The Lion’s Cross Species Baby

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Blurb:

A lion shifter, paranormal, pregnancy romance novel. Sometimes you can’t help but be attracted to people, no matter how much you want to deny it. When lion shifter Cooper and owl shifter Annie meet up at work, sparks immediately fly. Both assumed their time together would be a no strings attached type of fling.

Little did they know that their connection would take an unexpected turn when Annie discovers she’s expecting a child. An unexpected pregnancy is always a shock. But this isn’t just a normal pregnancy… it’s going to be a forbidden cross species baby!

Will Cooper and Annie find a way to make their relationship work, while dealing with a complicated pregnancy? Or will tragedy strike them first? Get answers in this paranormal owl shifter romance book by Mary T Williams.

Chapter 1

Annie lugged the suitcase to the bed and lifted it. The damn thing was empty and still weighed a ton, Annie thought to herself, grumbling. What concerned her was getting it through the airport and then to her final destination in Brazil. Her insides squeezed; nerves and excitement had been battling for supremacy within her for the last month.

She’d received her acceptance letter from the museum the month before and had been preparing for this trip since. As a history major specializing in ancient cultures, the opportunity to visit a dig in Brazil that may or may not have found an as yet unknown civilization was a gift from the gods. Annie had poured her trust fund into the trip, requesting a rushed passport, doctors’ appointments to get any immunizations that might be required, and so much research about that area of Brazil she could practically recite the entire history of the region.

As she packed her delicates, she silently thanked her best friend’s husband once more. Mark had pulled a few strings with his nephew, Cooper, who worked for the museum and was actually in charge of the dig. The man, who Mark said was a ‘fantastic dude’, had only agreed because Mark was his uncle. Because of the reluctant agreement, Annie had decided to be above and beyond well-prepared for this trip. She wouldn’t embarrass herself nor Mark with any lack of knowledge.

She opened another drawer as Chloe, Leah and Mark’s daughter, scampered in followed closely by her best friend, Leah’s dog, Jenny. Annie paused in her packing to listen to Chloe’s pattering, none of which she understood clearly.

“You don’t say,” Annie exclaimed when Chloe stopped talking, waiting for her response. Chloe, naked as usual, nodded wisely and gestured to Jenny, rambled on for twenty seconds, then shifted into her lion form abruptly. Annie laughed; now she understood. It bothered Chloe that she could shift but Jenny could not. “Chloe, you know Jenny doesn’t change. She’s always a dog.”

Chloe shifted into her human form again and grinned at Annie. She tilted her head at Annie and waited again. “I’m sorry, sweet girl, I don’t have time to shift right now.”

Chloe stared at her and made a whining sound in the back of her throat. Jenny whined with her. From the moment Leah and Mark had brought Chloe home, Jenny had, in her doggy way, appointed herself guardian over the little girl. When Chloe was sad, Jenny was sad.

“I’m sorry, my love. But I promise I’ll shift with you tonight after dinner,” Annie promised. Chloe giggled.

Leah rushed in at that moment, saw her daughter, and clutched her chest. “There you are! Chloe, you’ve got to quit running off!” She looked at Annie. “And when did she learn to open locked doors?”

Annie’s eyes widened, and she glanced at Chloe. “I didn’t know she could do that! You’re in trouble, you know?”

“Yes, I do know. I’ll have to install locks at the top of all the doors,” Leah grumbled. She picked up Chloe and playfully patted her cheek. “Young lady, what am I going to do with you?”

Chloe wiggled to be set down after kissing her mother’s cheek. Leah shook her head and placed her on her feet. Chloe shifted again and took off, Jenny following closely.

Annie laughed when Leah fell into the chair in the corner. “You look exhausted.”

“I’m always exhausted,” Leah said. “Shifter babies have so much more energy than normal babies.”

“Who told you that?”

“I read it in one of those books, and you know Chloe and I go to the mommy/baby yoga with human babies, shifter babies, and halfies,” Leah reminded her.

“Halfies?” Annie asked with a snort.

“That’s what half human, half shifters call themselves. Isn’t that funny?” Leah laughed. “Anyway, I’ve compared notes. Chloe only sleeps five hours in twenty-four. Human babies sleep ten or more. She’s going to make an old lady of me.”

Annie smiled. Leah said things like this all the time, but she wouldn’t trade her life for anyone’s and Annie knew it. Leah watched her for another moment before rising.

“I’ll be back in a sec. I better go find Chloe,” Leah said, leaving the room. Seconds later, Chloe, in lion form, pounced into the room with Jenny, and the two of them began to wrestle.

“Leah, they’re in here again,” Annie called.

Leah returned, exasperated, and closed the door. “Maybe with the door closed, I can help you for a bit.”

“You can just sit and watch and keep me company,” Annie told her. Leah needed to rest more than Annie needed help with packing.

“So have you heard from Cooper at all?” Leah asked.

“He emailed me so I could send him my flight information and arrival time. He’s going to meet me at the airport because, according to him, it would cost a fortune for a taxi to take me to the dig, if the driver could even find it.” Annie began going through her closet, trying to determine what she would need and what she wouldn’t. She would be there for nearly a month.

“Cooper Downs. Such an interesting name. Sounds like someone famous,” Leah mused, her novelist’s mind working. Then she bit her lip. “I’m so worried about you going down there, Annie.”

Annie rolled her eyes, but not so Leah could see. She had lived with Leah since her parents and sister were killed in an airplane crash. And Leah had always been a worrywart. “Leah, I’ll be fine. Cooper has been there for two years. I’ll only be there for a month collecting information for my thesis.”

“Don’t get all feminist on me, but it’s different for a man in a place like that,” Leah commented.

“You sound like an old lady. I guess Chloe’s work is done,” Annie laughed. Leah rolled her eyes and laughed as well. “If Cooper is anything like his uncle, I think I’ll be more than fine. Don’t you?”

Leah nodded in agreement, a silly grin on her face. “Yes, my husband is amazing. I doubt Cooper is that awesome, but he must be close since they are related.”

“Oh good lord,” Annie murmured. “You’re making me a little sick to my stomach, Leah.”

“You’re just jealous,” Leah sniffed. Then she shrieked, “Chloe! Get down!”