“Let me out here,” I pleaded.
“Meet me in the coatroom, okay?”
I popped out of the door as fast as my whale of a self could. “Sure.”
Had I known his reason, I’d have given him a what for—or seven.
By the time I made it out and to the coatroom, I could feel something was up. I could scent Basil and a bunch of others were there, yet the place was suspiciously silent.
“What is going on?”
“You said no shower. Basil said fuck that. Here we are.”
My jaw dropped as the pieces fell into place. I had said no shower a bazillion times. We had all we needed, and the further along in my pregnancy I got, the less I enjoyed peopling in groups.
“Now, slap on your best surprised face.” It was an order, and my bear submitted, making the entire walking in so much easier. Bruin knew what I needed—once again.
“Yes, Papa.” I took his hand. “Tonight, maybe we can just be slugs?”
“Tonight, we will just be slugs.”
He led me around the corner and into the VIP room where everyone and their brother shouted out, “Surprise!” Only when it came time for me to act surprised, it was no act. Instead, I bent over in pain, my legs suddenly drenched. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I’d read all the books—all of them. This was not how it was done. It wasn’t.
Except it was.
“Something’s wrong.” So very wrong.
“I’ve got you, Bunny. I’ve got you.” The rest of the room faded away as he gathered me up.
People were talking in the whamp whamp whamp of cartoon voices as I shut my eyes, willing the pain away, not having the ability to ask a question or even cry out. It was too much.
The next thing I knew, I was being place on something soft—a bed—yes, a bed, and I felt a prick in my arms seconds ahead of things growing more clear. As I opened my eyes, I saw both my lifelines—Bruin and my doctor. What the…?
“I don’t remember being in the car.” My words were barely audible.
“Karma invited him, and for some strange reason, he agreed.”
Yeah strange reason all right.
“Am I…? Is the baby…?” I couldn’t even say the words. The pain was gone, but that didn’t mean anything other than I could focus enough to ask the questions.
“Everything will be fine. Your little guy decided to shift early. An alpha to be sure.”
Shift. Shit! Babies don’t shift, and not in the womb.
“I can’t deliver a bear cub!” I tried to sit up, and Bruin held me firm with the look promising trying it again would result in the same.
“You need to stay still while we work on getting him to shift back,” the doctor chided. “And with Andy attending to Basil, I need to not worry about you being pushy on this.”
“Basil?”
“He is in labor but didn’t want to miss your shower,” Karma explained as if that was the normal way to go about life—living your day normally while you tried to push out a babe.
I hadn’t scented her entering the room, come to think of it. My ability to scent was worth shit. Brilliant.
“His shower,” I corrected. Because I was getting my feisty back.
“The shower.” She tsked. “How about that?”
“Fine.” And my arm pinched again. This time I saw the culprit, a needle.
“You distracted me on purpose,” I accused, and she shrugged, turning on her heel and going who knew where. Heck, I wasn’t sure exactly where I was.
“Is the ambulance coming?” Because I needed to get to a hospital or something. I was not having my baby in a bar or club or home or ugh. Animals was everything. I still wasn’t going to have my baby here.
“For you to give birth to a bear? Yeah, that would go over well,” Karma called from farther away. Hadn’t she left yet?
“We have everything we need here. I just needed to chill your cub out a bit, so your mate can force his change.” He spoke so calmly and so undoctorly. He hadn’t been like this at our appointments. Of course, those had been in facilities with humans, so maybe this was the difference?
“You say it likes it’s no big deal.” I bent my knees and used my feet to skootch myself up, hoping to get a better view of my surroundings. “I have a cub with claws inside of me.” And all of the things I read about ruptured uteruses started to replay in my head—the last thing I needed, especially in a strange bedroom and not a hospital.
“Not for long.” His palm came down on me gently, settling on my hand. “He’s sleeping now.” That calmed me. Slightly. But then he had to go and ruin it by turning to my mate and saying, “Wanna do your thing, Papa Bear?”
Cause heck to the no.
I growled.
No. My bear growled.
Loudly.
“Don’t. Call. Him. That!” I sat up. Nobody would’ve been able to stop me. The only thing keeping my bear from ripping through me was my baby. It was fair to say my irrationality had amplified. It was only a phrase. Sure, I used it to be more, but still. That didn’t stop me from seething as I barked, “He’s my Papa Bear.”
I swore the man had the patience of a saint because, instead of letting his animal come to the forefront at my not-so-subtle challenge, he shrugged, bared his neck, turned to my mate, and said in the calmest voice I’d ever heard, “Wanna do your thing, Bruin?”
I didn’t know if it was his calmness, the medicine he’d injected me with, or magic, but something sated my beast, and I lay back down. My cub needed this. I needed this. Losing my shit for no reason wasn’t helping anyone.
“Close your eyes, mate.” He placed his hand on my belly and closed his own because, yeah, I peeked. It wasn’t instantaneous, but, after four deep breaths, things changed. It was a cross between when my cub did karate in my middle and when he dropped, but all in one swoop. He was a babe again. I could feel the difference.
“I felt that.” I placed my hands on my mate’s.
“Good. It means it worked.” He leaned down and spoke to our son. “You stay just like that, okay, son? We need you to come out so you can take your fur again.”
The doctor cleared his throat. “So how about we get this baby out of you before he decides to take his fur again?”
If only it were so simple. My concerns over it being too soon were easily countered with if he can shift, he is ready, and once I let it sink in, I did my best to help my little guy come into this world—including helping my mate take a bath, pacing around the room with him, and begging him, although more out of desperation than anything else.
Three hours later, after forty-five minutes that felt like a decade of pushing, our sweet baby boy was born at, as I later learned, the same exact minute as Basil’s, according to the midhusband’s report. We later teased that they were the twins.
“You did so good, Bunny.” Bruin settled in beside me, our babe on my chest, eating for the first time. “He’s perfect.”
“He needs a name.” We’d talked about so many over the months, but none of them felt right.
“Coello.” And there was Karma again, this time with her mate who never seemed far from her. They pretty much orbited each other.
“Co what?” Bruin asked, his eyes never leaving our son.
“Coello. It’s Galatian. Means Rabbit. You’re Welcome.” And she was off.
“Coello?” I asked, and our babe stopped nursing to look in the direction of my voice. “Coello.”
“Coello,” Darius agreed. Our little rabbit.
Epilogue
Bruin
We spent the first week of Coello’s life at Animals. Back in the guest suite where we’d first slept together, but this time, we were a trio. All the baby shower gifts made us lack for nothing, but we mostly stayed because Karma, our matchmaker, insisted. She pointed out her staff would wait on us hand and foot, as well as Basil and his mate, Chris, in the suite next door. The hallway was packed with people carrying trays, bringing more gifts, and just popping in to get a peek at the babies.
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br /> Turned out, while the omegas were laboring, those who’d attended their shower were dancing, drinking, and generally carousing in a new ritual they declared necessary for good luck for the new parents. But if you’re going to give birth on the grounds of a night club, you could probably expect a party. And in a way, it was sweet. Unable to resist, I’d taken the new baby just inside the door of the club and held him up, announcing the birth of the new bear prince. Technically, only the prince of our home, but you’d never have known it from the cheers. It was a day I’d never forget.
But at the end of the week, it was time to go home. Not that the gang at Animals didn’t try to keep us, but we needed our space, our privacy, and peace and quiet. Plus, as Darius pointed out, we had an amazing nursery alcove just waiting for the baby.
I carried them both over the threshold, up the stairs, and to the bedroom where I set my omega and the baby in his arms on our bed.
He looked around, a happy smile tipping up the corners of his mouth. “I don’t know why we need the house we’re building. I love it here.”
“You say that now,” I replied, sitting next to him and stroking Coello’s soft cheek. “But in a couple of years we’re going to be very happy to have a big yard. Our guy wants a swing set.”
“And a puppy.” Darius bent close to the baby and cooed. “You want a puppy, don’t you, little guy?”
A puppy. “Maybe we should wait on the puppy, until he’s old enough to take care of it.”
“And a kitten because the puppy needs a friend.” Darius was completely lost in his chat with our son, now, telling him about all the pets we’d have, and the biggest swing set on the block. How we’d travel with Daddy when he went on trips sometimes and see the world.
I wanted them to see the world. Wanted the whole world to see them. The most amazing omega and beautiful baby ever. And the fates had deemed them mine. I must have done something decent somewhere along the line to earn this. I’d walked away from one family whose terms for loving were not mine. I’d made the right call.
Karma. Perhaps she’d been named that for a reason.
About the Authors
Lorelei M. Hart is the cowriting team of USA Today Bestselling Authors Kate Richards and Ever Coming as well as Ophelia Heart, another bestselling author. Friends for years, the trio decided to come together and write one of their favorite guilty pleasures: Mpreg. There is something that just does it for them about smexy men who love each other enough to start a family together in a world where they can do it the old-fashioned way.
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
About the Authors
Papa Bear for Darius Page 8
