Page 3 of Old Secrets

“That’s only half of the paperwork. I was told we were getting the first half of the paperwork this morning and that the second half would arrive this evening.”

The table wouldn’t survive twice as much paperwork. “We have a few chairs we can store it on until we do our first pass and hand it off for Amelia to see if she can spot something we’ve missed. And then because Mellisa gets bored, she’ll have a turn with it, too.” In some ways, I worried for Mellisa, who had a chat with us every few days and gave us lists of things to do to improve our relationship.

In my case, it boiled down to nuzzle less and bite more. Jake tended to have multi-hour sessions, most of which I refused to ask about. I considered my unwillingness to ask, and as I wanted to dodge the paperwork for a few more minutes, I asked, “Am I why your therapy takes so long?”

Jake shook his head. “My therapy takes so long because I’m a mess. You were a mess, but you went through the stages of general grief in record time. Mellisa is worried you went through it too quickly. I think you decided to refuse to be miserable over something you hadn’t been responsible for and moved forward. I’m having a harder time because I’m still trying to piece together how so much went so wrong so quickly. I’m also stubborn; I keep trying to concoct a thousand and one ways I’d screwed everything up. I refuse to acknowledge or accept you played a part as well.”

I raised a brow. “Well, I did. Once I learned more about my fox and she learned more about packs and wolves, I understood I didn’t need the pack. I needed the bond with you. My fox will be heartbroken if you take your father away, though. She adores him.”

“My father is sneaky.”

“He’s a lot like you, really.” I engaged my husband in a staring contest. “I’ve been sitting here freaking out that your family was still falling apart, and you’re just worried your mother is going to pressure me about children?”

“Basically.”

“Tell her we’ll work on kids after the Greenwich case is closed. If she wants to be a one-woman army, point her at the problem. That way, the problem disappears, and then we can worry about my inability to make use of my teeth once you’ve given me any positive attention.”

Jake chuckled. “Or I can pretend I’m not interested while accepting your advances, which is when you do tend to use your teeth, and I will continue to do so until you have sufficiently made use of your teeth. This is not a difficult problem to solve, especially if you put me into cuffs and do whatever you want with me for a few hours.”

“Eight, according to Mellisa. Eight hours.” I considered his offer. “That, however, does sound like a great time for me. I’m selfish like that. Then I’d get an even better time, as all you have to do to turn me into a pliable puddle is exist.”

“The problem isn’t a problem. I just have to restrain myself and give you the leash, and once you’ve had your fun, it’s my turn to have fun. We could test to see how quickly you change my fertility state. For science.” Then, knowing it would reduce me to giggles, Jake leered at me.

Sure enough, I broke down laughing. “For science, is it?”

“We need to extensively study this, of course. Are fox teeth magical and capable of inducing male Fenerec fertility at a brisk rate? There are some rumors that an eager female Fenerec can induce fertility in her male faster than eight hours. That’s just the average. You’re already well ahead of the Fenerec curve. We’re in summer, and all I need to do to make you fertile is give you a look and instigate. Your winter season is insanity. Once you became fertile, you were ready to rumble the entire time. Just judging from your behavior, I suspect your species has the female induce male fertility first, and then he needs to induce on the female—if she accepts him. You were very talkative with your teeth early in our relationship, but since you decided to be docile, I can do whatever I want with you. I suspect I’ll have to play hard to get until you induce my fertility, and then I get to have my way with you. It’s not that much different from what Fenerec do, just with a twist. And additional risk, because you might be fertile until you become pregnant. Then we have no idea when you’ll become fertile again. Mellisa mentioned some concern that if you are like that, you might have health consequences if you don’t have a pregnancy.”

I eyed my husband and his sweaty chest. “Please elaborate.”

“You haven’t had a period since winter, Karma.”

Damn. I forgot Fenerec had sensitive noses and could detect when I was having my period. “I assumed it was normal because I feel fine.”

“According to scent, you’ve been about ten minutes from ovulation since the first week of winter. Honestly, the scent is driving me absolutely insane. Amelia laughs every time she sees me now. I’m at the point I want to drag you to Tibet to check out this town and the nearby mountains to see if there is a hidden colony of foxes there. However much I’m concerned about those behind the Greenwich case, I’m more worried about your health. We just don’t know if this extended fertility period will hurt you. And we don’t even know how long a pregnancy would last.”

Right. Mellisa had dragged me to an Inquisition clinic at the end of the winter for an MRI, ultrasounds, and every other test she could book for me. Whatever I was, I wasn’t human. Humans had two ovaries. I had four. Not only did I have four ovaries, Mellisa had discovered I had an extra set of tubes connecting my extra ovaries together, along with additional tubes leading into my uterus. To complicate matters, I had an odd hip conformity compared to most women.

Despite my small size, Mellisa suspected I’d have an easier time giving birth to children, and the placement of several key organs implied I was better designed than most women to have multiple children at a time.

The saddest of the discoveries had been found along my side. While absorbing deceased twins happened in humans, my twin had been a tiny fox, her bones no more than two and a half inches long, late enough in development to be identifiable. At a loss for what to do, we’d removed her and given her a burial. At the Inquisition’s recommendation, we’d buried her in such a way we could retrieve her tiny body and take her back to Tibet in case we found our parents.

“We don’t even know if I can shapeshift while pregnant.”

Jake nodded. “Ultimately, we need to go to Tibet and see if we can find your parents. I don’t want us to lose a child because we just don’t know what steps we need to take. Ferenec can’t shapeshift during a pregnancy, but we don’t know about your species. Your body was built for shapeshifting. You don’t experience hardly any of our complications, you’re faster at it, and now that you’re practiced, it doesn’t even bother you.”

“It hasn’t hurt to shift since winter.” That had made Jake panic, especially when he forgot that two to five seconds was my normal after I’d learned to shift on my own. I did the equivalent of pop between forms. If anything, shifting served as an antidepressant, too. “You seduced better shapeshifting into me.”

While he rolled his eyes, he did laugh. “I’m hopeful I can seduce something a little more special than shapeshifting into you once we get this mess sorted out.”

Between the two of us, we were so driven to have kids we’d have fights over who worked versus stayed home. Working the black market would help us both, as we’d only have to handle a few jobs a year to sustain a good lifestyle for us and any children we might have.

But Jake was right.

We needed to sort the Greenwich mess out first.

That left the pile of paperwork on the table. “Then let’s get to work. While I do my first pass of this nightmare, you go pester someone in the Inquisition. We need tickets to Tibet, somewhere to park our RVs, and a translator and tour guide. If the Greenwich case is older than I am, then we need to go to the very beginning.”

“We’ll find the truth,” Jake promised. “But first, could I entice you into practicing the seductive use of your teeth? I feel this is an important scientific experiment we should conduct while our nosy neighbors aren’t home.”