“Sheriff, I heard the call.” Sheriff Martin’s head snapped in the direction of his deputy. “Figured I could help, looks like you got your hands full with Clarence. I can deal with the boy.”
“I need to check him over,” Doc insisted. “And August too. You know—rules.” He parroted the man’s previous excuse for taking in Clarence. “I’ll call Claire and schedule court for the morning.” I didn’t know who Claire was, but she was suddenly one of my favorite people.
The sheriff looked back and forth between Doc and Deputy Ron and scowled. Doc had been right, this was all about power to the man, and with two men giving him no way out but to do what they suggested, he was not pleased. He spit on the ground and nodded to Xander who ran to Doc.
Sheriff Martin climbed in his car, turning behind him to say something to Clarence, and then he took off.
“Thanks, Ron. I owe ya.” Doc nodded his head in the man’s direction.
“You do. I was just about to get a full stack from the diner. It was so close—sitting there in the window, waiting for Lila to bring it my way.”
Apparently, Doc had called him and asked him to come. Interesting. “You owe me breakfast.”
He walked back to his car, stopping long enough to add, “With real syrup.”
“Hows ‘bout lunch?” Doc asked him. “Looks like I got court in the morning.”
“Yeah, that’s good. I’ll be there.” Deputy Ron and Doc seemed to be saying more without any words before he finally got in his cruiser and took off.
I climbed into Doc’s car with Jase following behind us in his. I wanted to ride with him to find out what he was doing here and to tell him I missed him, but Xander was scared and asked me to drive with him, so I did.
When I finally looked in a mirror, I was relieved to see my face wasn’t as awful as I originally thought. Doc cleaned me up pretty quickly with Jase hovering in the background, his eyes never leaving me, all protective like. I took that as a good sign that he wasn’t back because he forgot something, but maybe he was back for me.
He and Doc had a little whisper session while I promised Xander I would take care of Boxer and meet them in the morning. I had a sneaking suspicion Doc had something to do with Jase being back.
I didn’t care why.
As long as he was back.
Please let him be staying.
23
Jase
With the gunshot and subsequent activity, Auggie and I didn’t get a chance to talk. At all. When he said he wanted to ride with Doc, I chalked it up to him wanting to be there for Xander. The poor kid had been through a lot in a short period of time, and he was probably in at least a minor state of shock.
While Doc looked over Auggie, I sat with Xander in the waiting room. “So, you okay?”
He took in a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, I knew that already.”
“Knew what?”
“That he’s not my dad. My mom told me a long time ago. I just didn’t have anyone else to be my dad so I pretended he was.”
My heart broke as I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and pulled him against my side. “Yeah, I didn’t get a great family either, but there’s good news…”
“There is?” He looked at me with big eyes and so much hope I couldn’t disappoint this kid. “What good news?”
“Well, now you get a new family. Someone who wants to be your dad...and you always have me and August too. Anytime you need family, we’ll be here for you.”
He flung his little arms around me and squeezed as hard as he could. “Thanks, Jase. I want you to be my family now.”
I held him tightly, holding back my own tears. “I want that too, kid.”
* * *
On the drive back to the farm, Auggie and I still didn’t really talk. It was almost awkward but not quite. Something felt tense between us, and I was starting to wonder if coming back was a mistake. Maybe Auggie didn’t want me back in his life. He seemed happy when he first saw me, but that could have been because a drunk man was pointing a gun at his head. He might have been just as happy to see the mailman at that point.
When we arrived at the house, I got out and followed Auggie into the barn to feed the animals, but I couldn't handle the silence any longer so I stopped at the door and reached for his arm, stopping him too. “Are you mad that I’m back?”
Auggie pursed his lips and gave a slight shake of his head. “No, but...why are you back, Jase? You basically said I’d never see you again.”
I threw my head back and took a deep breath. These words weren’t easy to say out loud, but I couldn’t hold them in any longer. “You’re my mate, August. And I’m yours.”
“Your mate?” Auggie swayed on his feet, so I pulled him up against my chest and held him tightly. He felt so good in my arms, exactly where he belonged.
His scent was a little...off, and when I held him tightly, his body felt different too. But I figured it was just because I hadn’t held him in so long. Being gone for two weeks probably wouldn’t sound like a long time for most people, but for me, it was an eternity. “I’ve missed you so much, Aug.”
“Me too.” He rubbed his eyes on my shirt and looked up at me. “So, you’re staying?”
I leaned down and kissed him, loving how he tasted on my lips. Two weeks was way too long. I could never leave him again. “For as long as you’ll have me.”
His eyes glittered with moisture, but he pulled away and grabbed the hose. “Let’s get finished up in here so we can get inside. I have some updates for you.”
“Updates?” I glanced around the barn, looking for repairs that might have happened while I was gone. Nothing looked different or new. “Are these good updates or bad?”
Auggie’s back was facing me, but I could still see his lungs inflate with a deep breath. “I hope you think they’re good.”
“Well, that’s not cryptic.”
He glanced over his shoulder and smirked. “Just get the work done so we can go in and talk.”
* * *
By the time Auggie finally sat down at the dining table with a cup of tea, I couldn’t wait any longer. “Okay, spill it. I know something’s up and the suspense is killing me.”
He swallowed a big gulp then lowered his mug and folded his hands on the table. “I’m not sure how to say this so I’m just going to jump right to the chase.”
“Please do.” Before I have an aneurysm over here.
He stared right at me and dropped the biggest bomb I’d ever heard. “I’m pregnant.”
My jaw dropped as I processed his words. Just two little words that changed my whole world. “You are?”
He smiled and shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah, I guess we weren’t as careful as we thought.”
I stood up and closed the distance between us. Auggie looked unsure until I picked him up and twirled him around in the small kitchen. “We’re having a baby! Me and you?” I laughed at how amazing that sounded. “For real?”
“For real.” August chuckled and wrapped his legs around my waist. “And I’m so fucking happy you’re back. I didn’t want to do this without you, Jase.”
I was already walking toward the bedroom so we could finish our conversation without any annoying clothes between us. “You never have to do anything without me, Aug. I was stupid and selfish, but I’m back and we’re...gonna be a family!”
His lips covered mine in a heated kiss as I lowered him onto his bed from muscle memory.
The room was dark, but I didn’t need light to love him. My body knew exactly what we both needed. “I love you, August. And I want to make love to you.”
He was already shimmying out of his jeans before I could fully release my grip on him. “Yes, Jase. Mate.”
That word falling from his lips was the sexiest sound I’d ever heard. My cock was rock hard and threatening to pop through my jeans if I didn’t get inside him fast. I wanted to take my time and remind him how precious he was to me. Love him as my mate and the father of my child...but I couldn’t
help myself. My alpha side was in charge and needed to knot my mate, officially claim him in a way that we were both actively aware of.
I’d always known my connection to Auggie was special—fated, even—but when I pushed into his hole this time, the intensity of that connection was more powerful than ever before. I wasn’t sure if it was his pregnancy hormones or my alpha instincts, but his channel gripped and caressed my cock in a way that didn’t even seem humanly possible.
Then again, I wasn’t fully human, and now that August was carrying my child, a part of him wasn’t entirely human either.
I rocked in and out of him and a variable pace. Sometimes hard and fast, sometimes slow and gentle, trying to drag out the impending tidal wave of pleasure I knew was coming when I knotted August for the first time. I wasn’t even sure how he was able to get pregnant without my knot in the first place. It was rare but not impossible, which just proved how special he was.
How special we were together.
When I was finally unable to hold on any longer, I reached for his cock and stroked him at the same pace I thrust into him, but in the opposite direction. I knew from experience that sensation of fucking and being fucked was heady, and I could tell by the way Auggie’s eyes drifted shut, he was enjoying it too.
“Come for me, baby.” I teased his slit with my fingertip then reached down to play with his balls before starting up my stroking again. “I want to feel you around me.”
“Yes, Jase.” His whole body moved with me as he let go of all his inhibitions and just allowed himself to feel. “I’m there.”
As he said the words, streams of thick cream shot out of him, coating my hand and his belly. I pressed in as hard as I could and unloaded inside him, still coaxing the final drops of his offering out while I deposited my seed within him, my knot sealing us together so deliciously, as I bit into his shoulder marking him as mine for always.
“I love you, Auggie.” I repeated the words again because I realized I liked saying them. I didn’t need any kind of reciprocation or promises back from August. I just really wanted him to know how I felt. How I’d always feel.
Apparently, he felt the same way. “I love you too, Jase. Please don’t ever leave us again.”
24
August
(Many months later)
“Coming.” The door felt like it was a mile away as I waddled—yes, freaking waddled—my way there. I was officially the size of a house and hated to even look at myself.
Jase didn’t have the same affliction. He was constantly staring at me with that smile, the one that said he wanted to strip me from head to toe and make me call out his name as he filled me with his knot. The man was insatiable. I loved it.
I reached the back door and saw Doc standing there with Xander. Both of them were smiling but Xander’s face was a little bit apprehensive. Doc had been awarded temporary custody when things with his father went from bad to worse—or really better, depending on how you looked at it. His father relinquished his rights without too much fuss because Xander wasn’t biologically his. I couldn’t imagine how Xander had to feel about being rejected so completely by the man he had always thought to be his father—no matter how horrible the man was. At least he was with Doc now. I couldn’t think of a better person to have on his side.
“What’s up, Doc?” I giggled at my own joke.
“Xander here has been feeling off, and I sensed something I hadn’t before, so I did some—”
“I’m a shifter! For real! I think I’m gonna be a fierce lion or maybe a tiger, I don’t even know. Can you believe it?” His apprehension was gone and the boy was bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“What he said.” Doc chuckled, mussing the boy’s hair. “I thought maybe he could have his first shift here.”
Doc’s place was on the river, which was perfect for his otter but probably ideal for Xander if he was a larger animal.
“Congrats!” Jase came up behind me. “But you know it’s still cool if you’re something smaller. Your...um, Doc is a badass otter, and they aren’t huge.”
“You might even be a rabbit.” I leaned back against Jase and winked at Xander. “They’re my favorite.”
“No way!!!!! You didn’t give my bunny away?” He stared at me in shock. “You’re my bunny?”
I squeezed Jase’s arms around my waist. “Nope. Jase is my bunny.” I turned in his arms to kiss his cheek before leaving to get some tea and cookies. It’s what Grams would’ve wanted, and I had nothing valuable to contribute to the “first-shift” conversation. I had everything set out on the table just as Daisy came running past them, nearly knocking Xander down.
“Tea’s ready,” I called and a minute later, they all sat down and filled me in on so many shifter things my head was spinning. I needed to learn, though, especially given that Doc was ninety nine percent sure my little one would be a shifter.
By the time they had laid it all out, I wasn’t sure I totally followed the logic but I got the gist of it. “So the plan is you guys will shift and try to help him with his first shift? Here...tonight?”
They all bobbed their heads.
“Then I best get baking!” I pushed myself up and pressed one hand against my back to relieve some pressure. “Chocolate or vanilla, or are you a strawberry man?” I looked at Xander and waited for him to respond. He didn’t so I had to give him a nudge. “For your cake. You can’t have a first shift without a cake—it’s like a shifter birthday.”
“You would make me a cake?”
“Any kind you want.” I might have to run to the general store, but between Grams’s old cookbooks and YouTube, I could put something together.
“I saw a cake once that had candy in the middle. Can you do that?” His eyes opened wide.
“What kind of candy?” I had no idea how to do it, but I would figure it out.
“M&Ms, please.”
Well, at least those baked well. “Done.”
I spent the next few hours baking as Doc and Jase talked Xander through what to expect. As soon as the sun began to set, the three of them walked out into the back field to have their first run. They asked me to go with them, but this felt like a private moment for them to share. It wasn’t hard to see the apprehension growing in Xander, and he didn’t need someone just watching them. So, I promised I’d be waiting for them on the porch, ready to serve them cake when they were done.
My poor cake was lopsided and held together with frosting, but there was a secret compartment of candy in it just as requested. When I showed it to Xander, he looked at it like it was the best thing he ever saw.
I sat on the rocker, watching them walk around the barn. Lux was on the rail, Daisy was by my feet, and Henrietta was on the steps. I rocked, holding my belly and loving the feel of our little guy’s kicks every now and then.
“Are you going to be a gymnast or get your black belt?” I spoke in a sing-song voice as he pressed against my hand.
Henrietta climbed off the steps and waddled away and Daisy followed her which was odd for them. I wiggled my way out of the rocker and followed them to see what was up. My grin grew wide as an otter and a bunny came around the barn...followed by another bunny.
Xander was a bunny.
I hurried to meet them. “Look at you! You’re a glorious bunny, just like Jase.” The memory of Jase telling me about his family and how they wanted no part of his recessive gene had me vowing to make Xander feel like a king for being the hoppy little furball he now was. “Don’t tell Doc, but they’re my favorite,” I whisper-shouted.
The otter grunted at me and did a little hop of his own.
“Okay, okay.” I laughed as I bent down to scratch Xander’s head. “Otters are cool too. Now go finish your run and come back for cake before I can’t control my pregnancy cravings and eat it all gone.”
They took off as I went back into the house, checking the animals on my way. By the time I reached the steps, all three people were there, their clothing a mess and their shoes
in hand.
“Now, how about that cake?” Jase leaned in and kissed my cheek. “I specifically heard mention of cake.”
“There is most definitely cake.”
We went inside and ate and laughed...and carried on like a real family. It was exactly what I’d always wanted. By the time we had to say good-bye, we had eaten the entire cake.
“I haven’t felt like I was in a pack since...I can’t remember how long,” Jase confessed as we watched the taillights disappear into the night. “Not since my first shift and maybe not even before that. Tonight felt like I was back in a pack.”
“I’m glad our little one will have a pack even if it isn’t what you grew up with.”
“Especially since it isn’t what I grew up with.” He hugged me from behind. “You know what shifting does to me?” he whispered in my ear, his erection hard against my ass.
“Oh, I remember...It’s my favorite part.” I turned in his arms and kissed him soundly before leading him to our bedroom. There were definite benefits to being mated to a bunny, that was for sure.
Epilogue
August
“It’s time.” I set the bucket on the hook and slowly exhaled.
The animals were fed and ready for the day, and it was getting to the point that hiding my contractions from Jase was impossible. I still wasn’t sure how I’d gotten away with it for so long. I hadn’t been too quiet with the last couple, but then again, he was preoccupied with building the new pen for our incoming cow. Strangely, the new cow was also named Daisy, so that was going to be fun.
“Grilled cheese?” Jase asked, wiping the sweat from his brow.
“Not for lunch, silly mate. It’s time to meet our baby.”
He dropped the hammer he was holding, narrowly missing his foot. “Baby? Now?” He scooped me in his arms and started running out of the barn.
Some Bunny To Love: River’s Edge Shifters #1 Page 9