Page 12 of A New Bear-ginning (Bruin Ridge Bear-Ginnings #5)

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 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.

“Colton, would you show me your turtle?” he asked, and Colton being Colton ran to the pool and jumped in, shifting in midair.

“Showoff.” I rolled my eyes, and Scotty and I both went to the pool’s edge.

“He’s…I had in my mind these tiny little turtles, but look at him. He has to be what? Four feet long?” Scotty knelt down, watching Colton intently.

“He’s alpha. I’m not as long, but I’m just as adorable.”

“I never said he was adorable.” He looked back at me. “Is that what people say?”

I gave a nod.

“No, not adorable. Graceful. Magnificent. Stunning. But not adorable.”

No one had ever described us that way before and even though this was about Colton, it still hit me.

“Let me see your beast.” I watched as Scotty took two steps back and called forth his fur. He stood there slightly taller than I for a few seconds then went on all fours, his head brushing my bare skin.

“Wow.” Words were evading me. Wow would need to do.

He rubbed up against me and then dove into the water and paddled to our mate.

I dove in after him, shifting once I was in the water.

Scotty could swim. I didn’t know a great deal about bears, but I had some stereotypes in my head, and one of them was that only polar bears swam this gracefully. How wrong I’d been.

We swam, played, and let our beasts get to know each other for hours. I couldn’t remember such a fun day. Not this kind of fun, anyway.

And when it was time to get out and go home, we did exactly as planned, spending the rest of the day in our rooms…naked.