Chapter 14
Alby
The Hemlock Wolf Pack, Star’s Territory
Midwife Wane was a wolf shifter two inches shorter than I was.
He wore his hair tied back in a low ponytail that hung halfway down his star-patterned scrub top.
The pheromone blocker spray he wore smelled like blueberry muffins and made me hungry despite all the flips my stomach had performed recently.
I only knew he was a wolf because most healers wore little pins of their animal counterparts on their scrubs these days.
It helped some patients remain calmer knowing who was helping them and in some cases made them more likely to be compliant.
He shook my hand and then Bennie’s. They eyed each other up and I elbowed my alpha in the side to make him stop the stare down. Midwife Wane was here by invitation.
“Grandpa Clyde speaks highly of you,” I told the midwife as we led him into the living room.
“Thank you,” he said to me and eyed Bennie. “Clyde warned me about you. If you bite me you should know, my carrier is a lioness, and she taught me to go for the scrotum of male cats who think they’re the biggest. The bigger the balls, the stretchier the scrotum under the claws, or so they say.”
“Yep. Grandpa warned him about the murder plate comment,” my wolf chimed into my thoughts. “It’s sort of romantic that Bennie wants to eat him, though, isn’t it?”
“Don’t you start too!” I scolded him but he was already nuzzling with Bennie’s tiger and didn’t hear me.
To his credit, Bennie laughed, but Midwife Wane smelled serious.
Yep. I was gonna play referee by the time it was all said and done.
Bennie sat quietly beside me while the midwife asked all the usual questions: When did I think I conceived, what had my symptoms and cravings been so far, had I done an at home test, etc.
I’d heard all the questions before when family members and friends had been pregnant.
I didn’t mind answering them, but I kept a hand on Bennie’s thigh just in case his tiger got any ideas.
When it was time for my ultrasound, I propped Bennie up against the sofa arm and took off my shirt.
Then I used him to lean back against. That way if his tiger wanted to eat the midwife, he had to go through me first and I knew that big, loveable brute wouldn’t hurt me.
He was my brute after all. My big brute. My big sexy…
“You two knock it off in there!” I thought at my wolf and Bennie’s tiger. “This isn’t the time to get horny.”
“Well, they seem to be already there,” Bennie said over the mating link, and I had to try not to blush while Midwife Wane got his portable ultrasound machine ready.
“They’re incorrigible!” I said, ignoring them. This wasn’t the first time they decided to romp without us but it was the first time they decided to do so while I was about to be scanned.
“It’s just foreplay. I think your wolf is trying to distract my tiger,” Bennie said.
“Well… Maybe it’s working but I don’t want to be distracted,” I said, trying not to laugh out loud.
“Ready?” Midwife Wane asked, holding up his wand.
“Yeah,” I nodded to my stomach. “Let’s see how many babies the brute put in me.”
“Probably not as many as you asked for,” Bennie teased and I laughed, because he was probably right.
“Let’s find out, shall we?” the midwife grinned.
A second later, his wand was pressed to my belly and Bennie held onto my side like he might try to steal me away. Still, it was better than trying to eat him. His grip only tightened when the first baby came onto the screen. They were just a little jellybean.
“I would guess that Clyde was right about them being tiger cubs,” the midwife said. “Wolf pups would be a little larger by now due to a slightly shorter gestation period. One. Two. Three. Three little tiger cubs.”
“Three,” I repeated, sort of wanting to look at Bennie but I couldn’t bring myself to take my eyes off the screen. “Three babies. You put three babies into me.”
Then the first tear drop hit my shoulder and I twisted around, knocking the wand onto the floor as I moved to check on my alpha. It was too late for him to change his mind now. The babies were already made, but as I turned around to hug him, his emotions began to unravel over our mating link.
“Oh, baby,” I got onto my knees and hugged him tight, feeling like an ass for ignoring the midwife, but some moments were for true-mates and this was one of them.
My big, brutal tiger was crying because he was so happy and awestruck by seeing our babies on the screen.
His hand found my bare stomach and stayed there protectively.
We held onto each other for a long, quiet moment.
I forgot that the midwife was there watching, because we were going to have three babies.
We only met because a meddling dragon figured us out before we did and then went overboard to bring us together.
I had my mate and now we’d have three babies.
We had good family and friends and belonged to a strong, healthy pack. This really was the good life.
“Oh, great,” I laughed, wiping away tears.
“I caught our crying cooties.” I wiped my tears on his shirt and he laughed too.
Then we shared a long, slow kiss and it wasn’t until our tongues were dancing between our mouths that I remembered the poor midwife who was watching all of this unfold.
If not for him, I’d have stuck my hand down Bennie’s pants, and we could’ve practiced for our next conception.
“Alpha,” I growled, a playful warning. “The midwife is still here.”
“Ugh!” he said, but his tone was playful.
Eventually, I was able to sit back down and let Midwife Wane take the measurements he needed. Then, as promised, Bennie left. He kissed me goodbye a thousand times and made me promise that I’d call him if I needed him, but he did leave.
***
Not long after Midwife Wane pronounced me healthy and left someone knocked on the back door.
We were outside of the matingmoon phase now but sometimes Raziel still liked to leave presents on the back porch.
If he’d heard about his incoming godchildren there was no doubt in my mind that I’d open the back door to find a full nursery or something equally absurd.
If he’d given us a house for meeting, what would he give us for triplets?
Only it wasn’t a gift waiting for me on the back porch. It was a bear, holding a baby to his chest, with a box tucked under his other arm. My first thought was that he had the wrong house, because he looked more like a dad in need of help than a delivery man.
“Can I help you?” I asked, unsure whether to reach for the box or not. Maybe he actually needed help and ours was the first house he could get too? The omega bear was sweating bullets that ran down onto his face. Why was he out here with his baby? Why?
“Bennie? Grandpa?” I sent out the message for help. “Wane?” I even tried the midwife. Maybe he was looking for him and someone said he was here.
The box fell to the ground and I reached down to get it for him not wanting him to bend over while holding his cub. Only when I stood up the sweaty bear had a gun pointed at me. So, this was how today was going to go? A bear with a baby wanted to rob me. Okay.
“What the actual fuck?” my wolf growled.
“Do you need help?” was what I managed to spit out. Keeping the situation calm was my best bet for all three of us making it out alive.
“Six. Six of us. The kittens,” my wolf reminded me.
“All the more reason for all of us to survive,” I said.
“I..” he said, “Inside. I’m coming inside.”
“Okay,” I said, stepping backward. “But are you okay?” I asked again.
Even if he had ill intent, I couldn’t very well tackle him while he held onto his baby.
It was sort of a smart move. Well, smart in a desperate way, but dumb overall.
Some people wouldn’t care if he held his baby.
Only, I couldn’t hurt that baby. Even if the bear man shot me dead now the baby didn’t deserve to die. No baby deserved that.
“I’m sorry but I have to kill you,” he said like he was apologizing for dropping my package.
“Um, no, I don’t think so,” I shook my head because what else was I supposed to do.
Bennie and the others were exploding in conversation and plans over the link. I had the sneaking suspicion that nay second now Grandpa Clyde would knock down the door and eat the bear.
“I have to. It’s not your fault, but I have to,” he said, his hands shaking.
“Why do you think that? Do you need money? I can give you money. Giftcards? Food? Maybe a chair to sit down in. You look like you might fall over,” I said, trying not to bite my lip. “How old is your baby?”
“Six hours,” he growled.
“Oh, honey!” I said, stepping forward, not quite forgetting about the gun, but more worried about the baby.
Only a few types of shifters used guns: the cowardly, the desperate, the outnumbered, and the ones who wanted to scare people more than kill him.
Anyone who would drag a baby into a gun fight wasn’t a coward and he wasn’t outnumbered.
That left him wanting to scare me or being that fucking desperate.
“You’re not taking my baby!” he growled, half turning away from me.
“Okay,” I nodded. “I don’t want to take your baby. I just.. Do you need help? Seriously. I think you’ve confused me with someone else. I… Are you looking for Raziel maybe?”
“A bullet wouldn’t kill that fucker,” the bear rolled his eyes. “Fucking hell. Fuck him! Fuck him and his family! Fuck them all with a spikey pole!”
“I’m Alby,” I said, introducing myself, ignoring what he said about everyone else.
“Don’t try that. I have to kill you. Don’t try to do that thing where you remind me that you’re a shifter just like me,” he rolled his eyes. “I’ve lived with people who would make that little manipulation tactic look like child’s play.”