After a while, Eira sent Caleb and her kits upstairs to shift and for a nap. When Caleb made his way back downstairs, with the kits upstairs asleep, they all sat in the living room.
“So, you’re here to stay now right?” Caleb asked Logan.
“Yes. I found my mate, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make her happy.” Logan didn’t need to explain anything more than that to them, and he felt his mate needed to hear it before anyone else.
Caleb nodded his agreement but didn’t say anything. The alpha female on the other hand had no problem informing Logan of the flaws in his plan.
“You have been gone for three months. Did you contact her at all while you were gone?” Eira asked in a deceptively polite voice.
“No, I didn’t. After the way I left things with Shea, I thought it would be best to explain myself in person.” Logan didn’t add that he had felt like a complete jackass for what he had done to Shea in the alley behind the diner. That was between him and his mate, and he had no intention of involving other people in his grovelling.
“I would normally tell you that you’re an asshole, and I hope she tortures you for a while before forgiving you, but she hasn’t seemed to take it all that badly. So, you are off the hook for now. But do not hurt that woman. She is sweet, kind, and caring, and has more responsibility than many around here.” The cryptic statement didn’t sit well with Logan, but he wasn’t about to be drawn into more conversation with anyone. He wanted to see his mate.
“I won’t hurt her, Eira. I just wanted to come by and pay my respects, and make sure that I will be welcome to stay.” Logan directed his question to the alpha.
“If you want to be part of the clan, that is something that needs to be discussed, but just staying in town isn’t an issue,” Caleb replied.
“I would like to talk with my mate before asking for acceptance into the clan, if you don’t mind? I want to include her on any decisions affecting us.” Caleb smiled at Logan’s response and nodded his head.
“No problem. That’s a wise decision.” Caleb stood and Logan followed, happy to be able to get going.
Logan walked over and picked up a sleeping Sasha in his arms. The kit didn’t even move, just trusted in the people around her. Logan smiled and said his goodbyes before tucking his daughter into his truck and making his way into town and to his mate’s home.
Chapter 3
Shea was up at six o’clock the next morning doing laundry and cleaning the house before Hudson woke. Promptly at seven, Hudson came running down the stairs at full speed. He stopped right before he jumped onto Shea. Before, he would always jump into her arms. But now, there was no fooling his shifter senses. He knew that he could harm her by jumping on her. So, he walked up to her and hugged her legs.
“Morning, mommy,” his little voice said, and Shea hugged him tightly. For only being three, almost four, her son was very large. Shea was five foot four, and Hud came to her hip already. Shea had been assured by the shifter pediatrician in town that he was of quite normal size for a polar bear shifter cub. He was also very smart, so it was difficult for Shea to remember that he was only three.
“Have a seat at the table, and we’ll have breakfast.” Shea kissed the top of her son’s head and walked into the kitchen as he sat at the table. She brought, eggs, bacon, pancakes, and special sausage-type links made from seal meat to the table. Hudson had a very hearty appetite, and she made sure that he was never hungry. As she sat at the table next to her son, he turned to look at her while taking bites of his eggs.
“Are you going to eat, too, mommy? Or are you still sick?” The boy’s question was so sweet that she made sure to swallow down a few bites of pancake for him. He was very observant, and she didn’t want him to think that she was sick.
After breakfast, she cleaned up the kitchen while Hudson got dressed. When he came back downstairs, he sat on the couch and waited for Shea.
“I have to go to the doctor’s office today, and then we can go get some books from the library before going to the pool, okay?” Shea asked her son, and he started to vibrate with excitement. Shea also knew he would shift if he got too excited, so she tried to calm him. “But I would appreciate it if you stayed in your little boy skin until the pool. Then you can change to your bear and have some fun. Okay?”
“Okay, mommy. I can do that,” Hudson said cheerfully and sat back down, jumping on the couch a little. Shea got her things and Hudson’s together, before making her way toward the door.
“Time to go,” she called to him, and he jumped up and followed after her. Shea came to a halt as soon as she opened the door. Standing on the other side, about to knock, was Logan, her mate.
* * * *
Logan just stood there, looking at his mate. He was sure that he looked like a fool by just standing there, but he wasn’t quite sure what to do. He wanted to grab her and hold her, he wanted to make love to her, and he wanted to promise he would never be apart from her again. But before he could say or do anything, he heard a growl. A small growl, but a growl nonetheless. Suddenly, a boy who was starting to sprout fur jumped in front of Shea. He was growling at Logan, but Logan would never harm a cub, so he stood there for a moment.
“You get back! Get away from my mommy!” The fiercely protective cub growled out, and Logan looked up at his mate in question. She blushed at his attention, and put her hand on the cub’s shoulder. Then she spoke in a calming voice.
“Hudson. It’s all right, honey. This is Logan, and he isn’t going to hurt me. He’s a friend.” Logan wanted to growl when she called him a friend, but now wasn’t the time. The cub seemed to trust her words and calmed, causing the fur to recede, but he still held his ground in front of Shea.
“Hi,” Sasha said cheerfully as she popped her head around Logan’s legs. Shea’s eyes widened as she saw the girl, and she looked back up at him. He smiled at her, and she blushed again and looked away. She is so damn cute. Sasha took a step forward, and the cub growled again.
“Hudson,” his mate reprimanded the boy. “Hello there. I’m Shea, and this is my son, Hudson. Hudson, say hello, and be nice,” Shea introduced.
“Hi,” Hudson grumbled out.
“Hi! I’m Sasha. You and I are going to be best friends and brother and sister,” Sasha said cheerfully, not realizing she was over-sharing again.
“Okay,” was all Hudson said, and then he turned and looked up at his mother. Shea smiled at the little girl and bent over at the waist to be closer to her eye level.
“Hi there, Sasha. That is most certainly a beautiful name for a beautiful little girl,” Shea complimented her, and Sasha beamed with pride at the acknowledgement. Then Sasha started speaking again.
“Thank you. I think Shea is a pretty name too, even though I’ll be calling you Mom. I’m a lynx. When I shift, I have black and grey stripes. Daddy says I’m the prettiest kitten ever.” Sasha stopped talking and Shea was still smiling at her.
“I am sure your father is right,” Shea said and straightened.
“We have to go.” Hudson caught everyone’s attention. Shea seemed to realize that he was right.
“Yes, we do.” Shea continued to step out of the door.
“We’re going to the doctor.” Hudson was talking to Sasha and detailing out the activities of the morning, and Logan looked at his mate.
“Why the doctor? Is something wrong?” Before Shea could answer, Hudson, being the child he was, dropped the information that didn’t mean much to him, but was very important.
“Mommy’s tummy has been making her throw up, and I can’t jump on her anymore. The doctor said I’m too big, and I might hurt the cub.” Logan watched his mate, as the cub threw everything out on the table and hurt Logan to his core. Hudson and Sasha walked down the porch steps and sat in the yard to wait for the adults, who just stood there.
Shea didn’t say anything to him, and he couldn’t speak. So, he just walked up to her until their bodies pressed together, and he leaned down and put h
is nose in her neck. Shea didn’t move, which he was grateful for, because he wasn’t sure he would have been able to stop himself from pursuing her. He placed his hands on her hips to keep her steady and took in her scent.
As all the scents separated for him to determine everything, his shoulders slumped, and he pulled her closer, wrapping himself around her. He felt her arms come around him as best they could, considering her small size and his extremely large size. Then, he realized that she was going to the doctor, and he straightened and looked down at her in concern.
“Is everything okay? Why are you going to the doctor? Is the cub okay?” Logan knew he was rambling, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. Shea smiled up at him, and he melted. He was so gone for his mate, and they barely knew each other. He was slightly afraid of what would happen when he got to know her and fell head over heels in love with her.
“Nothing is wrong. I’m a human having a shifter baby. A large species of shifter, and I go to regular appointments to make sure everything is as it should be. I’m fine, Logan. So is the baby.” Shea soothed his nerves, and he felt dumb. He should be soothing her right now. She was pregnant with his cub. He looked down at her smaller frame and realized that there might be a danger to her having his cubs. She was small, and polar bear shifter babies were not. He knew that she hadn’t given birth to the cub who called her Mom, so this would be her first.
Logan made a decision that he was going to make sure that his mate was going to be very well taken care of, especially while she was pregnant. He picked her up and cradled her in his arms. She didn’t make a noise, just wrapped her arms around his shoulders to hang on. He looked at her and felt the need to explain.
“You’re having my cub. You’re little, and pregnant women get tired.” Logan knew he wasn’t making much sense and was speaking in clipped sentences, but Shea didn’t seem to mind. She smiled serenely at him and let him speak. “You could fall on the steps and get hurt or something. I’m carrying you.” He waited for her to yell at him and demand he put her down, but she surprised the hell out of him when she continued smiling.
“All right, Logan. Take me to the doctor,” was all she said, and Logan breathed a sigh of relief. He was sure that she realized his bear was close to the surface, and that she wasn’t going to let him carry her around for her entire pregnancy, but that she was humoring him for the time. He was grateful for that. He walked over to his truck and put her in the passenger seat.
“Hudson’s car seat is in my car,” she informed him, and he nodded. After securing her in the car, he retrieved the seat from her vehicle and strapped it into his truck. Then he strapped in Sasha and Hudson, who were chatting away and not at all interested in the adults or why they were acting this way. Logan asked where to go, and Shea gave him directions.
As they drove away a figure in the forest growled at the complication that had just been dealt to him. But no matter, I will make them all suffer.
Chapter 4
Two hours later, Logan was approaching the giant pool area that the town had built. Apparently, there were different temperatures for different breeds. Shea was taking Hudson to the arctic one so his bear could get some exercise. Logan had finally accepted the surprising news and calmed enough not to insist on carrying her everywhere. His bear still wanted to, but Logan thought that as long as he stayed close to her, his bear would be satisfied enough.
Shea had taken them to the library after the doctor, and the kids had been ecstatic. Sasha and Hudson both loved books and had each borrowed a very large stack. Logan had also noticed how excited Shea had been with all the books. His mate was a bit of a nerd, and he loved it.
As they walked in to the pool area, Shea tightened her arms around herself. Logan noticed and knew that she must be cold. He was a polar bear, so he loved it and so did Hudson. Sasha even wanted to shift and go swimming. Sasha had a thick enough coat that the cold wouldn’t bother her.
“You’re cold. We need to get you some warmer clothes if you are going to be in here.” As soon as Logan said the words, a man came over to them from a counter. He held a big coat and a thick blanket.
“Here you go, Shea,” the man said as he put the coat around her. Logan could smell that the artic fox was mated, so he allowed him to give his mate the coat.
“Thank you, Freddy. How’s Denise?” Shea asked kindly.
“She’s doing great. The oldest is about to hit high school, so she’s been busy.”
“That’s great. Let her know that apricot pie recipe she gave me over the summer turned out fantastic.”
“I will. Don’t be a stranger,” Freddy finished and walked back to his counter.
Logan directed Shea to a place to sit near a heater, and Shea turned to him. He knew he had a great deal to talk about with his mate. He just hoped that she wasn’t too angry with him over his absence and everything else.
* * * *
Shea sat there, looking at her mate. Technically, they weren’t yet mated, and she was glad of that. She didn’t know if she was going to be able to accept her mate the way that others did. She was having his cub and was scared, but deeply excited as well. Still, she wasn’t sure that she could trust him in the long term. He had given her no outward sign that he might become violent, but she was still concerned.
“We have a lot to talk about, but since we are here, why don’t you go shift and play with your daughter.” It wasn’t really a question, more of an invitation to give her some time. He looked at her for a moment, and apparently didn’t see what he wanted. He blew out a breath and stood.
“I would like to play with both the kids. Is that all right?” Logan asked her, and it seemed to Shea that he was waiting for her to object. She had no reason to object. He had been very kind to both children all morning.
“Of course,” was all she said, and he walked over to the locker rooms to store his clothes. A few minutes later, she saw an extremely large polar bear walk out of the locker room area and head toward Hudson. Before Logan got to the cub, Sasha jumped onto his back.
The little lynx was happy to ride on her father’s back. Shea giggled. It was just so adorable to see the small kitten up on top of the large polar bear. Sasha was lying on his back like she was taking a nap. Logan continued to amble his way over to a small pool that Hudson was swimming in. Hudson might have been a 150-pound polar bear cub, but he was still three, and she wasn’t ready for him to go into the larger pool yet. It wasn’t because of the depth of the water. The small pool was twelve feet deep, so Hudson could swim underwater as much as on top of the water. The larger pool had larger shifters in it, and Shea wasn’t sure what she would do if any of them threatened her son.
Shea wouldn’t allow anyone to harm Hudson and would fight and die for him, but she was also realistic. If she had to go against a full-grown polar bear shifter, or even some of the aquatic shifters, she wasn’t sure how she could win. In their human form, shifters were much stronger than humans and would happily exploit that. The town had welcomed her and Hudson, but she was still very careful not to step on any toes. She had always been that kind of person.
Shea didn’t like conflict or yelling. She didn’t like anything remotely violent. She just wanted to raise her son, and now the child growing in her in a warm, loving home. She wasn’t sure if that was possible with her mate. As she watched him, her heart wasn’t troubled, but her mind seemed to get in the way and sneak in any little thing to make her doubt him.
Logan dunked under the water, causing Sasha to jump off his back in surprise. Shea heard the kit hiss, but knew that it was in play. Logan’s big bear head came up to his daughter, and he bumped her with it. She batted his head like a house cat might. Though Shea was sure that wasn’t an endearing comparison for any feline shifter.
Suddenly, Hudson swam over and jumped on Logan’s back. Shea got nervous at the growl Logan gave, but soon calmed when Sasha leaped on him to help Hudson.
Shea had only seen shifters playing when she brought Hudson here,
but all shifters played differently. Hudson had never had another polar bear to play with, much less a full-grown one. She continued to watch the three play and wrestle in and out of the water for a couple of hours.
Shea’s mind worked overtime during those hours. She wasn’t sure what to tell Logan. He clearly wanted to be around, but she couldn’t do anything fast. Plus, the doctor had told her that she was entering her second trimester and that she was getting large quick. She was most likely not going to be able to be on her feet at the diner much longer. She would do anything that she had to in order to keep herself and the cub healthy.
The doctor had also told Shea that a normal polar bear shifter pregnancy would be about seven months. With her being human and the father being polar bear, the baby might be born at seven months. He had never taken care of a human giving birth to a polar bear, but there were records and instructions on how to proceed. He would keep track of the baby using ultrasound, and would see her every couple of weeks to monitor her progress. He had also mentioned that if the cub was too big, which was likely, she might need a cesarean section to give birth. He had assured her that it would be safe, but Logan had gotten extremely pale at the comment.
As the two hour mark approached, Logan and the kids ambled over to where Shea was sitting. Hudson ran in front of Logan but tried to stop before colliding with Shea. But the cub’s feet slipped, and he was sliding toward Shea very quickly.
Polar Bear's Heart Page 2
