Page 16 of A Home for Tyler (Omegas of Animals #14)

Tyler

“Dimitri, come here.” I’d made the mistake of getting on the floor to separate out all the baby clothes. In my mind, it gave me a large work space and would be perfect. It was far from perfect.

Our little one received a ton of clothes during my baby shower, and I wanted them sorted and washed before they arrived.

I picked up a shirt with a fox and bear embroidered on it and held it close.

I’d never expected to have a baby shower.

I’d never even been to one, but not only was the entire den there, but Karma and her mate made a surprise appearance.

It had been a surprise party—one I hadn’t seen coming. Looking back, there had been signs, but at the time, I’d been shocked. Baby showers weren’t a thing in my old den. In fact, until my own shower, I thought they were only for humans. I’d been wrong

They had gone all out…a huge cake, games that were fun, lots of laughs, and, of course, presents.

But none of that mattered as much as the feeling of being fully accepted.

Not a single time since we moved here did I feel like I was less than.

Not for being a fox. Not for being kicked out of my own den.

To them I was the beta’s mate and a den member.

Dimitri came running into the bedroom where I sat. “What’s wrong? Are you in labor?”

“I’m thirty-four weeks. If I’m in labor, we’ve got bigger problems.” The midwife said I’d probably go long since I was a smaller beast than my mate. Not sure how that was fair.

“Okay, so what do you need?” He looked at the piles where were mostly sorted.

“I-I can’t get up.” It was so embarrassing, doubly so because I knew better.

Being on the floor shouldn’t incapacitate me. And if it was this bad now, what was it going to be in another few weeks?

“Why’d you get on the floor, silly?” He came up behind me, put his arms under my armpits, and physically lifted me up and onto my feet.

In the past, he’d come at me from the front when I needed help. Because, as embarrassing as this was, it wasn’t the first time. And the last time he assisted me, I fell forward—my balance off thanks to my ginormous belly.

I turned around and hugged him as best I could, my hands reaching behind him but nowhere near enough to get the embrace I was longing for. “Thank you. You deserve a cookie.”

He stepped back and looked me in the eye. “Or…a date night?”

“Date night? Don’t you have to work?”

“Nope.” He kissed my cheek. “No perimeter runs for me until after the baby arrives.”

That was the one thing I didn’t love about his position…the perimeter runs. It was fine in the beginning, when I could tag along, but now that I was too big to shift and very hormonal, having him gone for those stretches of time sucked.

When the alpha offered him to take on some more office work in exchange for being home at night, I was thrilled that he jumped at it.

“I thought that didn’t start until next week.”

“That was the plan, but Bruno had some paperwork that needed doing—and if he asks, I never said this, but he’s as good at it as you are.”

No wonder they needed my mate so badly. I shouldn’t be allowed near anything made of paper except for recycling and if the alpha was the same, yikes.

“Where should we go?” We hadn’t been on a date night in a long time.

Date nights weren’t something that I had witnessed growing up in my den. Mates were just mates. There was nothing romantic to it. But here…here, there seemed to be a strong understanding that mates coming first included spending quality time together—both on and off den lands.

“It’s a surprise.”

He gathered up the clothing piles I’d made and set them on the bed for me to finish sorting.

He’d offered to help me multiple times, but, for some reason, in my mind, this had to be done by me.

It was ridiculous. They were just clothes.

It didn’t matter if they were in the right pile before heading to the washing machine.

But there was no arguing with rationality when it came to my big old pregnant brain, because… hormones.

We drove into town, stopping first at my favorite shop for a caprese sandwich.

That was one consistency throughout my entire pregnancy—a baguette with fresh mozzarella.

What came with that changed. Sometimes it was basil and oil.

Sometimes it was mayonnaise and tomatoes.

Sometimes it was ham and not deli ham. No, that would be too easy.

It had to be a big hunk of ham, still warm from the oven.

The cheese and the bread were the consistent part of my diet. And probably why my belly reached the doorway before I did.

“This is perfect.” I snatched one of his chips, mine long gone, and popped it into my mouth.

“And it’s only beginning.”

He was so excited that I became excited, even though my body was getting close to the go-to-bed-or-fall-asleep-standing-up time of day.

Our next stop was a store that had a huge grand opening sign above it.

It was named Zoe’s, which gave nothing away.

And it wasn’t until we walked inside that I realized we were in a baby store, or at least a young children’s store.

Clothes, toys, furniture, you name it, they had it.

Best of all, it wasn’t the same old baby items we saw in the box store.

These were unique, high quality, and, in many cases, handmade.

We were greeted at the door by an old man with a huge smile and a booklet in his hand.

“Coupons,” he announced proudly as he held it out for us. “And there’s cookies in the back.”

Coupons and cookies. What more could a pregnant fox ask for?

I thanked him and leaned in to my mate. “What are we here for? Specifically.”

I had to ask because the odds were good that I was going to find a lot I was interested in, and if I was focusing just on the items we were there for I had a better chance of sticking within budget.

He took out his phone and opened an email, showing it to me. It was an extremely generous gift card for Zoe’s and it was signed, All your friends at Animals.

“We have a gift certificate?”

“Yep. It’s from the crew at Animals. Just came today. In exchange, they want to have lots and lots of pictures.”

“We can do that.” They already got daily bump updates.

We hadn’t been back for a few months, pregnancy and a new job sucking up a lot of our time, but we still talked to people randomly and were part of an active group text. I normally hated group texts but was grateful for this one.

It wasn’t difficult to find items that would be perfect for the baby: a bassinet that converted into a crib for our room, a few adorable outfits, and, my favorite, handmade stuffies including a fox and a bear.

“Safe to say, our little one’s going to be spoiled.” I hugged the bear close.

“I’m thinking that’s just how it should be.” My mate tapped the nose of the bear.

This kind of spoiling was something I’d never had. My existence always there to further my family’s objectives. I’d never let that be the case for our little one. That not only deserved better, Dimitri and I were going to make sure they had it.

Because that’s what loving parents did.