Thank You For Not Shifting (Peculiar Mysteries Book 2) (22 page)

“It’s a pretty tall tale, Chav. Are you taking lessons from the Johnson twins?” Ruth Thompson said.

“I believe you,” Willy Boden said. “It’s too crazy not to be real.”

“That and four bucks will buy you a cup of coffee,” Sunny said.

“I don’t know where you buy your coffee,” Ruth said, “but you’re getting ripped off.

“I miss a good gourmet double mocha cinnamon cappuccino with extra froth and sprinkle of cardamom,” I said, visualizing the extra froth.

“Mmmm,” Sunny agreed. The mmm sound always meant consensus. “I could really go for a soy chai latte mega venti.” She thwapped me with the back of her hand. “Damn it, Chav. Now I’m going to crave that the whole time I’m pregnant.”

I grinned. “I’ll order the ingredients and make them special just for you.”

She patted her still flat belly. “Thank you. Your new niece will thank you, too.” She wiggled her brows.

Ruth and Willy squealed with delight. Ruth said, “I can’t wait to shop for her. There are so many cute baby clothes for girls. Not like when my girls were little.” A wistful expression made her princess features even more fairytale-like.

“Oh, you have to invite me back when the baby is born,” Willy said.

I liked her so much, which is why I didn’t tell her that I had suspected her brother of being one of the killers. I wanted to get this friendship off to a healthy start. It turned out that Hans had been surly and contemptuous because he’d been dating Bethany Hilliard off and on for a year, and he made a business deal with her on the side to supply sassafras for the Jubilee. She’d made a side deal with several furniture crafters, including Elton Brown for the wood.

Which explained why Elton was able to make all those awesome pieces.

Still, I think Hans would have been okay getting screwed over in the deal if she hadn’t dropped him like a rock to pursue Billy Bob. Oh, and the tattoo on his arm was a five-point star, not an eight.

I put my hand on Ruth’s knee. “How’s Michele doing today?”

Ruth shook her head. “Oh, she’s fine. I think it’s going to be a while before Ed lets her out of his sight.” She cast her eyes down to her piece of peach cobbler. “I can’t believe how close we came…”

Sunny took her hand in sympathy. “Poor Michele,” she said. A wicked grin played on her lips. “Jo Jo’s going to have to become a second-story man to court her.”

“Don’t even start with that,” Ruth said, but she laughed. “He’s not a bad kid.”

“A man,” Willy said.

All three of us gave her side-eye.

She shrugged. “He’s nineteen isn’t he, and a cutie at that.”

“He’s too young for you,” I told the vivacious redhead.

“And he’s taken at the moment,” Ruth said protectively.

We all laughed then. For the first time in days, I could breathe. The first night of the full moon was over, the Tri-Council was having their meeting, and I got to spend the afternoon with friends. Willy had known Dom was undercover FBI because he used to work security for the council with her until he decided to integrate. That’s why they’d had a falling out. I personally think his integration had more to do with tracking those of our kind who threatened to expose us to the world. With the FBI, he had more resources and was better able to follow what might be shifter related versus human related.

Jacob Lowry resigned as President of the Council when he found out what his sons had been doing with their free time. Bethany Hilliard was named the new president. Yuck. The news had left a real bad taste in my mouth.

“Oh,” Sunny said. She reached down to the play blanket and picked up Jude. “Guess who turned into the cutest little coyote pup last night?”

“Oh. My. God. Sunny! Way to bury the lead!” I grabbed Jude from her arms and cuddled him. “What a little genius. You are a bright and shining star, Jude.”

He put his hand in my mouth and giggled in response.

“Babe was so proud,” Sunny said, her eyes glittery with emotion. “So proud.”

“Well.” Ruth stood up. “This calls for celebratory ice cream to go with the cobbler.”

“I really am falling in love with you, Ruth,” Willy said, as she scooped up her last bite of crust. “I’ll take more of both.”

Ruth practically danced with pleasure to her freezer.

Sunny leaned over to me. “Now that all the niceties are over, I want details.”

I played stupid. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I bet he’s really good at the horizontal make-it-rain dance.”

“That’s not a saying.”

“He probably knows how to slide into home plate for a double touchdown and a two-point goal.”

I concentrated on the baby I was holding. “You're mixing your sports metaphors.”

“I bet he makes you scream so loud it makes dolphins on the west coast blush.”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“Tell me all about how his wooly mammoth avoided the ice age by hiding in your heated cave.”

“Sunny!” Ruth exclaimed. Willy laughed so hard tears ran down her face.

Frankly, I nearly peed my pants. “You are truly awful! Besides, there is nothing wooly about his mammoth as you well know since you got a really good look at it the other morning when you went all Peeping Tom at his bedroom window.”

“I’m not a Peeping Tom,” she said, managing to sound genuinely hurt. She glanced my way, her gaze meeting mine, a sly grin growing out at the edges of her mouth. “Though, wowza, you’re right. There is nothing wooly about that genuine mammoth.”

Willy hooted. I blushed. Ruth had the good sense to pretend we were talking about the weather.

I glared at Sunny. “Didn’t you say you were meeting Babe and some of the council members for lunch?”

“Crap. Yes.” She looked at her watch. “I need to get going. I’m already late.”

Her shirt was a pretty shade of kiwi green, a color that really brought out her eyes. I held up Jude. “I think the baby’s hungry.” I followed this line with just the right high-pitched cry.

“Chavvah!” Sunny’s hands covered her leaking boobs, which did little to stop Niagara Falls from whooshing down her chest.

“You’re welcome,” I said. “Tell my bro I say hey.”

She grabbed a receiving blanket and draped it across her chest. “I’ll get you for this, chick.”

I smiled sweetly. “You’ll try.”

“It’s a good thing I love you.” She took Jude from me.

“Ditto that,” I told her, and with all my might, I believed it. I thanked my stars every day that Sunny Haddock, make that Trimmel, loved me. It was one of those rare miracles you get in life.

“Knock, knock,” said the voice of my sexy ass man. He stood in the back door. “Am I interrupting you ladies, or is this a no-wooly-mammoths-allowed zone?”

The look on Sunny’s face, the red-hot embarrassment crawling up her cheeks onto her ears, had made all her taunting worth it. “Uhm.” She nodded down to Jude. “I’ll see you all later. Baby needs feeding.”

Billy Bob held out his hand to me, and I took it, so happy to let him pull me into his arms. He walked me out the kitchen door into Ruth’s lush back yard and pulled me in close, his fingers pushing my hair away from my ear. He leaned down and whispered, “I have a certain dinosaur looking for a hot spot to hide out for a while.”

My eyes widened.

He winked. “I feel another ice age coming on.”

Willy said, “Therianthrope hearing, you all, and the windows are open. Just in case you thought you were alone.”

“Jealous,” I teased.

“You bet,” she said.

I jumped up and looped my legs around Billy Bob’s waist. “Let’s go make some dolphins blush.”

The growl vibrating up his chest filled me with such anticipation.

“You make me so goddamn happy, woman.”

“I don’t plan to stop.”

“I’ll hold you to it because I am only mating once, and it’s for life.”

“Is that a proposal?” Sunny came staggering through the back door still wrapped up in the blanket and carrying baby Jude.

“Sunny!”

Billy Bob cupped my face. His flirty expression became more serious. “Chavvah. I have waited a lifetime for you, and I don’t want to wait a minute more.” He reached down into his pocket, which brushed against some very sensitive bits of mine. When his hand came back up, he held a small box.

“Holy shit,” Sunny said. “This really is a proposal!”

He flipped it open with his thumb. Inside was a dark gold band with two circles holding two large diamonds. “I love you, Chavvah. Under the sun, under the moon, and every moment in between, I love you. You’d make me the happiest man alive if you would do me the honor of marrying me.”

“I…” I hadn’t expected this. Not so soon. It had taken Babe a few months to propose to Sunny. “I…”

“Yes!” Sunny screamed. “For God sake, yes!”

I met his silver gaze and smiled. “What she said.” I kissed him. “I do so love you.” He slid the ring on my finger, and it fit perfectly. I held out my hand to admire the magnificence and to show it off to the girls. “When did you get this?”

“About six months ago.”

“Seriously?”

“As soon as I knew I loved you, I wanted to be ready for the moment you loved me back.”

“You’re about two years late then.”

He smiled. “Well, I’ve caught up now.”

“You sure have.” I kissed him again then jumped down to give the threesome of happy ladies a closer look.

“It’s so beautiful,” Ruth said, wiping a tear from her eye.

“Lucky devil,” Willy added.

Sunny hugged me hard. “You’re moving to the big house!”

“You make it sound like prison.”

“It is marriage,” Willy said.

“Okay, okay.” This sweet moment was turning ugly. “Take me home, Doc. We have an extinction to prevent.”

He raised a brow, to which I mouthed. “Wooly mammoth.”

Midnight Shifters, Book 1

H
is mouth tasted of smoke, not from cigarettes, though she wouldn’t have minded, but this was more woodsy, natural and earthy, reminiscent of burned hickory. At the Millstone Bar, Benoica Dilian—who preferred Benie—had spotted the gorgeous creature right away. He’d been a bold brunette and beautifully built with his long torso, wide shoulders, and sculpted muscles. He’d known all the right things to say, and she knew in bed he would have all the right moves.

She’d taken him to a quiet, out of the way motel. The kind that rented by the hour. The walls were beige with a few dark stains, the curtains a large flower print with one side held closed with safety pins, and the bedspread was a hot paisley mess. Benie wrinkled her nose at the mustiness, but places like these didn’t smell like potpourri. She cast a worried glance at the decor before promptly turning off all the lights.

“I like it dark,” she told her pick-up. “It’s more mysterious and sexy, don’t you think?”

He took her in his arms, and when his tongue swiped across her lips, the heat of his mouth made her knees tremble. “I want to see you,” he said. “Let me turn on the lights.”

“No,” she whispered. “Don’t.”

“But you’re so beautiful, and I’m so beautiful. It’s a shame to waste us in the dark.”

Benie grabbed the front of his jeans and squeezed. “We seem to be doing okay.”

“Yes, we sure are,” he agreed.

If she was right about the man, he would make his move soon. She breathed in his scent, the aroma arousing her even more. Yeah. She was right about him. “God, you smell good. What are you wearing?”

“It’s all natural, darling.”

“Good genes?”

“You have no idea.” He kissed her neck, his hot breath causing goose bumps to rise on her skin. “More talk or more action?”

She ground her hips against him. “More action. Definitely.”

He didn’t need additional urging as he lifted her shirt and cupped her breasts.

When his deft tongue twirled her nipple, she almost forgot her purpose.
Almost.
“Shit, yeah,” she told him, reaching into her back pocket. “God, that feels so good.”

He lifted his head, drawing himself up the length of her body. “Tell me you want to fuck me.”

“I want to fuck you.” She mentally added:
up
.

“How bad do you want it?”

She wanted him to stop talking and get to gettin'. Make his move already before she decided she didn’t care about having proof. Then it happened. The bite. All the evidence she needed. “Son of a bitch!”
Damn, it hurt
. Reflexively, she bashed his face with her forearm and yanked a two-inch push dagger from her back pocket. She pressed it into the side of his neck, then reached over and flipped on the bedside lamp.

The blond stared dumbstruck at her. “What the fuck are you?”

She looked at her arms. Her skin had shifted to beige and flowers as she blended into the background where she wasn’t clothed. It had been why she’d turned the lights off in the first place. “You don’t get to judge me, asshole. I’m not the one eating women…and not in a fucking good way.” The man was an
other worlder
who fed on aroused women, and she’d felt his powers of seduction firsthand. Her bits still pulsed! But off-the-charts arousal wouldn’t stop her from doing her job. “You are guilty of murdering five women in the past two months, and who knows how many countless more women during your existence.”