“That’s right,” she said, flashing a brilliant smile. “Impressive, for someone in your state.”
“Thanks,” I said with a weak smile.
“Well, you already know we’ll take very good care of you. We have only the best of the best quality nurses at this hospital,” Paloma said as she prepped the tourniquet and syringe. I chuckled softly, but when she started to pull blood out of my arm, my lightheadedness came back.
“Oooof, I don’t feel so good,” I said quietly. Linc rushed closer to me, then leaned in and kissed my forehead.
“Squeeze my hand,” he said. I did, hard.
“All done!” Paloma declared. “Sorry about that. It didn’t hurt too bad, did it?”
“No, no,” I assured her. “I just started feeling dizzy and a bit queasy again.”
“Okay, well you sit tight. The doctor will be in in a minute.” She turned to Linc. “You come get me if anything happens, I’ll be right over at the nurse’s station.”
“Thank you so much, I will,” Linc said, exhaling rapidly.
I didn't know Linc’s devotion and thoughtfulness could get even more intense than it had been so far. Now I was ill, he seemed eager to rise to the task of caring for me. Whenever I was sick, Phillip treated me like a leper and an inconvenience. He was always worried about catching whatever I had. I was truly in a whole new world of romance with Linc.
“I know this might not be the best time, but I’m just so relieved you’re okay, and I’m wondering, does this change how you feel about the claiming ceremony?” he asked in a whisper.
“No. Definitely not. I still want to do it,” I answered, relieved he still wanted to claim me. “I think we better find out what’s wrong with me first, though.”
“Of course, of course,” Linc said, clearly relieved as well. “We can postpone it as long as we need to.”
“Hello, Shawn,” I heard a familiar voice say as someone pulled open the curtain.
“Dr. Shah, hi,” I said, recognizing the staff doctor immediately.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay now. The nausea keeps coming and going.”
“Well, that makes sense, considering. I have some news,” he said, cautiously looking between Linc and me.
“What is it?” Linc asked, a hint of panic in his voice.
Dr. Shah looked back at Linc, then me again, his expression stoic. “Is this your partner, Shawn?”
“It is, and I give you permission to talk to me about my health in his presence.”
“Very professional,” Dr. Shah said before he smiled. “Well, Shawn… You’re pregnant.”
I stared at Dr. Shah’s face. I noticed he had a thick, black moustache I didn’t remember seeing on him last time we crossed paths at the hospital.
“Did you…grow out a moustache?” I asked him.
Dr. Shah looked puzzled, then concerned. I felt Linc’s hand clutching tightly to mine, but I was still staring at the doctor as if he’d gone a little mad, or I had.
“Shawn, did you hear me?” he asked, raising his voice slightly. “I said you’re pregnant.”
“That… Um, no. That can’t be right,” I said, my pulse quickening to the point I felt dizzy again. I turned to Linc and grasped his forearm tightly, my fingernails pressing into his skin. “I’m infertile. I can’t have children.”
Dr. Shah cocked his head slightly to the side, and in a perfunctory tone said, “It seems you’re incorrect about that, Shawn.”
“This is impossible,” I insisted. I looked at Linc. He shook his head, his disbelief evident in the widening of his eyes.
“Are you positive?” Linc asked the doctor.
“I haven’t been wrong in fifteen years of pregnancy tests,” Dr. Shah said matter-of-factly.
If I was pregnant, then did that mean all this time I’ve been mourning my inability to have a child and it wasn’t even my fault? That scumbag! That asshole! I clenched my jaw as I thought of all the things I wanted to call Phillip. I couldn’t believe he’d made me feel so worthless, so wretched, for years, just because he didn’t want to admit he could be the one who was infertile.
“Oh my god…” I said as it finally dawned on me. I was pregnant! I turned to Linc and saw he seemed to be in the same state of shock as me. There were tears brimming in his eyes.
“The nausea and light headedness. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it sooner, but why would I? I mean… I didn’t think…” I looked back at Dr. Shah.
He smiled awkwardly. “Just a very bad case of morning sickness, which as you know can last all day,” he stated. “I’ll send you home with some recommendations for some home remedies and prenatal vitamins,” he added, writing something in his chart. “So, congratulations.” He smiled and gave us a thumbs up before leaving the room.
Congratulations? Should I be congratulated? I couldn’t process the maelstrom of emotions I was caught up in—positive, negative, and everything in between.
Linc seemed like he was still in shock, looking at me with a furrowed brow. That’s when I started to panic.
What if he doesn’t want a baby? What if he thought me being infertile was a good thing and this is all a horrible mistake to him? He never actually said he wanted a baby. Maybe Cole had always been enough for him! What if this scares him away? What if he abandons me just like Phillip did? Fertile or infertile, maybe I just can’t be loved by anyone… My heart rate became irregular, and though I tried to take slow and even breaths, the room seemed to darken.
“Linc?” I said desperately, attempting to prompt a response from him. He just stared at me with wide eyes, shaking his head again.
“Can you please say something?”
“I don’t know what to say,” Linc said.
“Anything! Please. How do you feel?”
Linc slowly raised his hands to my face and placed one on each of my cheeks. I felt my lips trembling as I continued to frantically search his face for any indication of joy or anger.
“Shawn…” He said my name slowly, as if not sure what it was he wanted to say. “I’ve never been…”
“You’ve never been what?” I demanded.
“So happy in my entire life.” His face erupted into a radiant grin.
“Neither have I,” I admitted as Linc leaned in to kiss me. He pressed his lips against mine with such love I could feel it in my toes. When I pulled back it was so I could take a much needed breath.
“We’re having a baby,” Linc whispered to me. We broke out in laughter, and Linc wrapped me up in his arms, hugging me gently.
“We’re going to be a family. A real family,” I said, unable to believe it.
“There’s no one I’d rather do this with,” Linc replied.
I felt the shockwaves of the news reverberating through my chest. It felt like the whole room was vibrating. Linc let go of our embrace and pulled over a chair so he could sit next to me and hold my hand.
“This is crazy,” I said. “I told you I was infertile, didn’t I?”
Linc nodded. “Yes, and I told you I didn’t mind.”
“Phillip and I tried so many times. And nothing ever came of it,” I explained, sniffling as I tried to reconcile my new future with how I’d always thought it would be.
“I guess it was him after all. Or maybe something else. But it’s definitely not you, my love. Clearly,” Linc said with a chuckle.
“Clearly…” I said dreamily.
“Maybe you were just waiting for your fated mate,” he suggested with a smirk.
I chuckled then looked at him with a tired grin. I shook my head. There was no way to make sense of it; how this had all come to be, but I was beginning to see how wonderful it all was.
Once the hospital released me, Linc took me back to his place where we could both relax knowing I wasn’t sick or contagious. Linc got me set up to rest in bed. He lent me some of his clothes—a pair of sweatpants that were conveniently loose, and a baggy tee shirt. He piled every blanket in the house on his b
ed, placed a glass of water and a cup of tea on the bedside table, and to top it off, offered to give me a massage.
“Well, I’m not going to say no to that,” I said with certainty.
Linc pulled off my socks and started massaging my feet. He dug his thumb into the arch of my foot, and I felt a pleasant aching reverberate up my leg.
“A foot massage? Wow, I didn’t know I could be any happier about being pregnant.”
Linc just smiled and kept rubbing the arch of my foot, then leaned down and kissed each of my toes.
“Mm, that feels amazing,” I said, leaning my head back on the pile of pillows Linc had arranged for me.
“I love that you’re pregnant,” Linc said, slowly kissing his way up my foot now, toward my ankle. He kept planting tiny kisses, slowly moving over my ankle. He pushed up the leg of my pants and started kissing his way up my shin. “I love the fact you got pregnant the first time we had sex.”
“I still can’t believe it. I’m having a baby! Your baby.”
“Our baby,” he said, crawling up the bed toward me.
“Our baby,” I repeated with a contented sigh.
Linc heaved his bulky chest over mine and lifted one hand off the bed to stroke my cheek.
“I love you,” he said, and kissed me on the mouth.
“I love you too, you handsome wolf,” I said with a giggle.
“You think my wolf is handsome?” Linc asked, waggling his eyebrows.
“Yeah, I do, actually. I prefer you as a human, though.”
“Aaaa-ooooh!” Linc let out a playful howl, then fell on top of me, laughing.
I reached up to pull his face to mine and kissed him passionately. He moaned into my mouth, and then slid his hand beneath my tee shirt. It was my turn to moan. I loved the way he touched me—soft yet demanding. I tugged at his shirt and pulled it off him. Grinning, Linc stripped me of mine, and then we returned to hungry kissing. I felt the familiar hazy high of being with him; a strange cocktail of chemicals he invoked in me swirling around my bloodstream. The pregnancy hormones seemed to add a mellowing effect as well, making me feel floppy and dazed.
Linc took the opportunity to pamper me, kissing all the way down my neck and across my collarbones, swirling his tongue around my left nipple while he twisted the other in his fingers. I lay back and groaned. Linc switched his mouth to my right nipple, sending electric currents shooting to my balls. With another groan I arched my spine and scraped my fingernails along the thick muscles of his back, spurring him on. He quickly looked up at me, his eyes bright with lust before he began licking my stomach and kissing his way to the loose waistband of his sweatpants that had pooled on my hips. He wiggled his tongue under the elastic, teasing me and making me squirm before he slid the sweatpants off of me.
Staring down my body, I held my breath as Linc, so very softly, pressed his lips to the head of my cock before taking it into his mouth.
“Linc, that feels so good,” I whispered, almost afraid to speak aloud in case he stopped. He chuckled, and then sucked, gently yet forcefully. Pleasure combined with need swirled around my chest and stomach. I tried to hold back on crying out, on shoving my cock all the way down his throat, but Linc practically did it for me, sinking deeper and then swallowing.
“Oh god.” I watched him, my alpha, sucking me off with obvious enjoyment if his soft moans were anything to go by. He gripped the base of my shaft and started pumping my cock in time with the movements of his hot, wet mouth. It didn’t take long before I felt my balls aching, tight and full against my body.
“Coming,” I mumbled, not sure if I was warning Linc or pleading with him. Linc moaned in response and kept sliding his soft lips along my shaft. Tingles radiated throughout my body—my dick as the epicenter. Linc cupped my balls in his hand while he sucked me just a little harder. I’m sure I ripped Linc’s sheets as dug my fingers into them, desperate to come yet desperate to hold off for as long as possible, but the way he flicked his tongue over the slit of my cock was too much. I couldn’t stop the flash of intense pleasure that tore through me. Nor could I stop my strained cry as my cock spewed cum straight down Linc’s throat. He eagerly sucked and swallowed it all down, and then sighed and smiled in satisfaction.
“Okay?” he asked as he crawled up to sweetly kiss my mouth.
“Mm.” I don’t think I had the strength to say anything else. Linc grinned then lay down beside me, pulling me to him so I could rest within the circle of his arms.
I breathed in his scent. Clean, male, aroused. I groaned and lifted my face to kiss the racing pulse at the side of his neck. Slick trickled from my ass, and even though I’d just come I wanted him inside me, where he belonged.
“Linc, make love to me.”
At his soft smile it occurred to me how fortunate I was. Until now I had never believed anything like this would be possible. Not for me. I thought I’d have to settle for being childless, for never finding someone to love me besides LuLu. I loved her, but I had to admit I was getting real lonely before I met Linc. And now? Now I had a family and was joining a community that felt like home. All the dreams I dared to have were coming true, and I honestly never felt happier.
11
Linc
“Daddy-to-be, coming through!” Gavin called out as he pushed through the small group of adult shifters who had assembled around a bonfire at the back of Jaxon's house.
I laughed and rolled my eyes as I let myself be dragged by the sleeve of my jacket. “I'm already a dad,” I said as a reminder.
“Baby-daddy-to-be, coming through!” Gavin corrected himself and chuckled at his own joke as we approached a circle of alphas. I tried to scowl at him, but I couldn't stop myself from beaming. It had been two weeks since we'd found out Shawn was pregnant, and I still felt lightheaded and giggly every time I was reminded of it.
“Hey, it's the super dad!” Jaxon said with a laugh. The alphas greeted me with hugs and slaps on the back.
“Now, what's going on with the claiming ceremony?” Jaxon asked, handing me a mug of hot chocolate as I sat between him and Greer on a large log in front of the fire. “I haven’t heard a peep from you for days.”
“That's actually what I want to talk to you about,” I said, my voice taking on a somber tone. “Does anybody know what the effects are on a pregnant human?”
“The effects of the bite?” Gavin asked, then glanced at Greer.
“Well, just the usual. They’re turned but can’t shift until they’ve had the baby,” Greer said.
“But what about complications? Has anyone heard of anything adverse happening?” I asked.
“Bryce was pregnant with Lori when I bit him, and everything was fine,” Jaxon replied.
“I know, but how often has that happened, that a human receives the claiming bite while pregnant? Do we have any other instances in recent memory?”
Jaxon frowned. “Actually, I think Bryce was the first pregnant human to be claimed in quite some time.”
“Then I can’t take the risk without knowing. Just because Bryce was alright doesn’t mean Shawn will be.”
“I can understand your concern,” Greer said. “But I’ve honestly never heard of anything bad happening.”
“Sorry, but that’s not good enough.” I shook my head. This wasn’t what I wanted to hear, and my protective instincts kicked in again. I would not take a chance on anything happening to Shawn or the baby. No way.
“Speak with Dr. Reed,” Jaxon said. “She’s been the pack’s obstetrician for years, I'm sure she'll know.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” I nodded, a little relieved someone would have a professional answer.
“And in the meantime, what about the ceremony?” Gavin asked.
“The last thing I want to do is to postpone it, but I'm not going to claim Shawn until I'm sure both he and the baby will be safe.”
Jaxon looked disappointed but put a hand on my shoulder for support. Greer and Gavin both nodded in agreement. Now I just needed to br
eak the news to Shawn.
The next day, I picked Cole up from school and headed straight for Shawn's house.
“Isn't it my weekend at Mom's?” Cole asked before he even got buckled up.
“Yeah, she'll pick you up from Shawn's later,” I explained again—for the third time that day.
“But should I go home to get my telescope in case Shawn wants to look at stars together?” he asked, looking out of the window distractedly.
“We're already late, Cole. And I'm sure you can both share his telescope.” I made a motion with my hand that said I needed him to hurry the hell up with the seatbelt.
“Oh yeah!” he said, smiling brightly. “Maybe I can use his!”
Just like magic, he quickly buckled up and kicked his legs excitedly, making up a song about some star constellations I'd never heard of as I drove us across town. This was the night Shawn and I had decided to tell Cole about the baby. We hadn’t told him earlier because we were taking the time to absorb it ourselves. I knew Shawn was over the moon about having a baby, but I wondered if he was okay about having one with me. There were small moments when I worried he’d simply agreed to be my mate because he hadn’t considered having children, and now we were having one together, did he think I was a good enough alpha to raise our kids? The only thing he had to go one was the way I’d raised Cole. I’d tried, of course, but not every parent had all the answers, and I’m sure there may have been something Shawn thought I’d done wrong. Was that enough for him not to want me? Would he change his mind after the baby was born?
As I navigated the streets of Timberwood Cove I tried not to allow my fears to take away what should be a time of happiness, but with my worry about the claiming bite and what it would do to Shawn and the baby, I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy right now. On top of that, I’d yet to tell Shawn about postponing it until we’d spoken to Dr. Reed. I sighed as I pulled up into the drive of Shawn’s house, worried about how the next few hours were going to go.
As Cole and I walked up to Shawn’s front door, it flew open to reveal LuLu wearing her special bowtie and Shawn in a handsome navy-blue sweater. God the man was gorgeous.
Surprised Daddy Page 12