Page 24 of Wrong Number, Right Grizzly (Dial M For Mates #7)

RONAN

“Espen, guess who’s coming to see you soon?” I sing-songed. “That’s right, your grandparents, and they can’t wait to see you.”

Having my in-laws move to the same town had been the blessing I didn’t know we needed.

They were far enough that we didn’t have to see them if we didn’t want to, but close enough that they were there when we did.

And they were the best in-laws I could’ve asked for.

They never pushed their opinions onto us as far as parenting went, and any time we wanted them to watch their grandson, they were there with bells on.

But today wasn’t a babysitting day. We were having lunch together as a family, and then going outside so that Espen could meet Nix’s bear for the first time.

It wasn’t a day he’d remember, but it was a day that would be remembered by his bear.

Or at least that was the going theory in bear cub child development.

Nix hadn’t had that with his parents, with them being human. He wanted to make sure that our baby had all the experiences he’d missed out on. He loved his parents and wouldn’t change a day with them. His parents and I wanted to make the day as special as possible for both of them.

I cradled Espen in my arms and went out to join his father. He’d just woken up from his morning nap, and lunch was already on the table. All that was left was adding grandparents.

As if on cue, their car pulled up to the front of the house.

“Pop-Pop and Poppy are here!”

They had a habit of spoiling Espen and came in with a gift for him.

When he was first born, the presents tended to be outlandish. No baby needed a bassinet in every room. The same was true for swings and floor gyms. They quickly moved on to clothing, but there were only so many onesies a baby could wear.

Recently, they’d moved on to books, all of which had the same theme: bears. This kind of spoiling I could stand behind.

“Trade you,” my mate’s omega father—who we now called Poppy in honor of his new position as grandfather—said, holding up a little gift bag.

“Hey, Nix, I’m trading you for the bag.” I winked.

“What do you think this is, Let’s Make a Deal ?” He came up behind me, his hand resting on my shoulder, and his father laughed.

“I already had that one.” Poppy indicated my mate. “I’m here to trade for the mini version of him. What do you think? Deal or no deal?”

Pop-pop shook his head, unable to hold in his amusement. “You sound like you’ve been watching too much TV. Although those aren’t crime shows, those are old game shows.”

“We’re trying not to watch the crime shows when the baby’s awake. And lately, that’s been a lot,” Nix said.

“All the more reason to trade him in.” Poppy held the bag out again. “Trade him for what’s behind door number one.”

I took the bag in exchange for Poppy holding Espen. My father-in-law’s face lit up as he began to tell him all about the wonderful new book he got, about a bear who had too many pairs of shoes. The two of them together were the cutest.

“Lunch is already ready,” I said, shutting the door behind them. “Why don’t we eat, and then Nix can get his fur on?”

I’d made some salads for lunch, along with various tea sandwiches. It felt very fancy at the time I decided on the menu, but my tea sandwiches didn’t look like they belonged in a tea room, and the salads were what you’d see at any barbecue. They were still delicious.

I couldn’t tell who was more excited about today, my in-laws or me. Being able to watch our baby experience his daddy shifting for the first time was going to be such a gift.

“It looks like he’s getting tired,” Poppy noticed. “We should probably do this now or give him a nap.”

“If we give him a nap, he won’t be up until dinner time, so I vote now.

And if he falls asleep, we can do it again.

” In my brief experience as a parent, I’d discovered that when you wanted babies to take a short nap, they slept for hours.

When you wanted them to sleep for hours?

They were up in twenty minutes. I had no explanation for the phenomenon, but it was fact.

We set up our “outside” bassinet, the one with see-through mesh on the sides, allowing the breeze to flow through and also making it easier to see the world around him.

I thought he might have the best view of his father as he circled around it from there.

The other option we considered was having him lie out a blanket, but having him elevated so he could see his father‘s face more clearly seemed like the best option.

I sat in the chair, holding Espen in my arms for the initial shift, and after that, I’d placed him in his bassinet.

At least that was the plan. Nix’s parents sat slightly behind me, one on the left and one on the right to give Espen the most optimal view while at the same time being close to the people that love him most.

Nix took his fur. Espen watched carefully. It was as if he knew how important this moment was. He still hadn’t reached the grabbing-everything stage, so even though Nix came close, he hadn’t touched his father’s fur without my help.

“I wanna set you down now, sweet boy, and your father is gonna walk around so you can see how beautiful he is.”

After lying him down, I sat in the chair beside my in-laws.

It was close enough that my cub could see us, while being far enough away that there was room for Nix’s bear to walk through.

I’d stashed the first book that my in-laws ever gave him under there.

It was about a bear family, and it introduced grandparents and parents and aunts and uncles etc.

There were no aunts and uncles here, but we had grandparents and parents, and it felt like the perfect book for the occasion.

I read it aloud to him as Nix walked around his bassinet, our sweet baby’s eyes glued to his father. And as the story ended, he began to doze. We’d managed to time it well.

Nix shifted back, donning the most beautiful smile.

“He recognized me,” Nix said. “His bear did, anyway.”

And that answered a question I’d had… whether our little cub was going to be shifting at some point, or if he was fully human.

None of us cared as long as he was happy and healthy.

But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy to hear that not only was he a shifter, but that his father had sensed him strongly at such a young age.

My mate came over and squatted in front of me so we were at eye level. “I always learned that this tradition was about the babies meeting their parents’ beasts. But sensing our son’s bear… I wish I could put into words what that felt like.”

“Did it feel like sunshine mixed with a hug?”

Nix looked at me, perplexed, almost as if he was thinking really hard on it, and finally he decided, “That’s the perfect description. I love you, omega mine.”

He kissed me, a kiss that would have gotten deeper if we didn’t have an audience.

“I love you, mate. Now, go put some clothes on before I start kissing you again and we have your parents giving us weird looks.”

“My parents wouldn’t give me weird looks,” Nix scoffed.

“Oh, we’d give weird looks,” Pop-Pop chimed in. “But mostly at you. Why are you still naked, child of mine? We need to go get the dishes done, and doing the dishes naked is a quick way to get burned.”

“Burned? How do you get burned doing dishes?” I was not following his train of thought at all.

“Well…” His father wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “Did I tell you about the cold case I was just watching on TV?”

I was officially rubbing off on them.

Poppy came over and scooped up our sleeping son, masterfully. He didn’t stir at all. “Does this mean I have to start liking them next?” he teased.

I looked around at my wonderful family.

“Naw. I think all of us are perfect exactly the way we are.”

Sometimes the wrong number is the exact one you need.

I’m far too old to be playing truth or dare anywhere, much less at a bonfire. Yet here I am attempting to protect my little brother from himself only to be the one in a hot-ass mess.

I accept one little dare: send a pic of your beast to your ex. I try to get out of it, using the excuse that I deleted their sorry self from my phone. When a party goer tells me they have the number, my plea is denied.

And that’s how I end up sending a picture of my panther to my piece-of-garbage ex after drinking far too many beers. Fingers crossed, he blocked me long ago.

The next morning I discovered I didn’t send it to my ex. Nope, it went to a total stranger and the caption, “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours” has the person on the other end thinking I’m keeping wild animals illegally.

I dug myself into this mess, and now I need to dig myself out of it, even if that means meeting the stranger before they report me to the Game Commission.

Wrong Number, Right Panther is a sweet with knotty heat MM Mpreg romance featuring an alpha panther who’s memorization wasn’t as good as everybody thought, the human omega who learns that at all pictures tell the whole story, the wrong number that brings the two together, true love, fated mates, an adorable baby, and a happy ever after.