Abandoned Treasure
Spring Break

Nathan Storm’s POV

Palo Alto, California

Friday, March 28th, 2008

I woke up before Jade, but I didn’t move. She felt warm and perfect as the little spoon, her head resting on my right arm while my left hand lightly rested on her melon-sized baby bump. Twenty weeks down, sixteen or so to go.

I’d been here before and lost everything.

“I will do anything to keep you safe,” I whispered to my girls. The scent gave the sex of the baby away a few weeks ago.

I felt a movement under my hand as my girl woke up and started moving. According to the Internet, our daughter weighs ten ounces and is six and a half inches from crown to rump. I felt a strong kick, enough to wake my mate up. She moved her hand to cover mine as the baby found a more comfortable position. “What time is it?”

I looked up at the clock. “Six-twenty.”

“Let me up. That girl is kicking my bladder like it’s a soccer ball.” I moved my hand so she could slide out of bed. I rolled onto my back while Jade used the bathroom. Watching her walk away in a thin Tshirt and panties was torture. My morning wood was rock-hard when she walked back in. Jade noticed the tent in the covers and smiled. “That for me?”

“And only for you, baby.”

“Good. Pregnancy has me horny all the fucking time!” She pulled off her shirt and crawled in. I kissed my way from her face down to her neck, nibbling and sucking at the mating mark I’d left there. “Fuck,” she moaned as I felt her lust flare and a tiny orgasm washed over her. “Why does it feel like that bite is connected directly to my clit?”

“I should investigate,” I replied as I moved down. Pregnancy grew Jade’s breasts a full cup size, but they were sensitive. I read the signs and kept moving down. “Don’t mind us, little girl. We’re having some adult time.”

Jade laughed. “She’ll figure that out when she’s bouncing around like she’s on the trampoline.”

I moved between her legs, careful not to let my beard scrape her inner thighs. I took a deep breath, enjoying her scent, and then my tongue reached out to taste her. She jumped a little at the contact, moving her hips up, but I kept up the teasing contact.

That lasted about a minute before she grabbed my head and pulled me down. “Eat me, Nathan. I’m so fucking close!”

She was. I used my tongue and fingers to bring her off once, then again a minute later. When her tremors stopped, she pulled my head away. “Make love to me now, baby. I need it so bad.”

“How?”

She rolled on her side, her right leg moving up. The books said our baby was well-protected during sex, but the missionary wasn’t the most comfortable. I took my sleep shorts off and moved behind her, positioning my tip at her sopping-wet entrance. We both moaned as I slowly pushed inside her. Jade’s body was so small and tight, even after months of us together. I always made sure she was well-lubricated before letting the one-eyed monster inside. “No pain?”

“We’re good,” she said. “So fucking good.”

After only a few slow strokes, I was in trouble. It felt too damn good! I pulled out and slid back down, licking her again while thinking about the seven ways for the batter to reach base without being credited with a base hit. The urge to release passed as I figured out number seven, defensive interference. I moved back up and slid back in. “You fit me so well,” I whispered in her ear.

“And you fill me so full,” she whispered back. I wrapped her in my arms, one reaching down to grab a titty, the other on her hip. We got lost in the feelings flowing over the mate bond.

I tried to keep it low and slow, but Jade started pushing back and urging me to go faster. I pulled out and guided her onto her hands and knees, taking a break to let my urges calm a bit. I used my fingers to rub her g-spot while my thumb flicked her clit. When I had her bucking against me, I wet a finger and pressed it into her ass. That set her off like a rocket. Her scream of pleasure might wake the neighbors, but so what?

Jade put her head down on the pillow as she rode it out. “Pound me, baby. I need it hard.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ll let you know if it hurts.” I knelt between her legs and speared her in one thrust, driving the breath out of her. She was rubbing herself and urging me to go faster. The room filled with the smell of sex, and the only sounds were the wet smacks of my hips against her butt.

I put it into high gear as she urged me on. “Tell me when you are close,” she panted out.

There was no holding back when her pussy clamped down on me as she climaxed. It was like a warm vise that demanded my cream. “JADE, I’m going to cum,” I grunted out.

She pulled off me, gracefully moving around and taking me into her mouth in a single motion. I closed my eyes as my climax hit, and I pumped load after load into her eager mouth. Her cheeks bulged out, then she leaned back and made a show of swallowing it. Jade looked sated and happy as she lay back on the pillow. I dropped next to her, pulling her to my side. “You cats love your cream, don’t you?”

“I love my morning protein shakes,” she said with a grin.

“A good breakfast is the key to starting the day right,” I teased. She snuggled up and soon fell asleep. I waited until she was out before I sneaked to the bathroom to shower and get dressed. She didn’t wake up until the bacon was ready.

I smiled as she sat at the table in one of my long T-shirts, then placed her eggs, bacon, and toast in front of her. Every time she would finish something, I’d move some food from my plate to hers. “Stop that! I’m full.”

“My wolf needs you to eat well,” I said without apology. I took her plate and scooped the rest onto mine. “What’s on the list for today?”

Stanford was on Spring Break, not that we went anywhere. She’d been working hard on the programming for the Oracle bulletin board for two weeks since finals ended. She checked her laptop for a few minutes while I finished eating. “Cool. We have a meeting tonight with some West Coast werecoyotes,” she told me.

“You think you can get them on board?” Werecoyotes were insular, moving about in small groups and trusting no one else.

“They are intrigued by the intelligence we gathered from the Council. The Oracle board will let them participate while keeping their names and locations anonymous. I think I can convince them to try it.”

“That would be great.” The best forgers and thieves were in the ranks of the coyotes.They had to be able to move around and disappear in a moment. Most Packs had them as kill on sight. “Are we meeting them on Zoom or something? Do we want people to see our faces?”

“They want to meet in person,” she replied. “They won’t commit without knowing more.”

“More about what?”

“Who is running the website, and why we’ll never betray them to the Packs.”

I shook my head. “The more people who know about us, the harder it will be to keep the secret.”

She took my hand. “It’s taken me weeks to arrange this meeting. The coyotes are honorable. They would die rather than help the Pack Wolves, and they never betray a friend.”

I thought about it while I took the empty plates to the sink. “Where and when?”

“The Costco in Foster City at eight PM,” she replied. “Back row, fifty spots from the east end.”

“That’s better than some options,” I said. “Lots of cameras and people around. What is the play?”

“They want to meet me alone.”

I shook my head. “They can want all they want. I’m with you, or you don’t go.”

“I’ll let them know.” She responded to the message. A few minutes passed before she got their response. The coyotes would send two people as well. We were to arrive at eight, park in the spot, and flash our lights three times before turning the car off and going inside. The coyotes would meet us at the snack bar.

I agreed to their terms. We spent the day working on the website and dealing with requests. The cutout was us; we were the only ones who knew both sides of the transaction, and the knowledge of who was who stayed in Jade’s head. Her server had a kill switch that would delete everything in seconds. The Feds would not recover anything in a raid. Even if they did get her hard drive, the encryption was military-grade, and the keys were in her photographic memory.

There was a lot of work for me to keep the money flowing. We couldn’t keep transactions anonymous using bank transfers, so we made a banking system within the Oracle system. Money came in via Paypal, cash, Amazon gift cards, money orders, wire transfers, and reloadable debit cards. Money could leave the same way, though most leave a balance in their accounts. Transactions for goods and services happened without direct contact between the buyer and seller, and there was no trace of the transaction on any bank records. If something had to be shipped, it came to us via one of the shell company addresses we set up. We repackaged it and sent it on. Like FedEx, it was a single-spoke system. As long as people trusted us, no one could track it.

“I’m spending more and more time on this,” I told her over dinner.

“People are replaceing it useful, and the feedback is good. Another few months, and we’ll be bringing in enough on commissions to make a living.”

“That’s good. You’ll graduate soon, and I’d like the flexibility of working from anywhere.”

“We make a good team,” she said with a smile. “Do we have time for some fun before we leave?”

“We shouldn’t,” I replied. “It will be bad enough that our scents have mingled. I don’t know how they will react if they figure out we are fucking, much less that we are mates.” She packed her laptop and some drinks for the road, and we headed out through the evening traffic.

We got to the Costco fifteen minutes early. I drove through the lot, parking in another area and watching the space we were supposed to meet. Nothing was amiss. At eight, I drove our car around and backed into the fiftieth spot along the back row. I flashed my lights three times, turned the car off, and turned to Jade. “You ready?”

“Sure.”

I opened the door and started to get out. “Stop,” a young Hispanic man said. He had his hand inside a bag, and I could smell the gun oil amongst his human scent. “Get back in.”

I looked over at Jade, and another man was at her door. “Don’t hurt her, she’s pregnant.”

“Do what we say, and no one gets hurt.” The two men opened the back doors and got in behind us. “Drive.”

I pulled out, taking the exit. “Head across the bridge.”

Once we were on the freeway, the pistols in their hands stayed pointed at the back of our seats, and talking was not allowed. We crossed the San Mateo-Hayward bridge, then took Interstate 680 north towards Oakland. “If we get a chance, you take off and run,” I told Jade. “We can’t shift, but I’ll hold them off long enough for you and our baby to escape.”

“No way. We are in this together.”

Stubborn cat. “Do you think these assholes are working with the coyotes? Or is this a random carjacking?”

“We’ll replace out soon enough. Remember, cat shifters don’t lose their babies like werewolf moms do. If we get them alone and out of sight? We can shift and surprise them.”

“It’s as good a plan as any.”

We ended up in a container yard near the Oakland International Container Terminal. I followed directions to a dead end. Shipping containers stacked four high were in front of us and on both sides. “Wait here,” the men ordered.

They got out and walked away. “What do you think is going on,” Jade asked as she looked in the mirror. Three men were approaching our car. They didn’t need guns because they were plenty dangerous without them.

“Stay here,” I said. Stepping out, I showed my empty hands to President Alejandro Correria, Vice President Carlos Pachino, and Sergeant at Arms Jose Mancon of the Sons of Tezcatlipoca, Oakland chapter.