Page 13 of A New Bear-ginning (Bruin Ridge Bear-Ginnings #5)

SCOTTY

“You should rest,” Mateo said for the fifth time. In theory, he was right? I was about to have a baby—our baby—and that took a lot of energy out of you. But he was forgetting something really important: it was leaf peeping weekend.

While it was not an official holiday, it was around here.

The tourists dried up for a few weeks as summer turned to fall, but the second a leaf turned red, they were flooding back in for a weekend getaway.

In theory, this weekend was predicted to be the pinnacle of the season, and there was no room in town anywhere.

Unlike when I first came and the guests were all there for work, these people were here for the full experience.

Mateo had even worked a couple of boat tours earlier this morning to help with the influx of people.

For the most part, I was able to do less taxing things such as making hot cider for those who wanted it after a brisk walk

But it was time to turn over all of the rooms and that meant manual labor for all of us.

“I will sleep in tomorrow,” I promised. “I’m not even doing the hard stuff. Colton stripped all the beds and brought down the towels. I’m just loading the machine, switching to the dryer, and folding. It’s no big deal.” And with our new larger capacity machines, it really wasn’t.

“You’re growing a human,” he said sternly.

I wasn’t. Not really. I was growing a shifter, but with guests likely to post their head in and ask a question about the town, we used the word human.

“I am.” I smiled brightly and folded another towel.

“And once we get things taken care of here, I’ll relax.

” Only the towels were left. The beds made, the bathrooms cleaned, the floors vacuumed.

“And you’re folding twice as fast as I am, so we will be done soon.

” Gods I hoped that was the truth. My back was killing me, our baby was playing soccer on my bladder, and I hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in a week.

“Go lie down.” Colton came up behind me and settled his hands on my rounded belly. I hadn’t even heard him enter the room. “I’m done upstairs, and I can finish here.”

“I feel like you two are in on this nap plan together.” I leaned into him. “Is it all a ploy to get me naked?” I was teasing. So very much teasing. Until about a week ago, I couldn’t get enough of them. But things had changed.

The midwife said it was a sign the baby was near.

I surely hoped so. I was at the point in this pregnancy where I was out of breath walking up the stairs, I waddled instead of taking normal steps, and my belly went through the doorway way before I did.

I was done. Put a fork in me done. Only problem was our little one didn’t want to get out. Nope. They liked it in there very much.

“I don’t think either of us would say no to that.” Mateo winked at me. “But it will have to wait until after your nap.”

“Fine. I’ll go and be a slug.” And really sex sounded delightful.

I left my mates and went up to our bedroom, climbed into bed, and fell sound asleep.

I woke, covered with sweat, to the sound of something crashing in the living room area. I shot out of bed as fast as my body would take me and into the room to find Mateo moving the couch. He’d knocked over a lamp in the process, and I had a feeling that was the cause of the noise.

“What are you doing?” I asked him, and he jumped. He mustn’t have heard me coming in.

“I don’t know. The room’s not ready for a baby, though. There are cords and sharp corners and no comfortable place to sit.” He didn’t even look up at me. He was completely frazzled.

“Mateo. It’s fine. Babies don’t even roll over for months.”

“I’ve been trying to tell him that.” Colton walked in with a pile of comforters and quilts from the storeroom.

“What’s with all the blankets?” Had I woken up in an alternate dimension? Or maybe I was still sleeping.

“Mateo asked for them.” He set them on the floor where the couch had been and picked up the lamp. “Why are you wet?”

“Me? I was sweating in my sleep.” But, come to think of it, I wasn’t hot, and not all of me was wet.

“I don’t think that’s it.” Colton rushed to me. “Did your water break?”

“Maybe?” Was it really baby time? If so, why wasn’t I in pain? Lots and lots of pain.

“Mateo, I’ll be back to help you in a bit,” Colton told him. “I’m going to help our mate shower and change the bed.”

Mateo didn’t even look up, his entire focus on rearranging the room.

Peeling off wet clothing was not easy, and I appreciated the help. He ran and changed the bedding as I stood under the warm water. It was there that, for the first time, I felt my belly tighten. It was no big deal. Had I not been focused on paying attention to my body I might not even have noticed.

The second one came as Colton returned. It was enough to notice. Everything I read said they shouldn’t be changing noticeably yet. The books were wrong.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, and maybe we can talk our mate into leaving things be. It’s like he got your nesting instincts.” He sudsed-up my hair, massaging the shampoo into my scalp.

“I wasn’t that bad, and I haven’t done much at all this week.” Last week I was dusting, glass cleaning, meal prepping, all the things. They said nesting came right before the baby, but, in my case, it came early.

“No. You have relaxed this week. Maybe that’s why Mateo took over.”

He washed me and helped me rinse off, wrapping me in soft towels as I climbed out.

“I made the bed. Did you want pj’s or a bathrobe?” He patted the bed for me to sit down.

“Just a robe, I guess. I want to check on Mateo.” Something in my gut told me this was more than just him being excited about the baby and worried about their safety. He made my nesting look like a normal quick tidy.

Shit.

He couldn’t…

But maybe…

I pushed myself up and headed into the other room, Colton still searching the closet. Mateo had moved everything and sure enough he had made a nest. He wasn’t nesting for me. He was nesting for him.

“Mateo, love?”

He looked up at me, his hairline sweaty and, unlike with me, with real sweat.

“Do you see what’s happening here?”

He gave a nod and rushed to me, hugging me the best he could with my belly in the way.

“I’m not trying to be like this. This is your baby.

I don’t know why suddenly I can’t help acting like I’m the one about to give birth.

It must be all those false hopes or… I’m sorry, my love.

Truly I am. This has nothing to do with you or my love for our child. ” His tears wet my shoulder.

“Oh no, honey.” I cupped his cheeks and guided his face up to look at me. “This isn’t some manifestation or whatever you think this is. You’re about to lay an egg. This…the nest thing…bears don’t do that. Only sexy turtles about to lay an egg do.”

My belly squeezed, and I had to bite back a groan. Mateo needed me now. He didn’t need me to be bringing the focus back to me.

“No. I haven’t had any symptoms.”

“You’ve been tired,” I reminded him.

“Because we’re busy,” he countered.

“Not as busy as you were tired yesterday, and there was the whole not liking clams last week. You love them.”

He nodded.

“You said they smelled bad, but they were fine.”

He nodded again.

“And today, eggs were gross,” I reminded him

“You think I’m going to lay an egg?”

“What?” Colton was a freaking cat today. He kept coming in without me noticing.

“I think this”—I pointed to the full-on nest of pillows and blankets encompassing the space that had once been our couch—“Is in preparation for Mateo’s egg.”

“But he…he doesn’t even look pregnant.” Which was true, he didn’t, but he had filled out a bunch since we’d gotten together.

“Time to call the midwife,” I said, my teeth clenched. This round was pretty freaking intense.

He got hold of the midwife and by the time they got there, I was screaming loud enough with each contraction that the entire B&B had to be aware it was baby time, and Mateo was naked and pacing, mumbling about how he thought he was just getting fat.

“I can’t tell who is going to deliver first,” Rain, the midwife on call, said. “It’s going to be close.” They looked far more frazzled than I.

“I’m not ready,” Mateo said. “Have him go first.”

Rain broke into laughter. “That is not how this works.”

He was right. It wasn’t. A half hour later, Mateo lay on the pile of blankets beside his bed. And I ended up giving birth beside him, his strength giving me the strength I needed.

He groaned, and I yelled. I screeched, and he moaned. We held one another’s hands as Colton panted and encouraged us. And finally, with the baby’s head out, I pushed our little one into the world as Mateo grunted and Colton yelled, “We have an egg!”

“You have a beautiful baby girl.” Rain placed her on my chest as I lay on the makeshift bed Colton had created for me, my head nestled on the nest beside our egg, my eyes glued to Mateo. She was the most perfect being I’d ever laid my eyes on. The joy inside me was almost overwhelming.”

“We did it,” I said, my eyes tearing up. Mateo had longed for a child for so long and, as deeply as he loved our little girl from the moment he learned of her existence, I hadn’t been able to help sensing a sadness in him for not being able to give that to his mate.

“We did.” Colton nestled between us. “We should call her Alora, our dream.”

It directly translated to my dream, but he was right. It was perfect.

“Alora,” Mateo and I said at the same time.

“You’re going to have your hands full,” Rain said,

“Not as full as our hearts,” Colton said. “Not as full as our hearts.”

I didn’t think it was possible for my heart to be fuller than it already was, but three weeks later, when our son Lorento hatched, I was proven wrong.

Aspen didn’t know you could accidentally become Alpha of a Den, but that’s exactly what he just did.

Alpha bear shifter Aspen was ready to begin his new life in the big city.

He has a job lined up, a lease signed, and his truck packed.

All he has left is to get there. Too bad that’s easier said than done, because his truck picked the middle of nowhere to break down—alongside a bear den’s land of all places.

When Aspen seeks permission to spend the night, he plans to keep his head down and just mind his own business and he does, until he hears the scream that changes everything.

Omega bear shifter Lucian hates his den.

No, that isn’t fair. It isn’t the den he hates as much as the leadership.

When the Alpha he had most of his life died, he crossed his fingers the new one would bring their den into this century.

He didn’t—the new Alpha is not only old-school, but also cruel.

When rumors of an alpha bear seeking refuge until his truck is repaired reach him, Lucien forms a plan.

If he can convince the shifter to take him when he leaves, he can escape this horrible life.

Sneaking out to find the new bear sounded like a great idea, until Lucian gets caught.

His den Alpha is a strike first kind of guy, and strike he does.

Lucien knows better than to scream, as it only makes the punishments worse, but scream he does, the pain too much to hold inside.

A flurry of fur and teeth, a dead Alpha, and the scenting of his fated mate leaves the visiting shifter as their new Alpha.

So much for best laid plans.