“What?!” he cried happily, and bounced down off the chair. I set the camera on the table and stood with him in front of the tree. With shaking hands, I handed him a small leather pouch with two paw prints embossed on either side.
“Um, what is this?” he asked, looking it over. “I didn't know we were doing early gifts.”
“Open it,” I said, and then cleared my throat.
He glanced at the camera, and then back at me, and reached inside the pouch. He eyes widened and he gasped.
“Is this....?” he asked, and pulled out a key to my apartment.
“Will you move in with me?” I asked, my voice coming out clear and strong.
Tripp squealed and immediately started crying as he hugged the key to his chest.
“Are you serious?!” he cried.
“Yes, I'm dead serious,” I smiled, and then frowned. “Is that... a yes?”
“Yes!” he cried, and threw his arms around my neck. “Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes!”
“I love you so much,” I said, pressing my lips against his.
“I love you, Deck,” he sobbed, kissing me back.
20
Tripp
It took a couple of months of living with Decker, but I finally admitted that the light in the apartment and even the decor was actually totally perfect for filming. Life from then on was easier than ever. We got back to producing content for our own channels, and filming for our own was the easiest thing in the world. A year later, we had a lot to celebrate.
Whiskey burned my throat as it fell down my gullet. Decker's hand was in mine and the cheers of our friends erupted around us as we took our celebratory shots, with Nash throwing in a loud “WHOOP!” for variety. He always had to stand out from the crowd. But Decker and I were in the center this time.
“Well done, you sexy bastards!” Sutton chimed in.
I made a show of retching after finishing my shot, but Decker quickly pulled me in for a kiss and made me forget the pain. He actually liked whiskey. He wasn't fazed. But even a year after getting together, his kisses still made me feel drunker than any liquor and I swooned against him.
“You all right?” he asked, ever the concerned mate.
“Now I am,” I assured him. “Well, maybe I need one more kiss.”
He laid one on me: dramatic, romantic, swinging his head from side to side.
I felt Jonah clap me on the back. “Well done, man,” he said. “Two million subscribers is a shitload. I know you don't need me to tell you to go wild tonight. But you should, you deserve it! Plus the party will be more fun that way.” He winked and made me laugh.
“Extra encouragement doesn't go astray, dear Jonah,” I said, wrapping my arm around his shoulder. “But thank you, you're a sweetheart. And a good friend!” I pecked him on the cheek.
“Want a glass of red to wash down that whiskey?” he asked.
“Ugh, yes, please, you're an angel. I wasn't going to complain but… ugh!”
“Comin' up.” Jonah disappeared in search of the bartender. Decker had gotten ahold of another shot somehow and was now raising it in the air over my head.
“To my gorgeous mate, my former tormentor, and perfect lover, Tripp Ingram!”
Another round of cheers erupted and Decker threw back his shot and kissed me again.
“You sap!” I accused him as my heart pounded hard in my chest. “You're a mush! A big softie!”
“Yeah, what about it?” he challenged me, with his arms wrapped around my waist.
“Nothing. I like you whether you're hard or soft,” I smirked, and kissed him as he lifted me up off the floor triumphantly.
Now that our Life's a Tripp social media empire was growing, the future looked brighter than ever. Living with Decker was a dream. We had a few stumbling blocks, like any couple learning to share space. But our love of spats and banter helped diffuse the tension, not to mention our crazed devotion and thirst for each other.
His cooking was getting better with my help, and he was teaching me how to use free weights to improve some of my yoga postures. I had taught him enough yoga that he was willingly stretching after every single workout of his. He even used an app to meditate every morning before he started his day. He was growing into a more amazing man right before my eyes than I ever thought possible.
Moving through life with my fated mate by my side, life just seemed so much better. I loved coming home to him every day and getting to fall asleep in his arms every night. We fit together. I still felt, though, that there was just one thing missing, and that night it gnawed at me.
After we crawled into bed, we were spooning like we usually did. Decker lay behind me with his arm wrapped around me, and I was playing with his fingers, wiggling them and bending them around my own in various combinations. He noticed I was quieter than usual.
“Anything bothering you, babe?”
“No, not really. I'm fine,” I said, almost honestly.
“Too many whiskey shots?”
“Hah. What are you saying? I can still handle my liquor. I haven't aged that much.”
“You've never been able to handle liquor.”
“That's true. But I only had one whiskey shot. It wasn't too bad.”
“Okay then. If you say so.” Decker seemed convinced. Then he rolled me over to my back and loomed over me, gazing into my eyes with his piercing blue ones. Now that he had seen my eyes, he seemed to recognize that there was something else going on. “Are you sure you're all right?”
I sighed. I didn't want to make him feel like he wasn't enough for me. But I also didn't want to keep this from him any longer, and since he was persisting with his questions in such a sweet way, I decided now was as good a time as any.
“Okay,” I sighed, “First off, I want you to know that I love you, and I am so happy living this life that we've created together. There's nothing wrong with the way things are. Being with you is pure heaven.”
“That's very nice of you to say,” Decker offered. He kissed the tip of my nose and prodded me gently. “But...?”
“But I do feel like there's something missing and it's starting to bother me.”
Decker kissed me gently, on the lips this time, and said, “If it's within my power to give you whatever it is that's missing, then consider it yours.”
I felt myself melting into a puddle on the pillow and squirmed around underneath him while cooing, “Aw!”
Decker kissed me again.
“This is why I love you, Decker Savage. You're the biggest, strongest, sweetest sweetheart in the universe.”
Decker's smile looked like it was going to fall off the edges of his face, it had grown so big.
“You're the one for me. And that's why… I want to have a baby with you,” I finished, pushing out the words quickly before my nerves had a chance to hold them back.
Decker leaned down to press against me and wrapped me up in his arms. He kissed my ear and then whispered into it, “Yes. I think we've waited long enough.”
“Really? Are you sure?” I squealed. I was excited but wanted to make sure he wasn't agreeing too quickly and would regret it later. I knew he wanted kids but I thought he might want to wait another year or two.
“We're in great places in our lives and in our careers, we have a supportive community, and we love kids. Let's do it. Let's have a baby.”
Now it was my turn to smile so widely that it hurt. “Thank god,” I said. “I stopped taking my suppressors yesterday, so we can start trying soon.”
“Mmm, no shit,” Decker growled, “What kind of alpha would I be if I couldn't tell already you'd stopped taking them?”
“Oh my god, am I in heat already?” I asked. “I'm always so horny for you, I didn't notice anything different.”
“You will be soon. I can smell it coming on. Let's get an early start… just in case.”
“Yeah...that sounds like a really, really good idea,” I said, kissing him.
He got rowdy right away, pressing himse
lf into me and sticking his tongue in my mouth. I pulled away for a moment and added, “We should do this a lot. Just to be safe.”
“Yeah, just to be safe,” he agreed. Then he went back to stroking my mouth with his tongue and pressing his growing erection against mine.
I felt hungrier for him than ever before. In the past I had felt, many times, like I would die if I didn't feel his cock ram into me. Especially right before he claimed me. But this was different. It seemed to come from a different place within me, somewhere deep inside that was somehow out of my control. Like the Moon itself was willing us into motion. Decker had gotten rock hard in the time we spent kissing and grinding the length of his cock against mine.
I moaned, “I love you so much, baby,” into his ear, and bit the lobe.
“I love you, Tripp,” he whispered in my ear, placing his hand around both of our shafts. We kept rubbing them together, getting harder as he tightened his grip on them. He slid his hand down to my hole and found it sopping wet.
“Oh, fuck,” he said, and immediately slid his cock off mine and wedged it between my ass cheeks, taking my abundant lubrication as invitation to enter me faster than usual. I bent my knees to let him in and his cock slid into my hole easier than ever. He moaned loudly and I clutched his back with my fingernails. Feeling his whole cock go in at once was like a shot of caffeine entering my bloodstream. I felt crazed with lust.
“Oh, Deck!”
“Tripp, you feel so fucking good!” he breathed. “My cock has never felt this good before.”
He fucked me hard and slow, with even strokes and rhythm, and my hole clenched around him every time he pushed in. I couldn't help but moan with every thrust. He swirled his hips, moving the head of his dick side to side in my ass, which made my delicate insides feel tickled and sensitive.
He slowed it down then, kissed me sweetly and tenderly, and I stroked the sides of his face with my fingers. We got lost in that cloud of sweet love for a minute, and then I felt his knot start to form. I bucked my hips to enjoy a few more thrusts of his exquisite cock. I wanted to feel rooted and full before his knot locked us into place.
A few strokes later, his knot was fully expanded and he was panting on top of me. I wrapped my arms around him, holding onto his shoulders, and he pressed his chest into mine. Feeling so much of our skin on each other while he tried to get me pregnant was a new kind of deep intimacy I hadn't felt before. I lost track of whose skin was whose as we slid against each other, snug in our sheets, and covering each other's faces in kisses. It felt like static electricity was building in between us. I couldn't wait to feel the shock when it exploded.
Once Decker's knot was stretching me to the limit, he grunted and told me what I wanted to hear.
“I'm gonna come in you, baby,” he grunted. “I'm gonna get you pregnant.”
“Give me your seed, Deck. I wanna have your baby,” I whined.
“Uh... Ugh ...I'm gonna give it to you. I'm gonna spill it deep inside you. I want you to have my baby.”
I felt his back shudder and his legs quaking. I loved that he was getting off thinking about impregnating me. He really did want that baby, it wasn't just about trying to make me happy. He held onto me desperately as his hips bucked hard against my ass.
“Oh, fuck, yeah, Deck. Fuck, yeah!” I cried out.
I put my hand around my cock. I wanted to come when he did. He bit my neck and growled like the wolf inside him. I felt my ass fill with hot, sticky liquid and I grasped my own cock as my cum spilled all over both of us, shooting high enough to land a glob on Decker's cheek.
He collapsed on top of me and I closed my eyes, focusing on the sensation of being full with his seed, plugged up inside me by his gigantic knot. I felt myself slipping in and out of a light, satisfied sleep.
“Oh, fuck. God, that was insane. I hope it worked,” Decker whispered as he propped himself up by his hands. He always wanted to perform his best. Such an athlete. “But I can't say I would mind trying again.”
“It might get even more fun once my heat fully kicks in,” I said, wiping the spot of cum off his cheek with my finger. He leaned down and sucked it off.
“I can't even imagine what that would be like,” he said. “Nothing could be hotter than what we just did. But knowing you, it could get wild. We'll need a chandelier for you to swing from.”
“Hah! I like that idea. Sounds glamorous,” I giggled.
“I love you, Tripp,” he said solemnly, looking down at me with serious eyes.
“Baby… I love you, too,” I smiled, looking up at those bright eyes and feeling the surge of happiness rise in my chest. I had what I’d always wanted. And I was about to get even more.
21
Decker
At the small recording studio Tripp and I had opened just outside of town, I was halfway through shooting a solo video about protein shakes when my phone started ringing.
“Shit,” I hissed, and reached to pause the camera when an instinct told me I needed to answer that call quickly. I stopped and went straight for my phone instead. It was Jonah.
“Hey, what's up?” I asked, leaning back in my chair and staring straight at the camera.
“Labor! Tripp! Hospital! Now!” he cried, panic in his voice.
“Fuck!” I cried and just about fell off my chair. Tripp wasn't due for another week – not a big deal for human babies, but shifter gestation only took seventy-five days.
“Is everything okay?!” I asked, stumbling through the studio, almost tripping over cables, and grabbing my keys. We hadn't packed an overnight bag for him yet – we hadn't even finished fitting out the nursery.
“Everything seems okay, yeah,” Jonah reported. “I'm driving him in now. I was at his class and his water broke. You doing okay, buddy?”
I heard Tripp let out a high-pitched giggle and he called out, “Hey, baby, we're having a baby!”
“Yeah, I guess everything is fine,” Jonah confirmed, sounding a little relieved until Tripp let out an ear-busting screech.
“Oh, fucking shit fuck!” Tripp wailed. “Another contraction! Fucking! Shit! Penis! Fuck! I hate you!”
“Just hurry,” Holden breathed.
He didn't have to tell me twice. I bolted to the hospital. Each breath I took along the way made me feel more panic than the one before. It's not like we weren't prepared to have a baby – I just knew that I wasn't prepared to see Tripp in pain. I prayed with all of my might that the Moon would grant him a painless birth experience.
Unfortunately, my prayer was officially rejected. When I got to the hospital, Jonah met me at the front door and pointed out the way I should go. Tripp was already in the operating room, but the nurses didn't have to show me the way – I just had to follow the sound of him swearing bloody murder against me and every other alpha on earth.
“Fuck you!” he screamed at me as I entered the room. He was lying down on the table and doctors were beginning to prep him for his C-section.
“Hey, baby,” I cooed, quickly scooting over to him and taking his hand. He was sweating hard, and breathing rapidly through pursed tips. He looked up at me and his eyes softened for a moment.
“Thank god you're here,” he whimpered, squeezing my hand.
“You're doing great,” I told him, squeezing back. “Anything I can get you?”
“You can – oh my god!” he cried. “Fuck! Another contraction! You can get this fucking thing out of me and make this stop right now, fucking hell, what is the holdup here?!”
“Almost ready,” the doctor confirmed. “Just breathe it out.”
“Breathe it out,” I said, and began doing the breath exercises we'd practiced. Tripp did a great job of following along, breathing through the pain and staring up at me.
“I'm never having another kid,” he swore.
“Okay, baby, that's fine,” I agreed with him.
“You better love this one because this is it. The end,” he growled, then gripped my hand so hard that I thought he might break i
t. I breathed through the pain, too.
“No problem, baby,” I managed to get out before he clenched down on my hand again and I took a raspy breath. I did my best to squeeze back to let him know that he had my undying support, but I could barely move my fingers now.
“All right, Tripp, we have here on your record that you opted for a natural birth, but we can start the painkillers now if you give your consent,” the doctor said.
“Fucking hell! Obviously I want the painkillers! Lay it on me, doc!” Tripp squealed, and then burst into hysterics before quickly hissing and then breaking into tears. I almost laughed at how quickly his moods changed – it was like seeing a day's worth of Tripp mood swings in just three seconds.
“Oh my god, Decker,” he moaned, and clenched down on his jaw. “I love you so much.”
I chuckled and leaned down to plant a quick kiss on his wet brow. “I love you, baby. You're just as emo in labor as you are when you're drunk.”
Tripp let out a barking laugh and let go of his iron grip on my hand.
“I can't wait to raise the best kid with you,” he whispered.
“I can't wait, either,” I smiled. “Not long now.”
“Not long now,” he sighed, and then closed his eyes. Tripp took a deep breath and started chanting Om over and over again. The doctor glanced at me and I just gave him a nod to let him know that this was perfectly normal behavior and he should continue with the operation.
I watched as Tripp's face melted into a serene, calm expression, and I felt the vibration of his mantra fill the entire room. It was so soothing to hear, and it even calmed me down, too. I took deep breaths and listened to the hum of it until suddenly, as though out of nowhere, the Om was joined with a loud, wailing cry – our baby boy had been born!
Tripp's eyes flew open and he looked up at me with total shock.
“Our baby,” he whispered.
“We have a baby,” I beamed down at him, and then quickly turned to look at our little boy being bathed and swaddled up for us to hold.
Claimed By My Pretend Boyfriend: Blackwater Pack Book Six Page 17