Page 18 of Destined Bear

The chase ended with him pouncing on me, pinning me to the ground. Had it been warmer weather, I’d have shifted beneath him, and when he followed suit, I’d have made love to him beneath the trees. But it was freaking cold, and as hot as my mate was, he could’ve stave off frostbite.

Instead, we found a cozy spot next to a large tree. The air was crisp even with our fur, and we cuddled close, soaking in each other’s warmth.

I tugged at his ears playfully with my teeth, and he let out a deep rumble I could only interpret as pure contentment. It was perfect. Everything was absolutely perfect.

We stayed like that for a long time, just enjoying being together in this form, but then a fox ran in front of us, basically begging us to chase him. And we did. He won, not only having the head start, but also our bears not feeling the need for food. Still, it was fun, and when we lost him near the stream, the two of us jumped in, splashing away.

Patrick did catch a few small fish, and my bear welcomed them. There was always room for fish, right? But after our foray into the water, it was time to go home. As thick and luscious as our fur was, the water had a slight chill running through me.

On the way home, it was me who chased Patrick. He pretended like he was trying his hardest, but he made sure I caught him just as we reached our back yard, and when I pounced on him, he did shift and so did I.

I took his lips, needing to feel them, taste them. We kissed until we were both hard and breathless—and very, very cold.

“Take this inside for a shower, omega mine?”

Normally, I’d have asked him to take me to bed first, we were only going to get dirty again, but we needed to wash off the outdoors from our little make-out session and warm-up. We were just going to have to take another shower together… Shucks darn.

“I’ll wash your back if you wash mine.” I bolted to the door, racing to get the shower running and warm for us.

Patrick caught up with me in the bathroom, pressing me against the bathroom wall and kissing me until my knees nearly gave. As perfect as the day had been, my mate knew how to make it even better. That was for sure.

Chapter 12

Patrick

Waking up next to my mate was definitely one of the most glorious experiences of my life. Every morning, I accepted it as the gift it was. The first day, I thought it was the novelty, that the feeling would lesson with each morning. I’d been so wrong. If anything, it grew more intense with each day that passed, as my love for him grew and deepened, as I let him in a little bit more.

He was mine and I was his, and the daily reminder I had, seeing him first thing, was everything and more.

How I had survived this long without having my mate in my arms each and every night, and seeing his gorgeous face every morning, I would never know. Even though it had been just two short weeks since we’d been together, I could not imagine ever having him away from me. This was where he belonged.

Only this morning, when I woke, he wasn’t there. My initial thought was that he’d gotten up for a drink or something, but then my bear started to feel distressed. So did I.

I was barely out of bed when I heard the bathroom door of the en suite slam, and the sounds of him retching into the toilet reached my ears. I got up, pulled on a pair of sweats, and tapped on the door gently. My mate was sick. As much as I longed to barge in and try to fix everything, I was aware enough to know that he probably wanted his privacy. No one wanted an audience while they puked.

“Finn? Are you all right?” He obviously wasn’t, but those were the words that came out.

“Fine.” There was a pause, but before I could say anything, he added, “Just… stomach…”

Relief flooded into me as my brain caught up to what was happening. I knew, of course, that one of the first signs of pregnancy was morning sickness. I didn’t want to dare say the words out loud, but it was going through my mind. He wasn’t sick… probably. He was having our baby.

I tried not to get too excited, but it was hard. The only thing holding me back from racing in there and asking to celebrate was the slight chance that it was food related. We’d been eating the food given to us, and while I liked to think that everyone who sent us with food were as picky as I was when it came to food safety, there weren’t really any people out there who were. It was one thing I was beyond diligent about.

“Would you like me to call Rissa?” No matter the reason for his sickness, Rissa could help.

There were sounds of more retching. Instead of waiting for his reply, I went to the kitchen and brewed some tea. I didn’t want to risk the scent of coffee upsetting him. I put in two slices of toast. I wasn’t sure if either would help, but I needed to do something or my bear would insist I invade my mate’s privacy.

When I returned, Finn had crawled back into bed. His face was ghostly pale, and there was a thin sheen of sweat coating his skin. He was wrapped up in the blankets, shivering. I set the tea and toast on the side table.

This didn’t look like pregnancy. At least I didn’t think it did. Weren’t pregnant omegas supposed to glow?

“Well, I think asking if you’re okay would be stupid.” I sat on the edge of the bed, trying hard not to jostle the mattress too hard.

He laughed a little, then coughed. “I don’t feel so good, Patrick.”

“I see that. I can call Rissa for you or take you there? Maybe I should take you there.” I didn’t enjoy seeing my mate this way, and my bear itched to solve it in whatever way he could. Taking him would be faster, but would it make things worse for him?

“It’ll pass,” he said.