Page 15

“Could have fooled me,” he grumbled.

“And me.” Mateo glared at me as if to say I was an insensitive idiot.

“You’re pregnant!” I announced.

12

MATEO

“I can’t wait to meet our baby.” I cupped my pregnant mate’s cheek.

Pregnant. Our mate was pregnant. The midwife wasn’t sure if it was my soldiers or Colton’s that created our little miracle. And really…it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that we finally found each other.

“Are you sure your friend is fine with us borrowing his pool when he’s not there?” Scotty had met Caspian a few times, and they got along well enough. His trepidation surprised me.

“He is. And, really, the other option is swimming in the ocean during a snowstorm. But if you want to, Colton and I don’t mind.” I mean I minded, but it was doable. Shifting back to human though? When the cold bit our skin, that was the worst.

“No. An inside pool is better.” A shiver ran down him.

His belly had already rounded to the most adorable bump. It was all I could do not to rub it all the time. Scotty indulged me, but I did try to control myself. It wasn’t easy.

Colton came in with a pile of towels. “Ready to go?” He was as excited as I was, but also nervous.

Our mate was a bear, all fur and claws and teeth. Us? We were sea turtles all…adorable. That was it. People looked at our beasts and saw cuteness. Which was fine when it was other people. With our mate? It was a bit scary.

“We are. It’s the perfect day for a warm swim.” I took Scotty’s hand in mine. “I hope you like what you see.” I hadn’t meant to let my insecurities seep out like that, but they did.

“I love you both so much.” He squeezed my hand back. “Even if you shifted to a jellyfish, I’d think you were the most glorious of beasts.”

“Jellyfish?” Colton titled his head in confusion. “You know they attack, right? They are not nice creatures.”

“You stepped on him,” I reminded my alpha. “Of course he stung you. I would, too.”

“They’re mean.” He started toward the door. “And that is that.”

We ended up driving to Caspian’s. It was close enough we could’ve walked, and in the summer we would. But it was that snowy/rainy not quite spring but not really winter time of year, and it just wasn’t fun.

We owed Caspian for giving us this time to be with our mate. Shifting and revealing one’s beast often came before mating, but between the weather and the production crew living at the B&B, it just hadn’t worked out for us. I could easily shift into my turtle in our bedroom. It wouldn’t be a comfortable place for him to hang out, but there was room for him, and Scotty would get to meet him.

Scotty’s bear, on the other hand…shifting in our room would be silly. And so we waited. But the waiting was finally over.

“This is his pool…like he owns this?” Scotty’s eyes widened as we entered the pool room. It was gorgeous; the warmth and the scent of briny air enveloped you like a hug when you stepped inside.

“He does a little better financially than we do,” Colton teased. We did well enough, our investment in the B&B a great one for our future. But we were hardly close to Caspian’s level of financial security.

And even though Caspian was wealthy to the point I couldn’t fathom having a bank account the size of his, you wouldn’t know it from meeting him. In fact, I was pretty sure his mate didn’t have a clue when they met.

“I see that. And he’s cool with fur in the pool?”

“His mate is a wolf, so yeah. Mateo’s the one who used to have issues with hair.” Colton gave me some side eye and then pulled off his shirt. “This works better if we’re all naked.”

We took off our clothes, setting them on the chaise lounges with our towels.

“You look so sexy.” Colton’s gaze was glued to our mate’s rounded belly. “We could skip the whole shifting and focus on some other activities…I mean, if you wanted to.”

“Or…you could show me your turtle, we can swim, and then, when we get home ,we can have a clothing-free evening,” Scotty countered. “Who goes first?”

“One of us and then you?” I wanted to be human when I met his bear the first time, but he probably wanted to meet our turtles the same way.