19. Arlo
19
ARLO
“What did you eat yesterday?”
Kalen was at my back, kneeling beside me and draping a damp towel around my neck. I sat back on my heels and dabbed my face.
Last night when we went to bed, I thought I’d gone through the worst of it, but this morning, my alarm hadn’t even gone off before I was back in the bathroom.
“Can’t remember. Something bad.”
He helped me up, and after washing my hands, he led me to his bed and I sank into the soft bedding. I closed my eyes, just for a minute, but when I opened them, the sun was low in the sky.
“Hello, sleepyhead.” Kalen offered me a mug of tea, and I struggled to sit up.
The room spun around, and I waved the mug away. “Don’t let me fall.”
“Never.” He sat beside me. “But perhaps I should take you to the doctor. Whatever’s wrong with you is not a tummy bug. Not that I’m familiar with human illnesses, but I’ve witnessed plenty of students sneezing and coughing to recognize the symptoms of various ailments.”
“No, I don’t want to. Just need to curl up in your bed and sleep.”
That was the last thing I recalled until later that night when I woke and Kalen was beside me reading by lamplight. Not the kind of celebrating our engagement in bed I wanted, that was for sure.
“Feeling better?”
I wasn’t. I was groggy, my tummy was yucky, and my mouth was disgusting, as though it were paved with asphalt. Kalen handed me a water bottle, and I guzzled the liquid. He offered to make me a sandwich, but my belly churned at the thought of eating anything.
“Just more water, please, and some crackers.” I had to work tomorrow, but it was from home, so I could stay in my PJs, or Kalen’s PJs ‘cause I’d arrived in a robe and I wasn’t wearing it now.
“Crackers with peanut butter? Cheese?” He must have observed my expression because he followed that with, “Plain crackers coming up.”
I nibbled on one cracker, and my belly didn’t complain, so I finished it and drank more water.
“Arlo, is eating plain crackers something you do when you’re sick?”
It was an odd time to be finding out more about me, but I shook my head. “Never liked them, except when I toddled around the house as a kid leaving a trail of crumbs.”
“So this is unusual?”
“Very.”
Kalen got into bed and put an arm around me. “I watch a lot of movies, and they all feature humans, or shifters pretending to be human.”
I loved my shifter mate, but I was ready to snuggle in for the night, not hear about his hobbies, however interesting they were.
“And in many of them, omegas like to eat crackers at a certain time in their life.”
I didn’t know where this was going, but I needed more sleep.
“Can your story wait until morning, babe.” I patted his hand. “I love hearing about your experiences, but I’m so tired, it’s as though I have a boulder sitting on my chest.”
He kissed my cheek. “I get it. Bear with me.”
Glancing over my shoulder, I wondered if he was going to introduce me to a bear. A lion was enough. “I’m not ready for another shifter in my life. Maybe tomorrow or next week, but I have to get used to your animal first.”
Kalen tugged his ear, a sign I’d come to recognize as him withholding information.
“You have a bear friend and he wants to meet me?”
He grinned. “How did me asking you to wait a little longer become me inviting a bear to the house?”
I shrugged, but despite my lethargy, my brain was buzzing.
“Okay. I’ll spit out. Omegas often eat dry crackers after a tummy upset when they’re not sick but pregnant.”
“Pregnant!” I shot up in bed. “That’s impossible. I can’t be pregnant.”
Kalen’s face fell, and he hugged me tight. “Oh, love. I didn’t know or I wouldn’t have mentioned it. He rested his head on mine. “I’m so sorry.”
I rolled over and studied his face. “What? Why are you apologizing?”
“Because you said you can’t get pregnant.”
“No, I said I can’t be pregnant. We’ve only had sex a few times and…”
Kalen grinned. “A few times. Do you know how long we’ve been seeing one another?” He nudged me. “Besides, that’s every teen’s line when they find out they’re pregnant. ‘We’ve only had sex once’.”
I rolled my eyes. “I understand how it works. But I just… well, I… damn… I’m being just as ridiculous as a teenager.” Except I was with the man I was spending my life with, he had my heart and I cradled his. Having a baby would make us a family.
“I guess I could be. Might want to get to a pharmacy and grab a test.”
“I have a better way.” He grinned.
“Oh yeah? Like what? Dangling a ring over my belly?”
Kalen giggle-snorted. “No, that’s to find out the sex based on what humans call an old wives’ tale.” He put a hand under the covers and brushed his fingers over my midsection. “My lion.”
I drew back, my heart speeding up so loud Kalen with his supersonic hearing must have picked it up. “Do I want to hear this?”
“He’ll sniff your tummy and be able to pick up if you’re pregnant.”
If I wanted to show Kalen that I truly accepted him for who he was, that I wasn’t fearful of his beast, this was the ultimate test. “Okay. It’s just a sniff, nothing more?”
“That’s it.”
“Let’s do it.”
Kalen stripped off his clothes, and I pulled the bedding down to expose my belly. I took deep breaths, trying to tamp down my anxiety. My gaze was on my mate as he shifted, the lion’s fur rippling over his body. His mane was gorgeous, and I thought of the long strand I’d found on my pants.
The beast padded to the side of the bed and placed his snout above me, not touching. He sniffed, and I studied his eyes. They weren’t the eyes of a wild beast but a mingling of his and Kalen’s. But I’d been thinking of the lion as a separate entity from my mate.
I reached out and brushed my fingertips over the mane. He bobbed his head, and the shared moment set my heart at ease. There was nothing to fear because Kalen said his lion adored me as much as he did.
The lion stood back and shifted, and my mate slid into bed beside me.
“I think I know the answer because I saw it in your beast’s eyes.”
Kalen’s look of anticipation accompanied him clutching both my hands. “So, is it what you were hoping for?”
“It is, and I am.”
“You are.”
“I’m so excited.” How my mood and outlook had changed in minutes. Not once did I consider I might get pregnant so quickly. I’d always thought I had years before I became a dad. But I had a little one inside me, and I was filled with joy. Kalen and I had made a baby.
“How does your lion have the skill of scenting a pregnancy and you don’t?”
My mate shrugged. “We’d have to trail back through shifter history to find that out, and it might not be possible.”
Now that it was confirmed, my nausea eased and I was eager to make plans.
“We have to live together.”
“That’s the norm.”
My place was bigger than Kalen’s, and it had the attic I used as my home office plus three bedrooms. “Are you attached to your house?”
“It doesn’t hold any special memories, so I’d be happy to sell it and move in with you or we buy a place together?”
“Oh gods, we have to tell Princess she’s going to have a sibling. I hope she won’t be jealous.”
Kalen and I shared a laugh.
“Let’s hope she grows tall and our child or children create many happy memories playing beneath her.”
I leaped out of bed. Though my stomach was still upset, I wanted to get started on our new life.
“We should spend tonight in our home so we can commemorate the day we found out we were going to be parents.”
Kalen didn’t look convinced, but he went along with it and packed a bag. We collected Princess from the porch, and I whispered to her she was going to have a baby sister or brother.
“We’re home,” I shouted as my mate drove up to the gate, as we’d collect my car from his place later.
There was so much to do, but the burst of energy I’d experienced faded and I was ready to crawl into bed. Kalen made tea and plain crackers along with fruit for me, sandwiches for him, and we ate in bed.
The next eight or so months would be busy, filled with learning to live together and preparing for a baby. I closed my eyes while considering which bedroom we should turn into a nursery.
“Green or yellow,” I mumbled as my eyes closed.
“Are you asking me my favorite color?”
“No, for the baby’s room. Or maybe a light gray.”