Fighting for her Mate: Shape Shifter Paranormal Romance (Sassy Mates Book 5) (8 page)

FOURTEEN

Karla moved about in the kitchen tossing breakfast together for Nate before he left to meet up with Caleb and his brothers. She was exhausted from waiting up last night for him to get back from the raid at Embraced.

She turned to the three adorable munchkins lying in their little bouncy chairs, side by side. They smiled at her, toothless, slobbering, and flailing tiny arms and legs.

Her husband strolled into the kitchen. “Here’s my Three Musketeers.” He tickled their tummies and made funny noises, creating gurgles from the three.

She noted he wore old jeans that fit him perfectly in the right places and a T-shirt that hugged his wide shoulders. Nate continued to coo and talk in high-pitched baby speak. “Do you smell Mama? I do. She wants to play hide the Butterfinger with Daddy. Coincidentally, that’s how you three came about.”

Karla swatted his behind sticking up in the air as he bent over the children. “That’s not all Mama wants to play.”

Nate put his arms around her. “Hey, no talking like that in front of the children.” His smile lowered to hers and became a proper good-morning kiss. Toast popped up in the four slot machine on the counter and she pulled away. He pulled her back and rubbed his erection across her lower stomach.

She grinned. “If Papa wants his toast buttered then he better help Mama, or he’ll be eating baby food.”

His eyes flashed gold. “Yeah, baby. You bet I want my toast buttered. I’ve got something to spread it with right here.” The babies squealed in their chairs. Nate turned to them and she sought out the toast. “Michael’s really growing, isn’t he? He seems huge compared to Madison.”

“Well, Madison is a bit underweight still. But the doctor isn’t worried. She said she’ll catch up quickly.” She put the toast on a plate then peeled off the butter bowl lid.

“Did the doctor say anything else?”

“Nope, they are perfectly healthy.” She paused, debating whether to ask a silly question. This was when she really needed Barbara around. “Hon, when do wolf babies become cognizant of the world around them?”

“What do you mean?” He flipped the eggs in the skillet.

“I mean…I don’t know what I mean. Maybe I’m just overly worried about screwing the whole thing up.”

He set the spatula on the counter then wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed the crown of her head. “Sweetheart, you’re doing an amazing job. Especially since I’m not here to help much right now. The babies are healthy and happy. Everything else we can figure out along the way.” He turned her in his arms to see her face. “Tell me what’s bugging you. What do you think you don’t know?”

She glanced at the babies staring at her. “It’s their eyes. They track me wherever I go. It’s like one of those photos were the person’s eyes seem to follow you no matter where in the room you are. I feel like they ‘know.’ I expect poetry to spout from them or in Matthew’s case, I can see him reciting Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. It’s a little spooky.” She glanced over again to see each child’s focus elsewhere—opposite of what she just said.

Nate gave her a squeeze then proceeded to put the eggs on his plate with the toast. “So our children are way smarter than most babies. I call that a reason to celebrate, not worry.”

Karla sat next to him at the kitchen table. “I supposed you’re right. Still, I’m immensely happy your mom is willing to help with me all the wolfy questions. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

“You’d do great, my love.”

Karla wandered into her own thoughts as Jake finished his breakfast. He stood, kissed her forehead, and carried his plate to the sink. “I need to get going if I’m to meet everyone on time.”

“When do you think you’ll be back?”

“Not sure. I’m guessing we’ll check out the club to see it in daylight. Since we’ll be with Aria, we might talk strategies or who knows.” He pulled her to him and backed her to the fridge where he pressed all of himself along her and took her lips in the perfect goodbye kiss. Damn, she loved it when he did this. But she could kick his ass for leaving her hot and heavy.

A gurgling squeal came from the direction of the kids.

With Nate on his way, she turned her focus to the children. Each were sitting quietly, staring at her. “Okay, you guys. You’ve been fed and seem pretty content. Do you want to play or take a nap?” She yawned. “Well, you know what Mama wants.”

All three yawned, like she had. That was too weird. “Good grief, Karla. Get a grip. They were only mimicking you. That’s what babies do.” She scooped up Matthew and headed to the nursery. “Let’s check your diaper then we can all relax.”

After settling Michael and Madison, Karla plopped on the couch and laid her head back. Working as a teacher, Karla was used to getting up early, but now she felt exhausted by nine a.m.

Knocking on her front door woke her. She must’ve fallen asleep. Sliding the chain lock into place, she opened the door to see an unfamiliar middle-aged guy. “Can I help you.”

“Good morning, Mrs. Wolfe. Sorry to bother you. I’m Raymond Sheer. My wife and kids live on the other side of town. We haven’t officially met yet so you probably don’t recognize my face, but we did see you at Aric and Jordan’s wedding.”

He was correct. She didn’t remember seeing him but in reality, she saw so many new faces at the wedding, she wouldn’t remember him if she did. “Ah, well, good morning to you to. What can I do for you?”

His brows pulled down and he frowned. “Oh, Nate didn’t tell you?”

An instant replay of this morning in the kitchen ran through her mind. She didn’t recall anything. “Whatever he was supposed to tell me, he must’ve forgotten.”

“Not a problem. I do security work and he asked me to come over and keep an eye on your house while he was gone today. With the rogues runnin’ around, I guess he’d feel better if a set of eyes and a nose were outside.”

Her body relaxed. She hadn’t realized how keyed up she was from everything going on. The fight at the vamp club last night must’ve unnerved her more than she gathered.

Raymond pointed his thumb over his shoulder at an old red pickup across the way. “I’ll either be in my truck or out and about, sniffin’ for unfamiliar smells. Let me know if you need anything.” He turned toward his truck then stopped and pivoted back. “I hate to ask this of you, Mrs. Wolfe, but do you have a bottle of water I can borrow? I forgot to pack mine from home.”

Karla smiled. “Of course. And please, call me Karla. Mrs. Wolfe is reserved for Nate’s mom.” She laughed. “And even she prefers her name. Be right back.” She closed the door then hurried to the kitchen and back. She reopened the door with the chain attached, then realized the gap was too narrow for the bottle to slip through. “Oops. Hold on a second. I need to take the chain off.”

She closed the door, removed the chain, and before she had the knob in her hand, the door flew open, pushing her back along with a massive body barreling toward her. She screamed, but the man had his hands on her and a cloth over her mouth and nose in seconds. Her brain told her not to breathe in. Whatever was on the cloth would make her pass out.

But as she struggled, her lungs said something else. She heard a snap, like a bone popping, and an agonizing jab shot through her body. She sucked in a deep gasp as another pop came with more pain. If she didn’t pass out from the cloth, the pain running through her body would manage it.

The lights around her started to fade. Her vision tunneled to black and she felt herself fall.

FIFTEEN

Raymond laid her on the sofa. He began to worry if the chemical on the cloth would take effect before the woman shifted fully. After hearing two pops, he wasn’t so sure, but it turned out all right. Now for the babies.

He laid the third rugrat on the floor of the apartment across town, then pulled his phone from his pocket. “Hey, boss man. Everything went smooth as ice.”

“You have the children with you now?”

“Yep, all three are lying here.”

“Can you handle them for a while? Tonya’s mom is sick and she had to go out of town.”

Raymond’s eyes rounded as big as dinner plates. “Sure, boss man. I-I got it.”

“Good. You know we can’t have nothing happening to those babies. They’re insurance. You know what I mean?”

He didn’t. “Yeah, boss. I know, I know.”

“See that you do. Now, Tonya dropped off a list of things. Like, what to do when the babies cry. What to feed them. She bought diapers, too.”

Diapers! Maybe he couldn’t handle this. He heard a girlfriend once talk about how disgusting baby shit was. He thought he was going to throw up.

“Raymond, you there?”

“Y-yeah, boss. Me and the babies were just playing. Coochy, coochy, coo and all that.” Or was it goochy, goochy, goo. No, his girlfriend wore Gucci, but her coochie was drool worthy.

“Yeah, okay, Ray. And if I call, be ready to off them.”

“You got it, Rocco.” Ray slipped his phone back into his pocket and stared at the infants. He wasn’t sure what to do now. “You babies seem happy. Which is good. I don’t want to hurt any of you. I guess you all should just play or something.”

Three sets of eyes stared up at him. A shiver ran down his back. There was something different about these babes. They looked at him like he was the enemy. He would swear the biggest one had a scary gleam in his eye, like he was going to get even.

Then suddenly, all at once, they started crying.

“No, no, no, babies. Don’t cry. Everything is good.” He hurried to the list Tonya left. When babies cry, 1) give them a bottle. He went to the fridge and plucked out three of many stacked on the shelves. “Hey, babes, it’s Miller time.”

He handed the bottle to the first one on the floor. The boy wouldn’t take it. “Come on, kid. Give me a break.” Were they too young to hold their own bottles? Shit.

Fifteen minutes later, the three babies sat on the couch--pillows, blankets, and clothes tucked in and around their small forms keeping them upright. He held two bottles for the boys. The female child started screaming. He put down one bottle and held hers. Immediately, that neglected boy started screaming.

He set down the second boy’s bottle against his stomach and picked up the first one. The second boy wiggled around and the bottled rolled off the sofa to the floor. Ray let go of the girl’s bottle to pick up the one on the floor. She screamed immediately. He wiped the nipple on his shirt and shoved it in her mouth.

The first boy squealed; Ray saw the bottle he held had pulled out, and stuck it back in. The second boy leaned on a loose pillow, rolling sideways onto his sister. Ray put both bottles down, creating instant screaming. He scooped up the roaming child and put him back into the middle and re-stuffed the pillow and blanket between him and his sister. The other two were still screaming.

Putting bottles into open mouths, quietness reached his ears, until the middle boy screeched. Ray looked around for his bottle. It wasn’t anywhere. He picked up the kid to see if it had rolled between the sofa cushions. He slid his hand behind the material-covered square onto something squishy. His finger poked it, then he wedged the item between two fingers.

He lifted out a used condom, contents still intact. He yelled and threw it as quickly as possible, not caring where it landed. The two babies still on the sofa laughed and gurgled. “You think that’s funny, do you?” He set the kid back on the cushion and re-tucked the padding. All three started crying.

Ray fell to his knees in front of the sofa and pulled at his hair. He took a deep breath. He could do this. After juggling three bottles (he realized he’d stuck the bottle that fell on the floor into the girl’s mouth, when it should have been the second baby’s, so he took her old one and gave it to her brother. They were twins, they had the same germs, right?) for ten minutes, the children were content.

Now what? He went back to the Tonya’s list.
Be sure to burp after feeding
. Okay, that was easy. He’d seen women do this all the time. He picked up the girl and she burped right away. Easy peasy. He had this.

Ray picked up the first brother. He patted and patted and patted. Then instead of the burping noise from the mouth, he felt it come out the diaper end. And come out. And come out.
Shit
. Literally. He pulled the kid away, holding it under the arms, and set it onto the sofa carefully. That would have to wait. Hopefully the last burp will be quick.

“Okay, kiddo. You’re the end of this disaster. Let’s do this fast. What do you say?” Ray hefted the big boy to his shoulder. “Man, you’re heavy compared to the other two. You’re going to be strong, aren’t you?” In response to his question, the infant jerked, then threw-up a mouthful of milk inside Ray’s shirt collar.

The lukewarm liquid rolled down his backside to his waistband. He slapped a hand over his mouth to keep his own throw up from going down the front side. He put the child on the floor, swept the other two to the floor, then rushed to the bathroom.

He ripped his shirt off and shimmied it over his back to wipe off the liquid. Well, it smeared more than come off. Three wails floated from the other room.