Page 17 of Curtis & Jae (Mate Match #1)

Seventeen

Jae

Now that we’d passed the twenty-week line, I had a sweet bump and more of my energy back.

Pregnancy agreed with me, apparently. My skin was glowing.

I felt happy all the time, and the movement of our little bean?

Adorable. Sure, I was told that would change when they decided to use my bladder as a football, but I was enjoying it for now.

One thing I really liked was the return of my libido because it had abated some after twelve weeks. Wanting sex more often was something I liked to take advantage of in the early mornings with my man. It was our time to spend together before the day got busy and life intruded.

I snuggled deeper into his arms, brushing my ass against his groin. Curtis muttered something sleepily, pulling me tighter against him. He pressed a kiss on the scent gland on my neck. One where I hoped to have a mating bite in the future. Only from Curtis, though. He was it for me.

My cock hardened in my briefs. I wriggled again, feeling a hardening in the cleft of my ass.

“You starting something, baby?” Curtis sounded more alert. He nipped at my gland this time, following it with another kiss.

I moaned, feeling slick leaking. “Yeah. I need you.”

“How bad?”

“Really bad!”

“Bad enough to ignore morning breath?”

I couldn’t help my laugh. “Absolutely. Give me your knot. Please, I need it.”

He turned me, so I was laid on my back, making it easy to kiss me. The kiss was deep and hungry. Even after months of living together, we still had this need for each other.

I was too impatient for his cock to wait. Pulling at his briefs, I slid them over the curve of his ass and pulled him into me.

“Now!” I demanded.

Curtis chuckled, but complied. He helped me get undressed and turned me onto my side.

The recent horny spell meant we were having a lot of sex, so I didn’t need much prep. He slid inside with a groan. He nipped at my scent gland again as he thrust.

Over and over, he nipped and licked at my shoulder and neck, probably leaving marks as he moved inside me. This position was perfect for feeling every damn inch of his dick.

He reached around me to smooth a hand over my belly before he bit my ear. “Love you.”

Even though I’d heard the words before, so many times, they were special to me. “Love you, too.”

His hand wrapped around my cock, stroking me in time to his thrusts. I came before him and then again when his knot stretched my hole.

I luxuriated in the scent of his pheromones, the feel of his arms around me and being pleasantly full of Curtis.

For a while, I dozed, until his knot shrank and the needs of my bladder pulled me from his arms.

Best way to start the day!

The office set-up Curtis had worked out for me was amazing.

The chair he had researched was super comfortable and he’d ensured I had the best light for drawing.

Most of my commissions were up to date. I’d have to go into the office later in the week to go over a contract in person, but otherwise my day was clear to work on my stuff.

I’d sent the final draft of my book away. Soon it would be printed!

I’d just had a snack and was working on a character concept when I got a call from Brady, because he worked for the publisher I was contracted to, I assumed it was a business call. They were considering taking my graphic novel on, another long forgotten project from before Curtis came along.

“Hey, how’s it going?” I greeted my best friend. I hadn’t heard from him in a few days, both of us so busy with work.

“Jae? You need to look at this. I’m going to send you a video, okay? Watch it and call me back.” Brady sounded upset. It had me alert immediately.

“Alright. What’s happening?”

“Just look at this, okay?” He ended the call abruptly. I stared at the phone for a minute in shock. Brady was never rude to me like that. Whatever it was had him rattled.

A message with a link popped up. It took me to a news site, one which had a reputation for facts over scaremongering. A feeling of foreboding came over me.

The video loaded quickly. In the report, a woman was facing the camera with a familiar building behind her. Her face was set into a stern expression. Oh, this had to be bad!

“Whistleblowers have come out saying AlphaPharm knew a batch of the popular quick acting contraception DuoStop was faulty and still allowed it to be sold. The company then hid the fact that they knew worsening this terrible situation. Despite taking the precautions necessary to prevent a pregnancy, AlphaPharm knew their contraception would fail in as much as fifty percent of uses. The company has since issued a product recall for two batches. If these egregious actions have affected you, the medical council suggests reporting this either to the police or to a medical professional. In a statement from AlphaPharm’s legal team, they have confirmed a significant compensation package will be paid to those confirmed to have become pregnant after taking the faulty DuoStop. ”

What the fuck? I watched the video three times before what she said really registered. Faulty DuoStop? They’d known about it? How could this have happened?

“Oh, shit!”

Could we have taken one of the faulty batches?

I loved being pregnant with Curtis’ child, but I would have preferred a little more time to date him before taking such a big step.

Would I go back and change things? Maybe not.

I was lucky. Curtis was perfect for me. We were building an incredible life together.

We were well suited, thanks to the Mate Match app.

Things could have been different, though. I thought of all the omegas relying on the contraception who were maybe not in the position to have a child. Would they have felt shamed and had abortions? Were they having kids they might not be able to afford?

Rather than call Brady back, I sent him a text telling him I’d speak to him later, first I needed to speak to my alpha. I paced the room, rubbing my stomach, our bean kicking away as I called Curtis.

“Hey, babe, is everything alright?” He sounded slightly tense, not likely at my interruption. Curtis was the first to admit he rarely took a proper break. A call from me often gave him the excuse to rest some.

“Have you seen the news?” I asked abruptly, my stress sharpening my words.

“Been a bit busy here. The owner ordered the wrong size sink, and we had to discuss—”

“Sorry, but you really need to check the news.”

My incredibly patient boyfriend let out a little sigh. “Jae, I’m really busy here. Could you tell me what’s happening?”

I took a second not to get upset. Damn hormones.

Curtis wasn’t dismissing me, he was just busy and I’d interrupted.

Rather than lie and say he’d check it out, or put me off to later, he wanted the news from my lips.

He trusted what I said. I was working on unlearning bad habits from my relationship with Hwan.

Quickly, I outlined the problem. Playing the video back so he could hear the words from the source’s mouth.

Curtis swore a line of expletives that would have had him banned from my parents’ house.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Bless him, always thinking of me first. “I’m fine. I think. What about you?”

“Jae, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. We accepted this situation as fate, giving us a push. A point five chance baby or a happy accident, doesn’t matter how they happened. This baby is wanted.”

“Yeah. They are. I’m grateful they gave me the push for more with you. I just feel bad for all the other omegas hurt by this. We’re lucky. What about the ones who are struggling?”

“Always thinking of others. You have the sweetest heart.” His pride in me was evident.

“Do you still have connections from when you were working on your degree? Could you see if anyone wants to take this on? Surely there has to be a way of stopping it from happening again. If it wasn’t for the whistleblower, we might never have known. ”

I took a moment to think. In order to get the legislation necessary, it would require a ton of support. This issue affected not only omegas, though. It caught alphas in its web, too.

“Hmmm, I might know someone. It’s part of an omega’s fundamental rights to have safe, effective contraception, so I think it’ll be an easy sell. DuoStop isn’t cheap.”

“Right. You’ve got this. Are you sure we’re one of the damaged batches?”

“No. I didn’t check. Just assumed. It seemed to fit.”

“If you want, I can stay on the phone while you have a look.” I heard him rustling about in his office. Hopefully he was taking time to eat something.

It took only a moment to pull up the news site on my tablet and get the batch numbers. Finding where I’d put the package for the DuoStop took longer.

All the while, Curtis told me about his day, asked questions about mine, and eventually reminded me what I was wearing the night we met thinking that maybe the DuoStop package was still in my coat pocket. I loved him so damn much.

“Got it! Right where you said it was. How did I not remember this coat?”

“To be fair, you were in heat at the time you wore it.”

“Let’s blame that.” I fumbled with the package before locating the batch number. I checked it three times, even repeating out the numbers to Curtis. He got called back to work before I could tell him the news.

We’d taken the faulty DuoStop.

Truthfully, I didn’t know how I felt about it. When I thought it was just a point five percent chance, it felt like the baby was special.

Then I realized it didn’t make the baby any less in my eyes.

What were the chances of a date, a person I’d only just met setting off my heat weeks early?

What were the chances of us falling pregnant during our first heat together?

I’d been with Hwan for years and while I’d taken contraception, I hadn’t been consistent with it because of the headaches.

Our batch of DuoStop had been out for over a year! What were the chances that was what we’d get in that drugstore? It was a chain of events that had made this happen.

The baby I was carrying was the happiest of little accidents because I had Curtis by my side. That little baby had brought us together, and I loved them for it. I knew others weren’t so lucky. It made me determined to fix this. Now I knew I had to fight for them to get justice.