Finding His Passion: A Shifter Mpreg Romance (Greycoast Pack Book 4)

by Jena Wade

  He continued to look at my thigh. “Gio, It will extend up to here.” I pointed to the spot right under my rib cage.

  “Then what is that line?” He tilted his head.

  “The opening.”

  “But the baby will fall out.” And his confusion made sense for the first time. He didn’t understand wombat anatomy… at all. “I’ve seen kangaroos and that’s upside down.”

  “For a kangaroo it would be upside down, yes.” I bent over, the pressure building again. “For a wombat it’s right side up.”

  “Now, out of the way, we need to get your mate off the table and outside so he can shift and do the thing.” Do the thing. For a healer she sounded very much not. Do the thing. I was about to push out a child too small for this world in the hopes it managed to find its way into its home for the next eight months.

  “What thing?” he asked, taking a long step back after receiving some heavy side eye from Lissy.

  “Having his baby.” She looked at him like he had five heads, forgetting he hadn’t done the thousands of hours of research she had not only in healing, but also in wombats.

  “We’re… having a baby… today?” Gio stammered.

  “No.” She shook her head and held out her hands for me, the ones glued to my center, trying to keep the low burn from increasing. “Gio, get with the program.”

  “But you said…” He looked to me for answers, but Lissy took over.

  “I misspoke. Your neonate is about to be born.”

  “Neowhat?”

  “Our baby, Gio. Our baby.” I slid off the table. “Why am I feeling the need to shift? Not like my wombat is pushing me but like I need to do it now?” I directed my question at Lissy, Gio still trying to catch up.

  “Does no one listen to me—outside—shift—neonate—shift back, and for goodness sakes, mate already.” She belted it out loud enough I half expected the pack to be outside waiting for the event. “Looking at your bare necks is painful.”

  She marched out and Gio helped me off the table, and after I took one step, he shook his head, lifted my shirt up and over my head, and lifted me into his arms, carrying me out.

  “I always wanted to be a dad, more so since I met you, but I gotta be honest, I thought I would have more than ten minutes’ warning, my love.”

  “To be fair, I only found out right before someone tried to kill me and you will have eight more months. After today you won’t see them again for quite a while.” Although I did hear that once in a while you might get a peek if you’re super lucky.” I needed to ask my brother about that one. “I need you to let me down.”

  He set me down and I curled up, the pain almost too much as my skin separated. I allowed my wombat to take over. It was his time to shine.

  And shine he did.

  With Lissy and Gio looking on, I birthed our baby, our neonate finding its way to its new home like a champ. Then, much to our surprise, another baby came. It was twins! We were having twins. I didn’t even get a good look at them, not that it would comfort me. From the questions Gio was asking they looked pretty darn alien, and at one point he wasn’t sure if they were okay, not broken in half, until Lissy pointed out that they were two distinct, perfectly healthy babes.

  Yeah, pretty sure I wouldn’t be feeling comforted by seeing them.

  When Lissy gave me the all clear I shifted back, my hands settling on my belly with wonder. “Thank you.”

  “I didn’t do anything,” Lissy replied.

  “I meant Gio, you know, for putting the babes in my belly to begin with.”

  “Oh yeah, I had nothing to do with that either. Well done, Dad.” She hip checked him as he stood in his spot, not moving. “It’s okay, you can hug your mate. You can kiss him, too. You can even knot him, sinking your teeth into his shoulder so I’ll stop mentioning it.”

  “Best reason ever to get mated, Lissy.” I walked over to Gio. “I’m fine. Better than. This?” I circled my middle with my hands. “This is all normal. I promise.”

  “You have babies in you… two… one… two… two babies… with an open flap… they’re going to fall.”

  It took Lissy and I an hour to prove to him the babies weren’t going anywhere and that I could live my normal life with them in my pouch, shifting and all. And no, one of them wouldn’t kick the other out.

  “I need to get you to a nice cozy bed.” He walked us up to the Alpha’s house to grab the keys to a truck. “You need sleep.”

  “You heard Lissy. I need a mark,” I sassed as the door opened up. Byrom was there, his hair disheveled and splinters covering his shirt.

  “Just got back,” he explained. “You weren’t kidding about the hotel?” he guessed.

  “I figured it was best until the hole in the wall was gone and the blood bleached out.”

  “Done and done.”

  “What? That’s impossible.” I’d seen the place. It was safe, but not even close to finished.

  “The pack stepped up.” He explained all the people who’d helped and what they did, including cleaning, painting, and even new furniture from Ozzy.

  “It’s… that’s… you…” I couldn’t form words and if I tried too hard I was going to cry. Fuck, it had been one hell of a day.

  “It’s what pack does, Thorne. And that’s what you are…pack.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Gio

  I was thrumming with excitement. I was going to be a father. Technically, I already was. They were the tiniest little things and so red…well past pink, and strong. They climbed up and into the pouch like a master. My kids were going places.

  “You think it’ll be weird—the house, I mean. After what happened?” Thorne asked, and I didn’t blame him. It might be. But it might also be powerful, knowing we were set free there.

  “I don’t know, but if it is, we move. Done.” There were plenty of places left to build on our pack lands. No reason he should stay a second longer than he was comfortable. “And if we get there tonight and you’re not wanting to stay—the hotel option is open.”

  He held my hand a little tighter, his second one still on his belly. “I bet they painted it green,” he surmised as it came into vision.

  “Why green? I’d assume white or grey.” I didn’t get the grey wall thing but it was on all the home shows so it was popular enough.

  “Because Byrom likes green and he was in charge.” It was true. The man wore green most days.

  “Let’s see.” We reached the steps and I stopped him. “Pears. Just say pear and we are outta here. Zero questions asked.”

  “Got it,” he promised and we walked up the stairs, opening the door and stepping inside.

  The room had a pear motif. My jaw dropped. There were pears stenciled in the kitchen, a huge pop culture print that was one giant can of pears… pear-scented candles lined the mantle. There were even pear pillows on our new couch. And the walls… the walls… they were that reddish color you got with the fancy pears that were only in the stores for like half a second.

  Our house was pears.

  “That’s a lot of… umm, boldness.” He walked around the room. “We won’t… I mean it’s different enough… that was the dumbest secret code ever.”

  “Prickles… prickly pear… it fit,” I explained. “But we should be thinking of a new escape word I think.”

  “Cactus,” he said decisively. “Same word just said differently—I mean based on how you got it.”

  “We can do cactus. Are you okay with all this pearness? Because we can change it.” Remarkably enough, I didn’t hate it.

  “I say we keep it. It means they cared enough to give us what they thought we wanted no matter how ridiculous it was.” He had a point. “Now take me to bed, alpha. We have some claiming to do.”

  “You need to rest. You’re growing shifters—two shifters.”

  “Doctor’s orders.”

  “Shower. Bed.” And then a horrible thought flickered through my mind. “Can they… drown in there?”
<
br />   His laughter told me he didn’t have a similar worry. “Come with me. I want to show you.”

  He walked into our bedroom and I followed him, unsure what he was going to show me that would help. Him getting completely naked was not it. He crawled onto the bed and lay down on his back.

  “Well, come see.”

  What I could see was his cock standing at attention.

  “You just had a baby.” I squeaked at the words.

  “And I shifted, but that’s not what I’m even referring to. Come here, alpha mine.” I went over to the side of the bed and knelt down. “Not what I had in mind, but it will do. Give me your hand.” I did and he took it, rubbing it along his lower belly. “That’s the pouch opening, but what odd thing do you notice about that?”

  “It’s bumpy?” I guessed. It felt more like a fading scar than an opening. “It doesn’t open.”

  “He gets it in one.”

  “So you aren’t going to drop the baby?”

  “Nope. I’m also not going to drown them, lose them, or mush them. They’re just like any other babies right now except when I’m a wombat. They might stick a nose out once in a while near the end or when I’m furry, but not for a long, long while,” he explained, and I felt a thousand times better about our babies and the wrong side up pouch. “You know what else that means?”

  He pointed to his erection. “It means you can do something about this and,” he pointed to his neck, “this.”

  “You’ve had a hard day.” I cringed, realizing what I’d just said. “Not that kind of hard. You know what I mean.”

  Thorne pushed himself to sit. “I know that my morning went from fun shower times with my sexy mate to planning breakfast to finding out I was pregnant to accidentally summoning a dark healer to almost losing you and our baby and our house being destroyed.” He took in a deep breath. “And do you know what I was thinking the entire time?”

  “You didn’t want to die?” Because my every thought was on him not dying.

  “No. It was that I regretted not being mated to you while I had the chance.” He reached up, cupping my cheek with his hand. “Don’t let me wonder if I’m ever going to feel that way again. Make love to me… make me yours.”

  My heart cracked at his confession and I took off my clothes and climbed into bed with him where we made slow, sweet love, my teeth sinking into his neck as his sunk into mine and I filled him with my knot.

  He was mine for always. That had never been a question. But something in our bond strengthened that night, be it the defeat of our worst fears, the start of our life as a family of four, or our bond as mates. Possibly it was all three.

  And as my eyes closed with my mate in my arms, I was content—truly content for the very first time.

  Epilogue

  Gio

  I walked over to my mate, holding a plate in my hand filled to the brim with all of the fixings. He sat at a table underneath the pavilion that Ozzy had built for the pack. The pack had gathered for a party. It was a celebration of so many different things: the changing of the season, our growing pack, the first shift of some of our young—it was a celebration of the pack.

  Our Alpha Byrom and Alpha Omega Cord mingled among the pack. Their oldest Patrick walked close to Byrom’s side, mimicking his every move as he spoke with his pack members. I didn’t think it was possible, but he was getting cuter by the day. Cord held their youngest one, a girl this time, in a woven wrap. She was sound asleep, her little mouth open. So much cuteness.

  I’d have to look into getting a wrap or something like that for myself and Thorne. Twins. With two babies to carry around, baby wearing might be our only chance at survival. His parents had told me that wombat babies, since they were used to their pouch, tended to be on the clingy side. They constantly wanted to be held.

  I had no issue with that. If my children needed comfort, I would provide them comfort. If they needed my warmth, I would provide warmth. If they needed food… well, that was on Thorne at least until they were on solids, and then watch out. I was going to be the breakfast-making champion. Pancakes, waffles, eggs… all the things.

  Lyle chased his and Emmett’s little girl. Emmett held their son. Their son and Byrom’s daughter ended up being born just hours apart from one another. It had been a hectic night for the pack. Poor Lissy had bounced between two births that night, as the Alpha family welcomed two new children into the fold.

  It had been a good year for us, for our pack.

  Kade and Ozzy sat across from my mate. Their daughter Zoey sat between them. It wouldn’t surprise me if they had an announcement of their own soon. Zoey played with a carved wombat that Ozzie had made. She clutched it tightly in her hand.

  I set the plate down in front of Thorne and he looked at it with wide eyes.

  “Is that for you or for me?” he asked.

  “You,” I said.

  He was just three weeks from his due date. Though, Lissy had said since he was carrying twins, it was likely for him to go into labor anytime, and we should be prepared. We were. At least I hoped we were.

  I still didn’t quite understand how the whole labor thing was going to work given he’d already birthed them, but she assured me it would become clear when the time arrived and not to worry about it. I worried. It was my nature.

  The last time we shifted together, which was about a month ago, I saw little eyes popping out of the pouch and freaked out. Not even going to pretend otherwise. I had visions of them falling out and shifted on the spot, begging Thorne to shift also. He did, laughing at my explanation that the baby was going to get lost on the way.

  How nice would it be if birthing them meant them falling me out and catching them. The pain he endured the night they traveled to their pouch was enough for me. I wanted his life to be pain free and filled with happiness. He’d been through enough. But that was not how life was, so I settled on living each day to make him smile. So far it was working well—even if it meant he just snatched my lunch.

  “I can’t eat all of that, Gio. I’ll explode. I can maybe have two bites, and then in twenty minutes have two more bites.” He’d eat the whole thing, realizing he was hungry after a bite or two. He always did, which was good. It helped nourish our babies.

  “You need to eat protein to keep your strength up,” I said. “For the big event.”

  “The big event?” he said with a raised brow. “That’s what you’re calling it?”

  I shrugged. “You’re eating for three, Thorne.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Oh, trust me, I’m aware. I’m also walking for three and that’s really, really difficult.” He smiled at me. “Thank you, sweetheart. I appreciate you making the plate, but I can’t possibly eat all of this.”

  My wolf whimpered. All we wanted was to make our mate’s life more comfortable and easier, but it seemed that no matter what we did lately our mate was struggling. Walking had become difficult, his ankles swelled to softball size if he stood too long. And sleeping. Sleeping was not happening in our house. Perhaps it was in preparation for the twins. Our bodies were getting ready to wake up every two hours.

  Although last night, I’m pretty sure neither one of us slept a wink. I rubbed his back for hours, but no matter what I did he couldn’t get comfortable. He had to pee every thirty minutes, and it took him five minutes to get in and out of bed each time.

  “Can I get you something to drink? Do you think maybe you should put your feet up?” I stood behind him and rubbed his shoulders. He moaned and leaned forward.

  “Rub my back, it’s kind of been hurting me all day.”

  I stilled. “Like labor pains?”

  He turned around and looked at me. “Do you think…?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “My labor pains snuck up on me,” Ozzy said. “They just all of a sudden hit me and they were the most painful things I had ever experienced. Our wolves take the majority of the pain, and our human side does the hard work at the end. Like a relay race. May
be, as a wombat, you’re feeling contractions all day?”

  Thorne shrugged. “I don’t know.” Now would be a great time for us to ask his parents.

  While I’d have preferred to see them living on packlands with us, it wasn’t the wombat way. And I got that, especially after what they’d been through. It was with great joy, and a little bit of negotiations between Byrom and Ozzy’s brother Dylan, that we were able to find them the perfect land at the perfect price just on the far side of ours. Dylan’s pack suddenly discovering the need to sell a small parcel with just the right vegetation and a little pond.

  Dylan was a good man.

  “This seat taken?” Lissy asked, her plate full. “There are so many good things to eat. Have you guys tried these?” She held up a mini cupcake. “Mia made them and they are to die for.” She popped it in her mouth and made little yummy sounds.

  “I’ve been trying to stay away from things with too much acidity.” My mate pointed to his rounded middle, which did a weird wavy thing like the ripple in your blanket when you snap it while making the bed. “I probably should avoid lemon.”

  And we were just ignoring the alien motions. M’kay. It was probably one of them kicking again. They loved to do that. I teased him that he had little kangaroos in his pouch once.

  Only once.

  He hadn’t been impressed.

  “Oh, these aren’t lemon.” She held out one to him. “They’re made of prickly pears.”

  “Cactus,” Thorne blurted out.

  “Yes—they are cactus, but I didn’t want to say that because people are turning their noses up at them.” She leaned in a little closer. “I’m the cupcake ambassador. I’d feel bad if they were all left at the end just because people were afraid to try something new.” She was protecting Mia’s feelings. Lissy was… Lissy. She saved this pack, helped bring most of the new generation into this world, and kept us all fed. She was a pack treasure. That was for sure.

  “Are you pimping my cupcakes again,” Mia interrupted, sitting beside Lissy. Busted. “If you convince everyone to try their deliciousness there won’t be any to take home.”