Matched To His Panther

by Lorelei M. Hart

  The back and forth made my head ache, and I had trouble keeping my eyes open. Again, Bryce and Brad had anticipated most of these questions, and in my opinion, Bryce’s practiced answers were delivered professionally and calmly.

  But the questions and answers faded into the background as I concentrated on my aching back. Fortunately the last row was empty and I slumped onto the bench and lay down. Wishing I’d accepted Bryce’s suggestion of going home, I regretted lying down as I wasn’t sure I could get up. How embarrassing if I have to stay here until they adjourn for the day.

  My head hurt, and I mumbled to myself, “Please be quiet,” as the voices droned on. My head slumped to the side when I wriggled and tried to get comfortable, an impossible task for an omega in his eighth month with twins on a wooden courtroom bench.

  A pain, sharper than any other jabbed at my belly, and I yelped. The judge shouted at me to be quiet but I was beyond caring. “My water broke,” I yelled.

  “Mr. Woodall, I assume you are about to become a father. This court is adjourned.”

  More banging and shuffling and Bryce’s face appeared overhead.

  “It’s time.”

  28

  Bryce

  There were many things I anticipated happening when I woke up that morning. I thought about spending the day in court being pissed off because the government was fighting so hard for land they didn’t really need, their choice to use ours merely to save a few bucks, money they’d already wasted in court. I anticipated getting crappy food at the lunch wagon outside the courthouse.

  Not once had I so much as considered I’d be helping my omega out and through a crowd of protestors all calling for justice as he was in the throes of labor.

  “You’ve got this, my love.” I was torn between getting him back safely and taking some of the pain from him...I knew I couldn’t manage both safely and hated that I had to make that choice. “Let’s get you to Nightsong.”

  Iver followed us in his car and the ride there felt like it took decades, every bump, every jostle exacerbating his discomfort, and by the time we reached the estate Corey begged for me to just let him out.

  “I can't have you giving birth in the driveway.” Or in our minivan. He needed Pia. I needed Pia.

  “Gabe.” He started to wiggle, and it wasn’t until I got to a decent stopping spot that I saw why. He was trying to dial his friend.

  “I’ll call him.” I took out my phone and pressed Gabe’s number as I raced around to help Corey out.

  “Gabe,” I started as soon as he picked up. “Corey is about to pop out two babies and he is asking for you.” I had to hold the phone back, his screams of excitement too much for my shifter senses.

  “I’m on my way.” He hung up, and I slipped my phone into my pocket, needing both arms to help Corey out. That was probably an exaggeration. He could do it...over the past months I’d discovered my mate could do anything he put his mind to.

  “How do you want to do this? In the Alpha apartment? “No. This may sound dumb, but can we go down to the sacred spring?” He hunched over, and this time, I could take some of his pain. Holy crap, I didn’t know how omegas did this.

  “That’s not dumb. That’s where I was born.” And many of the claw. It wasn’t even a rule or anything, there was just something about that place that called to our panthers. “I’ll call Pia and have her wait for Gabe and meet us there.”

  With each step, I tried to take more of his discomfort, while maintaining enough of my own ability to function and make sure we got there without any face plants.

  The water trickling in the background told me we were closer than I realized, my energy focused more on our footing than our destination.

  “Here we are,” we broke into the small clearing. “What can I do for you?”

  “Get this off of me.” He began to tug on his shirt.

  By the time I helped him off with his clothing, Pia and Gabe arrived.

  “You’ve got this my friend.” And he hugged my mate.” Gabe turned to me, and looking me up and down, said, “Why are you the one that looks wretched? He’s about to give birth to two babies.”

  Pia took over from there, telling Corey what to do and explaining that some panthers shared the burden of their births with their mates. I didn’t find it a liability. I found it an honor, but still. They had a blanket on the ground, a huge bottle of water, and a basket containing who knew what.

  “It is almost time.” Pia was smiling softly as she took Corey by the hand and led him to the blanket. “Kneel, please, panther of our claw’s heart.” Even though I was sharing his pain, my mate was experiencing discomfort. He clutched Pia’s hand and panted before doing as Pia requested. I missed some of her instructions, the pain getting worse and worse by the second. Never did I imagine I’d be sharing—literally—in my children’s birth. But it was my honor and my duty. Gabe helped me off with my jacket as sweat poured down my face and my legs turned to jelly.

  “Alpha, you need to let it go.” Pia was suddenly in my face, but my vision and hearing were hazy . “Alpha, you need to let go.”

  I looked down at my hands. They were empty. Shaking but empty. What was I supposed to let go of?

  “The pain. Break the connection. He needs it now.”

  I shook my head. No way was I letting him feel this. I was losing chunks of time holding back my screams. No. He couldn’t have it.

  “Alpha, the babies need him to have it. You must break the bond.” Pia grabbed my face in her hands. “They need you to let go. Do not let them down.” Something in the way she spoke had her words making sense not to me, but to my panther who pushed to the forefront, growling. Pia stepped back and he took over completely, and in doing so releasing the bond.

  He instantly retreated, allowing me to take my skin again and join Corey’s side where he was on all fours bellowing out in pain, Pia already there, telling him what to do, and Gabe fumbled through things in the basket.

  I knelt by my mate’s face, telling him how proud I was and how I wished I could take the pain back. More than anything I wanted to do that.

  He didn’t speak in words, his only vocals almost primitive as he breathed through his contractions, Pia telling him to push.

  “Corey. I can see your baby. One of them.” Gabe spoke in awe, tears streaming down his cheeks, a blanket in his hand.

  Iver appeared at my shoulder leading Nadja, our elder, so she could bless the babies.

  One more push and our daughter came kicking and screaming into this world, Gabe swaddling her up and Nadja touched the little one’s head as Pia instructed Corey he’d need all his strength to get the next baby out.

  “You’re doing so good, my love. So good.” I held onto his hand as he began his second round of pushing. “Our daughter is so beautiful. Gabe is taking good care of her, but we need our second baby to join her so you can meet them both.”

  Ten minutes later our son came into this world just as loudly as his sister, and I helped Corey roll onto his back, using me as a wall to sit against. Nadja again brushed her fingertips over our son.

  “Here is your beautiful daughter.” Gabe handed Diona to Corey. “She’s perfect.”

  “And here is your son,” Pia handed Tec to me.

  Nadja leaned against Iver and intoned, “Our claw vows our allegiance to them both.” She bared her neck to each of the babes, the act completely lost on them, but not me.

  As the first to bless our babes, her words sealed the vow for all, the pledge that said not only were our children accepted by the clan, but that they would be given a place of honor, and when the time came, they would be the Alphas.

  29

  Corey

  “It’s okay, Tec. Don’t cry, sweetheart. I’ll be with you in a minute.” My tiny boy was whining in his crib as I attempted to change Diona’s diaper. She was waving her fists in the air and kicking her chubby legs on the changing table.

  I hadn’t had a shower and my befuddled brain tried to calculate when I
’d last changed my clothes which were stained with spit up. “Okay, one clean bottom, young miss.” I put her over my shoulder and kissed the top of her scalp, covered in dark hair. She drooled on my shirt which joined all the other unmentionables on the cotton fabric before l lay her in the other crib.

  Though they were only ten days old, my children had distinct personalities. Diona, which meant sacred spring, was such an easy baby. She would lay awake in the mornings staring at the mobile twirling around overhead while I changed Tec who made his presence felt the instant he opened his eyes.

  His name, short for Tecumseh, meant panther passing across, but it was too much of a mouthful for a baby—for anyone. But it had been Bryce’s father’s name and I could see how much Bryce wanted our little boy to bear it. We compromised with Tec.

  “Hey, little man.” I sat in the rocking chair and lay him in my lap. He studied me for a moment as if to say, “Who are you again?” The old wooden rocking chair we’d picked up in a garage sale squeaked as I cradled my son and we moved forward and back. The gentle movement had my eyes closing, and the next thing I knew, there was someone at the door.

  After gently placing a sleeping Tec in his crib, I crept to the door. “Sarah!” This was Gabe’s friend from Willow Den, and his babysitter. She was the reason I’d been at my friend’s that day when Bryce arrived with Brad. She’d been heavily pregnant at the time and couldn’t babysit Ursula.

  “Sarah, hi. What are you doing here?”

  “Both my son and Ursula are being looked after at the den nursery today, so here I am.”

  “Why?” The reason was probably perfectly obvious but my brain was in baby mode and only working at half speed.”

  “I come bearing gifts.” She held up a paper bag stamped with the name of my favorite café along with a large coffee.

  “Is that what I think it is?”

  “Cheesecake.”

  “Oh my god, will you marry me?” I gushed.

  “Not today, my love.” I made to grab both the cup and the bag but Sarah ducked out of my reach. “Shower, now, and hurry before the coffee gets cold.”

  Smart lady. That was some incentive, and I was in and out in a few minutes, water dripping down my back from my wet hair. But I was clean and wearing a fresh change of clothes.

  Sarah was coming out of the twins’ room. “Both sound asleep,” she said and jerked her head toward the coffee table. The cheesecake was on a plate with a napkin beside it and the coffee was sitting on a coaster.

  Wow! “Can I bribe you to be my babysitter?” I asked as I stuffed a mouthful of cake between my lips and took the first sip of coffee. “I’ll pay you anything.” I wasn’t serious and I was sure she guessed that. Much as I liked her, she was Ursula’s babysitter, and we needed someone from the claw to look after the twins.

  Being an accountant, much of my work could be done remotely, and during most of my pregnancy I’d been working part-time, which was how it’d be going forward. But I had six weeks before I had to think about that and find someone to look after my darlings.

  “Gabe tells me today is a big day in the panther community.”

  I glanced at Sarah, wondering how much she’d heard. Not that it was a secret. But I wasn’t in the mood to go into all the nitty gritty details. “It is.” Bryce had been home with us since the babies arrived and today was my first day solo parenting.

  But the verdict was being brought down this afternoon, and rather than waiting at the courthouse, Bryce was with his fellow panthers at Nightsong Estate. They needed his guidance and counsel, and if the judgement went against them, the claw may not have a future. Once Brad called with the verdict, we’d know our fate.

  As his mate, I should be there too. And our children who were a symbol of hope and a promise the claw would continue.

  Sarah’s voice brought me out of my daydream. “How about we get you and the kidlets into the car, a bag packed with everything you need, and you can join your mate?”

  “The double stroller is a monster. You need a degree in engineering to figure it out.” We’d been going for daily walks since the babies came home, but it was always Bryce who manhandled the stroller. His efforts had been accompanied by much cursing. And while I hadn’t witnessed him putting the babies’ seats in the car the day we came home, I’d been told by a reliable source it was not pretty.

  “I’ll show you how to deal with the stroller, and I peeked in the car as I came in. The seats are positioned correctly.”

  By the time I’d wolfed down the food, packed way too much of everything multiplied by two, my children were stirring. A quick feed of one and then the other and Sarah helped us to the car, after a demonstration of how to put the stroller up and down. “It’s easy when you know how, but overwhelming for a new parent.”

  I’d texted Bryce and he was waiting for us outside as we drove in. He proudly carried both babies, one in each arm, ignoring the carseats and leaving them where they were. Wise man. One of the omegas who’d helped me during my month of bedrest, Stephen, lugged the bags I’d packed. “What’s in here? Another set of twins?” he joked.

  There was a crowd hovering around Bryce in the main reception room and plenty of oohing and ahhing. I stood on tiptoes and peeked at the babies. Bryce was making silly goo-goo noises at Diona and then Tec. Both were awake and wide-eyed. Normally if Tec’s eyes were open, he was wanting something other than what he had.

  Nadja shuffled into the room on the arm of her alpha son. She was accompanied by another elder, Jonas. “May I see them?” she asked. Although the elders had welcomed our children into the world after their birth, Bryce had mentioned once the trial was over, he wanted Nadja to lay her hand on the babies.

  My mate sat on a huge couch while Nadja and Jonas sat on either side of him. He placed a baby in each of their arms. Both my little ones were behaving, and I crossed my fingers they would stay that way. Screaming while being held by a claw elder was not how I wanted my children remembered.

  Nadja put her left hand on Diona’s tummy and the right on Tec. The chattering of the claw member ceased and Bryce shot me a glance.

  “You are very fortunate, Alpha, to have two strong panther children who will fly like the wind through the forests and defend our land and everyone on it.” That had to be a good omen, especially today!

  A little girl asked, “Are they shifters?”

  “We won’t know for certain until they’re older,” Nadja replied. “But my guess is yes.”

  A beeping disturbed the pleasant atmosphere, and Bryce took out his phone. The verdict!

  “Don’t keep us in suspense!” I pleaded. “What does it say?”

  “I don’t know the details, but the claw land is ours.” His voice cracked with emotion. “We get to keep our home.”

  30

  Bryce

  “They are really too young for this.” Corey popped the back door of the van. “They won’t remember a thing.”

  “But we will. It’s their first ever carnival!” I climbed out of my seat and went around back to take out the stroller. The thing was a monster and most of the time we used it to carry things, not babies. Tec and Diona preferred being in their carriers strapped to our chests, and who could blame them. Sitting in the baby carrier was warm and safe against our bodies and had them at the perfect height to see all things.

  I brought the stroller around to Corey who plopped the diaper bag into the seat. He was already tightening the straps on the carrier, ready to remove the sleeping baby from the car seat.

  “I’ll grab Diona,” I jogged around to the other side and opened the door. Unlike her brother, she was wide awake and reaching for me to set her free.

  “Hold on, my fierce little panther, Papa needs to get your carrier on.” I grabbed it from the basket between the front seats and buckled it around my waist, then unclicked her car seat harness and lifted her out. “There you are.” I brought her to me, and put on my shoulder straps until she was situated just right. “Let’s go get you
r daddy and brother and see all the pretty lights.”

  We walked, side by side, me pushing the stroller in front of us, describing each thing we saw along the way, from the beautiful yellow of a car we passed to the red and white exit sign, to the stroller “just like theirs.”

  “Too bad they’re too young for cotton candy,” Corey noted as Diona watched with wonder as they spun the sugar. For her, that made the day, her giggles infectious, her brother more interested in his nap.

  They were like that. Night and day. Tonight when she fell asleep, that being five whole hours, he would be wide awake wanting to play. Pia insisted we could get them on the same schedule until she spent two days with us trying to show Corey how. She gave up too.

  I loved how Corey did that. Instead of saying Pia was wrong or giving excuses, he simply asked her to help, something the healer cherished.

  In so many ways, Corey slid into claw life like that. Just knowing what to do. He’d been so nervous and had been really hard on himself for the few snafus he made, but the babies were good teachers and we were at Nightsong every day where there were plenty of omegas willing to help.

  “I think she would love it, personally.” Not that it was a good idea, but she wouldn’t choke. “But best to pass. I wish there was more we could do with them.” I started walking again, heading in the direction of the rides. “I guess we could take them on a ride.”

  Please let him agree.

  “They have the train that goes in a circle,” Corey suggested. The train in question had the tiniest cars ever.

  “I don’t think I’d fit.” And if I did, my knees would be up to my chin. “What about the carousel? It even has seats.” Please let him take the bait.