Page 4 of Old Secrets

As the nosy neighbors would inevitably come over to help once we started working, I headed for the air conditioner, turned the temp down, and skipped to our bed. “I’m not convinced you ever left rut after winter. I’m just saying I can last an entire day without using my saddest eyes on you.”

“Why would I want to?”

The man had a point. “I really don’t know,” I admitted.

“We can talk about it after I resist your feminine charms for a minimum of fifty good nips.”

How ruthless. “Fifty? Why fifty? I can barely handle one.”

“Well, after fifty, you’ll get exactly what you want, probably rougher than I prefer but that you love–and our neighbors will come home to discover we skipped out on work. I don’t know about you, but I could use a good nap.”

If I managed to nip him properly two or three times, I’d drive him crazy enough we’d both need a good nap to be able to function again. What would happen if I nipped him fifty times? “I feel like we’re playing with fire, Jake.”

“Oh, we are. Desperate times call for desperate measures. But after I’ve been successfully tamed, I’ll get to work scheduling our trip to Tibet while you defeat the new paperwork.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

TWO

“Progress is progress.”

Nothing revved my engine quite like Jake resisting my advances, and we quickly determined the more submissively he behaved around me, the better I got at using my teeth in a rather provocative fashion. We didn’t reach fifty nips or nibbles, as after five, Jake announced I had the right idea, pounced, and enjoyed the rather lengthy battle to have his chance to do whatever he wanted with me.

Foxes couldn’t purr, but I tried.

Rather than conquer the paperwork, we hibernated in bed until a rather amused Amelia woke us the next morning, pounding on our door until we got out of bed. She came armed with coffee, which we both needed to become functional enough to make our own pot.

While we attempted to wake up, Amelia poked at the stack of documentation we needed to sort. “Honestly, after seeing this, I don’t blame you two for pushing it off. I would have, too. As you two were conked out when the delivery arrived, it’s in my RV. Seeing this mess, I’ll start my share of the work on the second pile with Mellisa. That should keep us busy. Any new jobs?”

With the morning ritual underway, I left Jake to handle the lack of a new job issue while I hunted for something to wear that wasn’t a bathrobe. Once dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of worn jeans, I went into the kitchen to begin the tedious work of appeasing our voracious ways.

“We’ve come to the conclusion it’s time to head to Tibet. Not just to search into why the Greenwich operators want Karma but to find out more about her biology. She’s still deep in her season, and I don’t know if she’ll stay that way until we have kids, if it’s healthy, or anything. We have figured out how to get her nipping appropriately, though.”

“Progress is progress,” Amelia announced, and she applauded my effort to actually use my teeth on my husband. “Honestly, it’s a novelty. She’s the exact opposite of Fenerec in many ways but just like us in others. Did you have to play at being docile to get her nipping?”

“Yep. The more docile I behaved, the more insistently she nipped. It’ll take more than a little work, but we’re not going to push our luck until we can find out more. Especially after what we learned from the ultrasound.”

The discovery of my lost twin had changed everything—especially as the tiny bones had showed no signs of damage from shapeshifting, not like a Fenerec’s child did if the mother shapeshifted during her pregnancy. “I mean, the extra ovaries are flat-out weird.”

“Oh. That reminds me. Mellisa asked me to be the bearer of strange news.”

I raised a brow, dug out bacon from the fridge, and as strange news often unsettled me, I grabbed a pair of steaks and eggs so we could eat our anxiety away. “I’m ready.”

“Remember how they asked if they could retrieve an egg sample?”

“You mean four egg samples, one from each ovary. Yes. Jake freaked. They did it during the procedure to remove my twin. I mean, having four ovaries is weird, so how does it get weirder?”

“Two of the ovaries, like humans, are for egg storage. Two are for egg development. In short, unlike humans, you are not born with your final egg supply. You’re constantly regenerating eggs. Your eggs are also inclined to split at their whim, so it’s highly probable your species carries litters.” Amelia winced. “They also went ahead with the questionable test.”

Jake had disliked the idea of the test as had I, but to confirm if a Fenerec and a fox were compatible, the Inquisition had inquired with a mated pair if they would provide fertile sperm sufficient to test our base compatibility. The first test would result in the fertilized egg being lost, but it would help prepare us for the reality of becoming parents—if we could become parents. At most, the test would last until a sample could be taken and analyzed. In living fetuses, the test was done at seven weeks. Experimental science had allowed the medical staff to perform the tests between seven to ten days. “And?”

“The cell development is roughly a third slower than in humans but appeared otherwise normal. Your eggs are viable and compatible with Fenerec sperm. The slow cell development puzzled them, but the cells look robust. From what the witches and tests can tell, the cells favored Karma’s genetics, but evidence of Fenerec-born genetics were present. So, be warned. You will have litters. Literal litters. They suspect Karma’s mother shapeshifted with her often.”

“Because of my twin?”

“In part.” Amelia shrugged. “The news gets stranger.”

“How could it get stranger?” I blurted.