“You don’t weigh 200 pounds,” Jace said. They were both finishing dressing together. Their connection had become so strong that they could pick up on specific words in each other’s thoughts. Keiran hadn’t ever heard of that happening before, but then again, he hadn’t been around too many mated pairs and certainly wouldn’t have been forward enough to ask such a personal question. “Not even I would be able to carry you if that was the case.”
Keiran scowled at him and threw a tie at his face. “You’re dumb.”
“Good. That’s exactly what this kingdom needs, I think. A dumb king and his hormonal little prince boyfriend in charge of everything.” Jace smiled over at him and Keiran couldn’t help but to smile in return. He thought they were both dressed like idiots, covered in ruffles and way too many straps and buttons, but he was looking forward to being able to rip these outfits to shreds later on, so at least that was something. Maybe if he was lucky, he’d get a massage out of it. Maybe more, if he asked nicely.
Hell, who was he kidding? Jace was always up for sex.
A knock came at their door. “May I enter?” Don called.
Jace glanced over at Keiran and then down at himself, both of them fully dressed. “No,” he replied. “We’re having sex.”
“Now?” Don groaned. “We’re already late!”
Jace rolled his eyes. “Come in, Don.”
The advisor pushed the door open with one hand over his eyes, though he peeked dramatically between his fingers with a smile. “That was quick,” he said. “I would have thought you both might have built up some stamina by now.”
Keiran laughed, mostly because Don was actually in a good mood for once and also because of the utterly offended look on Jace’s face. “I’m about to shoot out a baby any moment now. What kind of endurance am I supposed to have?”
The advisor gave a small smile. Keiran had found over the past few months that the man wasn’t all that bad, just very high-strung. He had mellowed out some as well since the siege, and Keiran wondered if it might be because of the scars on his face. They were long since fully healed, but they were still very visible, silver against his black skin.
“Is everything ready?” Jace asked.
“Everything has been ready for quite some time now.” Don gestured out the door. “Everyone is waiting for you, being rather well-behaved. So far. I would hate to have a riot on our hands.”
“Then I guess we shouldn’t keep them waiting any longer.” Jace reached out to take hold of Keiran’s hand. “Are you ready?”
Keiran looked up at Jace. His dark-haired, bronze-statue lover and soon-to-be husband. And then he thought of himself. Once scrawny but now chubby, carrying a load in his rear and his middle that didn’t used to be there. They didn’t look like a couple at all, not even when they held hands. They were too different, too separate... and that was fine. It was exactly the way things were meant to be.
“I’m ready.”
“Then let’s get going,” Don said, impatiently.
Jace ignored him and Keiran did the same. This was their time now. Nothing could bother them. Together, they stepped out of the dressing room and made their way down the hall to stand in front of the open doors to the castle ballroom. Keiran swallowed nervously, listening to the chatter of a very large crowd. He could see them, all dressed in their finest clothes and looking every bit like his worst nightmare. He’d thanked his lucky stars that he didn’t have to stand up in front of those people at city hall, but he hadn’t been able to escape entirely. Even though this was a much smaller group, it might as well have been the whole world.
“Easy,” Jace murmured, squeezing his hand.
Easy... for you to say. You’ve had the training for this. His own training had thus far been limited to simple manners, not public speaking. And even though he only had to say two words, it might as well have been the same thing as far as he was concerned.
“Are we ready?” the guard at the door asked.
Jace nodded and the man turned, giving a signal to someone else. Keiran tried to watch to see who gave a signal after that, to follow the progress of the order, but it was beyond his understanding. Before he even really understood what was going on, Jace linked their arms together and pulled him through the doorway.
Though there seemed to be no pattern to the layout of the room as far as Keiran’s fear-addled brain could detect, the shapeshifters who stood in their way parted and made a clear path for the couple to move through them. Keiran lagged slightly behind Jace, letting himself be pulled along. His heart was in his throat, the only thing keeping him from bolting being the viselike grip he had on his alpha’s fingers.
They worked their way down a meandering path to the raised stage at the other end of the huge room. Keiran felt blinded by the grandeur of it all, so much so that he couldn’t focus on particulars. All he saw were impressions. A burst of flowers here, a splash of gold there. Light everywhere. An arch, in front of which stood a member of the council, a woman who hardly ever spoke at the meetings. Keiran liked her because she was quiet.
Which was not serving to make him feel much better at a time like this, when someone so quiet stood so naturally before a large crowd. How on earth did these people do it?
Jace led him around to the side of the stage, climbing the stairs and then reaching down to help Keiran stagger up them. Each one felt like a mountain scaled. If he’d been alone, he would have leaned back and held his stomach up to catch his breath. But he couldn’t do that here. Too many eyes. He could hardly remember how to move at all like this.
They passed through the arch and came to stand in front of it. This part Keiran knew. He turned toward Jace, both of them standing far enough apart so that the council member could position herself between them. Jace clasped Keiran’s hands, eyes encouraging.
Keiran gazed into that darkness, desperately searching for strength to keep him from running away. If he could run at all. Now that they’d stopped moving, his legs had forgotten how to work. He could hardly breathe and he felt certain that everyone could see him trembling.
The music that he hadn’t even noticed playing until now wore itself down to a grand finish, and then there was only silence.
The councilwoman cleared her throat and then spoke, her voice carrying out across the entire ballroom with the help of speakers. “Monumental times of change are upon us this day, as we enter into a new era. Hopefully, we will find peace, acceptance, and love, as these two wolves have done and will celebrate today. It is the end of Bartholomew Culvers’ reign, and the beginning of Jace Culvers’. A new Head Predator will be crowned today, but not merely crowned. He will be mated, forever joined with his love who came to us through unique circumstances.”
Keiran mostly blanked out on the rest of what was said for quite a long while, since it was the story of how he and Jace had met and he knew that story already. All he did was look into Jace’s eyes, exploring the depths of love he found there. Daydreams passed between them, visions of hope for all their years to come.
“Prince Jace, our hope for the future, our new ruler, will you accept Keiran Smith as your mate, your other half, and the wolf who completes you?”
“I do,” Jace said. “I’ve come to tolerate him.”
Laughter echoed throughout the ballroom. Keiran narrowed his eyes at Jace.
“And do you, Keiran, our future prince, and the bearer of our future rulers, accept Jace as your mate, your other half, and the wolf who completes you?”
Keiran gazed at Jace again, aware still of the laughter in the room. “Yes,” he said. “I take Jace as my more annoying half.”
Hardly anyone in the room heard what he said due to the timing, but Jace laughed and that was all Keiran needed.
“Very well. Fate has been decided. Keiran and Jace are forever joined.”
Now was the moment when they were meant to kiss, but they had something a bit different planned. It wasn’t exactly the most elegant thing to do in this situation, especially si
nce what they were about to do was normally a thing only done in the privacy of a bedroom, but it would certainly make a lasting impression on all those in attendance.
Keiran closed his eyes and waited, bracing himself. Pulling gently on his hands, Jace drew him in and lowered his head. Their lips touched together briefly, mouths ghosting past, and then Jace bent his head even further and clamped his mouth around Keiran’s neck and bit down. His slightly-pointed teeth sank into the omega’s skin, hard enough to draw blood, hard enough to leave a mark that would last forever.
At the same time, Keiran lifted up his hand and scratched at Jace’s neck, leaving three lines of blood slanting at an angle beneath his ear. They were not deep enough to scar, but they would anyway. Their bodies knew that was what needed to happen, and so it would be done. Better than any wedding ring, this evidence of their bond could never be lost or removed.
The crowd roared;, shock and joy mingled. As the two wolves parted, the councilwoman turned to accept a red cushion brought to her by a page boy dressed in a tuxedo. Upon the cushion was a thin crown intertwined with strands of gold and silver stunned with gems. She placed the crown upon Jace’s head, and it fit exactly right.
“Our new Head Predator!”
The crowd roared even louder than before. Keiran just barely resisted the urge to cover his ears, and then he found himself being whisked away by Jace. The scenery blurred until he came to a standstill in front of the poll booth that had been set up in the main entrance hall. Closed and guarded before to prevent any trickery, it now stood open and waiting for the first vote to be cast. All across the kingdom, the same thing would be happening everywhere.
Jace guided Keiran to stand in front of the booth. “You first,” he said, cheerfully.
Keiran opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was ended up knocked out of his mind as a sudden overwhelming spasm shook through his entire body. Clutching at his stomach, he gasped and dropped down to his knees. He’d been having small contractions for the past few weeks as his body prepared for the birth, but this was something else. This was the real deal. The main event. The baby was coming.
“Keiran!” Jace said, alarm sharp in his voice. He knelt and placed one hand on Keiran’s shoulder, but the omega shoved away from him and stood on his own. Wolves never gave birth in the presence of their mates. They simply didn’t. And though he loved Jace, Keiran suddenly didn’t want him near.
“I’m fine,” he grunted. “I’m fine.”
“Is it the baby?”
“Is it the baby?” Keiran repeated mockingly, starting to shuffle away from the voting booth. “Of course it’s the baby, you dumbo. Get moving. I’ve got a baby to push out and I don’t want to be late for it.”
Jace followed along, looking somewhat bemused by his mate’s behavior. “I should carry you.”
“Touch me and you’ll lose a hand,” Keiran said, conversationally. He continued to walk toward the hospital under his own power, though by this point his insides were gripped by pain and he could hardly make himself move. Pressure gathered in his stomach. He could feel spasms rippling through him, the baby wriggling eagerly inside of him.
He had only just made it through the waiting room doors when a nurse threw herself forward to greet him with a wheelchair. He lowered himself down into it, glad for the chance to get off his feet although it didn’t do much else to make him feel more comfortable. The nurse wheeled him away, and another moved behind them to intercept Jace. The alpha growled but the sound fell away as Keiran was pushed deeper into the hospital, away from him. Jace might have been the brand new king and the Head Predator, but the hospital wasn’t his domain.
Keiran found himself in a nicely decorated little room with pink and blue decorations, and he slid up into the comfortable bed with the nurse to help him. She asked him questions that he couldn’t remember afterwards, hooked him up to an IV, and did a variety of other things that he couldn’t focus on as pain wracked through his insides.
I’m finally going to meet you, he thought, and his stomach rippled as if in eagerness.
From then on, it turned into a painful waiting game. Hours passed, though he had no sense of how many. The numbers on the clock swam in front of his eyes whenever he tried to check. Doctors and nurses were constantly in and out of the room. He remembered no names, couldn’t have cared less to remember anyway. The pain in his stomach came and went in intervals as the contractions increased in frequency. Pressure forming inside him ever since that first spasm readjusted itself in position, steadily lowering until he wondered if his baby might not force her way out on her own.
At some point, he rolled onto his side and was given a shot. After that, the pain seemed to matter less, but the pressure remained. Pressure that only increased and kept increasing until he felt as if he’d spent his entire life right there in that bed, suffering under the weight of something he couldn’t control.
Then, suddenly, it seemed like every member of the hospital staff filled his room. A doctor crouched in front of him, surgical mask over his face and his hands gloved. “Looks like we’re about ready to go here,” he said, cheerfully. Everyone in the room stared at Keiran’s ass, at the place where the pressure lived. “Let’s get this baby out!”
For all that he’d been coached on the right way to push, he’d never imagined that it would hurt so much. The shot did nothing to dull this pain, the pressure splitting him in half. He screamed and grabbed at the railing on his bed, bearing down as hard as he could. The lights were too bright. He couldn’t see. Couldn’t understand what was being said all around him, voices gone blurred and meaningless but for one that kept insisting he push. He pushed and pushed until he thought that he had nothing left to push out, no strength with which to push.
Then, blessedly, he heard, “I see the crown! Give me one more big, final push, Keiran!”
He screamed again and clutched at the railing, bearing down with everything he had. Even with his eyes squeezed shut, he still saw the lights. A high, thin wail joined his and the pressure suddenly ebbed. Slumping back, covered with a layer of sweat, Keiran was aware that he still felt terrible but it was so far away from the agony of before that he hardly cared.
“Keiran, look!”
Before he decided whether or not he wanted to obey the voice, something warm and wet and perfect was set on his chest. His arms rose of their own accord and he looked down into the dark blue eyes of an infant. Her wet hair had Jace’s dark coloring, and he thought that he could see Jace’s nose, a bit too large for her small face.
Jace’s perfect little daughter. The one he wanted to cover in pink.
She looked up at him and he looked down at her, sensing her wolf spirit, the cub inside her that would be able to run and leap and play fight before she even learned to sit up on her own.
Suddenly, a voice spoke from the door. “I let you out of my sight for one minute and this is what happens?”
Abigail stood there smiling, dressed in a silver-and-white skirt and blouse. And behind her was Jace, grinning like an idiot. “Don got a hold of her just in time to invite her to our wedding. It was supposed to be a surprise. We didn’t plan on you deciding to have the baby.”
“Silly me,” Keiran grumbled as Jace entered the room to meet their daughter. Abigail faded back outside the doorway to give them privacy. “Let me just shove her back up inside and give it another try.”
Jace didn’t respond, perching on the edge of the bed and staring at their baby. “She’s beautiful,” he whispered. “Hello, sweetheart. I’m going to teach you how to play checkers, and dress you in pink.”
One of the nurses in the room let out a soft, knowing chuckle. “When we clean her up, she’ll be returned to you in a pink onesie with a huge pink bow in her hair.”
Jace brightened, and Keiran couldn’t even be annoyed with him. Let him dress their daughter in glitter and girly colors. Someday, she would be a teenager who wouldn’t dare dream of touching a color other than black. And then
she would be a young professional, primed to take over the throne.
A month later, the results from the voting day were finally all counted and finalized. The kingdom of Dexus would be split once again.
Keiran went to look at his sleeping daughter as soon as he could after hearing the news, watching her perfect lips sucking on her thumb. Fate was decided. She would grow up knowing peace, knowing the love of her parents. That was all he needed.
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In the 19th century, a drifter named Elijah wanders the United States, lost and aimless, until a strange, intoxicating voice beckons him to a small, forgotten town. Once there, the Alpha spirit of a Native American predator seeks to make him the Omega of the pack. Will Elijah submit to his desires, and give himself to the call of the Wendigo?
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Wild Ride: An M/M Shifter Mpreg Romance Bundle Page 96