The Crime of Protection

by Gloria Martin

  Gently biting the inside of her thigh, Rafe pulled back from her and stood. Gina’s eyes opened wide with the reprieve and she reached out for him, begging without words.

  Climbing on top of her Rafe stared back into her eyes, both of them were breathing heavily. Gina wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her, the warmth of his body pressed against her as their lips met.

  The taste of herself on his lips drove her wild and she pressed for deeper kisses. Rafe obliged, taking hold of her, his fingers knotting in her hair as he pulled her into himself. She sighed into his kiss, melting beneath his touch.

  Then she felt him inside of her. A new excitement built as he thrust deep inside of her, and Gina felt her ecstasy climb as his mouth moved from hers, to her earlobe, and down her neck. His teeth grazed against her soft exposed flesh as she trembled beneath him.

  His heavy breath turned to grunting as the rhythm of their thrusting hips increased beyond the rhythm of the bass through the floor until their bodies rocked in double time. Their breathing became ragged and Gina’s fluttering moans reached a trembling pitch that signaled her coming orgasm.

  Rafe thrust hard and deep inside of her, the force tipping her over the edge and sending her body into convulsive quakes as he reached his own peak. Letting out a moan that verged on a roar, he met his release inside of her and collapsed over her trembling body.

  They lay there for a few minutes, not saying a word as their muscles quaked and their uneven breathing settled back into normal patterns. Gina held his head where he laid in the crook of her neck. She ran her fingers through his hair absentmindedly as she tried to control the shaking in her legs.

  She could feel the wet stain of their sweat and cum pooling beneath her as she dripped onto the sheets. Rafe began to nuzzle her neck with light kisses and she moaned softly.

  “How do you like married sex?”

  “So much better,” she laughed. “It’s almost like you know what you’re doing now.”

  *****

  The sound of the ocean waves crashing against the sandy beach had become familiar to Gina in the last few weeks. The honeymoon was nearly over, but the couple still woke up each morning with the same hot passion for each other that they had had on their wedding night.

  The light touch of Rafe’s hands running over her bare skin in the grey hours of dawn woke Gina from her dreamless sleep. His hands were the single most relaxing thing she had ever felt, and they drifted over her body every morning as if they were exploring it again for the first time. They never tired of their travels, roaming over the soft curves as they crested on the hills of her shoulders and hips and descended into the valleys of her elbows, waist, and knees.

  After a while, his hands were joined by his soft kisses. His breath was hot on her neck as he nibbled her earlobe and whispered, “Good morning, my love.”

  “Mmmm,” she moaned as she rolled over to look into the liquid gold of his eyes. “Just another day in paradise.”

  “For another week at least.”

  “Do we have to go back?”

  They both laughed, knowing they had abandoned their normal lives for far too long already. Gina needed to get back to work at the library, and Rafe had plenty of work backed up for him. More than a few individuals had been miffed that he had gone on an extended honeymoon in the first place when he was such an important individual in the community.

  Gina cuddled up to Rafe and laid her head on his chest. He ran his fingers through her hair as they both stared off into the quiet of their beach house bedroom. Kissing the top of her head, Rafe asked, “Well, what would you like for breakfast?”

  “Hmmm….” She thought out loud. “How about sausage?”

  “Wasn’t that your midnight snack?” Rafe laughed along with Gina as she sat up in bed and leaned over to kiss him. The first rays of light were just beginning to creep over the horizon and shine in through the windows.

  Throwing his arms around her waist, Rafe turned her over and held himself above her. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and pulled him down onto her. Their bodies pressed together as they kissed.

  “Well are you going to get up and cook me anything or not?” she teased as Rafe pulled away.

  He sat up and tugged lightly on his halfway hardened self. “This is what you meant, right? You did say sausage.”

  Gina laughed. “Fix me a real breakfast and I’ll give you a morning treat.”

  “Aren’t you the woman,” he joked as he got up out of bed. “How am I the one getting stuck in the kitchen?”

  “Because you know if you send me in there we’d be in danger of burning this whole place down,” she laughed.

  “True,” he groaned as he walked over to the kitchen area.

  Gina admired his body as he moved. It was hard to believe that it had been nearly two whole months since they had been married. The first month they spent traveling, mostly in Europe. The second month they had spent at a beach house owned by the pack.

  Aside from the excellent sex, Gina had enjoyed all the lazy vacations clichés from staying in bed all day, to lying out in the sun until she was tanned darker than she had ever been before.

  Rafe moved around the kitchen and began to cook breakfast for the two of them. Within minutes the smell of frying sausage and eggs filled the air. Gina was quite entertained to watch her naked chef.

  Breathing deeply, she was suddenly hit by a wave of nausea. She lay back in the bed for a second thinking it would pass. When it did not, she got up and bolted for the bathroom.

  The sickness was sudden and she felt a feverish flash that ended as soon as the puking did. Turning on the water, she began to rinse her mouth with water from the sink faucet. Looking up into the mirror, she saw Rafe standing behind her looking quite confused.

  “Are you okay?” he asked as he reached out to rub her back.

  Gina was shaking lightly. Somehow she knew for certain when she answered. “I’m pregnant.”

  Rafe’s jaw dropped for a moment before a bright beaming smile spread across his face. “Are you really?”

  “Well I can’t think of any other reason I’d have morning sickness,” she answered.

  Rafe spun her around and kissed her. Gina smiled back as she watched the exuberant joy spread across her husband’s face. He hugged her and kissed her over and over again asking if she was sure.

  “Well we can always go by the drug store and pick up a test,” she told him. However she knew that she was right. She was over a week late for her period and this was morning sickness. Pregnancy was the logical conclusion.

  Rafe was bouncing around the beach house unable to contain his excitement. While they had not planned on having kids immediately, he was in no way disappointed by this turn of events.

  With all of the conversations they had had about children, Gina knew that Rafe was excited to be a father. He had been looking forward to it for years, wanting to raise a couple of kids and have that white picket fence kind of a family.

  She smiled as she imagined him having that family of his dreams. It was all they had ever wanted besides one another. He was already dialing the phone, but she came over and stopped him.

  “What’s wrong,” he asked.

  “Nothing,” she smiled. “I just want to wait until we get back before we tell anyone. And I want to keep you to myself for a few more days too.”

  Rafe kissed her. “I’ll schedule you a doctor’s appointment for as soon as we get back. Then we can announce it.”

  *****

  The return to their hometown and their regular lives was quite a bit more exciting than they expected. Once they had the doctor’s appointment and made the announcement, the small town buzzed with excitement.

  Friends, family, and gossips of the town would stop in the library just to get the scoop about the baby. Aunts and cousins wanted to know if they had already put together a registry for the baby shower and if she had picked out the colors for the nursery.

  Gina was a l
ittle annoyed with all the questions and gossip. She really just wanted to return to the peace and quiet of the library, but these women insisted on invading every inch of her privacy, even going so far as to try to touch her when she was barely even showing.

  Suddenly, nothing was private or belonged to herself anymore. Gina felt like she had become public property. Strangers she hardly talked to asked her about intimacies and her bodily functions, and got offended when she refused to share such information.

  They would huff and mutter about how they were only trying to be polite or helpful and Gina would momentarily feel guilty. Then she would remember that it was her body and they had no reason to feel entitled to it just because she was pregnant. Charlotte and Leila were a good support and both seemed to relish the opportunity to tell people to get lost and leave Gina alone.

  Charlotte would offer to let Gina hide among the stacks to avoid unwanted visitors. She understood how awful it was to have unwanted community attention and so she offered what little help she could to her coworker. She made sure to keep from asking personal questions and instead resigned herself to being a listener.

  Leila on the other hand, didn’t flinch at being a little nosy. However, she at least had the legitimate excuse of being the aunt. For the most part, most of her inquiries revolved around names and if she’d get to be the godmother. It was a far cry from old women that Gina didn’t know asking her how often she threw up or if she was often constipated.

  Even worse for Gina was when people would reach out and touch her without reason or warning. It freaked her out when a hand would suddenly appear on her abdomen. Yet it bewildered her that they would take offense when she asked not to be touched, as if she had told them they shouldn’t sit on a public park bench. It infuriated Gina, especially as the pregnancy progressed and her temper grew even shorter than it was to begin with. As her child grew inside of her, fewer and fewer people gave her the basic respect she deserved.

  Not only was Gina’s mundane life as a human unnecessarily stressful, but things were also strained in the realm of the supernatural as well. When they had returned from their honeymoon, Rafe had known he would be behind on his work and that it would cause a bit of a fuss. What he did not expect was for the entire world to stop revolving for two months he was gone. Without him there to direct the traffic, Rafe found that a good number of people in his offices simply did nothing at all.

  To make matters worse, the announcement of Gina’s pregnancy created a few very different reactions amongst the non-humans of the community. Most of the pack was joyful and supportive. They whole-heartedly rejoiced and were eager to lend a hand in any way possible to the newlyweds.

  Then there were the less supportive groups. Some were simply uneasy about how the mutt child would turn out and whether or not he would have stunted abilities if he had any abilities at all. Rafe and Gina could admit that this was a concern that they had considered when they realized that Gina was pregnant, however, they also knew that they would love their child whether he or she was able to turn into a full wolf or not.

  Still, the rumors nagged at the back of her mind. What if her child was born mundane? How would he or she take their place among the pack?

  These questions sometimes kept Gina awake at night, until Rafe would come to bed and wrap his arms around her. He would gently remind her that leadership was not about being the biggest wolf in the pack, but being able to wield authority over the biggest dog, and sometimes that required a more human touch.

  Gina would accept this and snuggle in Rafe’s warm arms, refusing to acknowledge the other group that existed, and their very dangerous ideals. Well, she would try to ignore them, but they made sure she was well aware of their presence and their belief that her child was an abomination.

  Blake was the most vocal advocate of this opinion. Not only did she make sure everyone knew of her disdain for the coming child, but also openly threatened the unborn infant, Gina, Rafe, and even those who supported their marriage and child. It was disconcerting how much support she had managed to drum up not only amongst the wolves, but also getting other supernatural creatures to side with her opinions as well.

  She was creating quite a mess politically and threatened a great number of Rafe’s diplomatic policies by stirring up strong opinions about the unborn mutt child. Gina could see in her husband’s eyes how weary he was trying to put out the political fires that Blake was setting with complete disregard to her entire pack as she rallied for attention and support to oppose the ideas of the pack leadership and their backing of Gina and Rafe’s family.

  *****

  Gina and Rafe were counting down the days until their new child would be coming into the world. There were only eight weeks left. Two months, before they would officially have their new son. According to the pack’s shaman, Gina’s child was to be a boy and a great prince.

  The nursery had been furnished and the baby shower was set to take place later this afternoon. Her mother had set everything up. It was going to be a quiet, yet fun affair at Gina and Rafe’s house with a potluck lunch.

  Gina did her best not to worry, but there were a million things about the shower, but mostly her baby, running through her mind that made her uneasy day in and day out.

  In her mind she heard the whisperings of the werewolves and what the fate of a mutt was. They placed bets on whether or not her child would even be able to turn. She worried that the other werewolves would not think that she was worthy of being part of their pack if she could not produce a child that met the standards of their bloodline.

  As she worried over all of these things, she watched her mother decorate the living room of her house. The light blue streamers hung down around the edges of the room and wrapped around the stair railing and banister. She could hear the clicking and whirring of the printer in the other room as it printed out sheets of games and trivia.

  Pacing back and forth, she began to bite her nails while asking herself if the game she had picked out would be any fun. Would they appreciate the prizes or would they think they were too corny? Would Leila be back with the remaining party favors on time? Would her friends be arriving on time? Would they have preferred she have the party outside in this nice June weather?

  “Gina.” Her mother’s strong voice called her away from her thoughts. “Can you go check on that cake in the oven?”

  As of late, she had been prone to these trains of thought that fell into cataclysmic spirals of despair. It was one of the reasons that her baby shower had taken so long to plan. Gina had insisted that she wanted to plan it herself along with Leila, but her anxiety kept her full of excuses to postpone. However, Leila had reached out to her mother and she had promptly taken over the affair so as to assure her daughter would not be depriving herself of the traditional party.

  “Hey, ladies,” Leila announced as she entered the through the front door, her arms laden with all of the last minute supplies Gina’s mother had sent her to fetch. She carried the shopping bags into the kitchen and the three women worked together to put everything where it needed to go.

  They popped open bags of little plastic figurines and cheap tablecloths. Leila sprinkled the festive confetti over the covered tables with enthusiasm and set up the prizes that their friends would be competing for.

  “When did you last check your registry?” Leila asked idly as they puttered about the house waiting for the guests to begin arriving.

  “Earlier this morning,” Gina answered. “Why?”

  “Oh nothing,” Leila said coyly as she rearranged the bowls of nuts and candies for the fifteenth time, “just that I’m probably the best sister-in-law ever, and my nephew is going to be the most stylin’ baby around.”

  Gina smiled. Although Leila didn’t have any kids of her own, she had been an infinite font of knowledge for all of her questions about having a werewolf baby, and what she wasn’t able to answer she directed to the pack shaman. Still, both Leila and the pack shaman had cautioned Gina that her little m
ixed-breed could be a whole different kind of kid, and they shouldn’t expect him to behave just as any other little were-baby would.

  After the party died down Leila sat with Gina and helped her write out thank you notes for all of the gifts she had received. The shower had been a lot of fun, and Gina had enjoyed watching all of her friends, both human and werewolf, get together and have a good time playing trivia and other games like the ‘Diaper Changing Olympics’.

  Rafe arrived home and carefully picked his way across the living room full of presents to kiss Gina. “How was the shower?”

  “Good,” she answered. “Tanya and her husband got something for you.”

  She held up a pacifier with a large mustache attached to it.

  “Awesome.” Rafe took it from her and jokingly stuck it in his mouth.

  Gina and Leila burst out laughing.

  “Told you he’d do it,” Gina said.

  The trio goofed off for a while before Leila excused herself to go get ready for the pack run that night. She hugged Gina and promised her extended womb that he’d get to join her soon enough for a run.

  After closing the door behind Leila, Rafe pulled Gina close and kissed the top of her head as she rested it against his chest. “Did you have fun today?”

  “Yes,” she answered, “but I’m certainly worn out. How was your day?”

  “Same as always,” he said. “Just a bunch of bureaucratic nonsense and people who talk too much about nothing.”

  Rafe walked Gina back to the couch and sat down with her as she continued to go through the gifts and write the thank you notes. He’d joke about items and pretend he had no clue what they were for.

  “Don’t you need to get ready to go for your run tonight?” Gina asked when she noticed that the sun had already gone down.

  “Well, I suppose so,” Rafe shrugged. He rubbed a hand over her belly and asked, “You sure Junior doesn’t want to go running too?”