My Shifter Boss

Frank watched her as she spoke so passionately about the position. Her eyes were lit with a light he hadn’t seen in years; she belonged in the city, working to make it a better place. It was her calling, and he knew it, had known it for years. She’d always been a part of every do-gooder society in their small town, often in a leadership role.

After several minutes of silence while he debated, he leaned forward and kissed her lips. “Maryann, you will be good at it. And I’ll follow you to the city and help you in any way I can.”

Lucy released the breath she’d been holding. She looked at Nathan, who was grinning broadly at her parents, who hadn’t looked away from each other. Nathan took Lucy’s hand and rose with her. “Lucy and I are going for a walk to give you two some privacy.”

Neither of them responded; Lucy wasn’t sure they had heard Nathan speaking. She and Nathan walked around the house and down the sidewalk. She led him to a park two streets over, where they sat on a bench in front of the creek and watched the ducks.

“I was so nervous! Mom just said it, with no preamble or anything!” Lucy exclaimed, her hand over her heart.

“Your father loves your mother more than anything else. If this is what will make her happy, he’ll do it.”

“Yes. They have an enviable relationship.”

“One I think you and I will have as we continue to grow.”

Lucy smiled as she leaned her head on his shoulder and watched the ducks swim gracefully by, quacking obnoxiously. “What a lovely thing to say.”

“I love you, Lucy.”

“I love you.”

He turned toward her. Now was the perfect time, he decided. He didn’t want to wait another minute to ask her. “Lucy, that night I saw Austin attack you in front of your apartment and watched you shift to defend yourself, I knew you would be someone special in my life. When I kissed you in the alley behind the café, it was over. I had to make you mine.”

Lucy put her hand on her heart. She opened her mouth to reply, but he put his finger against her lips to stop her.

“Let me finish.” She raised her eyebrows jokingly at his admonishment. He smiled. “I’ve loved you since our first date, which I know sounds crazy. But I have, and I do. I want to spend my life with you, Lucy. I want to spend my life making you happy.”

Nathan lowered himself off the bench onto one knee, pushing a duck away with his foot. It quacked loudly and waddled off, making racket the whole way. Lucy giggled, and Nathan smiled. He took her left hand.

“Lucy, will you marry me?” He slipped the ring on her finger and waited. She was frozen, alternately staring at him and the ring. After a moment of stunned silence, Nathan raised his eyebrows. “Lucy?”

She shook herself and screamed, “Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I love you!” She pounced on him, her arms circling his neck, her mouth locked on his. When she stopped to take a breath, she said, “I’m so surprised! I had no idea.”

Nathan chuckled and kissed her again. “You scared me when you didn’t answer right away.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you wait. I was just so stunned and happy and excited,” she gushed. “I can’t wait to tell my mom and dad!”

“Your dad knows. I asked him first.”

She looked at him sideways. “So old-fashioned. I like that.”

“We’ll start planning it immediately. I don’t want to wait a long time, if that’s ok with you?”

“That’s perfect for me! The sooner the better.” Ideas began rolling through her mind. “Can the Head marry us? How cool would it be if Mom married us?”

“I don’t know, babe,” Nathan laughed at her excitement. “I bet your mom doesn’t know yet, either, but we can find out.”

Lucy looked at him, squealed, and threw herself into his arms again.

After Lucy and Nathan had come back and told them the news, they’d opened a bottle of wine (they didn’t have any champagne) and toasted the happy couple. Two bottles later, everybody was happy and sleepy. They said their good nights and went upstairs to bed with wine-infected giddiness.

*****

The next morning, Frank and Maryann were up at the crack of dawn packing their house. Lucy moaned as she heard the banging. She pulled the pillow over her head and stretched her arm out to touch Nathan, but he wasn’t there. She peeked out from under the pillow; he was dressed and heading out the door.

“Nathan!” she called out before he could close it. “What are you doing?”

“You’re parents have started packing. I’m going to help them.”

“You brown-noser,” she teased. He picked up the pillow he’d slept on and hit her with it.

“Get up, lazy ass,” he replied, hitting her again with the pillow. “You should be helping too.”

“What time is it?”

“Seven.”

Lucy groaned and rolled her eyes. “This is ridiculous,” she mumbled, but she pushed the covers off and stood, stretching her arms above her head. Her bre*sts strained against the tee shirt she’d worn to bed, and she caught Nathan staring. “What are you looking at, horndog?”

He bent at the waist and kissed her, massaging her bre*sts with his hands. When they parted, he said, “If we were at home, I’d fu*k you silly right now.”

“Yeah, but we’re not. We have to help pack blah blah,” Lucy grumbled.

“At least we get a good breakfast out of it.”

An hour later, they’d eaten breakfast and packed most of the kitchen. Maryann had decided to hire movers to get most of the stuff, but she wanted to pack her kitchen herself. Everything else she’d leave to them. She and Frank would pack suitcases of clothes and toiletries to get them through a week, which is how long the movers claimed it would take to get all of their belongings to the city. While Frank met with the movers to make the arrangements and Nathan packed up stuff in the garage, Lucy and Maryann folded clothes into large suitcases.

“You and Dad can stay in my apartment, Mom,” Lucy told her that afternoon. “I’ve pretty much moved in with Nathan anyway.”

Maryann lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t you think that’s kind of soon? How long have you actually known him?”

“Long enough, Mom. And you’re one to talk. If I remember the story correctly, you and Dad knew each other only two months before you were married.”

Maryann sniffed delicately. “Times were different then.”

Lucy guffawed and dropped the blouse she’d been folding. “Whatever, Mom.” She stooped to retrieve the blouse. “I’m so glad y’all decided not to sell the house right away.”

“Me too. We’ll need a vacation home so we can get out of the city some. Your father will need his downtime,” Maryann commented.

“Agreed.” Lucy opened her mouth to continue the conversation when Maryann’s phone rang.

“It’s Sarah,” her mother informed her before answering. “Hi, Sarah! How are things?”

Lucy could hear Sarah’s voice speaking at a rapid-fire pace, but she couldn’t understand her words. Her mother had frozen and was listening. She didn’t speak for several minutes. She ended the conversation with, “We’ll be on the next plane.”

Maryann looked at Lucy, her expression grim. “Go get Nathan. We have to leave immediately.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Sarah received intel that Marissa is planning to attack the Guard headquarters again.”