Page 13 of Wrong Turn, Right Bear (Beartastic Summer of Love)

THIRTEEN

THEO

One minute I was a regular guy going on vacation.

The next I was swept into a whirlwind of fantasy and paranormal and discovered the existence of shifters.

I got the hots for one shifter, left even though he said I was his happy ever after, missed him so much I came back, we had sex, mated and then wham, I was pregnant.

All in the space of about a week. It wasn’t real I told myself each day when I woke up, but seconds later when my head cleared, it was. I couldn’t call it the new normal because nothing about my life now was “normal” whatever that was.

We confirmed I was pregnant but I had to fly home the following day.

Instead of hours of uninterrupted sex, we lay in bed, swaddled in blankets going through a list of questions.

We lived in different states and while I could live with my mate and probably work from home, not being in an office wouldn’t be my first choice. I needed to be around people.

We called one another each night but Ash was usually in bed, his eyes in danger of closing when I finished work. I was exhausted and he was a hero, listening to me talk about my day as his head nodded forward and he jerked himself back, mumbling, “Sorry.”

Other than being more tired than usual, I wasn’t experiencing any symptoms of pregnancy.

I was still trying to get my head around having a baby growing inside me.

And I couldn’t tell anyone at work. I hadn’t been pregnant when I left.

How could I tell them now? Unless I fibbed and said I’d been pregnant for a couple of months and had left it a secret.

But I already had a huge secret that I was keeping from friends and colleagues. Two or three.

Shifters existed.

I was mated to one.

And the pregnancy.

Previously, I’d relished the late nights at the office and the weekends where I had to work, sometimes all night if I had a presentation or a project deadline.

But as the days passed I hit the snooze button three or four times before getting up instead of leaping up ready to start the day.

I was one of the last ones to reach the office in the morning and I checked my watch countless times during the day, counting the hours til I got home.

Ash put it down to the baby draining my energy, but when I was in bed by myself, tired, but unable to sleep, I stretched out my hand, wishing he was here. We’d only shared two nights together but I rubbed my mating mark and recalled how my hand tingled when he grabbed it at our first meeting.

The solution was easy: resign my job and live with Ash. But even with a baby, I didn’t see myself as a SAHD, a stay at home dad.

One evening when I escaped from work early saying I wasn’t well, I was chatting to my mate while he shuffled papers and his attention was on his website more than listening to me.

“You need help with the business.”

“I have it. Romey and Molly.”

While we’d spent little time together, I’d noted how frazzled he was and how his website was a mess. When I’d booked, it was hard to find the right page, it was complicated and the system was slow. It needed an upgrade and had to be streamlined.

I ran my hand over my flat tummy. What if I used my skills and helped Ash behind the scenes with his business so he could spend more time doing what he loved: being in the woods and showing tourists the beauty of his home.

It was the middle of the night but I couldn’t sit on my decision until dawn so I called, hoping he’d wake and that he wouldn’t be annoyed.

“What’s wrong?”

Oops. Being mated was so new, I hadn’t thought my middle of the night call might worry him.

“I’m fine. The baby’s fine. But I had an idea.” I ran it by him. “What do you think?”

“My wish is to wake up every morning with you beside me. But will you be happy being out of the rat race and living in a small town where you can buy an Americano and cappuccino but not a mocha something oat something latte with something else?”

“Yes.” I didn’t hesitate. Maybe it was the mating instinct which had me gravitating toward the simpler things. And being with the love of my life.

“When can you come?”

“I have to sell my place and give notice.” The latter would be easy, the former? Who knew but it was a seller’s market and my apartment was only five years old. As I spent little time here, it was in good condition.

My boss and colleagues weren’t as taken aback as I’d assumed they’d be.

“You’re not the same guy who went on vacation. What happened while you were there? Meet a mountain man and fall in love?” Vincent sat on the other side of my desk as I emptied the drawers.

“Not quite but you’re close.”

Leaving my job was straightforward, but selling the apartment took longer. I hired a company to pack up the place, had it cleaned professionally and the agent I bought it from, sold it.

Ash insisted the money was mine, my nest egg. But I wanted to use part of it to hire more staff and expand the business.

When my mate picked me up at the airport, I shivered, despite wearing my thickest coat. But he enveloped me in his arms and his inner shifter heater warmed me.

“How do you do that? Run hotter than humans?”

“It’s my bear. He rides a bicycle that powers a generator that keeps me warm and toasty."

I was learning something new every day.

Ash grinned. “I’m kidding.”

“Oh you!” I folded my arms, annoyed that I’d fallen into such an obvious trap.

“It’s just a shifter quality or quirk if you prefer.”

He bundled me into the car and turned on the heat. “But you have an inbuilt heater.” He patted the slight curve of my belly. “Because you’re pregnant. And as the baby might be a shifter, you might be hotter still.”

“Isn’t that your line? I’m hot.”

He burst out laughing. “We can be hot stuff together.”

But he’d brought up something we’d discussed and I wasn’t 100% comfortable with.

Not yet. The possibility of a shifter baby was an unknown.

I couldn’t get on the internet and read up on what was the likelihood of the baby being a shifter.

There were no online dad groups. I had no friends I could share it with.

Ash was a darling and so supportive but he could only imagine the thoughts running through my head.

“You’re thinking hard.” He pulled into his, no, our driveway, and we walked arm and arm to the front door.

He picked me up, saying it was a human tradition to carry the omega over the threshold.

I’d been in the house before, we’d mated here and our child was conceived here.

But it was a sweet gesture and I draped my arms around his neck.

“What does thinking hard mean and how do you know?”

He placed me on the sofa and went to make hot chocolate. “You get 11’s.”

I leaned over the back of the couch. “Not 12’s or 13’s? ”

He placed two fingers between his brows and squinted. “These creases are like the number 11.”

I tossed a cushion at his head but he ducked. “You’re so lucky you didn’t say lines.”

“Would there have been a difference? Creases? Lines? Does one suggest aging more than the other?”

Another cushion went flying and he caught it. “Our baby will be perfect whether human or shifter. Ask me how I know?”

I rolled my eyes, expecting him to make a joke. “Go on.”

“Because we’re the little one’s parents and we’re cool.”

“Though you said you were hot and I suspect there’s only one cool person here and it’s me.”

My mate handed me a cup of steaming hot chocolate. “Maybe some of your coolness will rub off on me.” He kissed my nose.

“Doubt it.” I sighed. “You’re either born cool or you’re not.”

“Okay. Let’s be serious for a minute. You’re worried that if the baby is a shifter, you won’t have anything in common.”

He’d guessed correctly. How could I guide and teach my little one if they could turn into a bear? Their beast might hate me .

“Dad’s are supposed to be someone their kids can look up to?”

“Right. And what makes you think our child won’t love and admire you?

In the space of two days, your world was turned on its head.

Most humans wouldn’t have coped with what you discovered.

You have more courage in your little finger than many people have in their heart.

Our baby will look up to you as someone to emulate. ”