by Sky Winters
Watching them, Maggie held her breath. She was so afraid that Luke was going to lose. He was so much older than Keith. He moved slower because of his size, but his movements were much more powerful. Whenever his swipes made contact with Keith’s small, wolf form, he ended up tossing him practically all the way across the room. She thought that perhaps his massive size would be key in defeating Keith, but she still worried that the swifter, more agile wolf would find some way of tricking or surprising Luke into a grave error.
She bit her lip, wishing that she could somehow join the fight but knowing that Luke would not have that. She needed to protect their baby, and the only way that she would be able to do that was by staying out of the way.
Keith suddenly brought his nose into the air, sniffing. “I can smell the girl,” he barked. “You can’t hide her from me forever.”
That was the challenge that Luke had been waiting for. He leapt at Keith, taking his small canine head into his mouth. Maggie looked away, hearing an unsettling crunch. Thankfully, Keith’s head was not entirely crushed and he was dropped back to the ground. Maggie did not know what she would have actually done if Luke had murdered someone for her sake. She supposed that that sort of thing happened all the time with shifters, but that did not mean that she liked or condoned it herself.
Keith was letting out all sorts of whines and yips now. His head was bleeding terribly and Maggie realized that his jaw had been the cause of the crunching sound. His mouth hung open as blood poured out of it. Luke pushed him along on the floor toward the gaping front door.
“Get out,” he snarled. “And never show your ugly face around here again, or so help me it will be your neck next time.”
When the wolf shakily got back to his feet, Maggie noticed with some small amount of triumph that she would feel bad about later that his tail was between his legs. Keith left the house, scampering away like any other animal might. It was unsafe to shift back now. There was a chance that he would never recover.
Good.
As soon as Keith was completely gone, Maggie opened the bedroom door the rest of the way. Luke was bloodied and clearly in pain as he slowly slipped back into his human form, but he was smiling at her. “Hi,” he said.
Wordlessly, Maggie fell into his arms. He held her there for a moment before, wincing, he had to pull away again.
“Are you hurt badly?” she asked him, a new kind of worried. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”
He shook his head slightly. “I’ll be all right,” he said. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. She was obviously shaken up by what had happened, but his heroism was more than enough to make her feel better. “I was so worried about you, but you are so much bigger and stronger than him. He didn’t stand a chance.”
Luke smiled at her. “That’s because no one messes with Papa Bear.”
Maggie wanted to hug him again, but his wincing was starting to grow more frequent so instead of grabbing him and possibly injuring him further, she went into the kitchen and got some ice and wet rags for his wounds.
He had quite a few gashes on his arms and face, and one deep one on his lower abdomen. She wondered if there was a chance that he had broken something, like a rib maybe, and that was why it seemed to hurt him every time he breathed. Carefully she guided him to a chair at his dining room table.
Maggie pulled his shirt off of him and gasped when she saw the cuts and scratches. She went to work right away cleaning the wound on the side of his belly. He hissed at the feel of the warm rag on his sensitive, injured skin but he did not lash out at her.
“I owe you for a lot of things,” she said. “And now I owe you for my life.”
He looked into her eyes. “It’s a life worth saving.”
She blushed a little. Then, slowly and carefully so she would not hurt him more, she kissed his lips. Before she could stop him, he pulled her down onto his lap. He kissed her deeply, causing her to drop the rag and him to drop the makeshift ice pack that he had been holding to his arm. “I’m in a lot of pain right now,” he gasped out between passionate, earnest kisses. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to fuck you.”
He startled her by standing up, holding Maggie in his sore arms. He carried her to the breakfast bar, laying her atop of it and then getting on top of her. He kissed her lips, cheeks and all down her neck. Then, quickly, he removed her shirt, kissing the tops of her breasts and down her enlarged tummy. He took her panties into his hands and pulled them off of her, letting them fall to the floor and join the other discarded clothes. Then he kissed her inner thighs before bringing his tongue to her clit.
Maggie’s eyelashes fluttered a bit as she looked down at him, then she closed her eyes as the pleasure took over her body. She hadn’t imagined that they would be having sex so soon after the whole ordeal with Keith, and even less so did she imagine that they’d be doing it on the breakfast bar.
With one hand, Luke fumbled with his pants. He lowered them and climbed fully on top of her, careful not to move too fast for her. “You want this?” he asked her. “Huh?”
Licking her lips, she nodded eagerly. “Yes,” she said. Her voice came out at barely a whisper, which caused him to smile.
“Good,” he said then. “Because I want you to come for me. I want you to come for your hero bear.”
He thrust his big cock inside of her, focusing on the parts that he knew felt best, both to Maggie and to him. She clawed at the air, enjoying the combination of the cool, smooth granite countertop with the heat of their bodies joining together.
Because he was in pain and because their situation was rather precarious, he did not go quite as crazy as he otherwise might have. After a few blissful movements of moving against her g-spot and listening as Maggie moaned and shouted his name, Luke pulled out. “Turn around,” he commanded. “Carefully.”
She did as he bid her, feeling the coolness on her knees now. He plowed back into her and she could feel herself stretching to let him in. Leaning down, Luke kissed her back, fondling Maggie’s boobs as he felt himself getting ready to orgasm.
“Oh, baby, you feel so good,” he groaned against the skin of her back. Suddenly, he reached up and put a big hand over her mouth. He sped up his thrusts and came inside of her. “Ffffuck!” he bellowed. “Aaahhh.”
Maggie held tightly to the counter as Luke pulled out of her then and headed to the bathroom. She noticed that he limped a little. His back was probably killing him, especially now. She smiled, shaking her head.
“Take some aspirin,” she recommended.
She wondered if she was going to be the death of him. He probably would not complain if she was the reason for his suffering, especially if it was purely due to passionate sex.
After a few moments, she heard the shower start. Maggie was used to Luke’s post-sex habits by now. Slowly, she got herself down from the counter, using the stools as ladders back to the ground. The blood in his brain must have been otherwise occupied or surely he would have helped her down…
And that’s when she noticed the wide open front door.
Maggie did not feel shy. She mostly felt amused and perhaps a little remorseful for the neighbors. She was not a quiet lover by any means. She had been so taken up with the emotions and the passion of Luke that she had completely forgotten about their little door problem.
Thankfully, he was a handyman and he would be able to fix it.
Knowing Luke, he would be more concerned about the fact that someone could come in and hurt Maggie than about the neighbors being able to hear the amazing sex they were having.
She did her best to collect her clothing and snake along the counter so she was in the kitchen, hidden away from the wide doorway behind her. She drank some more juice and put her clothes back on.
Her stomach growled and for a moment she imagined that it was not hunger that called out to her, but the cub that was growing inside of her, just itching to get out.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Tailpiece
Once Luk
e was thoroughly showered, he put on some clean clothes with zero blood stains on them and set to work fixing the door. Thankfully, though there was a lot of scrapes and dents in it now, the door was still in more or less one piece. He was able to put it back on its hinges and he and Maggie could feel secure again.
The next morning, he went to the store again and got the security cameras that he had been considering. He thought that it might be too late for them to prove useful, but it was better to be safe than sorry after what had happened. After all, there was no telling if Keith would decide to be stupid and show up again someday. They needed to be more on their guard.
Maggie’s pregnancy progressed, and she ended up being his assistant from home. She parked herself on the couch every morning with her laptop and fielded calls and emails that way. It was not ideal and she did get bored often, but it felt good to be back at work again. The work was simple, and she felt accomplished every day.
When she was the size of a house, Luke took his tools into the nursery and started building a crib and some shelves. He painted the room a pretty sea green color with yellow highlights. Maggie imagined that a little sailor or mermaid could live in there, and then she smirked a little. Naturally a bear would gravitate toward marine colors. She should imagine streams and rivers instead of oceans.
She had to have his help in order to go up the stairs, but it turned out to be well worth the effort. The nursery was lovely. He’d purchased a large white wooden toy box that matched the crib that he had crafted by hand. They, along with the shelves, were the only white parts of the room. The walls were sea green with a yellow wooden border all around the top by the ceiling and another yellow border on the bottom by the cream-colored carpet.
“You have really outdone yourself,” Maggie said, impressed and smiling at Luke while he put the finishing touches on some of the border paint.
He smiled back at her, another of his shy smiles even though he had absolutely nothing to ever be shy about with her. “You think so?” he asked, setting down his paintbrush and scratching the back of his scruffy head. “I mean, I know that he is not going to care about what his bedroom looks like for a long time probably, but I want it to be cozy.”
She smirked then.
“What?” he asked, eyebrows raised in concern.
She shook her head. “You are convinced it’s a boy, aren’t you?”
Luke’s blush deepened. “A girl would be nice, too.”
Maggie laughed. “Whatever our cub is, he or she will be awesome. Because his or her father is awesome.” She reached up and rubbed his strong back, kissing his cheek.
She was not laughing long afterward when she went into labor. As usual, she was sitting on Luke’s comfortable couch, reading a book. Suddenly, she felt a wetness in her sweatpants and a sharp pain in her lower belly.
“Owww, fuck!” she shouted. “Luke! I think it’s happening!”
He was doing what he usually did – obsessing over every last detail of the room he had created. When Luke heard Maggie’s yell, he rushed out of the room and down the stairs. “You think so?” he asked her, panting and excited.
“Well, I did not just pee myself,” Maggie said. Then she thought about it. She had been awfully close to peeing herself lately, but no. This was more than pee. She gestured to her crotch.
“Okay,” Luke replied. “Well, the first thing we’re going to do is get you out of those pants. Probably the shirt, too.”
“Now is not the time to strip me, you pervert,” she said, then smiled faintly. It had come out like she was angry, but she was not. She was just suddenly in a lot of ungodly pain.
Luke was surprised at first by her irked tone, but then he smiled back at her. Carefully, he took her sweatpants off of her, along with her demolished panties. Maggie removed her shirt but left her black bra on because she wanted some dignity, god dammit.
She wondered if there was time for them to go to the hospital and deliver the baby there, but then she realized that a normal, human hospital would likely not know how to handle a werebear baby. Also, she knew that if she stood up, she was going to want to rip someone’s head off. So she stayed there, nestled into the couch where they had conceived this impatient little cub.
While she lay there, waiting for the contractions to come closer together – joy – she got her phone and texted Trish.
You’re probably going to want to come over soon. But not currently because I am in labor and I might kill you, lol
Maggie set the phone back down and closed her eyes as another wave of contractions struck her. “Come on, baby, be nice to me. I’ve done really well for you so far.”
Luke gathered up a bunch of towels, a bucket full of warm water and some pillows for Maggie to lie on while they waited. It seemed like he had been preparing for this all of his life. With the size of his house and the mantle just asking to be filled with photographs, perhaps he had been. Maggie should have seen it as a sign.
The contractions started coming faster and stronger five and a half hours later. She was not sure if the labor had been sped up like the pregnancy itself had been, but she was glad she would not have to wait around in agony forever.
After a relatively smooth labor, Maggie held her baby son in her arms. She was crying happy tears and smiling down at him. Luke was sitting with them on the couch, happily sniffling along with her. He petted her hair. “See? I knew it would be a boy,” he said.
“I guess Papa Bear knows best,” she replied.
Their son had lots of dark brown hair and the gray-blue eyes of his father. Maggie hoped his eyes would stay that way. It was one of her favorite features of Luke’s, along with all of the rest of him.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you,” she responded.
Leaning down over her, Luke kissed her and then kissed the top of their son’s head.
For the next two days, Maggie and the baby slept. She could not even think about having guests over or doing any activities beyond relaxing, eating and feeding her cub. Also, she was having a difficult time figuring out a name for him. She had taken to calling him Cubbie, but that was not a name that was meant to last.
“What are some of the names you like?” she asked Luke.
Maggie wondered if that was really something that they should have talked about earlier on in their relationship. She had always thought it was such a cliché to meet a man and make lists of future baby names. Who did that? And now, here she was, wishing that she had such a list. All of her creativity for things like that seemed to have been drained out of her.
She thought about asking Trish for ideas, but she really wanted the baby to have a name before people started coming over to meet him. It would not be good if people asked her what his name was and she came up with nothing. As a matter of fact, Trish had already asked her and she just did not respond. New moms were too busy to answer texts…
That was a good excuse, right?
Luke looked pensive. In typical Luke fashion, he took her question very seriously, almost as if he was being interviewed on 60 Minutes or something. Maggie watched his expressions change as he kept thinking of the different possibilities that entered his mind.
Finally, with a grin, he was ready to answer.
“I really like the name Sebastian,” he said. “Not because of the crab; because of Shakespeare.”
Maggie chuckled. “Well, obviously. You’re too old to have any attachment to a Disney movie from 1989.”
“Watch it!” he laughed.
Smiling, she thought about Sebastian. She liked the sound of it, though she did always think of a little, red crab. She was not sure if it was because he had mentioned it or because that name was just attached to the image since her childhood. “I like it,” she said at last. “What if we called him Bastian for short, because of another ‘80s movie that I love?”
Luke kept on beaming at her. He nodded. “Sure. I’m glad you chose that and not Atreyu.”
“Hmmm,” she said, pret
ending to think about changing her mind.
Once she had rested up and gotten used to being a mother, she invited Trish to come over and meet Bastian. She was able to fit back into her jeans, though she still wore Luke’s button-up shirts because she was shy about her tummy. Maggie had lost weight since delivering the baby, of course, but there was still some excess that she had not had a chance to work on losing yet.
Again, that was largely just an excuse, but she would work on it.
Before her friend’s arrival, Maggie went around the house, tidying things up that she had not been able to get around to post were-battle and pre-Bastian’s birth. Luke helped her, of course, and he mainly handled the fun part, which was entertaining the baby so that he did not cry and fuss the whole time. Luckily, Luke lived for being the Daddy Distraction. She smiled as she brought out some glasses, a bottle of wine and some snacks. His silly voices and her baby’s laughter was her favorite soundtrack.
The doorbell rang and Luke went to answer it, holding little Sebastian in his arms. Maggie came over and took over the door-opening duties since it was her friend to greet.
“Sorry,” he said, moving out of the way but staying close. “Force of habit.”
She appreciated that he was always there, looking out for her. There was a peep hole in the door, though, so she used that and made sure it was Trish on the porch and not Keith or some other villainous axe murderer. Even the cameras showed Trish. “It’s okay. After everything that’s happened, it’s better to be overly cautious versus not caring.”
Luke smiled and bounced Bastian in his arms. “Overly cautious!” he shouted triumphantly
Maggie opened the door and hugged Trish, so glad to see her again after the last time they hurriedly said goodbye to each other. “How’s it going, Magpie?” Trish asked as they embraced. “You look great.”
“I’m tired, but also really happy,” Maggie replied. She invited her friend inside and introduced her to Bastian. “This is Bastian Shaw. And this, finally, is Luke. Also Shaw.” She smiled a bit, feeling silly.
