He had no excuse to stay. Technically, he didn't need to be here anymore. Living in a camper beside a dilapidated shack was not what I called ideal housing for anyone, but he would no longer get fines and his camper impounded if he chose it.
Not that the shack would be one for long. We left the diner and went straight to the home store, ordering everything under the sun. On Monday morning, it would all be delivered, and then the hard work would begin.
Monday would also be my first day as interim sheriff. What a wild and crazy day.
“You are so talented.” I walked into the house to find the cabinets already in place. “They’re stunning.” The fact that he could take wood and turn it into cabinets blew my mind.
“They’re a bitch to hang.” Jase came in from the back entrance. “Good thing they’ll last a lifetime.”
“Good thing he has a strong friend who can help.” The guilt of working so many hours was real. The town voted to look for a new deputy sheriff, but I was fine with that being a slow process. The last thing I needed was to be out of a job come election day. Ms. Patty swore it would be an easy win. But man, votes to keep your job—not really my thing.
“He just needed some dumb muscle.” Jase chuckled. “And this dumb muscle needs to head home. Date night.” He winked.
Seeing how in love he and August were was nice. I could see myself with Leo like that. The more time I spent with him, the more I liked him...loved him. That scary four-letter word wasn’t so scary now that I understood what it meant.
It meant that he was the first thing I thought about in the morning and the last before I went to sleep and a thousand other times throughout the day. I missed him, and even if we did nothing but occupy the same space together, I felt more at home there than anywhere I’d ever been. My every decision had a component of What About Leo in it, right down to what to pick up for dinner. I had it bad, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I had it so bad that I was ready to put a ring on it. I just needed to figure out the best way to give it to him.
Jase left so I took a good look around the home. The walls were up, the floors laid, and now the kitchen cabinets were done. There was still more work to do, but it would be done soon—sooner than I wanted. Which made me a prick, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted him in my bed every night, not just on date night.
“I missed you.” Leo walked into my open arms. “Today was tough.”
I’d never hung cabinets, but the sheer fact they were still on the wall had me impressed. I’d had small photos fall off mine.
“I missed you too. I’m glad Jase was here to help.” He was one of a group of helpers who randomly showed up, claiming they were bored. They weren't bored. It was the town’s way of saying he was both accepted and wanted.
He’d still be the new guy for many years, but he was their new guy.
Leo froze in my arms, then pushed away and bolted to the bathroom.
Not again. He’d been sick quite a few times lately. At first, he said it was too much coffee, so he stopped drinking it. Then he thought it was from eating crappy food like a bag of chips for lunch while he worked, so I started making him lunches. Yesterday, I was starting to wonder if it was something more serious, and I casually mentioned it to Ms. Patty.
At lunch, I found a box with two pregnancy tests on my desk. They were now in my glove box—with the wedding ring I bought last week. I didn’t know how to do things in order. Move in first, date second, get pregnant third—pregnant. Holy shit. I was going to be a dad.
“Sorry. I thought I was better.” He came out, his face still damp from when he splashed water over it.
I took him by the hand and brought him out to the truck.
He was confused when I opened up the glove box and showed him the pregnancy tests.
“You think I'm pregnant?” he asked, taking one out and looking at it like it was some kind of alien artifact.
I looked him straight in the eye. “You've been sick.”
“Lots of people get sick.”
“Yeah, I know. But I just...I feel like you might be, so amuse me?” What was the worst that could happen?
He could leave me.
His hand immediately went to his belly. “And if I am?”
“Well, if you are, then you're gonna have a baby.” Our baby.
“We're gonna have a baby.” He looked up at me, still clutching the test in one hand and holding his belly with the other.
“Yeah, I think maybe we are.” I kissed his cheek. “Let’s go find out.”
“But seriously, what if I am?” he asked again.
I pulled him closer into my side. “Then we’re going to be fathers.”
“I’m scared.” He took a step toward the house and stopped. “Really scared.”
I kissed his temple. “Good thing I’ll be by your side.”
“Even if?”
“Even if.”
Nineteen
Leo
Two days ago, I heard a faint echo and my stupid cat kept saying, Kit. Kit. Kit.
I ignored him.
Apparently, I was quite good at that, blocking out what my cat was trying to say. Being too frightened to even listen.
It was getting harder, though, because with each day, he was getting more and more demanding. First it was mate, mate, mate, then it was kit, kit, kit, and now he was rattling on with claim, claim, claim. He didn't understand the difference between humans and shifters. He only understood that fate put Ron there for us.
He was smarter than me.
Yesterday, the echo became undeniably a heartbeat, or possibly more than one heartbeat.
Still, I ignored it. I didn’t dare dream it could be true. And if it were true, what it would look like. So, instead, I lived in the happy little land of denial. Until Ron showed up all sweet, tests awaiting, and it was the moment of truth.
I went into the bathroom, tore open the boxes and took both tests. If one answer was good—two were better.
And with each second that went by, my panic started to increase. But it wasn’t because I might be having a baby. I did already love the little guy or guys or gals or whatever. No, I was scared to think that I might not be pregnant. And there was the possibility that if I was pregnant, Ron might not be okay with it.
For shifters and their mates, the joy of pregnancy kind of went along with their bond, but it was different with humans. I'd heard too many stories of deadbeat dads and dads who left and baby daddies. I was terrified. The rational side of me told me I shouldn't be, because Ron wasn't like that. And he never acted like he was for even a second. It was just my own insecurities attacking me from the inside.
We went inside to the newly finished bathroom of our mostly finished house, because it was ours...maybe not according to the title or even with our spoken words, but we both built it out of nothing. And, at the end of the day, I wouldn't have it at all if it weren't for Ron. He and Ms. Patty. I still didn’t understand all that went down, but it had shifter written all over it. The only human there had been Ms. Patty, and she was mated to a wolf based on the scar I caught a glimpse of as she left.
“So, what does it say?” Ron was pacing outside the bathroom door when I came out.
“It says to wait three minutes.” Which sounded like an eternity.
“Three minutes left or from when you went in?” He was as anxious to find out as I was and started to head in.
“No, don’t watch the sticks.” I placed my hand on his arm, needing the contact more than trying to prevent him from entering. “No looking before it's time. I don't want to get false hopes, or have my heart shattered a moment before I have to.”
He turned around and hugged me tight. “But if I keep pestering you about it, then the three minutes that are left will be down to two. And then one and then we can look.”
“That’s one way to look at it, I guess.” I held on to him tightly, neither of us speaking, as I counted our breaths.
“Are we going to look no
w?” he asked less than a minute later.
“Fine, but if we look now and it doesn't show a second line, we wait it out.”
“Deal,” he agreed and took my hand.
My logic was that the double line would show, but it wouldn't unshow and give us a false positive—that and I needed to look.
We walked in, hand in hand, and each picked up a stick, holding it out so we could both see. I looked at the one in my hand—two lines. I looked at the one in his hand—two lines.
“We're gonna be dads,” we both said at the same time.
“Are you still gonna stay with me?” I asked, my hand trembling slightly.
“I was thinking more that we could live in the house you built for our family.”
“Our family.” He put his stick down and placed his hand on my belly. “Our family. I love you, Leo.” He kissed me hard and fast. A little too fast for my liking.
But that didn’t matter because he loved me. He might not have an inner animal telling him I was his mate, but his heart did, and in a way, that made it more special.
“And I love you.” I threw my arms around him, kissing him deeply, needing to taste him, touch him, feel his knot.
And then the sharp corner of the countertop jabbed into my side and I flinched.
“Maybe we best take this to another room?” Not that there was a lick of furnishings anywhere, but we could make do. At least it wouldn’t mark me in the non-fun way.
“I guess the guest bathroom wasn't the best place to start.” He kissed me on the cheek and led me out of the bathroom.
“So, is that a yes, will you live with me?” It wasn’t enough, but it was a start. We could build our way up to me explaining that his boyfriend sprouts fur and purrs.
“That depends. Will you marry me?”
“You don't have to because I'm—” He cut me off with a finger to my lips.
“No, no, no—believe me, it’s not that. You’ll see.” He led me out to his truck, this time opening the compartment between the seats. He reached in and pulled out a little blue box. He set it in my hand and then took out his wallet and pulled out a receipt. “See this date? It’s from before you were even sick once. This is not because of our baby. I love you. I was...scared to move too fast...to scare you away.”
I opened the box and there it was, a set of rings—rings that to humans meant forever. He wanted me forever.
Twenty
Ron
I was on top of the world. I had a man I loved, who by some miracle loved me back, a baby on the way, our home was ready for us to move in, and I was the sheriff, at least for now. I still wasn’t sure how Ms. Patty managed to pull all that together. And as much as I wanted justice done, I knew this was the best thing for the town. Martin was greedy and that greed led him to some shitastic choices, but it felt like a crime of opportunity and having him scared and gone was the right thing to do. I hoped.
“Ms. Patty, I’m going to head out a bit early today. I want to surprise Leo.” His poor cat had been with Jase and August for way too long. The house was ready enough for him to be there, and I had a delivery of pet supplies sitting in my truck. I was bringing his fur baby home.
I pulled into their driveway with Henrietta making it known I was there.
“Sheriff!” August came around to the side of the house. “What brings you here?”
“It's time to bring Leo’s cat home.” I grabbed the cat carrier off the back of my truck, and August went pale.
“What? Did something happen to him?”
“No. Of course not.” Jase came up behind August. “I’ll go get him. Why don’t you put some tea on and I’ll be right back. Angeline was sound asleep when I just checked on her, but maybe she will wake up and get some Uncle Ron time by the time tea is over.”
“Yeah, sorry,” August mumbled. “My stomach is off—I’m not sick, it’s just…I ate tacos.”
Okay then. Tacos made my tummy happy but… “Are you...you know?” I asked.
He grinned. “I hope so.”
“I hope so too.”
We went inside and he put on the kettle as I got out the cookies. I loved how traditions of Angeline’s were still so vibrant in the house.
Lux jumped up onto the chair beside me. “How are you, gorgeous? Did you have fun with Lion? He must miss his daddy.” I still felt awful about Leo needing to be away from his cat, which was why I decided to surprise him.
Only he surprised me instead, walking into the kitchen and kissing me on the cheek, flashing his ring to August.
August squeed. “Show me the ring!”
Jase mumbled something that sounded remarkably like, “Human” as he came in empty-handed.
August was inspecting the cut like a professional jeweler. “It’s perfect.”
“Where’s the cat?” I asked. He was the reason I was here, and yet I’d not seen whiskers nor tail of him.
“Yeah, about that.” August walked around the counter to turn off the now-whistling kettle.
“Did something happen?” I’d never forgive myself if my offer was the reason something happened to Leo’s cat. Never.
“Just have a seat while I get the tea. There’s nothing to worry about.” That didn’t sound close to true, and the way Leo went green, it didn’t sound good to him either.
“It’ll be fine,” Jase reassured Leo and held a seat out for him. “I promise. Don’t you worry.”
“What happened to the cat?” I sat as close to Leo as I could. This was bad. So very bad.
“Nothing happened to his cat. I promise.” August set the tea in front of me and pushed the cookie tin my way. Like I could eat with this dread building up inside of me.
“There are some things that need explaining about your cat, and it's best to do when we're all together.” August sat down.
“It’s fine, Ron. Promise.” Leo didn’t sound fine.
“Remember that day we were at your place watching the game and you thought it was a good idea to see if they had sugar pie?” August asked Ron.
“Even though it was dinner time and would be long gone. Yeah, I remember. What does that have to do with this?” We had gone all the way there to have Camille ask us if we were joking, and when we said we weren’t, she sent us on our way with apple pie which was good...but not the same.
“Remember the peacock?” Jase grabbed a cookie.
“Of course I do. They stick out here. It was a peahen, though...the tail is the giveaway.” It was stunning and then it was gone and I accidentally...
“Why are you blushing?” Leo asked.
“I walked around to get a better look, and then I saw Ms. Patty, but she was...naked. Damn, I had done a good job forgetting about that. Why did you have to do that, asshat.” I threw my napkin at Jase.
“No way!” Leo looked to Jase who nodded. “I didn’t sense that at all.”
“Birds are lucky like that.” Jase shrugged.
“So the...oh...so much is making sense now.” Leo and Jase were having some kind of a secret code meeting and there was still no cat.
“You guys are making things harder than they need to be.” August took back control of the conversation. “Ron, it’s story time. I’m going to tell you about the awesome that is Jase and me.”
“I already know that tale...it ends in happily ever after with the most adorable little girl I’ve ever met.” What I wanted to know about was the cat.
“The story gets more interesting. Once upon a time, I was here minding my own business, trying to figure out how to take care of my grandma’s animals, when Xander came over with a rabbit. It was a cute little thing, but he was in bad shape—stupid fox thought he was dinner. My heart hurt for him.” I remembered that. That rabbit was weird. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen him around lately either.
“No vet would come to help and they told me it would be kinder to put him down.” He reached out for Jase’s hand. “But I just couldn't do it.” He kissed Jase's cheek and whispered in his ear.
&nbs
p; Jase got up and walked to the open area of the kitchen.
Jace then took his shirt off and reached for his pants.
“Is this a naked storytime, because we're not, I mean...I'm not...are you…? I don't think this is our thing.” I looked to Leo. He never once hinted about being poly or even a swinger or whatever Jase getting naked might indicate, but maybe? My head was spinning.
“No, it's definitely not not my thing.” Leo gave August a look I couldn’t decipher as Jase continued to remove his pants until he was standing buck-ass naked, his bits just hanging out.
“It wasn’t until after he healed that I figured out this was no ordinary bunny.” Was August still telling a story as his husband stood there in all his naked glory—not that I was looking. Except I was. I was like a deer caught in freaking headlights.
“This bunny was…”
And then Jase was gone. Just vanished. And in his place was...a bunny.
Holy shit.
Jase was an animal.
Twenty-One
Leo
When I got the call from Jase, I raced right over, my heart pounding so forcefully in my chest I could hardly breathe.
I had two choices. I could foster a lie and say something happened to my cat—keeping my mate in the dark until he was the father of kittens. Since, from what I could tell, there were at least three heartbeats. Or, I could face the music and let him know I was my cat and pray everything worked out as well for us as it did for Jase and August.
Both options were terrifying and could result in me losing everything.
And then I got there and Ron, dear sweet Ron, was so worried about Lion, and he could tell something was up—and that only compounded my guilt. I needed to just tell him. I knew I did. But I was frozen.
So instead, I listened to the story about Ms. Patty, whom Ron had unknowingly discovered was a bird—something I still was shocked by. I’d never not sensed a shifter before. Except now I was wondering if I had. Maybe Ron was the only human in town and the entire place was a bird colony.
Feline The Love: An M/M MPreg Shifter Romance (River’s Edge Shifters Book 2) Page 9