by Kallie Frost
Carrick released my hair and did grab my dick. He stiffened as he stroked me. “Holy crap is right,” he said.
To my surprise, the ecstasy intensified. I let my head loll back against the rim of the hot tub and thrust into his hand. At the same time I stroked his cock. The combination of my pleasure and his was almost enough to send me over the edge immediately.
The fingers on his other hand edged around the curve of my ass and pressed, almost curiously, into the crack and near my anus.
“You still want to…?” he breathed.
“Yes.”
I bent my leg around his waist and pulled him closer. His fingers gently pushed into me. At first it felt a bit odd. Not bad, and not really good either, just odd. As he slowly worked his finger in and out I realized that it was starting to feel good after all. In fact, I had started rocking my ass against his hand without even realizing it. I groaned as his finger slid in deeper.
When he urged me to roll over, I didn’t resist. I turned in the water and propped my chin up on the edge of the hot tub, clutching it with both hands to keep afloat. My feet slipped and slid on the bottom until Carrick grabbed my hips. I lifted my feet and let myself float into his arms. His dick pushed against my ass and I stiffened as I felt it pressing inside.
“Just relax,” he breathed into my ear, giving it a nip as he did. I sighed and did as he asked. I exhaled again as he pushed in deeper. “Tell me when you’re ready.”
He waited as I adjusted to him inside me and at last, I nodded. “Okay.” Carrick slowly pulled out, then went back in. I gasped in surprise and pleasure. It felt better, much better, than I had expected. He continued slowly and I shuddered. My forehead slid down to rest on the rim of the hot tub, my face only a couple of inches from the surface. I closed my eyes as the steam enveloped me. I floated, literally, in ecstasy as Carrick thrust in and out of me. One hand held my hips level while the other began to stroke my dick. Floating had a downside; I couldn’t thrust into his hand or onto his dick like this. I wanted him – needed him – to go faster. Harder. I wiggled, trying to encourage him.
“More,” I gasped.
Carrick sped up. He thrust in deeper as he tightened his hand and pumped harder.
“God, yes!”
He chuckled and increased his speed again. I had to tighten my hands and brace myself against the edge as he fucked me. The water splashed up into my face and I realized we were churning it as we moved. I lifted my head and nearly banged my face on the side. I rolled halfway, hooking a leg around his knees to help me. Carrick nearly slipped and thrust into me, hard, as he tried to regain his balance. He got his footing back and returned to his previous method, but now I had a taste for it.
“Harder,” I demanded.
“Like this?” Carrick adjusted his legs and then plowed into me. I was nearly slammed into the edge again. I braced an elbow against it and pushed back against him, driving his dick in deeper.
“Yes!”
I raised myself up, no longer caring that the cool night air chilled my wet skin. It could have been the dead of winter and I wouldn’t have cared, not with the way he was fucking me. Water sloshed over the edges of the hot tub and churned around us, but not because of the jets.
As the pleasure mounted, I felt something odd. It was almost like his dick was growing. I felt like it was stretching me more with each thrust. Just when I thought I couldn’t take any more, his thrusts became shorter, but harder. His hand stroked me faster and faster. Carrick leaned forward and bit onto the back of my neck. I groaned, as he moaned into my skin, and reached behind me. My fingers found his hair and twisted in it, holding him in place.
Waves of pleasure washed over me as I came. Carrick cried out and slammed into me one final time. He slumped over me, holding me above the water with one arm, while draping his other over the side. I dropped my own arm out, supporting myself with my elbow and floated against him.
We rested there for a few moments, before I realized my arm was cramping. “Are you gonna…” I trailed off with a laugh and wiggled my butt.
“Hang on, my knot is deflating.”
“Your what?”
“My alpha knot. Didn’t you notice it when you were jerking me off?” I shook my head. To illustrate his point, he pulled back a bit and I felt a tug and an almost painful resistance. “It’s at the base of my penis and helps uh… keep me inside an omega.”
“Oh… that’s different.”
Carrick laughed.
It wasn’t much longer before his drew himself out. “There. How do you feel?” he asked, smiling almost shyly at me.
“Great,” I said honestly. I rolled onto my back and he bent down and kissed me. I kissed him back, feeling not just great, but content.
Chapter Ten
Carrick
After that night in the hot tub I thought that I couldn't be happier. We ran back to my room naked, wet, and cold, giggling like a couple of school kids. I could tell that up until the moment Brooks initiated sex in the hot tub that something was holding him back. Whatever it was, was gone now. We decided that a shower was in order after the hot tub and he invited me to join him, with just the barest hint of shyness. Naturally, I took him again in the shower, up against the wall. We were soapy, and slippery, and nearly fell more than once. When we were done his legs were wrapped around my waist, and I was still locked tightly inside him by my knot when the hot water cut out. And yet we were both in high spirits as we somehow got ourselves from the shower to the bed without pulling my dick out of him.
There was no question of whether or not we would sleep together. Still naked from our shower, we climbed beneath the sheets, snuggled up, and kissed each other good night. Indeed, I drifted off to sleep, with my arm around my true mate, thinking I could never be happier.
I was wrong. A week later, and I was even happier than I could have imagined. Thanks to the hunter that was still on the loose, nearly my entire family was on lockdown in the house. Luckily, my parents had designed the house with the intention of having huge family gatherings. But things were still getting a little cramped, since we didn't have the freedom to come and go.
Brooks took it all in stride. I worried that my entire family would overwhelm him, but he said it wasn't too unlike meeting a brand-new hockey team. He got along perfectly with everyone. He really hit it off with my brother Rion's mate, Elliott. I could understand why, it had been less than a year since Elliott was in Brooks’s position. Even though he didn't have to choose to be changed because of a life or death situation, the discovery of shifters and meeting his true mate was quite fresh in his mind. I had a feeling that Elliott was largely responsible for helping Brooks to settle in as well as he was.
We were all sitting down together for a breakfast that my father had whipped up. While Tessa, and her son Ford, were the gifted bakers of the family, my father was the cook. I supposed it only made sense that he and my mother opened the restaurant. And nothing gave my father more pleasure than cooking for his family.
Brooks took a bite of his stack of fluffy pancakes, that he had devoured every other morning, and promptly clamped a hand over his mouth. He shoved his chair back from the table, stammered something unintelligible, and fled from the room. I jumped to my feet to follow, but Elliott caught me by the arm.
“Let him go, he's just getting sick,” he said.
“I know!” I shook my arm free. “That's why I'm following him!”
“He's sick,” Elliott said patiently. “In the morning. He’ll be back in a minute or two.”
“Yes, I realize...” No, I hadn't realized. But now I did. I sank back into my chair on weak knees. “You think he’s… pregnant?”
“Just a wild guess,” Elliott said with a smile.
My heart was racing. I was nervous, and excited, and a mess of emotions all at once. “What do we do now?”
“Call Nolan to make sure,” Rion chuckled.
Right... nervous was definitely the winning emotion right now. “What abo
ut Brooks? What do I tell him? How do I tell him?” I knew his reservations about our relationship were gone, but I really wasn't sure how he'd feel about a child. We talked about it, of course. We both knew it was a possibility, but I wasn't sure if he thought I was exaggerating or not when I told him just how fertile the combination of an alpha and an omega was. Granted, we had sex a lot in the last week, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out he was already a full week pregnant.
It was a question that I probably shouldn't ask my family. I was immediately engulfed with answers. I could hardly sort out one piece of advice from the next, and I was pretty sure they were all contradictory. At last, one single voice won out.
“Quiet!” Elliott roared. To his credit, everyone fell silent.
“These modern omegas,” my mother mused with a small smile.
Elliott cleared his throat. “I know that most of you have plenty of experience,” he inclined his head toward my mother, “with children, but I'm pretty sure I'm the most qualified one to talk to Brooks. Aside from Jacob, I'm the only one here who was ever human. And I was human less than a year ago, as opposed to...” He looked at my father questioningly, obviously trying to do the math. “A hundred years ago?”
My father chuckled. “Something like that.”
“The point is, I can relate with Brooks better than anyone else.”
“So, what should I tell him?” I asked.
Before Elliott could answer, my mate returned.
“Sorry about that,” he said, flushing as he realized that everyone was looking at him. In spite of his now reddening cheeks, the rest of his face still looked a little pale green. He sat down next to me, looking warily at my family. “Sorry,” he said again.
“How are you feeling?” Elliott asked him.
“Better now, a little queasy there. I didn't think we got sick.” Brooks arched an eyebrow in my direction, obviously implying that I had exaggerated our immune systems.
“From what I've seen, we don't get sick like humans do,” Elliott said. “But there are still certain... conditions that may cause little bit of nausea.”
“Conditions?”
“Like a parasite,” Dell suggested.
Brooks’s eyes widened in alarm, everyone else shot death glares at my brother.
“I have a parasite?” Brooks demanded. He turned another reproachful look at me. “Is it because we ate that raw deer? You said if we ate it as wolves we wouldn't get sick!”
“Ignore Dell, he's an idiot,” I said flatly. I aimed a challenging frown at my brother, silently daring him to mess with my mate more. He wouldn’t be joking around his mate.
“So, it’s not a parasite?” Brooks tried to clarify.
“How have you been feeling otherwise?” Elliott cut in. “Tired? Hungry?”
“Yeah, ravenous. At least I was…” Brooks said, gesturing to his large pile of pancakes. “I figured some that was just because I’m a shifter now. I’m not sure where that sudden bout of...” I could see in his eyes the moment he realized it. One hand drifted to his stomach and pressed against it. I practically held my breath, waiting for his reaction. “You think I'm pregnant.”
“What do you think?” Elliott asked.
“I...”
“Why don't we give them some privacy,” my mother said. We may not have run in true packs anymore, but my mother was the alpha here. My siblings stood, some more reluctantly than others, and let her usher them toward the door. Cambry punched my shoulder on the way by and flashed me a huge, excited grin.
And then, my mate and I were alone in the kitchen.
“You okay?” It was kind of a stupid question, but I couldn't think of anything better.
“Queasy, and I'm not sure how much of that is because I'm pregnant or... you know, because I'm pregnant,” he admitted.
I nodded. I started to ask how he felt, but that really didn't seem like much of different answer. “What do you think?” I asked instead.
“I’m nervous as hell,” he said. “But I'm…” A small smile tugged at his lips, making my heart soar in response. “I’m kind of excited. I’ve always wanted kids. I don't really remember when I gave up on the idea, but I feel like I've been resigned to never having some for a long time…” He looked down and pressed both hands against his stomach. His expression was a mixture of wonder and nervousness. There was something else too, like love. The sight of him gazing down with love at the child we weren't even fully sure was there filled me with a warmth I didn't think I could ever explain to anyone who hadn’t felt it too.
I threw my arms around my mate and pulled him close to me. “God, I love you.”
He chuckled. “I love you too.” It made my inner wolf dance and my own heart flutter whenever he said it.
“But what we do now?”
My cell phone was already halfway out of my pocket. “We give Dr. Craik a call and set up an appointment to see if you really are pregnant.” My fingers were shaking as I pulled up his number. Brooks reached out and put a hand on my thigh. The gesture steadied me, and I took a deep breath and waited for an answer. Unfortunately, Nolan was away on a call and unable to see us today. Avery said that he'd be happy to come do the initial examination, since we weren't allowed to leave the island, and I jumped at the chance.
We spent a couple of anxious hours waiting for Avery to arrive. At last, the lion knocked on the front door. Honestly, I didn't expect much privacy from my family, but I was pleased that he made it all the way up to our room, with only a brief hello from Rion.
Soon we were settled in on my bed. Brooks was leaning back against some pillows with his shirt off, nervously watching Avery slather goop onto his stomach.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“Never really liked doctors,” he muttered. I wasn't surprised, given his history. I sat next to him and took his hands, hoping to offer a little bit of comfort. He smiled at me. “You’ll be a good daddy.” His attention turned to Avery, who had just pulled out some sort of device. “What is that?”
“We call this the Doppler.”
“What does it do?”
Avery simply smiled and flipped the switch. The room filled with loud static. He lowered the device to my mate’s stomach, causing my inner wolf to growl with jealousy, and began to rub it around. All at once the static was interrupted by a distinct thump-thump, thump-thump.
“That's the baby's heartbeat!” Brooks and I gasped in unison.
Our answer was an amused snort. “That's just daddy,” Avery chuckled. He rubbed the device around a little more, and all of a sudden the steady lub-dub turned into a faster thump thump thump thump thump thump, like a galloping horse. “And that’s baby,” Avery said.
The sound of my baby's heartbeat made my throat tighten. My eyes locked with Brooks’s and we shared a smile of joy. Then, his eyes narrowed in concern.
“Sounds awfully fast...” he said.
“Totally normal,” said Avery reassuringly. “Baby sounds perfectly healthy. Congratulations.”
“What do we do now?” Brooks asked. “How far along am I?”
“I'll need to draw some blood to get the exact date. Once we have that information, I'll follow up with you to schedule your next appointment with Nolan.” As he spoke, Avery expertly cleaned off Brooks's stomach, and started preparing a vial for blood. When he was done, Avery gathered his things and wished us well.
I didn't worry about seeing him out, he was good friends with Rion and had been coming here for as long as I could remember. If he didn't head straight for the front door I wouldn't be surprised if he dropped in on my brother for a brief visit.
“This is real,” Brooks said, hands over his stomach. “We're having a baby.”
“I hope you're happy,” I told him.
“Carrick, I can honestly say I'm happier than I have been a very, very long time.” He kissed me gently on the cheek, and then looked back down at his stomach. “Happier than I ever thought I could be.”
~~~***~~~
/> The next few of weeks leading up leading up to Thanksgiving went at the speed of light. Being stuck on my parents’ island was getting increasingly frustrating, although I supposed it gave Brooks the opportunity to get used to my family. As the first third of his pregnancy came to a close, morning sickness was abating and his stomach was swelling rapidly. His appetite had noticeably increased as well. Unfortunately for him, he could only eat small meals before feeling full. Everyone else in the family assured me that it was perfectly normal. Small, but frequent, meals became my mate’s mantra.
Thanksgiving itself was the usual hectic affair with my large family. It was a bit more chaotic this year, since my mother was doing everything she could to maintain a sense of normality in our hostage-like situation. Part of our tradition was that everyone in the family was responsible for a dish. My father cooked a ridiculous number of turkeys every year, usually in a variety of ways. Tessa, of course supplied an assortment of amazing baked goods, and Cambry could always be counted on to come up with some fancy after-dinner coffee concoction. The rest of us had developed our specialties over the years. I usually ended up making the stuffing, and by chance Brooks had an old family recipe for it. Then again, maybe it wasn't so much chance, but one of the unusual coincidences that seem so frequently with true mates.
Since the wardens assigned to guard us had become somewhat of a fixture on the island, we invited them to dinner as well. Dev and Mesha declined, as they were spending the holiday with their mother, but Kessel and Larkin accepted.
Thanks to the presence of the hunter my family didn't all fly in like they normally did, so Thanksgiving was actually a little tamer than usual. The one exception, wardens aside, was my sister Lysee, who came with her mate, Ailina, and their son, Adin. For a couple of decades they lived on Half Moon with us, until Adin revealed that, as a fox, he felt a bit left out among a family full of wolves. So, they packed up and moved closer to Ailina’s family in New Orleans. I wondered sometimes if Cambry felt left out. At least a fox could play among wolves in ways that a cat couldn’t. I used to be surprised that Lysee was willing to give up everything she knew so easily, but now I understood. I’d go anywhere with Brooks and knew she felt the same about her mate. And I was sure I’d do anything for the happiness of my child, even though Brooks hadn’t even given birth yet.