Shifter Babies of America Box Set 1 Read online

  Eli watched Amelia eat for a moment in awe of the way her luscious lips captured little dots of olive oil on them. He decided then and there that he loved her lips. He wanted them pressed against his, he wanted to taste and suck and nip at them until they were red, swollen, and perfectly his. He could feel himself hardening, but tried to ignore it because as attracted to her as he was, he wanted to get to know the real inner Amelia, not the sexy pin-up exterior. This was also still, in theory, a professional interview even though they’d begun digressing from the questions Amelia had prepared at least twenty minutes ago.

  Amelia stopped the tape recorder when their main entrees arrived, and for the rest of the meal they talked about their favorite books and films (they both loved Carey Grant and Humphrey Bogart classics, though disagreed on the merits of The African Queen), past relationships (Amelia had had one long-term boyfriend who’d cheated on her and dumped her prior to her leaving L.A., while Eli had only had flings and the occasional one-night stand), and where they saw themselves in the future. Both answered that they wanted career success and a family here in Vegas. Perfect, Eli thought.

  Eli hailed them a cab back to Amelia’s apartment, hastening to add that he would only be dropping her off. She blushed, clearly understanding the implication that if she had wanted to, she could have invited him up, but she appreciated Eli respecting her boundaries.

  They kissed on her front doorstep, at first just a touch of the lips that soon morphed in an achingly soft and slow meeting of tongues, their arms twining around each other, their bodies pressed close, but Eli broke it off after a few moments. He wanted nothing more than to carry Amelia in his arms up the stairs to her apartment and deposit her on her bed before peeling her clothes off and making sweet, tender, passionate love to her. However, it was too soon. There was plenty of time for that—they’d arranged to meet again in a few days’ time at a local concert what Eli hoped was the second of many dates.

  Amelia

  Amelia watched Eli walk down the street from the viewpoint of her window on the third floor. She was brimming with happiness and excitement. What had started out as a business dinner had quickly morphed into a date, and Amelia had left the restaurant feeling like she was floating on a cloud, and not just because she’d had solid food for the first time in four days.

  Eli was the perfect man, the one she’d been looking for all her life. He was smart, funny, sensitive, artistic, and if that weren’t enough, he was also gorgeous. Copper waves adorned his head, setting off the gold in his eyes and the freckles dotted over his face. He was tall, but not imposing, with a lean build honed from what he said was, “a lifelong obsession with running.” He’d dressed in a light blue button down, khaki chinos and loafers for their interview, and as much as Amelia had appreciated his fashion sense, she’d fantasized about ripping those tasteful clothes off more than once during their interview/dinner date.

  As she watched him walk away, she noticed his strong, confident gate. He also had a bit of a skip in his step, which she liked to think was because of her. He was just turning the corner onto Broadway, however, when Amelia noticed a dark shape exit an alleyway and begin following him. Vegas had crime, like every city, but Amelia’s neighborhood was fairly safe. There’d been only a few robberies in the last year, and no violent crime. Until now. Because as she continued standing at her window, she saw that dark shape jump on Eli and tackle him to the ground. Another dark shape appeared from the alleyway and followed suit, and before she knew what she was doing, Amelia was tearing through her apartment, down the stairs, and out onto the street, her fingers dialing 9-1-1 on her cell phone all the while.

  “Stop! Stop!” she yelled as she ran toward Eli. She didn’t care that whoever was attacking him might turn on her; all that was important right now was making sure Eli was okay.

  The figures turned and Amelia stopped in her tracks. They were huge, hairy beasts with the same golden eyes as Eli’s. They were breathing heavily, almost growling like dogs, though in the light of the street lamp they looked far more like wolves.

  “Hello? Hello? 9-1-1, how can I help you?” a voice sounded from Amelia’s phone. She looked down and saw that, without realizing it, she’d pressed the call button. She raised the phone to her ear, and, still looking at the monsters in front of her said, “Help me. My friend’s been attacked.”

  ---

  Five minutes later, the beasts were gone and Amelia was kneeling by Eli’s side. The wolves had vanished the moment she lifted the phone to her mouth to give her address, and so she’d hung up and run to Eli. Or whatever had been Eli. Because what was now lying in front of her was another beast. Or, more accurately, a werewolf.

  Amelia knew they existed, but she’d never seen one in real life. Swallowing down the fear rising within her, she once again dialed a number on her phone. “Hello?” a voice rang out.

  “Monica? I need you and Will to come to my apartment. It’s an emergency.”

  Eli

  Eli came to on a comfortable sofa in a room that smelled like honeysuckle and lavender. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw a lofted ceiling hung with dream catchers and twinkle lights. Where the hell was he?

  “Ami! He’s awake!” a high-pitched voice whispered. Who was Ami?

  Amelia’s face slowly came into view and Eli relaxed. Wherever he was, as long as Amelia was there with him, he was safe.

  “Eli?” she whispered and he turned to her. She was looking at him with both love and worry, her brow furrowed and her eyes bloodshot.

  “Hey. Where am I? What happened?” he asked, his voice hoarse as though he’d spent the night yelling at top volume.

  “You’re in my apartment. You were…attacked, after we said goodbye on my doorstep. You were attacked by wolves.”

  And suddenly, it all came back to him. Logan jumping on him, followed by Tucker, Tanner and Harvey. The smack of his head as it hit the pavement, the first blow to his stomach, the final blow to his temple that had knocked him out.

  “Shit…” he muttered, trying to sit up. Pain shot through his spine, blurring his vision, and Amelia slowly pushed him back down on the couch.

  “Don’t get up yet, man. You need at least a few more hours till you’re fully healed. You really took a beating,” said a low male voice from somewhere to Eli’s right.

  “Who is that?” Eli asked Amelia. But instead of answering, the face attached to the low voice came into view next to Amelia’s head.

  “I’m Will, Amelia’s sister’s boyfriend. I’m a doctor. Specializing in the supernatural.”

  “Oh. Uh, nice to meet you. Sorry you have to see me like this.”

  “Don’t sweat it. Comes with the job, and trust me, I’ve seen worse.”

  Eli grimaced, imagining what he must look like. He raised his head slightly, thankful that there was a pillow behind him, and looked down. He was naked; that much was obvious from the way the patterned wool blanket covering him was touching his skin. He also hadn’t fully shifted back to his human form. Tufts of fur still covered what he could see of his torso, and, curling his hands, he could feel his claws cutting into his palms.

  Turning back to Amelia, he said, “So. I’m guessing from the fact that I’m still half-wolf, you know.”

  Amelia nodded and gave him a small smile. “Yes. You were still a wolf when I found you in the street.”

  “And you’re…okay with that?”

  A voice from somewhere behind Eli answered before Amelia could. “Of course she’s fine with it. That much was obvious from the ooey gooey looks she was giving you while we carried you up here.”

  “That’s my sister, Monica, who has no idea when she could keep her mouth shut,” Amelia whispered, scowling at Monica over Eli’s head.

  “Just telling it like it is!” Monica called in a singsong voice.

  Eli chuckled, but the motion hurt his ribs, which he assumed were bruised, if not broken. Will noticed his grimace and nodded. “Yeah, your ribs are bruised, as is your spine and your face
. I’d say you have at least four to five more hours till you’re healed up. Why don’t you get some rest? We’ll take care of Amelia, make sure she gets some sleep and some food.”

  “I have some healing turmeric juice!” Monica called, but both Amelia and Will said, “Ugh, no!” at the same time, then turned to each other and laughed. It was obvious that Amelia was close with her family, which meant that Eli wanted to get to know them better. He’d only known her for a day, but already he wanted to know everyone who was important to her. As soon as he was healed, at least. For now, he needed rest. Sitting back and closing his eyes, Eli was soon out like a light, snoring softly.

  ---

  * * *

  When Eli woke up, he was not on the couch. And Amelia was beside him, curled into the fetal position and sleeping softly. Looking around, Eli saw a vintage oak armoire across from him, and, directly on top of his torso and lower half, a red comforter and a hot pink blanket. So, presumably, they were in a bed. Eli stretched hesitantly, but his ribs felt fine. In fact, all of him felt fine. Though he tried to be quiet, the rustling of the sheets and blanket woke Amelia, who gave him the most beautiful smile.

  “Morning,” she whispered.

  “Hey. Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” She waved him off, scooting closer to him and cupping his face in her palms.

  “I’m glad you did. How are you feeling? I was so worried.”

  “I’m fine. How are you? I’m sure this must be a bit of a shock. You probably didn’t wake up yesterday expecting to end your night in bed with a werewolf.”

  But instead of answering, Amelia leaned in and planted a gentle kiss on Eli’s lips. She was warm and sweet and perfect, and Eli wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his life receiving those kisses. First, however, they had to talk. Eli broke off the kiss and, placing his hands over Amelia’s, looked her square in the face, waiting for her answer.

  Amelia signed, catching on that Eli wasn’t going to continue kissing her until she fessed up. “It was a shock at first, but then I put two and two together and realized that must’ve been you, as a wolf, that I saw yesterday. And, while I know we’ve only known each other for less than twenty-four hours, I really like you, Eli. I’m worried for you because if you were attacked by other wolves, that means there must be some trouble somewhere in your life. Maybe that’s why you moved here, to get away from it, but I don’t care. As long as I get to be with you, I don’t care what you are, where you’ve come from. As long as I can have you.”

  Eli gave a relieved sigh and smiled at her. She was so perfect. But if she was really going to be in his life, he had to give her the full story. Eli pulled Amelia closer into his arm, until her head was resting on his chest and their legs were tangle together, and then, for the next twenty minutes, as they lay curled up toward each other in Amelia’s bed, Eli told her about the pack that he’d been raised in back in Canada. Eli’s biological mother and father had died in a tragic car accident in Toronto, so he’d moved in with his uncle Harold and his aunt Virginia in Ottawa, Ontario when he was five. They’d adopted him into their clan, and all had been well until he was fifteen. He was walking home from school one day when he unknowingly stumbled into a meeting held by a rival pack. It was in a dark, abandoned alleyway that Eli occasionally walked through as a shortcut. But that day, the wolves wouldn’t let him pass through.

  “They started hitting me, claiming I’d stolen from them. I was so confused, and I was scared for my life, but eventually they left, saying that next time I wouldn’t get off so easily. I came home and told my aunt and uncle. I didn’t understand this at the time, but our pack was really well off. They made their money selling fur pelts back in the 18th century and then reinvested when the industrial revolution hit Canada. Now, most of the money is in tech, but we’re still considered old money.”

  Amelia nodded, gesturing for him to continue. Eli took a deep breath, then said, “The rival pack claims we stole the pelts off them, and that’s why they haven’t been nearly as financially successful. I’m not sure what’s true and what’s not, but ever since that day some of the pack members have had it out for me. My uncle was the pack leader, but he died when I was twenty. That’s when the pack came back for me. They wanted to kill me, to dismantle my pack’s hierarchy. They’ve found me no matter where I lived, no matter how many times I’ve changed my name. I can’t escape them. I thought I could here, on the West Coast in Vegas, but I guess not.”

  “So, they’re just going to keep attacking you until they kill you? There must be something we can do.”

  “We?” Eli asked. Eli didn’t want Amelia getting involved in his trouble. Harvey and his gang were violent, unsympathetic assholes, and Eli worried that if Amelia got involved they would target her to get to him. He couldn’t risk it. He felt like he’d only just found his soul mate—he couldn’t risk losing her to those guys. God knows what they would do to her, and Eli had no plans to find out.

  “Yes, we. Between us, we’re going to figure this out. I mean, there must be some kind of authority you can take this to? And if not, I’ll sass these assholes out. I don’t have research skills for nothing.”

  Eli saw Amelia swelling with rage on his behalf and he couldn’t help the little spark of love that lit up his heart. It was early, far too early, to feel such a strong emotion for someone he barely knew, but then, he’d never really led a normal life anyway.

  “You can’t. Amelia, listen to me. You have to stay away from these guys. They’re dangerous. They’ll hurt you to get to me. Promise me you’ll let me handle this, okay?”

  Eli’s face was grave and serious, and Amelia nearly acquiesced. But, she was a journalist, with a curious mind and an innate sense of right and wrong. She couldn’t let the man she was falling in love with continue to be hunted for the rest of his life. She nodded, kissing him soundly, but in her mind she was already devising a plan to take these rival wolves down.

  Amelia

  Over the next few months, Eli grew to become a staple fixture in Amelia’s life. They saw each other most nights, slept at her apartment every weekend, and he’d officially been incorporated into her weekly dinner dates with Monica and Will. He and Will got along famously, with Will acting a bit like Mr. Weasley to his Harry Potter, constantly asking him about the dynamics of the werewolf world. Will knew about it from his studies and conversations with patients, but he’d never had a werewolf friend before, and he desperately wanted to understand Eli’s world so he could better help his patients. Amelia watched as Eli happily choked down her sister’s weird raw vegan concoctions, content in the knowledge that she had found her soulmate.

  That didn’t mean that the danger Eli faced from the rival pack had disappeared, however. He’d begun receiving threatening messages from them a few times a week from untraceable email accounts, all of them alluding to his eventual death. When she had a spare moment or two at work, Amelia used her journalistic skills to find out as much as she could about the rival pack members who had made it their mission to end Eli’s life. But, despite knowing their names and where they used to live in Canada, thanks to the information Eli had given her that first night together, her investigative searches turned up little information.

  Logan, the man Eli was fairly certain had first attacked him that night outside of Amelia’s apartment building, had been living in Provo, Utah as recently as three months ago, but had suddenly disappeared. “Forgot to pay the rent, too, the asshole,” his landlord had told Amelia over the phone. “Good riddance, I say. Kid was always having loud parties, having people stay for months at a time. It was like he was trying to break all the building rules.”

  Harvey, Tucker and Tanner were harder to find, even when Amelia bribed her old colleague at the Vegas Times into contacting a buddy of his at the FBI to help. “Their passports haven’t been scanned at any of the U.S. boarders in the last few years, so they’re either still in Canada or have left North America all together. Tanner has a bit of a criminal record—mostly mi
sdemeanors, and it looks like Tucker is behind on some of his taxes, but other than that these guys are pretty clean,” was the FBI agent’s report to Amelia a few weeks after she’d made contact with him.

  Amelia couldn’t dwell on the futility of her search, however. It was she and Eli’s three-month anniversary, and he’d told her to dress up because he was taking her to a show and then a late dinner. They’d seen most of the recent productions playing in town, so she couldn’t guess what he was taking her to. The surprise made the evening all the more exciting. Monica had helped Amelia pick out a dress from a shop on the strip that sold old cinema costumes, and Amelia couldn’t wait to try on the strapless red tulle evening gown she’d picked out.

  First, however, Amelia had one last interview to do that day. Bill was up to his usual tricks, and had asked her to cover an interview of a local performance artist for him. The artist lived just out of the city, so Amelia was on her way to rent a car to drive out to the artist’s house in the desert.

  She had her headphones in and was listening to the Hamilton soundtrack as she walked toward the rental building so she didn’t hear it when footsteps crept up behind her. By the time she saw blurred figures in her periphery, it was too late.

  ---

  “Where am I, who are you, and what do you want?” were the first words out of her mouth when her kidnappers untied the cloth from around her face. Though she was blindfolded, the scarf tied around her eyes was translucent enough to allow her to make out the shadows of her captors. She could see the vague shapes of four men. It had to be Eli’s enemies. No one else would kidnap her in broad daylight, not with all the surveillance cameras installed around the city. Only tourists would make that kind of mistake.

  “You’re Eli’s girl, right?” a male voice said from somewhere to her right. The man had a strong Canadian accent—Amelia recognized it from the twang that Eli sometimes got when he’d been drinking. So, she was right. It was Eli’s rival wolves.