Chapter Fifty
Corey
Corey was sitting in her office the following Monday eating a candy bar when Baze poked his head in the doorway. She quickly threw the chocolate in the trashcan under her desk and swallowed the lump of nougat in her mouth. Dom had told her to cut down on the sugar when he had seen her drink a vanilla milkshake for breakfast. “Oh hey, Baze, what’s up? I was just grabbing a quick snack, love those granola bars.”
“You think I can’t recognize a Snickers wrapper?” He snorted. “I’m not here to bust you for eating garbage though. I was actually wondering if you would go with me to talk to the anthropology professor. I think he might be able to help us figure out why Riley and the baby are so connected.”
“Ugh. Why does that bother you so damn much? I don’t want to go talk to the anthropology professor. He doesn’t like me.” She looked down in her trashcan, wondering if it would be acceptable to finish the candy bar even though Baze already considered it garbage.
Baze put his hands on the back of the chair in front of her desk, his knuckles white. “What do you mean he doesn’t like you? What could you have possibly done in the short time you’ve been here to piss off a man who rarely leaves his office?”
“I made some jokes at the last staff meeting that he didn’t find funny.” Corey shrugged. The guys never came to those meetings, so she kind of felt obligated to attend for all of them.
“Werewolf jokes or Twilight jokes?”
“Werewolf.”
“It’s your own fault then. We have warned you over and over to not call shifters werewolves. I don’t feel bad for you.” He clapped his hands together once, loudly. “Get up. Let’s go.”
“I’m busy, Baze. You go. Here, take my phone and just record what he says. It’ll be like I was there the whole time.”
Baze rolled his eyes. “No. You’re coming with me or I’m telling Dom about the candy bars. The one you just ate and the stash in your desk.”
“I don’t have a stash of candy bars in my desk.” She glanced down to the guilty drawer without meaning to.
“Really, Corey? I am a wolf. Not only can I smell the chocolate but I can sense that you are lying. Now let’s go, you little hoarder.” Baze held the door open, waiting for her to comply.
She huffed. “You’re really irritating me today.”
“Feeling is mutual.” He smiled as he followed her out of the building. They drove in silence across campus to Thad Plimpton’s office. Thad had been the anthropology professor at St. Leasing for the last decade. He was in his mid-sixties with thinning wispy gray hair and thick black-framed glasses. The man had an almost nonexistent sense of humor and took shifter tradition and culture seriously. Or so he said when he’d scolded her about the werewolf jokes.
“We need his help, and he already doesn’t like you. Can you please try to be on your best behavior in there?” Baze scolded as they got out of his truck.
She sneered, but then nodded.
Baze knocked on Plimpton’s office door and waited politely for permission before entering.
“Ah, Baze, to what do I owe this pleasure? One of your players failing my class? Lincoln finally contract a rare shifter STD?” Mr. Plimpton looked up from the book he was reading and regarded them over his glasses.
Corey giggled at Plimpton’s last comment, and Baze shot her a look. “Actually, neither. I have a few questions I would like to ask you. That’s if you have the time. We can always come back.”
Plimpton motioned toward the chairs in front of his desk. “Please have a seat. I have a few minutes to spare before my next class. What can I help you with?”
“As you may know, Corey is mated to Dominic Hardy. And now they are going to have a baby.”
“Well, congratulations, Ms. Cooper. That is wonderful news, I’m sure.” His words were kind, but the expression on his face was less than.
“Thank you. We are thrilled.”
“I’m not really sure how to begin to explain the situation that has arisen here.” Baze cleared his throat and began, “I have the ability to sense change in others. I can usually sense a pregnancy before anyone else. But this time, one of our players sensed it first. Not only could he tell Corey was pregnant, he could tell that the baby was a girl, almost instantly. A few nights ago he told us that he can feel the baby growing stronger every day. He is innately and unnaturally protective over the baby as well. His reaction to someone touching Corey’s stomach shocked even him. Naturally, Dom is protective over Corey, and now the baby, but we can’t figure out why Riley is. What is this connection he has with the baby? At first I thought his senses, his talent, was just far better than anyone else I had encountered. But now I’m not so sure that’s it.”
Plimpton put his hands together, almost as if he was praying, and brought them to his lips. He was silent for several seconds. “This ballplayer, Riley, are you and he close, Ms. Cooper?”
“Yes, we are close. Not in a creepy, unhealthy way though. I mean we’ve been through some stuff together. We were attacked.” She was fumbling trying to put her relationship with Riley into words. She pursed her lips and tried again. “He’s a great kid, I care about him a lot. Not quite like a mother-son relationship. Maybe more like a brother-sister? Or an aunt-nephew?” Corey felt like she was on trial for some reason.
Plimpton nodded slowly. “Does Dominic like Riley? Does it make him angry when you two spend time together?”
“Not at all, he adores Riley. That’s part of the reason Baze got all bent out of shape and did this weird touching experiment. When Riley touches my stomach, Dom doesn’t react. When anyone else does it, he growls.”
Baze looked over at Corey. “Don’t call it a ‘weird touching experiment.’ That sounds gross and dirty. I was merely trying to show you guys that Riley’s connection with the baby is profound.”
“Profound? Merely? Who are you right now? Stop trying to impress Professor Plimpton.” Corey narrowed her eyes at Baze, and to her surprise, Thad started to chuckle.
“You two fight like siblings. You are close as well?”
“We’re all close. I am surrounded by were—uh, shifters all the time. We fight like siblings, but I love them.” Corey could feel her cheeks heating up from almost saying werewolf. That most likely would have killed Plimpton’s good mood.
“That’s part of my question,” Baze emphasized. “We are all close, we all love Corey, and we all love the baby. But I don’t care if anyone touches her stomach. I have the same talents as Riley but I can’t feel the baby getting stronger, and I couldn’t tell it was a girl. There has to be more to it, right?”
“Yes. There is more to it. It’s not common, but I think what’s going on here is that Riley and the baby are cosmically connected—”
“Oh my god, did Riley imprint on my baby?” Corey felt lightheaded.
“For fuck’s sake, Corey. Are you kidding me right now? Imprinting is not a thing. No one imprints on an unborn baby in real life. That’s it, I’m telling Dom about the candy bars.”
“What? What’s imprinting?” Plimpton looked confused.
“It’s nothing. It is something stupid that Corey read in a book or watched in a movie that has no basis in real life. Forget she even said that, I beg of you. Continue with what you were saying, please.” Baze glared over at Corey, daring her to bring up one more Twilight term.
“Ah yes, well, as I was saying. Riley and the baby are connected. They are almost soul mates. But not in the same way you and Dominic are. They are like siblings, but it’s more than a blood relation, it’s a spiritual one. And it’s because the baby is a girl. Obviously the universe thinks your daughter is something extraordinary. Connections like the one you are describing aren’t so common anymore.”
“Anymore? So cases like this used to be common?” Corey still didn’t fully understand what Plimpton was trying to say. She hadn’t been immersed in all things shifter for any significant length of time, and a lot still escaped her. She grew up thinking the world was one way, only to learn that it was completely different. In shifter culture, the universe ruled all. The powers that be had everything mapped out, and free will only tended to fuck with the great powers’ plans.
“Shifters used to spend their lives in packs more or less. Family units that would live together, run together, work together. Whether you meant to or not, the six of you seemed to have formed a pack. Every so often, there would be girls born into these packs that were more than your average human female, girls that carry little snippets of the shifter DNA. They are special and rather rare.” Plimpton sat back and folded his hands on his desk. “Riley is her guardian. It’s who he is. Just like being Dominic’s mate is who you were born to be.” He took a deep breath. “In a world of science and fact, there are still some things that have no explanation.”
“What happens when the baby is born? How different will she be?” Baze was asking the questions Corey was too apprehensive to articulate. She was sweating and her pulse had quickened, which he’d no doubt picked up on.
“Riley will continue to be protective over her. He won’t want to be far from her for too long. He will be her best friend, her brother—her bodyguard. God help the man who falls in love with her. He’ll have to contend with a shifter father as well as Riley.” Plimpton smiled at Corey. “As far as her differences, I don’t know. It could be something small, a special talent. It could be something that is more of a destiny, her purpose in this world. She won’t shift if that is what you are afraid of. And you don’t need to worry about her safety. No one will know she is more than she appears to be, unless of course she chooses to tell them. Shifters will be drawn to her, yes, but that’s all.”
Baze glanced over at Corey. “Pardon my asking this, but how do you know for sure that is what’s going on between Riley and the baby? If it isn’t something that’s seen these days.”
Plimpton chortled. “Baze, I am the anthropology teacher at a prestigious school for shifters. The history of our culture is literally my life’s work. This connection I speak of is well-documented. It’s strange and uncommon for modern-day shifters like you and me, but back a century or so, it wasn’t so unheard of.”
Baze leaned forward in his chair, needing more answers. “But why? How does this happen? Why this baby? Why these parents and this accidental pack?”
Plimpton let out a sigh. “My professional opinion? Could be something as scientific as a fluke in the baby’s DNA. It could be something as saccharine as the baby was conceived under a heart full of love for a pack of shifters. It’s written in the history books that people believed such a destiny was willed by the universe, and they never questioned it. Either way, for whatever reason, it’s happened. It’s not dangerous, it’s not wrong, it just is. You should feel blessed. This little girl is a miracle, a phenomenon.”
“Mr. Plimpton, I have already been attacked in relation to Mr. Henderson’s murder. The last thing we need is word getting out that I am pregnant with a ‘rare and special’ baby. Do you understand?” Corey did her best to appear calm and in control of her emotions; she needed to make her point crystal clear.
“You have nothing to worry about, Ms. Cooper. I won’t tell anyone what we talked about today. Secrecy is more important than ever to all of us at St. Leasing.” He stood and gathered up a large stack of papers off his desk. “Now if you two will excuse me, I have a class starting in a few minutes.”
Baze rose and helped Corey to her feet. “Thank you so much for your time, Professor Plimpton.”