Page 29 of Destined Bear

“Awesome.” Suddenly, Finn’s eyebrows shot up, and he let out a little squeak, his hand going to his belly. “Come feel, come feel!”

This was my new favorite thing; feeling our little one practicing their kickboxing.

The baby had been quite active, but it seemed every time I was around, he’d be still as could be. Finn said it was because I was feeding them, but I chose to believe that it was because they recognized their papa’s voice.

I’d spent several hours on the couch in the evening with my hand on Finn’s belly, hoping to feel a kick as we watched a movie. They would kick, kick, kick and then settle down until they got their energy back and did it all over again. I loved it.

I slid out of my side of the booth, scooted next to him, and placed my hand over his rounded stomach. One thump, then two more.

“Wow,” I breathed. “That’s amazing, isn’t it?” The wonder of it never ceased to amaze me.

“I think he likes olive burgers as much as I do.” Finn licked his lips. “Or maybe he hates them.” He stuck out his tongue playfully and bumped my shoulder.

Since I was already cozy beside him, I stayed on his side of the booth, wrapping my arm around his shoulders as the two of us ate our lunch.

“Thanks for lunch today,” he said, and I kissed his cheek.

“Thank you for coming.”

He leaned his head close to my ear and whispered for only me to hear, “I’m not yet, but plan to be when you come home.” He nibbled on my earlobe. “Don’t dawdle.”

I was home an hour early.

Epilogue

Finn

My mate was officially on paternity leave—as was I, though mine had started two weeks earlier. At first, I thought I could work until the end. I’d already missed so much work, and I didn’t have a lot of time, because as my pregnancy progressed, my ability to focus declined.

When my boss asked when I’d like to start my leave, I found myself saying that I wanted to finish up my current projects and begin then. It just made sense to spend my last two weeks of pregnancy preparing for our child’s arrival. I didn’t want toworry about what to do if I went into labor mid project, who to pass the project off to, and any of that. This was so much better.

The nursery was set and ready. The house? Completely clean and organized, thanks to my strong nesting instinct that had kicked in ten days ago. I hadn’t stopped moving and organizing since. It was getting to the point of being ridiculous, but at the same time, oddly satisfying.

My mate and I had had a nice day. We went for a walk to the stream, me in my skin and my mate in his fur. My bear no longer wanted to come out, and Rissa said only to shift as long as he was asking, so I never pushed. After our walk, we drove to town, my craving for raspberries requiring it. And now we were being slugs, and I loved it.

Patrick and I sat on the couch, watching television. It was a movie about some kids who found treasure, and the plot was nonsensical and at the same time exactly perfect.

My mate, unlike me, seemed full of nervous energy.

“Is everything all right, alpha?”

“I don’t know what to do with myself,” he said. “My Beta responsibilities have been taken over. The diner is under Archer’s control, which is terrifying but necessary, and now we’re just… waiting.”

Poor Patrick. He’d been so used to always working that now that he slowed down, he had no idea what to do with himself. Soonenough our baby would be here and neither one of us were going to have a second to breathe.

“We are indeed.” I kissed his cheek. “But I assure you, our cub will be here before we know it.”

“Promise?”

Given that I’d been having contractions on and off all day, I thought it was a good chance. I didn’t want to alarm him, though. The second he heard the word contraction, he was going to go into full-on alpha mode. And after my early pregnancy issue, the odds were great he was going to demand Rissa be here, and they didn’t need to waste their time watching me labor.

“Yeah, probably any day now.” Or better yet, today. We’d find out soon enough.

He looked at me from the corner of his eye. “What do you know? What aren’t you telling me?”

So much for me being clever.

“Lots of things.”