by Sky Winters
Crystal startled. “What? I was just kidding. Give me those.” She snatched the pink pod out of my hands and saw the same thing I did. “Did you miss one or maybe took one too late?”
I shook my head. “Nope. I even set an alarm so I don’t forget. What are the odds?”
“Less than three per cent. We need to go to the drugstore now. I’ll tell the boss that you’ve got a stomach bug and I need to take you home.”
“Lyla! Come on out of there. What does it say?” Crystal was banging on my bathroom door. I knew she was lingering out there the entire time, which didn’t exactly take the pressure off to pee.
I had kept my eyes closed until the timer went off. I needed to know, but I didn’t want to. Lo and behold that hunk of plastic that could not lie, told me my fate in plain digital letters: pregnant. 3+ weeks.
I traipsed over to the bathroom door and weakly pulled it open.
“So?” Crystal asked tapping her foot.
I couldn’t speak. The capacity for normal human speech had been forgotten in that moment. Instead I handed her the test.
“Holy shit! Lyla, you’re pregnant!” Crystal got a little giddy for a second, but when she realized I wasn’t celebrating too she stopped. “Are you alright? I thought you wanted to be a mom?”
“I did. I do! I just didn’t think it was going to be with a guy who is supposed to be temporary and while I was on The Pill.”
“Just tell me what you want to do and I’ll help support you one hundred per cent.” I felt her hands smoothing the tension from my back.
“Nothing. Nothing for now, thanks. I’ll see Walker tonight and I’ll discuss it with him. In the meantime, would you mind calling my gynecologist and getting me an appointment today? I don’t trust my fingers to not drop my phone.”
I waited for Walker to pick me up out on the sidewalk. I knew he would be suspicious since he usually came to the door, but I was too anxious to be cooped up. The ultrasound photo felt like a bomb in my purse that would go off any second. I was lucky my doctor was able to get me in within a couple of hours to confirm exactly what was going on with me.
I could hear the roar of the motorcycle from the entrance of the neighborhood, my anxiety ticked up as the sound drew closer. Walker pulled up in front of me and turned off the bike. “What’s going on?” Worry clear on his face.
Again, I couldn’t say the word. I just handed him the fuzzy black and white printout and held my breath.
He stared for a moment before going completely ashen. “What am I looking at here? Are you…?” Turned out he couldn’t say it either.
I nodded. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, no matter how hard I fought them back. This was it. He was going to bail and I’d never see him again.
The look of shock quickly rearranged itself into one of elation. “You’re pregnant? We’re going to have a baby!” He scooped me up and squeezed me tight, planting scratchy kisses all over my face.
“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 hard 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
The Grey
Chapter One
The house sat in the middle of a wooded area, surrounded by trees and a gravelled pavement that served as both road and driveway. Savannah got out of the car and stared at the quaint little house that was going to be her home for the next six months.
“This is what I always imagined Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother’s house to look like,” Savannah said, turning back to her parents.
“Do you like it?” her father had taken to speaking very precisely for her benefit. She never needed to wear her hearing aid around her parents because she could read their lips perfectly.
“It’s all right,” Savannah said reluctantly. In fact, she did like it. There was a sense of cosiness that clung to the house and the town that she had never experienced before. Still, she didn’t want her parents to know that, because she didn’t want them thinking she was happy about the move.
She stayed outside and walked toward the trees that stood beside the house like sentinels. They had a strong, oaky smell, but there was an undercurrent of something else in the air. The back of the house faced a series of small hills that led up to larger ones. They were paved with grass and rock and Savannah could sense the difference in the air up there.
A half hour later she went back into the house to join her parents. They had bought the house with the furniture included. The sofa was upholstered with a thick fabric that held a heavy pattern of flowers. Instead of blinds in the windows, there were curtains in a variety of mismatched floral patterns. There were floorboards and carpets instead of tiles, and a staircase, with bl
ock stairs, and an old-fashioned railing.
“You could be right,” Savannah’s mother said, when she walked into the kitchen. “Maybe Red Riding Hood’s grandmother did live here.”
Savannah smiled, grabbed her duffel bag, and walked upstairs in search of her room. It was nestled in the corner overlooking the mountains and the hooded trees. There was one large window that brought in all the light and bathed the sparse contents of her room in an ivory glow. She set down her duffel bag and examined her small four-poster bed.
She couldn’t hear her father walk in, but she sensed his presence the moment he appeared at her door, and she turned around.
“Remember when you were six and all you wanted was a four poster bed?”
Savannah rolled her eyes at him. “Is this you coming through for me?”
“It most definitely is.” Her father nodded.
“Thanks, Dad,” Savannah signed to him sarcastically. “Twelve years late, but I’ll take it anyway.”
He winked at her and moved on down the hall. Savannah closed the door and walked to her window. The light was already fading, and she knew it would be dark within the hour. She stuck her head out the window and closed her eyes so she could concentrate.
The wind caressed her face, sending a comforting coolness across her body. The air smelled of smoky oak and fresh dirt. Savannah froze in place as some other unfamiliar scent washed across her. It was subtle at first, but then grew stronger. She had never caught that scent before; it was oddly pleasant and difficult to place. Savannah opened her eyes and looked around, but there was nothing to see save the different greens and browns of nature.
Savannah had never thought she was unlucky. She had never experienced sound the way that normal people did, and couldn’t understand why it was so important as a result. She was finally able to hear sound with the help of powerful hearing aids, but she hadn’t been as thrilled as her doctors and parents had been. She liked her silent world, and the advantages it gave her.
Ever since she was a little girl, her other senses had been heightened. She could smell more sharply, she could see more clearly, and she could feel more acutely, but it was more than just that. She had an intuition about things…about people. At least, that was what her parents called it–intuition. But for Savannah it was something more.
