by E A Price
“Hey, trying to catch a thief,” rumbled Mason. “This is Judy. Judy, this is Cutter, Lucie and Dean.”
“And a potential murderer,” added Judy.
“What are you doing here?” asked Mason. There was genuine surprise in his voice. But then Judy had to admit the wolf hardly fit in with the rest of the parents in the park.
“Here with my boy, he’s competing.”
“No, I’m going to win,” declared Dean.
Lucie squeezed his hand, beaming. “He doesn’t even need the clues, he can follow the scents to the eggs; he’s so talented.”
Dean smiled bashfully.
Judy leaned down and smiled at the boy. “Really? Honey, you think you and your daddy could follow the scent to some unusual eggs?”
*
Mason slammed his palm down on the table, making Moe jump about a foot in the air. “Just the man we’ve been looking for. We know about the eggs, you’re coming with us.”
“The hell I am!”
Moe leaped to his feet and pulled Judy to him, producing a gun from the recesses from his sweatsuit.
There were some screams around them.
“He’s got a gun.”
“Run.”
Mason snarled. Judy rolled her eyes.
“Sorry,” she said, “there was no indication that he ever carried a gun.”
Most shifters didn’t bother with weapons; there was no need when claws and teeth would do.
“Let her go!” roared the irate gorilla shifter.
“Stay back, King Kong or I blow her fluffy brains out,” warned the weasel shifter, licking his dry lips. “Now, we're leaving, and you better not follow us. When I get far enough away, I’ll let carrot cupcake here go.”
Judy harrumphed in disgust. “Excuse me? You are not leaving this park in anything but handcuffs.”
Moe cocked the gun. “You’re in no position to…”
“Ha, I spent the last four weeks following dead end leads to get to you. I’ve barely eaten or slept, and you are not going anywhere.”
Her teeth lengthened to her bunny buck teeth, and they clamped onto his arm.
“Aargh! You bitch!” he screamed.
Judy shifted to her bunny, slithering out of his grasp, drowning in her clothes as she shrank. Mason grabbed the gun and crushed it as his own shift took over. The weasel shifter yelped and tried to run, hurling frightened civilians into Mason’s way. But, there really was no escaping from an enraged five hundred pound silverback gorilla.
However, credit to the weasel, he made it all the way to his car and got the door shut. It didn’t help. The gorilla promptly ripped the door off and hurled the weasel out of the car.
“Oh god!” yelped Moe.
He passed out, and Mason dropped him to the ground, beating his chest in victory a few times for good measure. He only stopped as a pale red rabbit jumped into his paws and shifted into a naked woman.
Judy snuggled against his fur. “You know if you wanted to throw me over your shoulder and climb a building, I’d be fine with that.”
The gorilla hooted.
*
Judy scowled at the newspaper. Her nose twitched in annoyance and her bunny thumped the ground. Yep, there on the front page was a photo of Sy Thompson shaking hands with Jackson St. Jackson and holding one of the Fabergé eggs. Stupid Sy Thompson stealing all her glory.
Although she had to smile at the much smaller picture of Dean holding one of the eggs. It was noted that special thanks went to him for retrieving them. He and his father had managed to find all of the Fabergé eggs – they were like bloodhounds. Cutter had even managed to catch a couple of the buyers while they were picking them up. Moe had given up the rest of his buyers and was taking a plea deal for both the theft and the murder – claiming the murder was self-defense.
Jackson, the old perv, had actually given the young boy a reward – a paid vacation to Disneyland for him and his whole family – including his mom, stepfather, dad and stepmother. Judy understood that Cutter was loathing the prospect of going on vacation with his ex-wife and also going to the happiest place on earth. Lucie and Dean apparently couldn’t wait.
Sy Thompson had taken all the credit for himself. Plus, instead of the case giving her career a bump, she had been fired for undertaking an investigation behind Sy’s back. Judy took great pleasure in screwing up Sy’s face on the paper and using it to pack her box. Given that she’d been a bit forgetful with her rent while chasing the case, she now had to move. At that moment, she wasn’t exactly sure where she was going.
And worst of all, Mason hadn’t called her. Not once. She felt a dull ache every time she thought about him. Hell, she felt a dull ache all the time. Thinking about him just made her want to cry. Her rabbit was not a happy bunny.
A knock sounded on her door and, thinking it was the movers, she threw it open, regardless of her sweatpants, messy hair and complete lack of make-up. Which she immediately regretted it as she found Mason leaning against her doorframe.
“Mason!” she breathed. Her rabbit started hopping in happiness.
“Hey, carrot muncher,” he rumbled.
Judy quivered. Lord, just the sound of his voice thrilled her. She backed up as he came in and filled her tiny apartment.
“What are you doing here?”
“Came to see you.”
“You could have called,” she said, desperately running her fingers through her hair.
Mason smirked. “Wanted to give you time to miss me and my sunny personality.”
Judy giggled, and her bunny chittered. He had no idea how much she did miss him. The last few days had been pretty crappy. But all she could think was that they would be infinitely better if Mason were there… telling her things can only get worse. Yes, she even missed that part of him.
“Mission accomplished.”
She skipped across the room and jumped into his waiting arms.
“I can’t believe you drove down here to see me. Bet you thought it was a waste of time as you were driving down.”
“You’re never a waste of time,” he murmured, inhaling her scent. “These last three days felt more like forty.”
Her bunny cooed. “You can be very sweet.”
Mason shrugged at the compliment. “Besides, I had to deliver a letter to you, so even if did tell me you never wanted to see me again…” He caught sight of her raised eyebrows and faltered. “Am I still sweet?”
“Oh, King Kong. To me, you are. To me, you are the sweetest, handsomest gorilla in the universe, and you’re not half bad in your human form either.”
“You’ll pay for that, hoppy,” he growled.
“I hope so. Is this the letter?”
Judy pulled it out of his back pocket and ripped it open as he groaned at her.
It was a note from Director Sanders that said, ‘Thompson is an idiot’. Attached was an application form for the SEA and a letter of recommendation.
“He wants me to join the SEA.”
Mason beamed and kissed her. “That’s great.”
Her rabbit snuffled in agreement. “Yeah, it is.”
“The training center is just outside Los Lobos, so I guess you’re going to have to move to Los Lobos.”
“I suppose so.”
“Plenty of room in my apartment.”
Judy rolled her eyes. “No kidding.”
“Plenty of room in my bed.”
“You don’t say.”
“I promise to walk around the apartment naked a lot if that helps.”
Long nights of watching Mason strut around nude stretched out before her. “Make it all the time, and you have a deal.”
“You got it, fluffy.”
She giggled as he kissed her. Her bunny flicked her tail, and his gorilla thumped his chest.
The end
Cinco de O-My!
Avery swayed a little as she wandered through the busy crowd at Tequila O’Rileys. It was the only jointly Mexican and Irish bar in the city – owned
by a husband from Ireland and a wife from Mexico. It was eclectic and crazy and always popular. Right now they were celebrating Cinco de Mayo. Which for the bar meant festive streamers, mini Mexican flags, lots of tequila, green beer – probably left over from St. Patrick’s Day - and strings of beads for any female willing to flash her boobs. To be fair, that was how they celebrated nearly every holiday.
The lioness shifter smiled and waved as she recognized a few other agents from the Supernatural Enforcers Agency. A few random males gave her appreciative glances, and she had numerous offers to show them her chest in exchange for the plastic beads. She told them her breasts were worth way more. A group of bachelors clubbed together and offered her all the money in their wallets, but it wasn't enough to persuade her.
“Bathroom, bathroom, bathroom,” she muttered, trying to push her way through the heaving crowd.
She hadn’t intended on coming out, but when the alternative was going home and listening to her roommate have noisy sex with her sleazy boyfriend, getting drunk was much more enticing. But maybe that had been a mistake. Just five feet away was her ex-boyfriend - the boyfriend who had proposed, sworn undying love and then made out with her college roommate, Christina all within the space of a week. Even worse, he was there with Christina and they were married. Assholes.
Ricky started to turn in her direction and rather than whip out her claws – which her lion was pushing for – she dropped to the ground and started crawling along the ground like a big, freaking coward. Her lioness taunted her, but Avery wasn’t exactly in the mood to explain to one of her fellow SEA agents why she had her drunken paws around Ricky’s neck when they were arresting her for assault. It was best that she slink away from temptation.
She managed to negotiate her way around numerous pairs of legs, ignoring the perv who offered her the opportunity to give him a blow job while she was down there, and actually made it to the bathroom just as Ricky decided to go into the men's room. Fricking perfect.
“Avery?”
“Yep, oh, oh, there’s my contact.”
She made a show of pretending she was popping it back into her eye before she stood up, which in her heels brought her line of sight up to the top of his head. Short ass. She looked down to see Ricky smiling at her.
“Avery, you look great,” he told her, just a tad too flirtily.
She didn’t. Or at least, in her opinion she didn’t. She hadn’t changed since work; her make-up was bleary and her hair frizzy. She felt sweaty and dowdy.
Avery waved away the compliment in irritation. “Please.”
“No, you do, you’re always the most beautiful woman in the room.”
Yep, Ricky was never short on the compliments. Her lioness sneered at the male. Really? Was he really hitting on her while the woman he dumped her for – now his wife – was like a glass of wine throw away?
“Thanks, nice to see you again, excuse me,” she blurted in a rush and escaped into the ladies’.
Dickhead. Her beast curled her lip in agreement.
She took her time doing her business, reapplying her make-up, reading her e-mails on her phone… She was sure Rick the dick had to have finished by that point and made her way outside. She caught the sound of Christina’s braying laugh and moved in the opposite direction, using the back exit and pushing her way out into the alley. The cool air felt nice against her heated skin, and the fuzziness in her head abated a little. Pulling out her phone, she scrolled through the numbers, searching for a cab company.
“Avery!”
She snarled as Ricky came out of the bar.
“What?”
“You really do look good.”
“Aha.” She ignored him and concentrated on her phone.
“You know, I’ve missed you.”
Avery scowled as her lion huffed. “I don’t care.”
“I’m sorry about the ways things turned out. I never meant to hurt you.”
“Sure, because sticking your dick into my best friend was supposed to make me jump for joy?”
“It was all her – she seduced me. She was always jealous of you. She made me do it.”
Avery gave him a withering glare. “Right, of course, you had no say in the matter.”
“Her family’s rich. My dad and my brother needed jobs. Her father gave them jobs and houses. She just kept pushing me with her generosity until I couldn’t say no.”
She sighed. “You can always so no. You didn’t have to sleep with her. You didn’t have to marry her.”
“I’m planning on divorcing her; she cheats on me like crazy.”
Avery went back to her phone, even if her lion was strutting around smugly. “Huh, imagine that.”
“Maybe you and I…”
“Ah gee, let me think – no!”
The nerve of this bastard! As if she would take him back after what he did.
“C’mon, Avery. I never stopped loving you; you’ve always been the most beautiful woman in the world to me.”
A ripping retort was on the tip of her tongue, and she was about to let it rip, were it not for the three gator shifters emerging from the shadows. Their unwashed scents almost made her gag. All her senses went on the alert as her eyes narrowed and her claws pushed forward.
“Give us your purse, your phones, and your wallet,” hissed one of them. He looked down at Ricky’s feet. “And those fancy shoes.”
“They’re custom made to fit my feet,” said Ricky in a tremulous voice.
The gators laughed. “How nice for you, sugar. Hand them over,” chuckled the second.
“Leave now,” growled Avery, “and I won’t involve the authorities.” She was lying about that, but she didn’t really like her odds against three huge gators at the same time. Not while she was drunk anyway.
“I fucking hate the SEA,” drawled the third gator. “If any of those shits were here now, I’d snap their fucking legs off.”
The lioness rolled her eyes as Ricky – clearly the world’s wimpiest fox shifter – tried to hide behind her. So much for chivalry.
“She’s SEA, deal with her.”
“Thanks, Ricky,” she muttered.
The gators trained matching feral scowls on her. Avery supposed she could scream for help, but with the loud music, rowdy shouting and constant fireworks, who would hear her? No, three gators wanted to attack her, and she was on her own. Maybe Ricky would run for help? Or more likely just run and keep on running until he made it to the next county.
Avery was vaguely aware of Ricky’s retreating footsteps as she snarled and shifted into her lioness. But, she barely had her jaw around the leg of the first gator when the growl echoed through the alley. All four of them looked up to see a superhero – seriously a black-clad superhero - pounding towards them.
“Stay away from her, you dicks!” howled the man in black.
The lioness froze in mid-bite, wondering if she had perhaps imbibed just a bit too much. The gators were quicker to recover. Their interest diverted from the lioness, and they started attacking the superhero. One shifted and tried to snap at his ankles. But for all their bulk, their teeth and the fact that they outnumbered him, they couldn’t seem to land a punch. The superhero had a pretty fine set of teeth, and he knew how to use them. Gator number two soon found that out, and Avery soon found out that he had a squeal like a twelve-year-old girl at her first pop concert. The gators tried to pummel him with their fists, but in true Batman fashion, the man in black had a plethora of gadgets. He had a baton, a taser, and did he just use a mini smoke bomb?
The lioness, howling in approval, bounded into the fray, clawing and snapping for all she was worth. The fight must have only lasted less than a minute, yet as the lioness and the superhero danced around, fighting in tandem, it felt like so much more. It felt so perfect, so right! To Avery – who had always outshined and outfought every man she ever dated – it was exhilarating, and she bounced and batted at her opponents like a kitten.
As the last gator fell, groaning to the
ground, Avery pushed her shift and turned human.
“Who are you?” she breathed.
The man gaped at her, openmouthed. His eyes fixed on her lean, naked form, perhaps spending a little too long on her heaving naked chest, but at that moment, Avery didn’t care to yell at him. No, she was in awe of him.
“Oh, I, uh, ah…”
He gulped, visibly startled as Avery placed her hands on his shoulders and pulled him down for a kiss. His lips, hesitant at first, soon surrendered to her, and he caressed her naked back. She didn’t know what drove her to kiss a strange man while she was naked in an alley and a trio of gators moaned at her feet, but it was altogether a strange kind of night, and what she was doing felt so right.
As the kiss ended, it seemed to have had the right effect on the superhero.
“I am Wolfman,” he told her, decisively. “And I promise, we shall meet again, pretty kitty.”
Wolfman pressed a smooch to her hand and in a flash he was running away. Avery traced her fingers over her lips as her lioness roared in satisfaction.
“Yes, we shall.”
The end… for now
Mother’s Day Mix-up
Cecile held her breath as she heard Boris crashing into the house. Her swan fluttered and she smiled dreamily as her huge, handsome bear shifter mate stomped into the room. A lusty grin immediately cracked his broody demeanor.
“Hey, honey,” he crooned.
“Hello, my love,” she cooed, “how was work?”
Boris shrugged his massive shoulders. “Same old, same old. Having fun?”
“Yes, I just got this new jigsaw puzzle, it’s Van Gogh’s sunflowers and I… ah…” she faltered and her swan honked pathetically on seeing the amused look on his face. Her shoulders sagged. “You knew I was boring when you mated me.”
He let out a snarl as he slumped on the couch and pulled her willowy frame into his beefy arms. “Not boring.” He peppered kisses over her neck. “Perfect,” he growled. “Let’s go to bed.”
