Small Fry Chapter 1 *Updated*

3rd November 2363

We sat at the dining table in a tense manner, nursing our coffees. Declan sat on one side as I sat on the other. Our legs jiggled nervously, and I think together we stared into our beverages rather than consumed them.

A thick silence filled the living room, as I sensed my husband was trying not to look at his wife, whom he inadvertently impregnated.

Normally, a married couple would celebrate this kind of thing; but not when they were a 300 year old European Werewolf, who just had his elderly body reversed back to his twenties by his 297 year old wife, who was called the Last Circulator. Now the said European Werewolf was a Circulator too, it put a new spin on things.

Not only was I a Circulator, but I was the tribe's first female Lokoti Werewolf. We've been mates for 273 years and where he had aged slowly, I did not. He got to show off a youthful wife, however the drawback was that I couldn't breed. With my bio-electromagnetic field being in temporal flux, it not only stopped me from aging but also reproducing.

Now that I've turned my elderly husband into a Circulator too; his sperm matched my eggs bio-electromagnetic frequency and then… ta daa!

“B…you’re pregnant.” Declan uttered in shock; when he immediately smelled the change in my hormones, the morning after our celebrating his transformation.

I growled in frustration, as I rubbed my face from stress which caused my long, black hair to flop over my dark blue eyes. This made my mate look up sharply, with his bright blue eyes, wide with concern. His previous white hair was back to his youthful dark blonde colour, and it looked particularly spiky this morning.

How could I have been so stupid? I knew the reason why I couldn’t breed, was because of the whole temporal flux/ bio-electromagnetic frequency thing! Why didn’t it ‘click’ inside my mind, before my newly-youthful husband, pounced on his always-youthful wife to celebrate his change?

I guess Declan decided to take affirmative action, or try to get a grip on our situation.

He took a deep breath before he spoke; “OK, so you’re pregnant.”

I gave him an unimpressed look for stating the obvious.

“Shut up.” He smirked at my expression. “But let’s come up with a plan of attack here, instead of sitting here in shock like a bomb’s gone off.”

“What plan of attack?” I said unhappily. “We’re not planning a battle against a coven of European Vampires.”

“You’re 24 hours pregnant, B.” He frowned. “24 hours means it’s still just a bunch of cells inside of you.” I gave him a peculiar look, wondering what he was trying to say? He went on, “remember our first time together?”

“It may have been 279 years ago Dec, but yeah. I still remember our first time.” I said dryly.

“Right.” He cleared his throat. “Then do you remember what happened right after it? What I did to you?”

Abruptly I straightened, as if he had thrown a glass of icy water my way. “No, you don’t mean…?”

“I’m 300 years old and yesterday I nearly died of old age! You turned me into a Circulator, so we could evolve to the space time continuum together. You and me having a baby, would be like an elderly human couple having kids at the age of 70!”

“But we don’t have bodies of 70 year old humans!" I objected. "We’re both physically in our twenties!”

“Two days ago, my joints would hurt just from going up the stairs! Two days ago, I was on pain medication for arthritis! You may have reversed my biological clock B, but I have an old soul. My mind still feels like it’s an old man!”

“So what are you saying, Declan? That you don’t want to have this thing? This child? This baby?” I asked offended.

“B, we’re supposed to be evolving to the space time continuum, the way an elderly human packs up and moves to Florida for retirement!” He said indignantly. “I mean, can we take this thing with us to the space time continuum? We’re supposed to turn into beings of light so what’s going to happen to the child inside you?”

I let out another growl as I rubbed my face again. I think this made my husband feel bad, as he stood up to move to the chair which was right beside mine. He rubbed my back as he spoke in a sympathetic voice.

“I know how you used to want kids, especially since you couldn’t have any. But I haven’t heard you talk about babies for over fifty years, so I thought you finally grew out of it. With this happening to us now, it’s like winning the lottery when we’re already millionaires.”

I buried my face in my hands and groaned back, “I don’t know Declan. I really, really don’t know.”

“It’s less than 24 hours, B." He cajoled. "All we’re doing is stopping a bunch of cells. OK, look at it this way, you don’t feel bad when you pull out a weed from amongst your daffodils do you? It's the same thing.”

What did he just say?

I turned to look on in shock at what he was suggesting, “…huh?”

“Look, just think about that afternoon in the woods the first time we had sex." He tried to shrug it off. "You didn’t mind then, did you?”

“Yeah, but you said it would stop me from getting pregnant! You didn’t say it would end pregnancy!” I pulled away from his touch.

“What I'd do would be exactly the same thing." Declan said seriously. "I have to do this now or it won’t work.”

“And then what? I’ll have to have an abortion the ‘human’ way?” I asked snidely.

“Yes.”

“Declan!” I stood up in disgust. “Why are you so eager to kill this thing?!”

“B!” He stood up too, but in alarm. “Think about this!”

“I AM thinking about this! It’s a bit hard to think about anything else!” I snapped back.

“B, please," his eyes watered, "you’re carrying another European Werewolf in there.” Then his eyes momentarily lowered to my abdomen. “And I swore I would be the last.”

Warily, I took a step back from him, now seeing the light. “Is that your real reason why you don’t want the baby, Declan?”

“Yes.” He admitted. “I mean, think about our discussion all those years ago when Nairn tried to help us to get pregnant. Remember how I said that we should try for a girl, because a boy would be harder to train? What if it’s a boy in there, B? There is no way we can take a new-born male European Werewolf into the space time continuum with us. It'd be like letting loose a demon inside of an unprepared heaven.”

“Why are you so adamant that you want a girl?” I wondered aloud.

“Because they’re not as strong as males!" He flared. "Female European Werewolves aren’t as strong as males, just as female Lokoti Werewolves aren’t as strong as their male counterparts! Besides, I don’t trust other European Werewolves! A son of mine would no sooner knock his Lokoti Werewolf mother out of the way, to attack the human she was trying to protect!”

“But you were a young male European Werewolf and you didn’t hurt your mother…” I began to argue back, but his guilty expression stopped me.

“Once.”

“What was that?” I thought I had misheard.

Declan’s face paled, "once I did when I was three years old, as the full moon triggered my first change. Luckily though your Dad, Grandpa and Grandfather were there. Your Dad caught my Mom before she hit the wall and your Grandfather caught me before I smashed through the locked front door. I would have made a run at a human, but the male Lokoti Werewolves were able to stop me.”

At first I was startled into silence, but then I tried to console.

“But Declan,” I began, "it was your first change on a full moon and you were only three years old. You had to be trained.”

“I know, but it took years for my training to come into effect." He reminded. "Your Dad caught my Mom. But from the force I used when I threw her out of the way, I could have harmed Derik whom she was pregnant with at the time. Your Dad never trusted me because of it, which was why he hated the idea of you ending up with me.”

At first I found it hard to imagine a three year old boy, throwing his mother against a wall when she tried to restrain him. But then I could, if the three year old was in his European Werewolf body. Since their bodies expand so much with supernatural muscle, he was probably as tall as an adult human, let alone stronger than one. Is this why he’s so afraid of creating anymore European Werewolves, even as children?

“Hang on,” I shook my head in disagreement, "don’t forget that our baby will be half Lokoti Werewolf as well, like its mother.”

“And what if it’s also a Circulator, like its mother?” He arched a wary eyebrow. “Then it could have my strength and your speed! Just imagine if it snuck out of the house by instantaneously phasing, to go snacking on human that way. A Circulator – slash – European Werewolf; we could be creating an almost unstoppable murderer!”

“Declan!” I walked up to hold his head in my hands to force him to look into my eyes. “I just did create a Circulator – slash – European Werewolf! And I have faith in YOU! Just as I have faith that we could train our child to respect life.”

“B, you’re not listening to me.” He put my hands over his heart. “When I first turned at the age of three, the bloodlust almost ate me inside out! Night after night, your Grandfather sat with me. I tried so hard not to hunt human, for the sake of my Mom and my little brother. But just as much as I loved my family; sometimes when the pain got so bad, I would even crave THEM!”

I shook my head again, “I don’t believe you.”

“That first year that I changed, there was a reason why your Grandfather stayed with me night after night, to train me. Sometimes I'd stand in Derik’s room and watch him sleep in his cot. At first I'd look on my little brother with love, but then my stomach would rumble, my mouth would water and the bloodlust would be saying, ‘do it, feed your hunger! He'd taste so good and he'd take the pain away.’ Then my Mom would come into the room and stroke my hair, thinking that I was acting all brotherly? Her soft hands smelled like the tenderest steak you've ever tasted in your life.”

“Declan!” I cried out in alarm, as I pulled my hands back sharply.

“THIS is why I don’t want to risk a son ever thinking that about you!” He grabbed hold of my arms. “I may have fought the bloodlust to protect my loved ones, but I WILL NOT abide another threat to come along and destroy everything!”

“So what are you saying? That your son will want to eat me?" I asked, hurt. "Do you want to eat me Declan, like you wanted to eat your mother and brother?”

Suddenly he pulled me close, “I’ve always wanted you, B. You’ve always smelled delicious to me, especially with your Lokoti Werewolf pheromones. Then coupled with your aura as a Circulator, it's like making love to an angel. That’s what you’re like to me. You smell delicious, but I want to look on you, smell you and possess you forever. If a child of mine ever looked at you wrong? Then that would be the very last thing that young European Werewolf would ever do.”

My eyes watered as I tried again to reach him, by cupping his face and looking into his watery blue eyes.

“Declan. Please. Stop." I pleaded. "Just listen to me! This child will be half Lokoti Werewolf too! My breed don’t crave human family members nor members of the tribe. This child will be half you and me, and I firmly believe that it will be the amalgamation of the best of the both of us.”

He sighed wearily and even in human form, his body could harden if he didn’t want to listen. Usually would hear me out, so why wasn’t he now?

“You don’t think that I’m listening to you? Why won’t you hear me?" He argued. "B, turn off the stars in your eyes and wake up and smell the coffee! I WAS a young European Werewolf! I KNOW what young European Werewolves are like! Think about the SSIT Report on Different Breeds of Werewolves; it was noted that European Werewolf children have rarely been sighted. Think about why…did they run away from their parents to start hunting solo? Or did the monstrous parents annihilate the little devil, if the child either turned on them or they were too hard to control? Our child wouldn’t turn after the age of ten like a Lokoti Werewolf does, but it will be born immediately as a Werewolf. Humans term toddlers going through the ‘terrible twos’ and in our case, it would be literally!”

My husband’s pessimism was seriously scaring me. I pulled out of his arms which didn't want to let me go. When I took a step back, they tried to reclaim their hold so I took several more away.

Tearfully, I shook my head as I gave him a betrayed look, “no Declan.”

“C’mon, just give me ten minutes and it will all be over.” His hand reached out.

I jumped backwards in fright! Who was this baby-killing monster? This can’t be my loving mate for the past 273 years…!

As my form of protest, I turned towards the front door when suddenly, he moved in the speed of light, to block my path!

What the…?! We both froze in shock. Just then, he looked just like I did when I engaged my light speed reflexes; a bright blur.

Declan’s been a Circulator just over 24 hours and he can already move in light speed? This unnerved me, at how his European Werewolf genes had leapt onto the Circulator bandwagon and were going for the reigns! It even gave him pause, as he looked from me to the door he was now standing in front of.

“Woah, I’m gonna have to get used to that.” His eyebrows arose, before he turned back my way. “B, let’s talk about this.”

“I’ve tried to talk about it! You just want to kill it!” My voice went shrill.

“IT! That’s right B, it’s an IT!” He raised his voice.

“It’s an IT until I know if IT’S a boy or a girl!” I said adamantly.

The monster’s eyes narrowed, “there’s no way in hell that thing is going to stay in you that long for you to find out.”

“WHAT?!” I roared, as my dark blue eyes flashed their glowing turquoise colour.

Declan’s blue eyes turned glowing green as he fixed his dangerous gaze on my abdomen, “just ten minutes B and it will all be over.”

He was really starting to frighten me and I mean seriously. I turned to march towards the back door, when again a bright blur sped past to block my path. This time when he skidded to a stop, neither of us looked surprised but only determined.

My mate held up his hands in a ‘stop’ gesture. “Let’s just review the facts here, there’s something else you haven’t considered yet.”

“Oh yeah and what’s that?” I crossed my arms defensively.

“What happens to the mother with a European Werewolf growing inside of her?” His eyes drilled into mine.

I felt a pang of fear at his point, but I tried to cover it up by looking away.

“Fact one,” he started to count on his left hand, "you’re a female Lokoti Werewolf so you're forty times stronger than a human, but European Werewolves are a hundred times stronger. With that thing’s strength, can you imagine what it’s going to be like when it kicks? Fact two, you’re gonna have something in there with claws! It could tear itself out of you if it wanted to! This also brings us to fact three; the change.”

“Change? What change?" I huffed. "You already said it’s going to immediately be a European Werewolf.”

“What if the fetus changes into its European Werewolf shape while it's inside you? It could go from this…" he cupped his hands together to demonstrate, before dramatically widening them, “…to this in a matter of seconds.”

Horrified, I backed away with bulging eyes as my mouth fell open…!

The father of my child looked on with a pained expression, “what’s going to happen to the mother then? A female European Werewolf could possibly cope with her greater strength, but what about a female Lokoti Werewolf?”

I shook my head in a maddening way, unable to cope with the apocalyptic picture he was painting.

He rushed forward to grab hold of my arms to plead, “c’mon B, let me do this! In ten minutes it will all be over, I promise! Just give me ten minutes!”

“No, Declan! No!” I squealed, terrified.

“If you still want a baby after all these years then I’ll go out and I’ll find you one! I’ll bring you back a human baby! But let’s have a human baby, c’mon B!”

“No!” I started to cry as I tried to pull away.

My husband tearfully refused to let me go, “I mean it! I’ll do it today, B! I’ll find you a human baby and bring it back to you! But I’d do it as soon as I got rid of that thing inside you!”

“Stop it, Declan!” I tried harder to escape, but his grip was iron-clad.

“B, as soon as I do what I have to; then we’ll phase back through time to when there are plenty of orphans. You can pick any human baby you want!”

Tears were streaming down both our faces now. We were at an impasse, I wanted to have this child and the father wanted to destroy it because he was afraid it would destroy the mother. I was desperate for it to live, and he was turning desperate for it not to.

Knock, knock, knock!

Right at that moment, Ki opened our front door. “Er, hello?”

Normally, the tribe's Medicine Man didn't help himself to walking into people's homes, but our yelling must have prompted him. He looked on in concern at the scene he had stumbled into, of Declan gripping onto my arms as I was trying to squirm out of his grasp. I could tell he disapproved, as he frowned upon the sight of the bigger male preventing the smaller female's escape.

Ki spoke calmly, “Uncle Declan, can you please let go of Aunt B and maybe we can sit down and talk about what seems to be the trouble?”

He was carrying his 'medicine bundle' that was an old, black, leather doctor's bag which indicated he had come by to do a check-up.

“Scan her!” Declan barked out, as he didn’t look away from my direction.

“What?” Ki blinked.

“SCAN HER!” My husband roared.

“OK Uncle Dec.” Our Medicine Man and fellow Lokoti Werewolf, put up his hands in a surrender gesture. “Let’s just remain calm, shall we?”

Slowly, he lowered his 'medicine bundle' to the floor, as if he were wary of making any sudden moves around the volatile European Werewolf. Next, he opened his doctor's bag and pulled out his medical scanner. Then he returned to his feet and held up the technology, to show Declan.

“Scan her, Ki!” His Second in the pack, ordered.

Tearfully, I glared at my husband, “this isn’t going to solve anything!”

“If you don’t believe me B, let’s get a medical opinion!” He retorted.

Ki looked from me to my husband, before he turned on the scanner and waved it in my direction.

“Well?” Declan looked his way, but he didn’t let go of my arms.

“Aunt B is healthy and there's nothing to report…” Ki read off the screen, “…oh, hang on.”

There was a pause, as we watched the Medicine Man blink and then blink again, as if he didn’t believe the results. He even waved the scanner over me again, to double check. We watched him go completely still for a minute, before he raised his other hand to rub his jaw to show his confusion.

“Well?” Declan repeated.

“Um, according to this…” Ki began.

“B’s pregnant!” He finished impatiently.

“…from the elevated hormones in Aunt B’s system, the scanner is saying that she's pregnant.” Ki continued. "But from scanning the fertilized egg in the abdominal area, it looks like conception occurred just 24 hours ago."

“24 hours?!” We exclaimed in further surprise, before staring at the other.

“Then that means…” I began.

“…that I knocked you up from our first go.” My husband finished.

“First go?" Ki lowered the scanner to look on the pair of us. "This was yesterday, after Uncle Dec nearly died of old age? How many goes were there?” When we passed him an unimpressed look, he finished with; "never mind, you don’t have to answer that.”

“Our first go?” I raised my eyebrows at my European Werewolf mate. “Boy, there’s everything about your kind that’s strong, isn’t there?”

“My argument exactly,” he seethed, "which is why we have to nip this thing in the bud.”

“With no pun intended?” I said snidely.

“Just remember that right now they’re just cells, B." He spoke coldly. "Like I said, in ten minutes it'll all be over.”

“Then what, Declan? What happens the next time we have sex? You heard the Medicine Man, you knocked me up the first go! I’ll just get pregnant again since birth control doesn’t work on our kind.”

“Birth control for humans maybe.” His voice turned icy. “But my kind has its own methods, one of them I’m trying to use now.”

“What?!” I spluttered out in disgust. “So you want to do THIS all the time?!”

“Well what choice do I have?” He whined, like he was in physical pain.

“That’s not birth control! That’s genocide!” I cried out indignantly.

“What choice do we have?!” He raised his voice once more. “It’s either them or you! You’ll die if you have this thing!”

However we were interrupted again by our Medicine Man, who was still stumped by the fact I was pregnant in the first place.

“Hang on here, people.” Ki put up his hand. “Let me just get something straight… Uncle Declan nearly dies of old age and is turned into a Circulator by his mate who's another Circulator. You celebrate and Uncle Declan as a youthful European Werewolf again, impregnates his barren wife from the first round, which I assume there were many rounds. Now, have I got this right?”

“Yes!” He snapped bad-temperedly. “B’s eggs are in temporal flux! B turned me into a Circulator by putting me into temporal flux! My swimmers are in temporal flux now! Do you get the picture, or do we have to draw you a frickin’ diagram?!”

“Aaahhh….! Right! Got it!” Ki finally came on board. Then he tried to keep his casual demeanor as he turned back to my husband. “So um Uncle Dec, how about you let go of Aunt B while we talk some more on this.”

But my mate growled back, “if I let go of her, she’ll go bolting out the door!”

I looked Ki's way for help. “He wants to kill it!”

“How about we all sit down and talk about this calmly -" The Medicine Man began to counsel.

“B’s carrying a baby European Werewolf inside of her, Ki!” My husband yelled. “Something that can claw her insides or expand when it changes and squash every single organ in her body! Then if it's born, it can run in the speed of light since it has two Circulators for parents!”

“Oh.” His face fell, thanks to my husband’s description.

“But our baby will be half Lokoti Werewolf too!” I repeated. “Ki, tell him it will be half of me too!”

“Why yes it would be, but the question is what genetic traits would be inherent in the fetus?” He thought aloud.

“We can’t wait to find out!” Declan demanded. “We have to get rid of it now!”

“We have to do no such thing!” I shouted back.

Again I tried to escape from the monster’s clutches, when he used his greater strength to pull me into tight embrace.

“B please, don’t fight me on this!" He desperately held on. "Your life is in danger!”

“No it’s not!” I uselessly pushed against his chest. “It isn't, Declan!”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” He wore a helpless expression.

“Oh yes I do!” I fired up. “I'm not getting one of my ominous feelings, I have occasionally as a Circulator. I don’t have alarm bells going off inside of my head! If this was bad, then I’d have a vision to warn me!”

Our Medicine Man couldn’t stand watching our fight any longer. He crossed over to try to release me by putting his hand on Declan's larger arm as he gave him a pointed look. This made my mate pause.

“Let’s just hear her out, please?” Ki spoke gravely. “Let her go, Uncle.”

“Fine!” He snapped. “But B, if you try anything stupid like running out those doors? You’ll see that I’m just as fast as you.”

“Oh yeah?” I fired back. “Do you think that’s all Circulators can do, just run really fast?”

Abruptly his arms tightened about me, as he growled in my ear, “just you try it!”

“OK, I will!” I snarled back.

I tried to instantaneously phase from his grasp, but oddly I couldn’t.

Huh, what? That’s strange. I tried again, but it didn’t work. I should have disappeared in a bright flash of light from my house in Alaska, to reappear in Circulate HQ on Taurus Six. So why didn’t I?

Next, I tried to put myself into phase, so I could slip from his hold but that didn’t work either. My biological body wasn’t turning into one made of light. What’s going on here?

When I looked back over my shoulder at Declan whom was hugging me from behind; his eyes were squeezed shut and it looked like he was muttering something. It was like he was concentrating against me, but how?

“What are you doing?!” I cried out in alarm. “Stop it!”

I closed my eyes too, so I could concentrate harder when I felt something happen… I felt the usual warm and tingling sensation, but it wasn’t enough. My skin momentarily glowed, but my biological body didn’t dissolve into light.

Ki caught the look of panic on my face, which made him raise his medical scanner to see what was going on.

Whatever it was my mate was muttering, it became louder. I started to work out he was chanting the same thing over and over again. When I heard the words, I couldn’t believe the simplistic mode he was somehow using, to stop me from going into phase!

“Stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me …”

Our Medicine Man lowered his scanner, to say in a surprised voice; “somehow Uncle Declan is using his aura to affect your aura.”

“What?!” My eyes nearly popped out of my head!

“He's using his bio-electromagnetic field to disrupt your bio-electromagnetic field.” He reported. “I can see from the readings that you’re trying to go into phase, by the electrical activity in your brain as well as along your central nerve system, increasing. However, so has Uncle Declan’s but instead of going into phase, he’s putting you out of phase.”

I blanched as I pondered just what kind of monster have I created? How is Declan learning his abilities as a Circulator so fast? This can’t be right, nor can it be natural! This was so supernatural, it wasn’t funny!

“Stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me stay with me…” He continued.

“Stop it Declan!” I cried out helplessly.

“I will if you will.” He replied amidst his chanting, whilst keeping his eyes closed.

Wait, I think this has happened before…to another Circulator. I wracked my brain as I tried to remember some instruction of what to do. I recalled that the Circulator escaped from the other Circulator doing this, by ending the bodily contact. This would only work if he was holding onto me, so our bio-electromagnetic fields were touching. He can’t stop me from going into phase, if he wasn’t.

I decided to warn him first; “I can fight you off, even if it’s just long enough to go into phase. But I would hurt you, to make you let go of me. Once I go into phase and escape, who says I'll come back?”

Although I couldn’t see his face properly as he was standing directly behind, I heard the hurt in his voice.

“I know you can B…but look at where I’m standing, with the back of your neck near my mouth. If I thought I was about to lose my grip, I'd bite you where I did when I made you unconscious, all those years ago. If it means knocking you out and then doing what I have to do, to end this pregnancy? Remember the first night you changed, let alone every other time I did what needed to be done, for the safety of my mate.”

My heart raced as I let out a helpless cry because I was scared to death for my child!

“Uncle Declan, please.” Ki now spoke forcefully. “If you don’t release your hold on Aunt B, I will have to call on our First to intervene.”

That made him hesitate, as he knew what this meant… if Caesar was called here then Declan as his Second would have to obey. If my mate didn’t, he'd have fourteen male Lokoti Werewolves, ready to fight the dissenter as well as the threat to their first female Lokoti Werewolf.

I sensed his European Werewolf bloodlust almost throw back its head and roar out its battle cry! His bloodlust would find this kind of challenge fun! But it was his heart which stayed his murderous desires. He had spent the last 168 years as Second, he would be turning on his own men let alone hurting his wife by fighting her people.

Finally, I felt Declan’s hands gradually release my arms and then I was free…

I turned around to look dismayed on my mate for nearly harming his wife and child, whilst he tearfully gazed back.

“Tell me again you don’t have a bad feeling about this?” He rasped out, as if he were having difficulty breathing. “Tell me how you’re gonna live through this?”

“As Aunt B said, this child will be part Lokoti Werewolf too.” Ki reminded. “Maybe this baby will be exactly half and half? I’ll keep a close eye on Aunt B, I promise. You two won’t be alone, no Lokoti Werewolf ever stands alone. You know this yourself, Uncle.”

But Declan didn’t seem to hear, as he was to busy staring at his mate.

“Tell me B, what can you 'see'? Tell me what you ‘see’ in ours and the baby's future.” He pleaded.

Next, he watched me turn to walk into the shadowy kitchen. The whole house darkened in fact, as the sun was taken away from the dark clouds which were heavy with snow. As if I were in a trance, I wandered over to the kitchen sink to stare out the window at my garden.

The grass was still short, as the cold weather stagnated its growth. I saw the bare branches of our Jacaranda Tree move in the strong wind, as there were no leaves to dance. Then I stared at my withered garden plots, which were waiting to be buried under the thick snow of a long winter.

Our small, two bedroom, two story, brown wooden cottage with its stone chimney; sat on top of a hill in the community centre inside the vast Lokoti National Park, in the Alaska Range. Our home was normally cosy with life, love, cooking and company. We had family, tribe and pack whom we intermingled or hunted with. Our life could be 'quiet' by some, but when you had to hide your supernatural state, where and how we lived was ideal.

The signs of winter coming, also represented signs of something else to come. Our home would be changed forever, as would be the people inside it. As if to confirm this, I saw the first snowflake fly past on the icy wind.

I wasn't experiencing any visions, whilst I stared hypnotically at the life outside. But just as I could have bad feelings which warn of danger, I felt several new sensations in my chest. They didn’t fill me with a sense of dread, instead they filled me with a sense of purpose.

“Our daughter isn’t going to be a Circulator.” I spoke quietly, almost unsure of my own words. “She’s going to be the eldest of three sisters and none of them will be 'Light People'. I am the last Circulator to be born.”

Suddenly, the window rattled loudly from a gust of wind as my Jacaranda Tree bent back and forth. I watched the snowflakes begin to fall thick and fast, but from the gale they fell in a sloping pattern. I watched the many white dots, cover the grass.

“The time line has to make adjustments to Declan’s altered state of being.” I said softly. “Because their mother changed their father, our daughters will be born but not as Circulators. The whole universe has been thrown out of whack.”

Then I felt my mate come to stand beside at the sink, as his greater body-heat radiated outwards.

“Daughters?” He asked hopeful. “No boys?”

A tear slipped down my cheek, as his relief didn’t bring me happiness but disappointment.

“And what would you have done if it was a son?” I turned to challenge his own watery eyes.

“If we had a son who was half Lokoti Werewolf but wasn’t a Circulator? I would do exactly what I’m going to do now.” He said firmly.

“And what’s that?”

“Give his mother a kiss and a cuddle and help her raise the little troublemaker.” He emitted a small smile.

“After everything that's happened today, what makes you think I want you for the job?” I took a step away.

Declan grinned like an idiot – a tearful idiot – but an idiot nonetheless.

“Since you said ‘daughters’ and not ‘daughter’, it means I’m let out of the doghouse sometime in the future.” He tried to joke.

“Lucky me.” I said flatly as I turned back towards the window.

Just then he laughed loudly, as he leant on the kitchen sink. He seemed to be laughing in pure relief! He was guffawing like a man who had just been granted parole instead of a death sentence.

He wiped his eyes on the back of his hands, “I can almost picture her now. She’s going to be tall and she’s going to make all of the boys work hard, as she continually beats them in school and sport.”

"Why do you say that?"

Declan continued, “she’s going to be half of you and half of me. I’m gonna teach her how to repair her hover-car if it breaks down. You’re gonna teach her soccer and help her with her homework. When she's not studying with you, she’ll be in the kitchen helping me cook.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t be placing all these expectations on her yet.” I said warily. “I mean, your last expectation was that she was going to kill her mother!”

I thought these words would have wounded him but they did the exact opposite. Instead, Declan stood closely to smile down as his large hands moved to sit on my hips. His bright blue eyes, fixated on my dark blue ones before he lowered his face to gently bump foreheads. His spiky, dark blonde hair mixed in with my long, dark layers.

“B, ever since I was 14 years old, I've been trained not to think of myself as a father.” He confessed with his eyes closed. “It was the age when the Lokoti Werewolves told me that I could never take a human woman for a mate for risk of harming her or turning her. I thought if they’re scared of me changing her then they probably wouldn’t want me to have kids that were like me either."

That gave me pause, as his words and the emotion behind them hurt my heart. I watched him speak with his eyes closed, as I felt his breath on my face. Although I was still furious with him, I didn't pull out of our embrace.

He continued, "I fell in love with you when I was 17 years old but remember, I had to wait until I was nearly 21 until I could have you; when you changed at the age of 18. Then you were married off to Grant and I had to wait five years before we were reunited. This only compounded the idea that the pack thought the risk of me breeding with you was far too great. Then it came out you were so-called barren and you couldn’t give Grant kids? I thought, sucked in! She was meant to be mine all along! Then for 274 years, I got to enjoy the marriage bed with you without worrying the pack about what the marriage could produce. Now a baby makes three? I’m sorry I didn’t run out and buy a bottle of champagne and a cigar. For nearly 300 years I was taught and self-taught that I wasn’t father material, because I could plant rotten seed.”

My eyes widened in further alarm, as I never knew his self-hatred was buried so deep, it was thoroughly rooted in his psyche.

“Declan, I would breed with you any day and twice on Sunday.” I said strongly. “Why the hell do you think I threatened to hurt you, when you threatened to hurt the baby? I know the seed is as good as the man.”

My husband desperately peered into my eyes, “say that again.”

I cupped his face, “I know the seed is as good as the man.”

“Say it again?”

“We’re going to have an awesome child, who’s going to be like her awesome father.”

“Say it again?”

“I don’t want to procreate with anyone but you.”

“Say it again?”

“Declan, I’m hungry.” I whinged as I changed the subject.

“Right! Food!” He instantly stood to attention. “Well B, you’re a pregnant woman who's mated to the right guy for that. I’ll keep you so full that you’ll never get any of those renown cravings pregnant women go through. Ki, would you like some brunch?”

However when we turned to look outside the kitchen, our Medicine Man was no longer standing in our living area.

“Ki?” I called, but there was no answer.

We exchanged surprised glances before we departed the room to find our medical practitioner, his scanner and his ‘medicine bundle,’ were gone.

“Oh.” I said taken aback. “I guess he thought the emergency was over.”

“That and I think he’s gone to Caesar to have a talk about us.” He frowned.

“Why?” I asked in alarm. “You did let go, eventually.”

“Well B, let me put it this way," he casually leaned against the wall, "the tribe’s first female Lokoti Werewolf turns the last European Werewolf who is her mate, into another Circulator. For over 250 years, everyone thinks she’s barren and then bingo! Her handsome husband does the 'manly thing' by knocking her up. Baby will be the world’s first half Lokoti and half European Werewolf.”

I smiled on his dry sense of humor; “I like your little explanations, they’re like little stories in themselves.”

“Thanks.” He chuckled back. “So, what does the pregnant woman crave; bacon and eggs, or sausages and eggs, or even pancakes?”

“Um, how about all of the above?” I shrugged.

“I love my wife!” He guffawed. “Man, are we going to have fun over the next nine months.”

“Man, are we going to have an interesting next ninety years.” I corrected.

Declan pulled back sharply to give an incredulous look, “ninety years?!”

“There’s kids and then there’s grandkids.” I reminded.

“Oh yeah.” He frowned as he returned to the kitchen to cook. “By the time we make it to the space time continuum; we really will be like a pair of 70 year old humans, moving to Florida to retire.”

“Yup.” I moved to sit up on the bench to talk, while he made breakfast. “In a couple of years, you could have a daughter sitting here instead of me.”

“Why? Where will you be?” He passed a funny look as he passed me the ingredients from the fridge.

“I don’t know, away lecturing or writing my papers?” I shrugged again.

“So because I’m the cook, I’m gonna turn into the 'house husband'?” He raised his eyebrows unimpressed.

“Well, you are retired.” I reminded.

“Hmm.” He frowned as he paused in his food preparation. “I guess you're right. After working at the Garage for over 250 years, I’m in no hurry to return. Our ‘rug rat’ is going to need money for food.”

“The way you constantly shove food down my throat, I doubt our kid will ever go hungry." I said dryly. "It’s a good thing we’re having Werewolf young. With their supernatural metabolism, we won’t have to worry about our child becoming obese.”

Out of the blue, Declan picked me up off the bench and swung me around in his arms!

“Damn straight!” He merrily laughed. “I’m going to be a father! Ladies and Gentlemen, I finally knocked up Bianca Sabre! I knocked up the unknockable woman! And she WANTS my child!”

At first I squealed in fright and then in laughter, "we’re going to have a baby!”

“We’re going to have a baby!" He chanted. "We’re going to have a baby!”

“Declan!” I cupped his face. “Do you know how good it feels when I get to give the man I love, a child?”

He gently returned me to my feet before leaning in closely.

“About as good as it does for me, to know that I’ve finally given you the thing that you always wanted?” He tenderly rubbed his nose against mine.

“I've always wanted you and I have that.” I stroked his cheek. “And now baby makes three!”

“Baby makes three.” He hugged me tightly. “My baby B and I are having a baby daughter!”

“A one-of-a-kind, just like her parents.” I sighed happily.

“A beautiful girl, just like her beautiful mother.” He mumbled as his lips smothered mine.

I allowed this kiss, although a part of me was still on guard. There was a tiny part of my brain that was murmuring, ‘careful’. My instincts didn’t entirely trust his turn around, all because his progeny would be female.

“Man, I feel like an idiot.” He gently banged his forehead into mine, once more.

“Why?” I looked on closely.

“We could have done this ages ago!” He sounded annoyed with himself. “Just imagine what it could have been like, if this happened 274 years ago. We could have started a family then, if I let you turn me into a Circulator sooner. My Mom would have been thrilled for us, if she were here. I wish I could have got to see my human mother hold my daughter in her arms, before she died of old age.”

I felt a strong sense of longing inside of Declan, as he was picturing this. Then he let go of his wife, to continue with cooking. I leaned against the kitchen bench as I watched and listened to him.

“Derik got to have the happy family life, with the wife and kids. He gave my Mom two grandchildren, whom she loved to death. I just wish that I could have done the same. I wish that the pack hadn’t feared the idea of me creating more European Werewolves, in the forms of children. I wish that your father trusted me enough to take care of you.”

This made my chest ache, as I felt these old wounds of his, never closed up or went away. His expression was more than wistful, it was a mask of pain. He momentarily looked away from the food, to meet my waiting gaze.

He recanted bitterly, “I remember the meeting the pack had with the Council of Tribal Elders, like it was only yesterday. They met to talk about the tribe’s first female Lokoti Werewolf who was also a Circulator. Your Dad was beside himself with worry, as he was scared that you might escape with your greater speed and kill a human. Then it was a Tribal Elder that came up with the idea of mating you to another Werewolf, who could stop you from craving human as well as help your training. Then everyone immediately looked at Grant, like I was invisible or something. Nobody glanced my way, much less thought of me as a possible suitor. When I spoke up by reminding everyone that it had been me who had stopped you from crossing the border of Lokoti land? Your Dad put a stop to it immediately. Hunter Wisetail walked over to stand beside his best friend Ian Elm and his brother Grant, and said that a female Lokoti Werewolf should be mated to a male Lokoti Werewolf. Of course the Tribal Elders all liked the sound of that.”

I heard the jealousy in Declan’s voice which never faded, even after 279 years.

“You mean Grant wasn’t asked?” I frowned. “When I first found out about the arranged marriage, he told me he had been asked.”

“Yeah he was formally asked at the meeting, by the Tribal Elders. But you with your aura and your pheromones, they may as well as have announced that he'd won the lottery!” He snorted. “I’m sure my feelings for you were suspected, even if they weren’t spoken of. Finn and your Grandfather made mention of them, just a couple of times. But they both knew I had to keep my distance before your change.”

I watched him slap the bacon bad-temperedly into the frying pan which instantly began to sizzle, before he threw in a couple of hashbrowns too.

“Finn and Grandfather knew?” I echoed in surprise.

Then I thought our forbidden love, had been a secret?

“At dinner at your grandparents house one night, when I was 18 years old and you would have been 15; you walked off angry after one of our many fights. Your Grandfather caught the expression on my face and gave me a close look. He asked, 'enjoying those sparks, Declan?' That was the only thing he ever said about it, as he probably thought I was just attracted to your aura.” He explained.

Declan cracked several eggs in a bowl and proceeded to beat them so hard, the whisk made a squealing sound against the glass bowl. I watched him add the other ingredients for pancakes, as he prepared from memory. He was such an old hand at this, he continued to cook as he talked.

“When it was just me and Finn working at the Garage; we would be leaning over a vehicle and then he'd say as casual as can be, ‘so Declan, do you like soccer?’ I wouldn’t look up as I'd be in the middle of something and I'd reply, ‘yeah I like it fine.’ Then Finn would say, ‘I was wondering why you kept watching the other kids play. Here I was thinking it could be over a girl instead, who just happened to be running around the field with your little brother.’ In surprise, I dropped the wrench into the motor and hit my head on the hood!”

I cracked up laughing, as I could very well imagine the late Finn with his cheeky sense of humor, bringing it up like that!

My husband chuckled, “he'd only talk about it when we were alone. Sometimes in summer, during the long daylight hours when the bloodlust was making me restless; we would stay up until midnight repairing engines. It was when we talked the most. He'd sneakily bring you up by suddenly asking, ‘so how’s your spectator sport going?’ We'd talk about you in the third person without actually saying your name. We always referred to you as ‘that girl who liked playing soccer’.”

I felt myself blush, as I hopped back up onto the bench to sit and listen. He finished off the pancake mix and left it on the bench. Then I watched him pull out another frying pan from one of the cupboards, to cook it in.

He went on, “when the truth came out about us to the whole tribe and we first moved in together? Finn gave me an early mark nearly every day for two months, so I could come home to you sooner. When I felt embarrassed at the favouritism he was showing me, he said in front of the whole crew, ‘you’ve done the hard work Declan. Now it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labors’.”

“Finn said that?” I asked, as I was touched by this.

“Finn, my Mom and your Mom then your grandparents, seemed like the only people who didn’t have a problem with our coupling.” He said in irritation. “I felt your Dad’s and Ian’s uneasiness for years. Your father never trusted me with you. If you had become pregnant by me at that time, your father would have had the same reservations that I spoke of; what carrying a European Werewolf could do to you.”

“A half European and half Lokoti Werewolf.” I corrected him again.

At that moment, Declan stopped what he was doing to lean in close.

“B, I’m gonna watch you like a hawk. I’m gonna be stuck to your side 24/ 7. I’m gonna be worse than superglue! Because as much as I’m happy about the chance to play ‘happy family’ with a wife and kid? If this pregnancy turns dangerous for you in anyway -”

However, I interrupted him by dipping my finger into the raw pancake mix and smearing it across his cheek!

“There.” I said simply. “I’m just preparing you for what it’s going to be like feeding our baby.”

“Well if she’s anything like her feisty mother, the food is going to be worn on the walls!” My mate guffawed about another incident in our past.

Then he dipped his finger into the mix, before he slowly ran it down my neck to my collar bone. Next, he leaned in to slowly lick it off with his hot tongue which made my stomach melt. He wasn’t in a hurry to pull away either, in fact he pulled me closer as he turned really amorous.

“Um, Declan?” I opened my eyes when I noticed a new smell. “Your bacon is burning.”

“B, you have no idea…!”

I tittered as I felt his sharpening teeth, bite harder into the soft tissue of my neck. But it was a combination of hunger and wariness, which made me push him off.

“We’ve hardly eaten in the last two days, between you nearly dying of old age then trying to end my pregnancy." I said indignantly. "I’m STARVED!”

Reluctantly, he pulled away whilst passing me a long look, before returning his attention back to the stove.

*****