Page 18 of Alpha Bear Accountant (Shifters For Hire #2)

18

TODD

I came home early from work because my bear insisted we were needed there. He didn’t seem nervous, but he was definitely bossy. He’d been trying to take charge more often since Niam first discovered he was pregnant.

My bear always put our mate first, and today was no exception. He was protective, loving, and thrilled beyond measure to have a cub joining our family. He was sure our cub would grow up to be a big, tall grizzly like he was. But I didn’t care whether our child was fully human or a shifter. As long as they were healthy, I would always be the happiest alpha in Oak Grove.

When I walked into the house, I half expected to see my mate in the kitchen. The best light was in there and I often found Niam drawing at the table. I had put together some plans to build him a little outbuilding made of glass so he could take full advantage of the sun. But that was going to have to wait another year. As it was, we had just barely gotten the house ready in time for the baby.

And even that, we’d cut close.

According to the midwife, Niam could give birth any time now. Which meant that finishing two days ago was, yeah, a little stressful.

Everything was finished, though. The electrical wiring and plumbing had been replaced. The walls that needed repairs were all done. New carpeting was in place in the rooms that needed it. Refinished floors. Grounded outlets. You name it, we got it done—including making the nursery off our bedroom the most adorable room on the planet.

When I didn’t find him in the kitchen, I assumed he was either upstairs taking a nap or in the nursery, which was where I ended up finding him sitting in the rocking chair, holding a stuffed bear.

"Everything okay, love?"

He looked up at me. "Yeah, I think so."

"You think so? You don’t know so?" That didn’t sound great to me.

"Well…this morning, I woke up and I was so sure there was a ton to do for the baby. And then I came in here and realized it’s all done. We did it all. It’s clean. The clothes are put away. All the beautiful butterflies and trees are already on the wall. The mobile is attached to the crib. The diaper station is stacked. Everything. And I figured if I sat here long enough, I’d remember what it was that I needed to do."

I squatted down in front of him. "It could be that there isn’t anything left to do. And you know what that means?”

He shook his head.

“If the baby were in your arms right now, is there anything they wouldn’t have that I couldn’t instantly get from one of the local stores?"

He sighed. "When you say it like that, it sounds silly that I’ve been sitting here racking my brain for hours.” Hours. My sweet mate had been in here for hours. I wish he’d called me, but I’d learned early on in his pregnancy that being pregnant meant hormone overload, and sometimes that meant unusual decisions.

"It’s not silly. I think they call it nesting. You’re just making sure everything’s ready for the baby and all that." My parents warned me this was coming. They were planning to come out and visit when our baby was born and had only met Niam via Zoom, but they loved him already.

"Maybe…" He paused as he looked at me. "But you know what? You forgot something."

I grabbed my phone, thinking maybe I’d missed a message from him asking me to pick something up on the way home. Nothing. "I don’t know what I’m missing, but if you tell me, I’ll go take care of it."

"My kiss, silly alpha."

That I could give him. I leaned in and scented him deeply, pressing a kiss to his mating mark first and then to his lips.

"Do you want to stay in here longer?" I didn’t want to pressure him to get up before he was ready.

"No. I think we need to go for a walk."

"A walk sounds nice."

We had talked about getting a dog after the baby came—one to go for walks with us around the neighborhood. But a lot of that would depend on how much our lives changed when we became fathers. It was easy to plan, but we wouldn’t know until we were in the thick of it.

Niam stopped for a quick bathroom break and then we headed outside. We had a standard path that went through the neighborhood. Over the past months, we’d gotten pretty familiar with all the neighbors—though quite a few of them were older and didn’t come out much. But we waved and chatted with those we did see.

About a mile away, we stopped at a bakery and my mate picked out a dozen different cookies to bring home.

I eyed the big box in his hands. “You want to carry those all the way back?”

He looked down at the fitness app on his watch and shook his head. "Shit, I didn’t realize we were so far from home.”

“Do you want me to go get the car?"

"No, no, this is good. The midwife told me to walk. She said it would help the baby come. And if everything’s ready…I think it’s time."

We each ate a cookie on the way back, weaving through the neighborhood on a different path to get a new view.

When we got home, Niam stopped on the lawn and looked up at a flock of birds dancing in the sky.

I wrapped my arm around his shoulder. "Do you want to go inside?"

"No." He turned his attention to me and smiled. "I think… I think I want to go down by the river with your bear."

"We can do that."

We put the cookies inside, and I took off my clothes and shifted. The two of us slowly wandered through the woods since my mate was very much in the waddle stage of his pregnancy. When we reached the river, Niam sat down on a boulder and ran his fingers through my fur as he stared into the water.

We stayed like that for a long time, peaceful as could be.

That ended when his head snapped up and he turned to me. "Oh. We need to go. Now."

I didn’t think much of it, assuming a bug flew too close to his ear or something, indicating we had a short time before bug-a-geddon hit.

But as soon as we got back to the house, the first thing Niam did was call the midwife. Apparently, his little trick about walking had worked…just not as quickly as he’d wanted.

My poor omega labored all night long. He went between pacing, taking a bath, bouncing on a ball, and trying unsuccessfully to catch a snooze here and there.

At about four o’clock in the morning, we called the midwife again and told her it was time.

I’d wanted her here the whole night, but they both assured me that labor could last a long time for a first baby, and it was best to do it this way.

Not gonna lie—labor was rough on me.

Seeing my mate in pain and being unable to do anything about it was a whole new kind of torture. I kept having to remind myself that it was worse for him, which then made me feel even worse.

It was a shitty cycle that I was desperate to end.

When the midwife showed up, she was pleased with his progress. She told us that if we wanted anyone else there for the birth, now was the time to call.

I left that up to my omega, and he asked for his father. He wanted him to be the first to meet the baby. And it was a good thing I called when I did, because by the time he arrived, Niam was already pushing.

My strong, strong mate pushed for nearly forty-five minutes. At first, the midwife said that was normal. But I sensed it when she started getting antsy about it.

I was just about to call an ambulance when my mate gasped. "It’s burning. This time, it’s different."

Nothing about burning sounded ideal to me, but sure enough—it was different.

He gripped my hand—nearly breaking it—and with one last push, our daughter was born.

Her cries filled the room.

Her presence filled our hearts.

The midwife cleaned her up and then placed her on my mate’s chest, where she latched on for her first meal as the two of us welcomed her to the world with tears of joy.

A minute later, we called his father in.

"She’s so beautiful," he whispered. "What’s her name?"

Niam took a deep breath and then cleared his throat. "We named her after Grandma. Ima."

“Ima.” He smiled. "She’d love that."

My father-in-law excused himself to make us breakfast as Niam started to doze. I held our daughter by his side, promising to be there when he woke up. My bear was close to the surface, taking in the wonder that was our new family.

”We’re so happy you're here, Ima.” So beyond happy.