by Susi Hawke
“Ah, well, it's years of experience at work there, Alpha.” He said with a tap to his nose. “Also, we bears have even more heightened hearing and a deeper sense of smell than most other shifters. I'm able to scent pheromones on a different level than your wolf nose can. I could smell immediately that this was your mate, but underneath your shared scent, I can also detect a slight whiff of a different scent of sugary vanilla. I can also detect a faint heartbeat. It's new, and fragile yet, but it's definitely there.”
“Wow, that's incredible,” Daniel said, with an awed tone of voice.
“Does Kai need to be examined right away? Are there any precautions I need to worry about?” I asked, suddenly frantic for my mate.
Ollie shrugged with an amused smirk and said: “Not to worry, Alpha. I will examine your mate in a couple days, when I get all my equipment set up. You would be surprised at how hardy pregnancies are at this point actually. I don't get too concerned until the third month, when they're in the final stages. That's when you need to watch out for them so that they aren't born too early. But that all depends on the omega too, and how healthy they are. Kai smells perfectly healthy, so I see no cause for alarm or for him to be restricted from any activities right now.”
I nodded hesitantly, wrapping my arms around my mate and hugging him close. Daniel and Ollie got up then, and quietly let themselves out, shutting the door behind themselves.
Appreciative of a moment alone with my man, I ran a hand down to cup his firm butt. “Well, that was good news. Are you happy, baby?”
Kai answered by licking over the claim-mark he'd given me, as he slowly rubbed his groin against mine. “I'm so happy, Jake,” he whispered while licking and trailing kisses up my neck, onto my jaw. “I can't believe we're going to have a family of our very own.”
I pressed my mouth down firmly against his trembling lips, kissing my mate softly before leaning back and looking down into his beautiful eyes. “I am too, my love. We will love the hell out our pup, won't we?”
With shining eyes, Kai smiled back at me with a flash of his brilliantly white teeth. “Of course we will! Our pup will be the most loved little guy that was ever born.” We cuddled a little longer, sharing kisses but not going much further since I know that dinner is on the table and I now have a pregnant mate to feed.
Dinner was a pleasant time of reuniting with our pack after being locked away with my mate for nearly a week. Everyone was glad to see us, and they were all excited to hear that we were already expecting our first pup. Especially Jenny and Aunt Cat. They were both over the moon about a new baby, although I did notice Jenny's melancholy seemed a little stronger, buried under her words of happy congratulations.
After dinner, I held a brief pack meeting. Everyone was more than happy to welcome Ollie into our fold. At Aunt Cat's suggestion, I agreed to assign him the cabin that was furthest from the lodge. Bears do need their solitude, so that would be perfect for him, while still keeping him close by. I let the omegas know how happy I was to see them all settling in, and that I approved of how they had split up the chore load already.
Once we were done, I left Daniel to let Owen and the teen pups know that they were on deck to help Ollie move tomorrow. As soon as we could make our escape, I swept Kai up over my shoulder into a fireman's hold with my hand firmly on his ass. He giggled and let me get away with it, probably as eager as I was to be alone again. It had been at least twelve hours since he'd felt my knot, and it was time to do something about that, because it was a problem!
Chapter 10
Kai
It had been a few days since Dr. Ollie had inadvertently revealed my pregnancy, and I was finally going to go in for an exam today, now that he was all settled in. Auntie Cat had ordered a couple spare rooms to be cleared out downstairs near Jake's office, and it was now our official clinic.
Jake had expected the doctor to show up with a few random tools, but he had surprised us when he'd returned to the lodge with enough equipment to fully equip the new clinic.
“Ready, baby? I don't want to keep the doc waiting,” Jake said, coming up behind me where I was brushing my teeth. He wrapped his arms around me, resting his large hands over my belly, as if proudly claiming me and our pup. I looked at him in the mirror, before leaning over to spit out a mouthful of foamy toothpaste into the sink.
After rinsing my mouth and blotting it dry with a hand towel, I turned to wrap my arms around Alpha's neck. Standing on tip-toes, I brushed a kiss over his lips before leaning back down into his arms. “Sorry, honey. I threw up again, thus the tooth-brushing for the fourth time this morning.”
“I'm sorry, babe.” Jake comforted me, as he tenderly stroked my back. “I hate to see you suffering like this. Let's go see doc, maybe he can help.”
“I doubt it, but it won't hurt to ask. I'm pretty sure that barfing is just one of the universally sucky parts of pregnancy, Jake.” Pulling myself away from the warmth of my mate's embrace, I ducked around him and went to put my shoes on. Once I was ready, we headed out of our cozy cabin and went to the main lodge to find out about our baby.
It was my first time seeing the finished clinic, and when Jake opened the office door for me, I stepped through with my mouth open wide in amazement. Ollie had set up an office in this room. A large, mahogany desk sat in the far corner, while a smaller reception desk sat right in front of the door where we had entered. Lined up along the wall beside the door, was a row of softly cushioned chairs, where patients could wait while Ollie was busy seeing another patient.
The walls were painted a light, calming robin's egg blue, and little potted plants were tucked away in little niches along the office cabinetry and desks. It was a lovely room, and I immediately felt like I was in a professional office.
Jenny stood at a copier in the opposite corner from the doc's desk, filling a tray with paper. “Hey, guys!” She greeted us happily. “What do you think of our new clinic?”
“I love it, Jenny!” I replied enthusiastically. “How did you ever get this done so quickly? And what are you doing here, if I can ask?
Jenny grinned and said: “You'd be amazed how fast a clinic can come together when you have a bunch of alphas on hand and a couple bored young omegas to help organize! And I'm here, because I'm the receptionist. Doc can't see patients and greet them at the same time, so Daniel suggested that I might like to help him. I'm already loving it. It's nice to have a purpose, you know?”
I did know, and I smiled when Jake spoke and said: “I'm proud of you, sis. I know you'll be a perfect fit here. Daniel made the right call, as usual.”
“Yeah,” Jenny nodded. “You definitely chose the right guy to back you up as your second. He's great at organizing, you know? It's like he sees exactly what needs to be done, and who is best to do it.”
Jake smiled in agreement, and Jenny sent us on into the next room to wait for the doctor, since I was the only patient they expected right now. I was just as amazed by this room, as I had been by the office. The walls were the same shade of blue, with prints of different botanical leaves hanging in white frames. I found the overall effect to be both professional and charming.
There was an examining table, with several different machines lined up behind it. On the counter that ran along a side wall, were bottles and jars of different ointments and medicines. I noticed a tray table next to the bed with a variety of metal tools lined up, shiny and sparkly under the bright overhead light.
“Hello, there, Alpha! And how are you feeling today, young Kai?” Doc Ollie's gentle voice sounded in the doorway behind us, as he walked in carrying a fresh mug of coffee. “Let me get you a paper gown, so you can get undressed and we can get your examination started.”
“That sounds fine, Ollie.” Jake said, cupping his hand on my shoulder while the doctor walked over to pull a gown out of a drawer in the cabinet where the medicine jars were located.
Doc Ollie passed me the gown with a gentle smile, “I'll just step into the office for a few minutes, and le
t you change. Just poke your head out when he's ready, Alpha, if you don't mind?”
He slipped back out of the room, coffee in hand, while I quickly began to strip and change into the awkward little paper examination gown. Once I was all dressed, or at least had my naughty bits somewhat covered by the scratchy little piece of paper that was falsely calling itself a gown, I hopped up on the exam table while Jake went to fetch the doctor.
They came back in, and I was given a professional examination, from head to toe by the good doctor. After he had recorded my statistics into a little computer, Doc Ollie wheeled one of the machines over, that had a small wand device attached to it. He turned it on, then he had me lay back on the table.
After warning me, “be ready, this is going to be a little cold”, Doc Ollie squeezed some frigid, blue gel on my belly, using the wand to spread it around. An odd whooshing noise soon filled the room, with a fast-beating series of thump thump beats in the background.
Doc Ollie swiveled on his rolling stool to look at the monitor on the machine, as a static filled image covered the screen. Pointing at the weird blobs that appeared when the screen settled, he explained what we were looking at. The rest of the technical portion of our doctor visit went by in a blur after that, my attention completely lost after we got our second surprise of the week.
“Are you sure, doc?” I vaguely heard my mate asking, with a voice full of wonder after we had been shown that the two separate little blobs I had seen were actually my pups. Pups, plural. Yep, we were having twins.
“There are really two in there? Two pups? Twins? As in, baby times two?” Jake kept asking, as though he were unsure that he had seen and heard correctly what the machine had revealed. He held my hand in an iron grip, as if afraid to let go of it.
Doc Ollie chuckled, as he fiddled with the machine, typing information on it's attached keyboard before turning around to clean the gel off my belly with some tissues. “Yes, Alpha, you heard me right. In about nine to ten weeks, give or take, you will be the father of twins. Congratulations! Now let's talk about a few things while we wait for your picture to print.”
“Picture? Print?” I asked stupidly, starting to come out of my stupor.
“Yes, Kai,” the doctor replied kindly. “I printed a copy of your ultrasound photo for you, so that you and Alpha can have it to remember this moment later. It's not everyday that you have your first pregnancy.”
Touched, I nodded happily, squeezing back on Jake's hand that was still holding mine in a tight grip.
“Now, I'm going to give you some vitamins to take, they are important, especially with twins. Your body will need all the nutrients it can get. Have you been experiencing much morning sickness?”
“Yes!” I answered quickly, “although it's more like all day long sickness if you ask me.”
“Ah, yes, the curse of the first month of pregnancy. I always advise my patients to just eat whatever your body will accept right now. If you can only handle fruit, then just eat fruit, for example.”
He stopped to make sure that he had Jake's attention before continuing. “I know that Alpha will want to push you to eat, it's in our alpha nature to want to feed and provide for our mate's. This need is even stronger during pregnancy, but stand strong, young man! It will do you no good to eat all the protein in the world if you just puke it right back up.”
Jake spoke up to ask: “Are there any foods you can recommend that might help him not be so nauseous though? He really isn't eating enough now, and what he does eat, he throws right up again.”
I rolled my eyes, but Doc Ollie replied gently: “I know it's hard, Alpha. But you really have to trust Kai to listen to his body. If you must see him eat, let him eat small things until he knows that his body can handle it. Dry toast with mint tea, is often helpful for days when nothing wants to stay down. But if he feels fine, yogurt and fruit are good light options if he can't hold down veggies or meats. Even soda crackers are good. Just play it by ear, and listen to your mate. Don't force him to eat. Besides, this part of the pregnancy will pass in a couple more weeks, and you'll see his appetite increase rapidly at that point.”
With another one of his kindly smiles, Doc patted my hand and passed me the photo he'd printed before leaving the room so I could get dressed. I started to sit up, when Jake suddenly pushed me back down onto the table with one hand. He took the photo from my hand and set it carefully out of the way before turning back to me with a feral grin.
“So,” he said smugly in a voice filled with alpha pride, “I put two of my babies into that sexy little belly of yours, huh?” I gasped as he ran his hand up my leg and over my hip, before stopping to rest possessively over my stomach as he pushed the paper gown up and out of his way. He leaned over and kissed me, first gently, then with increased passion as his tongue swept into my mouth.
His hand moved down from my belly to stroke over my already hardening cock. I moaned into his mouth as my hips tried to thrust up into his grip. My body was suddenly full of desire for the pleasure to be found from the touch of his large, rough hand. He chuckled as he leisurely kept rubbing me with slow, firm strokes over my shaft.
It didn't take long, I'm ashamed to admit, before I felt my balls tightening up as my entire body nearly levitated off the table when I felt my cock spasm and start to explode. Before it could shoot though, Jake broke our kiss and moved down to take the head of my cock right into his mouth, drinking down my cum as it shot out against his tongue.
Jake leisurely licked me clean after I finished, laving me with his tongue until I grunted with the near pain of over stimulation and uselessly tried to push his head away from my sensitive flesh. With a sexy little smirk, he popped his mouth free and stood up.
He turned to get my clothes as I sat up. I ripped off the used gown, and wadded it up into a ball to throw away as Jake handed me my clothes with a satisfied smile, the big lug. I quickly got dressed, and after I retrieved the photo from Jake had put it, we left the room and went back out into the office area.
“There you are!” I looked up to see Aunt Cat waiting on one of the chairs, chatting with Jenny while she worked at the desk. “What did Ollie say? Does everything look okay?”
I proudly showed her the photo, and she gushed happily at our news. “Oh, yes! Twins do have a way of running in our family, look at Jake and Jenny,” she said. “Goodness, we have so much shopping to do! We're going to need two of everything! Cribs, highchairs, and all that stuff. And so many cute little outfits to buy! I'm going to have to get busy, because you will be amazed later at how fast this pregnancy will fly by! It's really not as long as you think it will be, trust me!”
“Gimme,” Jenny said, wiggling her fingertips toward the photo that had somehow ended up in Aunt Cat's possession. She shrieked when she saw the twin blobs, and quickly stood up to hug Jake. Jenny hugged him tight for a moment, before pushing him aside and dashing around him to lavish me with affection. “I can't believe I'm going to be an aunt! And to twins! This is such wonderful news, I'm so happy for you both!”
I smiled happily at my mate's sister, thrilled to be able to share this news with her after all we had suffered through in the past. “I'm excited too, Jenny! Can you believe it? Me a dad?”
“Psshhtt.” She waved me off and said: “I'm more shocked to think of Jake being a dad than I am about you, Kai! Can you imagine the big, bad wolfie boy here with a couple of pups?”
She and I smiled at each other, and then up at Jake, because we could, honestly, really picture it. And it was a good picture.
“Okay, enough! My turn!” Aunt Cat came over and grabbed me, pushing me toward the door. “We are going to take five, and then we are getting on the laptop and shopping for my grandnieces or nephews.”
I looked helplessly at Jake as Aunt Cat hooked her arm through mine, and began practically dragging me along with her, out of the office. Jake grinned unrepentantly and shrugged, tucking his hands into his pockets and leisurely following behind us after saying good-bye
to his sister. Aunt Cat chattered at me happily as she took me to the kitchen and settled me at the long table where Aries was waiting for us, with a pot of tea already at hand.
Chapter 11
Jake
I looked closely at Seth, “Are you sure that the information is valid?” We were closeted in my office with Daniel, discussing a phone call that he had received that morning from a friend of his from the old pack.
“Yes, Alpha. My source is solid. Aunt Helga and Uncle Fremont left on a business trip the day before yesterday, along with a couple of his alpha soldiers and a few betas. All she knew was that they were headed north.”
“If I can play the devil's advocate for a second,” Daniel interjected. “North is a pretty broad description. We have no reason to believe that he knows where we are, and that we even have the omegas, for that matter.”
I look at my captain for a moment, wanting so badly to buy into that scenario, but it just didn't fly with my gut instinct. Turning back to Seth, I asked: “Have you heard anything that makes you believe that he may be on to us?”
Seth frowned uncomfortably, then said: “No, but I just can't get past the way my spidey senses are tingling, you know? Maybe it's because I'm worried about Sy and his baby, but I don't think so. Not this time.”
I nodded slowly, in full agreement since my gut was having the same bad feelings as his was. “Besides, it wouldn't take much for a good tracker to find us. Sy was quite pregnant while we traveling, and had to stop to pee all along the way. That would be easy to scent, especially if you knew what to look for.”
Seth balled his fist and spoke in a growl: “Not to mention the fact that Sy's little Brianne was sired by that fucker. I hate to think about that, let alone talk about it, but the facts are facts.”
