by Lisa Oliver
“Seth, it’s one day. Stop being a drama queen and let your fiancé have the wedding he’s always dreamed of. Women have babies all the time and none of them create this much fuss about it. Why, when I had….”
“That’s enough.” Ra didn’t yell, but he made sure his tiger was evident in every syllable. “Ella, I mean it, enough. I listened to you and yes, I got carried away, too. I’ll be the first to admit it. I’m so proud Seth said yes to me, I want the whole town to know how special he is to me. But,” Ra looked at his sweet mate and ran his hands through Seth’s hair. “Nothing is more important to me than the health and well-being of my mate and children. Seth and I will be getting married next Saturday, here, not in the town hall. You and Seth’s immediate family are welcome, but that is all,” he added when Ella opened her mouth again. “No friends, obscure aunts, members of the herd who you want to impress. This is Seth’s and my day and it will be the quiet, simple ceremony my mate asked me for in the first place.”
“But the flowers, the photographer, the caterers, the cake. It’s big enough to feed over a hundred people. We spent all day securing the perfect flowers,” Now it looked like Ella was going to cry but Ra’s mind was made up. It was time he did what was right and protected his mate and unborn children, which is what he should have done in the first place.
“A day I should’ve spent with my mate, getting the chance to see my babies for the first time,” Ra growled. “No Ella. You can cry, rant, stamp your pretty foot and threaten to withhold cake, but my mind is made up. I paid for all those things and as far as I am concerned they can be donated to worthy causes. The food can go to a shifter center. The flowers to the nearest hospital. The top tier of the cake will be more than enough for us,” he looked down as Seth poked him.
“Rocky,” Seth whispered with a grin.
“Make that the top two tiers of the cake, the rest can go to the school as a treat for the children. No Ella,” he said again as Ella went to speak. “We are having a simple ceremony and barbecue here and that is the end of it. My friends can come over later if they want to toast our wedding, and so can yours, but the service itself will be private and only my family and Seth’s will attend.”
“Can I speak now?” Ella’s eyes flashed. “Personally, I didn’t think you were that stupid, tiger. My son has got you wrapped around his tiny finger and he lets out one little tear and you crumble like a marshmallow. Stress being bad for the baby, that’s rubbish. I had two sets of triplets and I kept doing everything I always did right up until the day I nested.”
“Actually, darling,” Charles said firmly, “I spent the entire month of your pregnancies, both times, running around like a maniac making sure every single thing in your life ran smoothly. Doc Farriday took me aside when you got pregnant the first time and warned me if you got upset or stressed it could kill the babies before they were born. Now, I didn’t say anything about these wedding plans before, because I saw Ra was excited and assumed Seth was too, but Ra has made up his mind and that’s final. I’m sorry son. I thought this was what you wanted,” he nodded at Seth who was curled up on Ra’s chest.
“I, you, ugh. Men.” Ella stamped her foot. “Well, that’s fine, if that’s how you want to play it, Seth, then we won’t be at the wedding. To think of all the work….”
“You will be there,” Charles snarled back. “You will wear that fancy dress and your new shoes and you will fucking smile and behave because if you don’t then you can sulk at home alone. Me and the kids will be there to support him when he marries his true mate and if you can’t be bothered to come then don’t you dare complain when Ra cuts you out of your grandbabies’ lives.”
Ella’s eyes widened and Ra grinned. “Did you want to show your mom the picture of our three babies? They’re kinda cute for blobs,” he said softly.
“They’re our blobs,” Seth returned his smile as he held out a picture to his mom. Charles took it. “Do you think, if the wedding has been scaled back, we could start working on Mom’s list of baby things? Doc said they’d probably be here around the sixty-day mark, maybe sooner if my body can’t cope with carrying three. I’m twenty-seven days already. It doesn’t leave us a lot of time.”
“We’ll get started tomorrow,” Ra promised.
“Together?”
Ra nodded. He was still angry at Ella, but he smiled and nodded and said the right things, as Charles and with some reluctance, Ella, oohed and aahed over the pictures, asking about names and did Seth know what sex they were.
But inside he was seething. He’d missed the scan. He’d let his precious mate go to the doctors alone again while he was out chasing flowers he didn’t even like. Well, he told himself sternly, I’ve learned a valuable lesson. My place is with my mate, not running off doing silly things in the hope of impressing people who don’t share my bed or my heart.
He could kick himself for letting Ella browbeat him into thinking things about his mate which just weren’t true and while he didn’t know why Ella was being so caustic about her son, or why a big wedding was so important to her, he was thankful things were back the way his mate wanted them to be. He looked down at Seth and cupped his hand over Seth’s slightly bulging stomach. I have babies. Three babies and the most wonderful mate in the world. His heart fuller than it’d ever been, Ra buried his nose in Seth’s hair so no one could see his happy tears. I am going to be everything my mate and my children need, he vowed.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve barely said anything since Mom and Dad left.” Seth’s soft voice broke into Ra’s increasingly worried thoughts. He smiled down at his mate. Seth was curled on his chest, his eyes half closed, the steam from the bath playing havoc with his hair.
“I’ve been thinking how many things I’ve got wrong in this mating,” he confessed. “I’m surprised you’re even talking to me after my running off with your parents today.”
“I know how persuasive my mom can be,” Seth covered a yawn. “I bet she told you to leave me to my silly writing and that there was no need to be tied to my tail all day.”
“Why doesn’t she like your writing? Has she read any of your work?” Ra asked. He’d been curious about Ella’s attitude towards Seth’s chosen career since the first time it’d been mentioned.
Seth snorted. “Writing’s not a real job,” he said. “You’ll understand when you meet the rest of my family. Let’s see. Sarah is a nurse, Sandra works as an accountant and Susan is on the last year of her lawyer’s degree, which she is finishing even though she gave birth to twins last year. Steven and Sebastian run my father’s construction company after he retired and Sam’s a lawyer and has his own practice in Jackson.”
“That’s a lot of S names,” Ra said.
“Yep and even though I was given an S name too; my Mom had a fit when I said I wanted to sign up for an online community college and do a creative writing course of all things.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being creative,” Ra frowned.
“I know that and you know that,” Seth sighed and turned on his back, kicking his legs out in the water. Ra caught him around the waist so he didn’t float off. It was a deep tub. “Mom is like most moms, I guess. She grew up in a poor household. Her dad didn’t work and her mom, gods don’t get me started about her. But still, when she met Dad and realized they were mates, he was just starting his own company. I think she saw her mating as a way of increasing her status in the herd.”
“All credit to her, but what has that got to do with what you want to do?”
“Parents always want their kids to succeed more than they did.” Seth chuckled. “Maybe I should just tell her to blame my creative streak on my biological parents.”
“It’s just….” Ra trailed off, not sure he could find the words to explain.
“Mom might seem like she doesn’t care about me sometimes, but she’s had my back too.” Seth patted Ra’s arm. “And every family has to have a black sheep, right? I’m the bl
ack sheep in mine.”
“Manipulative,” Ra spat out and when Seth’s shocked eyes met his, he hurriedly added, “Your mother seems to spend a lot of time implying you’re manipulative. With me, with everyone, but especially me.”
“You implied the same thing recently.” Seth looked away but not before Ra had seen the tears trickling down his cheek. “We had that discussion. You told me how you felt, I told you why I did it, but I just don’t get it. All I’ve wanted my whole life was to be accepted for who I am and maybe one day find someone who could love me for me as well. You and Mom think I’m manipulative. I still have nightmares about how Simpson yelled how I took people in with my looks when he was beating the crap out of me. I can’t help my looks!” He grabbed his hair and yanked it hard. “Is it my fault I was born with curls and freaking big blue eyes. NO! What am I supposed to do? Shave it off, wear contact lenses; you tell me, WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT!”
“Seth, baby, Seth, please it’s okay. It’s all right.” Ra pulled Seth close, pushing his mate’s face into the crook of his neck. “I’m sorry. I should never have said anything. Please. You told me the doc said you mustn’t get upset.”
“I can’t help that either,” Seth sobbed. “My body’s not my own anymore. I’m angry one minute and freaking weeping willy the next. I don’t know why Mom can’t accept me, maybe she never really wanted me. My real mom didn’t so it’s not surprising, but I just don’t know. It’s so hard because when I was little, she was always there, and always stuck up for me with the other kids when they teased me for being small and now I’m grown up it seems like everything I do disappoints her.”
“I think she just got a bit carried away with the wedding, sweetheart; she didn’t mean anything by her comments,” Ra said softly, his heart aching at Seth’s distress.
“She called you a stupid tiger, but you’re not stupid. Why is it wrong we want to do things for each other? I can’t help it about the wedding,” Seth raised his head and Ra got a lump in his throat. Those beautiful pale eyes should never be swollen and red-rimmed.
“I think the wedding thing was my fault, actually,” he said, stroking Seth’s wayward curls. “She probably had high hopes of you mating someone with one of those respectable jobs you say she thinks so highly of. She ended up with me instead. I bet you anything you like, she wanted a fancy shindig so she could point to her friends and say look how much money my biker artist son-in-law makes.”
“Yeah, that would be something she would do. But Mom’s a good person, you know. She didn’t have to take me in. The herd could’ve left me for dead. I was too young to remember, but no one would’ve cared if I died. She and Dad raised me as their own and even after I shifted and it was crystal clear I wasn’t one of them, no one said anything.”
“Until you met me,” Ra nodded then shook his head. “I just feel, damn, you’re going to think this is stupid, but I feel like I’ve been one step behind the ball since the day we met; putting my foot in it, not responding well initially to the pregnancy, running off today and missing that damn scan. I should’ve been there.”
“I wished you were,” Seth said simply. “But you were in my heart at the time, just like you always are. That has to count for something and you know something else you did which was really important to me?”
Ra shook his head. When he ran the movie reel Ra and Seth in his head, it seemed every decision he made was wrong.
“You stood up for me and the babies today; you stood up to my mom, put your foot down and said no. You didn’t have to do that.”
“If I’d listened to what you wanted in the first place, none of this wedding debacle would have happened at all and I could’ve been with you today.”
“I could’ve said something sooner,” Seth offered. “I could have said no to all those fancy wedding plans, but I didn’t because even though I didn’t understand half of it, you still looked so excited and I didn’t want to take that away from you.”
“Guess we’ve got a lot to learn about this being mated business,” Ra chuckled. He tapped Seth on the nose. “Communication. You told me that our first day. Communication goes both ways.”
Seth grabbed hold of his hand and smiled. “Your fingers are wrinkled.”
“So are yours. Could we, would it hurt if we…” He rubbed his cock against Seth’s slippery buttocks.
“Farriday hasn’t banned that yet.” Grabbing hold of the side of the tub, Seth stood, the water falling down his slender frame, highlighting the small baby bump. He stroked his cock, which was already hardening and Ra’s eyes gleamed. “Might pay to get in quick before he does.”
Standing, Ra held out his arm for Seth, allowing him to lean on him as his mate climbed out of the tub. Thick warm towels, Ra had a heated towel rail installed in case his mate ever got chilled in the bath, enveloped Seth until just his eyes and curls were showing. “I don’t want you getting cold,” Ra said in answer to Seth’s raised eyebrows.
Ra rubbed and dried, his fingers itching to play with Seth’s skin, but he warned himself to go slow. Something settled inside of him, something deep he didn’t really understand. But he knew the man currently chuckling and wiggling under his drying efforts had become the center of his universe. Seth and the three little bundles of joy he was carrying.
A finger running lightly on the underside of his cock forced a groan from Ra’s throat. “I want you in our bed, sweetness,” he rasped as Seth did it again.
“I was dry five minutes ago. You’re the one dripping on the floor, not me,” Seth chuckled, “I’m just reminding you of why we got out of the bath.”
“You’re special to me,” Ra said, giving his own skin a brisk rub down before returning his focus to where he knew in his heart it belonged. He couldn’t explain it. The feelings that swamped his body. Love. Protectiveness. Those he could understand but for some reason this time it was more…bigger…and Ra didn’t want to explain it, he wanted to wallow in it.
Bending over, he swept Seth off his feet, his lips finding Seth’s almost by instinct. Keeping one eye open, because to stumble would ruin the feelings he wanted to convey, he kept his kisses slow but sensual as he made his way from the bathroom to the bed and his nest of pillows.
“I’m going to get too heavy for you to carry around soon,” Seth panted when they were forced to take a breath.
“Never,” Ra said softly. He followed Seth down onto the mattress, taking care not to lie on him directly. “You’re everything, you know that?” He asked against Seth’s throat as he grazed his fangs along the sensitive skin. His fangs dropped, but he didn’t give into his urge to bite.
Ra wanted to savor this; savor everything. In the back of his mind, he knew his alone time with Seth was limited. Soon there would be crying babies who would command their attention. But for now, he could lick every inch of Seth’s torso, torment those tiny pink nipples until Seth started pleading for his cock. Every movement, every caress was firm, sensual and Ra prayed that his touch conveyed the depths of feelings he held in his heart.
By the time he reached Seth’s slender length, Seth was reduced to moans and the head of his cock was drenched in juices. Ra ran his thick tongue over the angry red head, his throat vibrating as the taste invaded his mouth. Eager for more, he sucked gently, one hand firm on Seth’s hip to stop him moving, the other flailing wildly for the lube he knew had to be under one of the pillows. He exhaled heavily as his fingertips caught the edge of the plastic.
“Ra please.” When Seth was turned on his whole body broke out in different shades of red, from the palest pink over his arms to the bright red flush of his chest. Ra was captivated, entranced, knowing he was the one responsible for bringing color to his usually pale mate. He fumbled with the lube, the cap of the tube ending up somewhere on the carpet, but as he inhaled the scent of Seth’s arousal, his own needs grew.
This is where his easily distracted tiger was not helpful. The taste of Seth’s cock as he deep throated, combined with the warm musky scent comin
g from his mate’s tight balls was heavenly. But his fingers were working on Seth’s tight hole and his cock throbbed at the idea of being encased in that heat. Suck. Fuck. Suck. Fuck. Ra wasn’t double jointed. He couldn’t do both, but as he pulled off Seth’s cock reluctantly, he wished he was.
“Thank GOD!” Seth yelled as Ra positioned himself between his mate’s sprawled legs. “In me, damn it, NOW.”
The urge to tease sprung up out of nowhere. His damn cat again, but no, Ra wanted soft and slow but he wasn’t into denial. Groaning as his shaft was grabbed and held by Seth’s body, Ra flipped Seth’s legs up his chest and slowly moved, in and out, his eyes closed, his head back as he wallowed in the warmth, the scents of their joining and Seth’s moans.
Well, more like Seth’s yells. Seth didn’t seem happy with his soft and slow approach and dropping Seth’s legs, Ra propped himself over the flushed body, gently snatching kisses has he thrust and pulled.
“Patience, love,” he growled softly. “Let me do this. Let me love you.”
“Grrr, I thought your love was hard and fast and solid.” Seth grabbed onto Ra’s arms, pulling him closer.
“It’s deep and true and won’t ever fade,” Ra crooned, catching Seth’s bottom lip in his and sucking gently. His hips were a sensual automaton, moving as though dancing to music only he could hear. But maybe it was because they were mates, or maybe it was simply because his sweet love was feeling the same depths of feelings pouring from every molecule in Ra’s body, Seth matched him, stroke for stroke, growl for growl, kiss for kiss.
And it couldn’t last. Drugged by the heat of Seth’s body, the grip on his biceps and that damned scent he couldn’t escape, Ra didn’t realize he was on the edge until his balls tightened. He made to slow down, he wasn’t ready for their joining to end, but the lure of Seth’s body was stronger. With a yell, Ra threw off his restraint and pounded, head down, his hair cocooning them, Seth’s eyes blazing into his.
