He got on hands and knees, but his expression changed and instead of lover Brad, he was partner and prospective dad Brad. “You shouldn’t be on your feet, love.”
“Good idea. Follow me, repair man. I have something that needs fixing.”
“What’s that?” he asked breathlessly.
“A raging boner.”
He groaned and got to his feet, but me and my belly had a head start and I collapsed on the bed as he got to the door. He shucked off his pants and underwear, and my eyes went to his cock, hard and ready for me. “Are you fond of that robe?” he asked, his voice quivering.
“Huh? Why are you…?
“Just answer me.” That was a command, more of a bear order than a Brad one. And definitely not the repair man.
“Yes,” I gulped.
“Too bad.”
“Oh,” I squeaked as he crawled toward me, his gaze fixed on my face. I wasn’t sure what happened to the repair guy but I was glad a badboy had taken his place. He nudged the robe that was covering one leg and nibbled over my thigh. My head fell back and I groaned as he licked behind my knee. “Please, Brad. Put your mouth on me.”
He grunted and ignored me. I have to do everything! My hands went to my waist but he headbutted them away. “No hands. Mouth only,” he growled.
“Babe, no!” I whined. Pregnant omegas should not be denied a blow job! “You’re a big old meanie,” I panted as his teeth sank into the cotton fabric and tugged, exposing my dick. But once again, he sucked the soft flesh on my stomach, licked my thighs, and poked his tongue in my belly button. Only his cheek grazed my stiff length, and I shuddered as smooth warm flesh brushed over my arousal. He was ignoring it deliberately. The knot of anticipation in my stomach had me spreading my legs and grabbing my cock.
The bump got in the way, and I couldn’t see his face but got a snarl in response. Instead, he hovered over my belly, a frenzy of lust in his eyes before his teeth and tongue worried the tie at my waist. He gave up and tore the material to shreds, and I placed a hand on the back of his head. But he shrugged it off.
“Babe, if you don’t put your mouth on me, I’ll explode.”
His head popped up over the top of my belly. “Can’t have that, can we?” He disappeared, but his tongue swiped down one side of my shaft.
My trembling voice echoed my quivering legs. “M-More!”
And with no warning, he swallowed my cock, deep-throating me, while his tongue performed wicked tricks.
Arching my back, both hands fisting the bedding, I gave myself over to the delicious sensations flooding my body. The tingling, sharp pricks of desire, and goosebumps spiking at my damp skin.
A finger prodded my hole, drenched with slick, the aroma mingling with sweat. “Babe, I need to get on my side.”
His face appeared, slick, pre-cum and sweat coating his cheeks and lips. He licked around his mouth, and wicked as he was, poked out his tongue. “Wanna taste before I blow your mind?”
“God, yes.”
Thirty
Brad
“Shouldn’t we be going to the hospital?” Gabe asked for the fifth time as I turned into Willow Den. He was in labor—or at least we thought he was. If it was the Braxton Hicks contractions, there was no way he was going to make it through real labor without murdering me. As it was, he’d threatened me with a good bleeding a few times.
That told me they were real labor contractions. The irregularity of them had Gabe convinced they were not and that he was going to die long before the baby entered this world.
“What did Dr. Franklin say about the hospital?” I used my calmest almost radio voice.
“That they are fine for humans but it was best for me to deliver in the den.” He sighed. “But babies are born in hospitals.”
I pulled into my spot and Barry was already there waiting. I had called him to let him know we were on our way. I still couldn’t get over their bond, but I was happy for it. Barry was happier than I’d ever seen him, and it was nice that Gabe had someone with a human mate to talk to.
“We agreed this was best, but if you really want me to go to the hospital, I will,” I conceded as he bent forward, his head hitting the dash, a grunt of agony emitting from him.
“Here is fine,” he finally said as he pushed himself up and unbuckled his seat belt. “But if Doc doesn’t show up soon I’m calling an ambulance.” He reached for his door handle, and I got myself out of my seat and around to him as fast as I could, offering him a hand out. He accepted and I helped him out just as Barry reached his side of the car.
“Thanks for calling, Brad.” He was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. “I can’t believe it’s already baby day. I have the room set up the way Dr. Franklin told me to, and he’ll be here in ten minutes.” He then squeed. Yes...squeed. “I’m so glad you're letting me help even though I’m not official yet.”
Gabe managed to get out of the car, his poor belly making navigating small spaces like that extra difficult.
“Of course we are. You’re almost done with your first part of your midwife training, and you're my friend.”
Gabe had been the one to encourage Barry to follow his dream of being a bear-shifter midwife. He also encouraged Soren to put some things into place to help them recognize situations like Barry’s much earlier. Gabe was such a positive force within the den.
It was only fitting he’d been offered a position educating our youth.
Gabe hadn’t agreed just yet, saying he needed to see how things adjusted once the baby came, but I’d found scribbles of paper he’d left here, there, and everywhere filled with notes he’d jotted down with ideas for his classes. He was already in the pre-planning stage. Our den was so lucky to have him.
“Let’s get you inside.” Barry offered his arm, but Gabe shook his head.
“I need a minute.” The minute turned to two, turned to three, as I helped him stay standing and another contraction rolled through him.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were that close.” Barry gave me a look filled with I couldn’t even decipher what, but clearly I’d done something wrong.
“They aren’t consistent.” I scooped Gabe up. Carrying him was going to be easier, and best of all it would make me feel useful. Because right then and there I felt like the least useful mate in the world. I couldn’t help with his pain. I didn’t hold any medical knowledge. I was just in the way. Nope. Carrying him was good.
I walked him straight to my den apartment, the door already open for us. The living room had been completely moved around, and in the center was a tub or was it a pool. A cross between the two and where my omega would give birth to our daughter.
“You can put him down. He needs to get undressed and maybe shower if he used any hand creams or anything.” Barry was suddenly all official.
“Yes, shower.” Gabe wiggled, trying to get out of my arms. “I can walk, you know.” I let him down and he started toward the bathroom, stopping to look over his shoulder as he reached the threshold. “Fine, I can waddle.”
He was adorable.
“Want some help in there?”
“Nooooo,” his no turned into a scream, and I rushed to his side to be swatted away.
He eventually stood up straighter and walked into the bathroom leaving the door open. Less than thirty seconds later he called out, “I thought you were helping me.”
I raced in to the sound of Barry’s giggles.
By the time he got out of the shower and into the living room, his contractions were pretty much constant and his pain had my bear pacing.
“Dr. Franklin.” Gabe waddled to the tub. “You know what would be better? An epidural.” He stopped at the edge of the tub and looked to me.
“I’ve got you.” I raced over and helped him into the water.
“Yes, epidurals are helpful...but what would you do if you are one of the rare people whose baby shifts at birth?”
Gabe’s eyes went wide. “That happens?”
“Rarely, but yes.
” That would’ve been good for him to tell us earlier. “So how about we birth this baby in the tub.”
“You're coming in too,” Gabe told me as he sat down. “You're the reason I’m in this mess.” He glared.
I stripped down to my boxer briefs and climbed in.
The next two hours were filled with screams, tears, and a few choice words from my mate. I’d never felt so useless. All I could do was hold him and tell him how amazing he was.
“It’s time to push,” Barry said after conferring with Dr. Franklin.
“I don’t think I can. I’m so weak.”
“You are the strongest omega I have ever met. You’ve got this, love.” I moved so that I was behind him, his back pressed against my front. “You’ve got this,” I said again, this time in his ear.
And he did. Ten minutes later, our beautiful baby girl was born.
“She’s perfect, love.” I kissed his mating mark. “So absolutely perfect.”
“She is.” He leaned back into me. “Help me get out of here and into bed while they get her ready?” he asked as Dr. Franklin and Barry did whatever it was they had to do to record everything the human world required.
We’d just gotten in bed when Barry brought over our babe. “This is how it was always meant to be.” He settled her in Gabe’s loving arms.
And he was right.
Epilogue
Gabe
Standing in the living room holding a glass of wine, I did a 360 and studied my new home. A sprawling bungalow in the middle of a meadow. The meadow. Brad laughed at me calling it that. “It’s a field, Gabe.”
He’d been given permission from the den to purchase the land, and we’d built a house slap bang in the middle of my meadow. A sign saying, ‘Meadow View’ greeted guests as they walked up the front path.
I collapsed onto the sofa and placed my glass on the coffee table. “Coaster, please, Gabe.” Corey bustled over and wiped away the wet mark before placing a beer mat under my glass, tutting that he’d have to teach Ursula home management skills.
“There’s more to life than a tidy house, Corey.“ Though secretly I loved that he was the way he was. Because I wasn’t. Brad did most of the cooking or we moseyed down to Willow Den for dinner or he bought takeout from town.
“Does he live here now?” Brad jerked his head as my friend picked up our daughter who’d toppled over onto the floor. She was tired and needed a nap. Me too. She held out her arms to me and I made to get up, but Corey brought her to me.
“Not sure,” I sniggered as my little she-bear cuddled into me.
“I heard that,” Corey yelled as he poured himself a wine. “Drink, Brad?”
“Why yes, Corey I would love some of the wine I bought.”
“Ignore him,” I told my friend.
“Don’t worry,” he said as he slumped into an armchair. “I am.”
Corey was staying in our guest house because he complained the thirty-minute drive from his place into the wilderness was an overnight trip. And because I no longer worked in town, he whined he’d never see me if he didn’t venture forth into the unknown. His words, not mine.
Not only did we have a new home and a new baby, but my job now involved teaching bears. If someone had told me a few years ago I would be mated with a shifter, someone who could shift from man to bear, and birth a child that was half shifter, and then lose my job and end up teaching bears, I’d have said it made an interesting premise for a fantasy novel.
After I mated with Brad, Soren and the den elders reasoned they needed more interaction with humans. Despite living amongst them for centuries, the shifters worked and mated with other shifters, and in some ways barely scratched the surface of broader human culture.
My rant at Barrett that day got Soren thinking, and he asked Brad if I would be interested in offering evening classes on human culture. Brad, who was a very smart man, said he had to speak to me!
I’d explained that rather than offer dreary sessions on the dos and don’ts of human habits, one of the best and most interesting ways was to read English Literature. It would give the shifters an insight into how our minds worked and it’d be fun.
We started small with one group meeting once a week. More like a bookclub than an English Lit class. But it had become so popular, we scheduled more. And they wanted a curriculum, exams, and certificates. So, the den council built a dedicated building beside Willow Den. But that meant we had to train teachers because I couldn’t do it all and we couldn’t bring unsuspecting humans into the new school.
But there were enough young shifters who’d been students at my college, though none were in my classes. Though we were a small school, teaching, doing admin, and training people to become teachers was more than a full-time job. Luckily, I lived five minutes away, and Sarah, who I’d met that first night, looked after Ursula either at the house or in the dedicated nursery beside my office.
Corey’s head was lolling forward which wasn’t surprising. Even though he wasn’t an interior designer, we’d asked him to do it and paid him a huge fee because I… well… my idea of good design was to arrange the boxes so you don’t fall over them. And when I asked Brad about hiring someone, he responded with, “That’s a job?”
But my friend had outdone himself. Clean lines, soft muted colors with pops of brighter shades to liven up the spaces. And Ursula’s nursery was yellow with bunnies tumbling over the walls, a rocking chair, and plenty of storage space. It was a room that could be changed and adapted as she grew older.
This weekend’s visit was part social and part work as Corey put the finishing touches to the terrace.
Ursula was almost asleep. I kissed her and she mumbled, “Papa,” when I lay her in the crib. As I wandered back to the living room, Brad said, “Corey?”
“Mmmm?” my friend responded, still dozing with his eyes closed.
“I’m taking Gabe outside. Would you mind staying in the house in case the baby wakes?”
“No problem.” Corey turned and threw his legs over the arm of the chair and curled his upper body into a ball.
My mate took me by the hand and led me outside. Not onto the terrace but farther into the meadow. He pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his back pocket and smoothed it out. “As you know, literature is not really my thing.”
“Okay. You know I don’t care about that, but if you’re interested, you could attend one of my classes.”
He shook his head. “But literature is so important to you and I tried to write a poem, but all I came up with was, ‘Roses are red, Violets are blue.’ Not very original.”
“Brad.” I took his hand but he sank onto one knee. What is he—? No, is he doing what I think he is?
“I did some research and discovered limericks. So I’ve written one. It’s not great and very silly as I guess most of them are. But it’s mine and from my heart.”
My eyes swam with tears as this huge bear of a man did his best to be a part of my world.
He took a deep breath. “Okay, here goes.”
There was a young man named Gabe,
Who really was a cool babe.
He fell in love with a bear,
And said what do I care,
‘Cause I am not to be swayed.
Wetness covered my cheeks and I assumed I was crying. It was a silly little ditty but it was his and he’d written it for me, about me. His love tore inside me and kissed my heart, leaving a permanent imprint. “I’ve got my own version of Shakespeare.” My lips trembled as I yanked his hand trying to get him to stand, but he refused.
“Well, as I’m here,” he said.
“Wait! You’re missing something.” Corey tore out with our sleeping daughter and handed her to me, before sobbing and racing back onto the terrace.
Brad glanced toward my human friend and whispered, “Bears don’t usually do marriage. It’s a human custom. But as we’re a mixed-species family, I’d like to do it for you.”
“I can’t hear what he’s saying,” Corey y
elled.
“Are you sure you want to keep him?” Brad asked, this time in a loud voice as he smirked and I giggled.
“Now I heard that,” Corey sniffed.
“Please marry me. You and Ursula are my world, a family I’d never dreamed of, and yet you did. You dreamed it, my love, and here we are.”
“Yes!”
Next in the series…
Fate doesn't use dating apps to pair true mates...except when it does.
Alpha and Panther shifter Bryce doesn’t have time for dating. His claw just relocated after their land was taken by eminent domain and things are utter chaos. That doesn’t stop his Beta and bestie from setting him up using a shifter dating app. After his Beta arranges a date for Bryce behind his back, Bryce sends him in his place to let the man down gently. He immediately realizes his mistake when his Beta returns and he scents his true mate—the date he stood up. If only his fated hadn’t already disabled his app.
Human omega Corey isn’t completely oblivious to the world of shifters. His best friend and former roommate is mated to a bear. What he doesn’t expect is to have his match on Love and Hate be one. His match is hawt, smart, and totally uninterested in him, which works out well for Corey since he doesn’t really feel it either. Only there is something about him that makes him sad. They didn’t even try a second date. Frustrated, he cancels his account and heads home. Dating just isn’t worth it.
Bryce’s panther is on edge, and when he visits his lawyer, Brad, the bear recognizes his distress and offers to help him track down his mate, never expecting said mate is currently babysitting his daughter.
Matched To His Panther is the third book in the sweet with knotty heat Dates of Our Lives series, an M/M mpreg shifter dating app romance brought to you by the popular co-writing duo of Lorelei M. Hart and Colbie Dunbar. It features a human who prefers dogs to cats, an alpha struggling to make a new life for his claw, two meddling besties, and an adorable baby. If you like your shifters hawt, your omegas strong, your mpreg with heart, and your HEAs complete with true mates and a bundle of joy, one-click today.
Matched To His Bear: An M/M Mpreg Shifter Dating App Romance (The Dates of Our Lives Book 2) Page 13