by Troy Hunter
I nod, still chuckling. “Fine. I’ll spare you. Next question. Are you actually sorry?”
“Yes,” he says simply. “I am so sorry.”
I hear in my ear, “Analysis has determined the target is telling the truth.”
Okay. “Alright, were your feelings for me ever real?” This is the question that has my stomach doing somersaults.
Dale pauses, sucking on his bottom lip as he thinks. “Cliff, I’ve liked you since junior year. My feelings were, and are, very real. I think I’m in love with you.”
I don’t need the device to tell me Dale is telling the truth, but it informs me anyway. Silently, I slip the ear piece from my ear and pass it back to Dale. He’s chewing on his cheeks, eyes filled with worry. It can be scary to be open and vulnerable. I lean forward, staring deeply into his eyes.
“I love you too,” I say.
Dale sags with relief, then both of us laugh awkwardly. “I love you,” he repeats, grinning. “God, I love you.”
My heart feels like it’s about to burst. First, Dale saved the pups and now this…my mate is amazing. “I need to apologize to you,” I say. It’s time for me to take responsibility.
He waves a hand in front of his face. “No, Cliff, it was okay for you to be angry.”
“No, listen.” I take his hand, dragging it back to the table. “Maybe I did have a right to be angry, but that doesn’t mean I had the right to treat you like that. I was wrong. I’m so sorry. And, I’m sorry for how I treated you in high school.”
He gapes at me. “You remember?”
“Kate called me last night. She told me that what I thought about you was a lie. And I’m sorry for treating you so coldly after that night. I really liked you back then. I let a rumor get in the way, instead of getting to know the real you.” I stroke his knuckles with my thumb.
His shoulders start to shake, his head bent low. I feel panic flare within me. Is he crying? But then he looks up, a goofy smile on his face. “You have no idea how many years I held that against you,” he confesses.
I smirk. “Who would have thought you’d be the grudge-holding type?”
“So, Kate really called you, huh?” He glances toward her over his shoulder.
She looks up briefly from her phone before turning a bright shade of pink and looking away.
“Yep.” I nod. “Called me last night and told me about high school and the lottery.”
He sits back, looking satisfied. “I guess it’s time to let go, then.”
“Yeah.” I smile. “It’s time.”
We spend the next hour discussing our future. I want to see Silicon Valley, but Dale insists I need to stay here, close to my pack and close to the wilderness where I can roam free. We joke about moving into his parents’ house but both shudder at the prospect. It’s relaxed, fun, and most importantly, it’s easy being with Dale. But there is still one thing on my mind.
“Hey, let me borrow the polygraph thing again,” I say, gesturing for it.
Dale eyes me suspiciously but passes it over. “Why?”
I turn it on and put the ear piece in. “Okay. I have one last question for you.”
“Well, shoot,” Dale drawls, sounding like a cowboy from the old west.
“Are you really okay with me being a shifter?” I ask softly. I don’t want to broadcast my business to the entire coffee shop.
His expression softens, the joking atmosphere disappears. “Cliff, I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Before the device can affirm or negate his answer, I tug it from my ear and power it down. Turns out, I don’t need it to know Dale means exactly what he says. I can feel it. And it fills my entire consciousness with joy.
EPILOGUE
DALE
“Hey, cut it out.” I swat at Cliff’s hand, which is hovering playfully over my cock. “I’m trying to work here.”
He groans but retreats to his own desk, casting me a resentful glower. “So cranky.”
I can’t help but smile at him when he pouts like this. “Okay, fine, I’ll take a break. What is it?” I ask, rolling my desk chair toward him.
He spins me in the chair, sending me in wild circles. “I got an email from National Geographic.”
“No way.” I gape at him. Cliff has been waiting to hear their response to his photo and story submission for almost a month now—we didn’t think it would ever come. “Did you open it?”
I’m practically bouncing in my seat now, but he seems strangely rigid. He’s nervous.
“No.” He scratches the back of his head.
“Well, let’s open it together,” I say. “They couldn’t possibly say no to a heartfelt true story about raising a pack of wolves.” Of course, they don’t have to know he is one.
Cliff and I lean over his computer as he opens the email. And then I’m shouting, clapping him on the back excitedly as he stands in a stupor in front of the screen. Cliff is going to be featured in the next issue of National Geographic, and I couldn’t be prouder. His eyes finally clear and he howls, wrapping me in a warm hug.
Then his lips are on mine and we’re tangled together in our home office. It’s one of our favorite rooms, because work often becomes play. He clasps my body to his, tongue dancing with mine in a passionate kiss. When I kiss him, the whole world seems to fall away. And it’s just the two of us, our bodies moving as one.
When we finally break apart, we’re both panting heavily, our eyes lit with desire. But there’s no time for that. I have a big deadline for the Center coming up, and my own side project is occupying a lot of my time.
“I’m so happy for you,” I say, kissing him gently.
He smiles against my lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I say, squirming out of his arms to return to my work. “Let’s finish quickly and then we can go out to celebrate.”
Cliff makes an agreeing noise and returns to the email, no doubt reading the next steps in the process. He has hundreds of photos to edit and add to his website as well. We’ve both been busy with work recently—we’re lucky. After the summer, I decided to work for the Center remotely, though I visit once in a while for meetings and to report my progress.
I abandoned the ARF device. After what happened between us, the ARF device didn’t seem worth it. I still think it could help a lot of people though, with a few key changes. So I gave the program to Dr. Slickberg because I know he’ll put it to good use. He’s a brilliant scientist, one of the best in the world. And although he isn’t a classically trained programmer, he’s dabbled in enough realms of science to take over the project.
It felt good to pass it off to someone else. It’s not that the device caused tension between us, but after our fight, my perception of the project changed. I think Michael was right: it’s just better to be yourself.
Beside me, Cliff is muttering to himself. He always does when he works. It’s kind of cute. I like to listen to him.
“That’s right, pretty little flower. Oh, you’re so cute, yes, yes, and the sun is such a nice sun giving you lots of nutrients. Let’s just brighten that up a bit. Such a pretty flower,” he mutters under his breath.
I choke back a laugh. I’m having fun learning all his little quirks, all his tiny idiosyncrasies that make Cliff himself. I moved in with him almost immediately after we made up in the coffee shop. A month later, we decided to move a little farther from town and built our own log cabin. Nothing fancy, but perfect for us. And perfect for the family we hope to have in the future.
My phone buzzes with a text. I check it absent-mindedly as I wrap up my work project. It’s Kate. “He asked me out!” it reads.
I smile at my phone and type out a quick response, “Congrats!”
After Cliff and I made up, I forgave Kate and our friendship eventually returned to normal. Well, almost normal. I’m still a little hesitant to confide in her sometimes, but she’s my best friend. I know she has my back even if I’m a little wary. A new guy moved into town and started working at the
Cocoa Peak. She was too shy to flirt with him at first, but then we definitively discovered the man is very straight. No amount of flirting from Cliff, our volunteer, made him bat an eye. And she dove right in.
“Oh, don’t forget we’re having dinner with my parents and Jordan tonight,” I say.
“Gotcha,” Cliff murmurs, absorbed in his editing.
Jordan is my parents’ new…something. Michael left after deciding Bear Moose wasn’t the place for him, didn’t have the career opportunities he wanted. As far as I know, he’s in New York City now, attending culinary school. My parents haven’t had a permanent addition to their relationship since Michael left, people come and go. Lately though, they seem quite attached to Jordan. He’s ten years younger than them, but close enough to their age that they feel like old friends. And as long as I don’t know the details of their sex life, I’m okay with whoever they want to bring into their lives, as long as they’re safe.
Cliff groans and I hear his chair squeaking as he pushes away from his desk. “What’s up, babe?” I ask, typing quickly.
He puts his chin on my shoulder, staring morosely at the computer screen. “When are you going to be done working on that thing?”
I smile, though he can’t see it. “Didn’t I tell you? Finished last night.”
“And you didn’t tell me?” He nips playfully at my neck. “Why do I put up with your attitude?”
“Who knows,” I say, grinning. “Here, let me show you.”
Cliff waits patiently while I pull up a new file. The one containing his mapped DNA. With the help of a trusted friend, a geneticist, I figured out how to decode Cliff’s DNA. We were both curious about his genetic makeup. I haven’t mapped his entire genome, that would take decades, but I did manage to isolate the gene that carries the shifter DNA.
I show it to him now, explaining the fuzzy picture on the screen. He stares thoughtfully at it. It’s like stepping outside yourself. Suddenly you feel very small when what makes you so unique is thrown up on a screen like that. It’s cold, medical.
After a moment he finally speaks, “Can you, you know, cure it?”
“Cure?” I purse my lips. “Cliff, you don’t need a cure. It’s not a disease.”
He rolls his eyes. “Okay, but could you get it out of me? Could I be normal?”
Being a shifter has been difficult for Cliff since he was just an infant. I understand his curiosity of what being normal must be like. His interest is in not having to worry constantly about shifting unintentionally. Or to have his secret revealed.
I inhale sharply. “I could. Gene splicing like that has come a long way in the last few years. But…I don’t think we should.”
Cliff’s lips twist as he muses over this new information. “Why not?”
“Well, for one thing,” I say, pressing a kiss to his lips. “It’s sexy. But more importantly, it makes you who you are. And…”
“And?” he prompts.
“Don’t freak out.”
He raises his brows incredulously. “Don’t freak out? Dale. What did you do?”
“I gave it to myself last night…” I trail off.
Cliff stares blankly at me. “You did what?”
“I gave myself the gene last night.” I throw my hands up. “I have yet to see results. Maybe it’s just not compatible with my DNA.”
“Holy shit, Dale,” Cliff groans. “What if it had worked and something had happened? You could’ve been hurt.”
I nod. I understand, it was a stupid, reckless thing to do. But I wanted to surprise him. “I’m sorry,” I say softly.
“Why did you even try to do that?” he asks, crouching down in front of me.
“I know you’ve talked about the pack like your family, and it’s hard for me to join because I’m a human. I just wanted to help your dream,” I explain, searching his eyes. Quickly, I add, “And I think it’s really cool.”
He chuckles. “It is pretty cool. Thank you for thinking of me.”
We share a tender kiss and I feel myself melting into it. Cliff is truly perfect for me. I don’t think I could be this happy with anyone else. And I want to be like him, to help him take care of the wolf pups, which aren’t really pups anymore. But they’re his family and I want to be part of that. So I’ll keep trying.
“You know, maybe it just takes a few days for the gene to work,” he says hopefully. “Don’t do anything else until we’re sure.”
I nod, smiling. “Okay.”
Cliff massages my knees with his hands. “This is why you’re my mate.” He kisses the tip of my nose lightly. “You’re perfect for me. What do you say we go camping for a few days to see if the gene works?”
“I think that’s a good idea,” I agree. My body has been feeling a little tense, I think hopefully.
Cliff lifts me to my feet and slaps my ass. “How does Lake Bold Rock sound?”
“Perfect.” I smile.
Cliff leaves ahead of me, heading to the garage where we keep our camping equipment. I smile softly as I watch him disappear. Ever since this summer, everything has been magical between us. He tells me I’m his mate, and though I’m not sure what it means, it rings true for me. And maybe I’m fooling myself, maybe I simply want it too much, but I think I can feel something stirring inside me.
Something wild.
THE END.
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When a romantic evening between two lovers inadvertently falls under the spell of ancient forces, an unexpected miracle occurs.
Fabian Kirkland has always had an interest in the occult. As the head of Haverford College’s history department, his keen interest in human studies has kept life interesting while providing a stimulating conversation with his partner, Tyler Anslem.
After sharing a steamy night of passion, they both awake to a startling surprise. While they have always talked about spending their lives together, they soon discover there may be more than just a wedding to plan for!
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Get your FREE Mpreg Book
Prologue – A Memory
1. Dale
2. Cliff
3. Dale
4. Cliff
5. Dale
6. Cliff
7. Cliff
8. Dale
9. Dale
10. Cliff
11. Dale
12. Cliff
13. Dale
14. Cliff
15. Dale
16. Cliff
17. Dale
18. Cliff
19. Dale
20. Dale
21. Cliff
22. Dale
23. Cliff
24. Dale
25. Cliff
26. Dale
27. Cliff
28. Dale
29. Cliff
Epilogue
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