to the door, but Mia kept taking out her phone and texting while we talked. After a while, it got annoying. “Who are you talking to?”
“I’m sorry, Nicole. I’m just a little nervous. I have a guy coming to meet us here in a bit and he is molten lava hot. Like, the kind of hot that you thought only existed in Photoshop. I was keeping him updated on the line.”
“You met a guy? Where? And when did this happen?” Mia’s admission hurt a little. Not only did I think we were having a girls night, but we talked everyday, and she never once mentioned a man to me.
“I met him last month on this dating app called ComeShift. We’ve been out a few times and he’s very different than anyone else I’ve dated.”
He’s different. Sure. “Mia, you say that about every dude you meet and no offense, but they all were pretty much the same person.”
She stuck her tongue out at me. “I know I’ve said that very thing before, but I’m serious this time. He’s not quite human.”
