Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
River grabbed the laundry basket and headed for the bedroom where he would get the laundry out of the hamper and take it back to wash it. Bodhi was great at dishes and vacuuming and taking out the trash, but he sucked at laundry. And River was kind of particular about how everything was folded.
Humming, River boogied on into the bedroom, finding the bed empty, which was unexpected. He really thought Bodhi was still asleep. The changes in his body were making him super tired, and he tended to nap quite a bit these days.
He shrugged, making his way to the bathroom to empty out the hamper.
Still doing a little bit of a samba step, when he popped back out into the bedroom, he almost screamed like a little girl because in the middle of the bed was a river otter, curled up in a tight little ball, sleeping for all it was worth.
He dropped a basket of laundry on his foot, then cursed, jumping around like an idiot, his toes throbbing.
The otter in the middle of the bed jumped up, taking a defensive stance facing him, and hissed.
“Bodhi? Is that you?” It had to be Bohdi.
Who else could it be? And he was a beautiful, sleek little river otter.
There was a mixture of dark brown, gray, and cream, and his bright brown eyes were fringed with black lashes.
His little white whiskers just twitched for all he was worth as his tail lashed on the bed.
The tail was stunning, perfectly positioned to swim like the devil.
“It’s okay, it’s just me. It’s River.” He held his hands up, smiling. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you. Look how beautiful you are.”
He knew Bohdi didn’t think he shifted, but he certainly did.
Maybe this was the first time. If it was, it might be hard for him to get back to human, so River needed to be patient.
But maybe it was the hormones from the baby or having to know how to protect the baby.
He wasn’t sure. He didn’t know if it really mattered.
He just knew that he thought otter Bohdi was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen.
Bohdi sniffed the air, those whiskers twitching wildly. The front paws tapped on the sheets with their little toe beans. River had to laugh because in his otter form, he would be at least twice Bohdi’s size.
He gave up on the laundry and shifted before scrambling over to the bed and crawling up to curl around Bodhi, who immediately relaxed as soon as he did.
He chittered at Bodhi. Finally, finally he could hear Bodhi in his mind after all this time, something that his parents had told him he should be able to do right away.
I shifted!
Oh, baby, look at you. You’re amazing.
Look at me, I’m pregnant. He could hear the laughter in Bodhi’s mental voice.
It was true even in this form, or maybe even more so in this form, Bodhi’s baby bump was starting to really show.
I love it. Do you want to go swimming?
Bohdi chittered excitedly, his tail flopping all over the place. I do. I want to go swimming so bad. But I don’t have opposable thumbs to open the door to the pool room.
We have close enough to opposable thumbs, and I happen to be tall enough to work the handle.
He jumped down off the bed and took off on a dead run, daring Bodhi to follow him.
He could hear those claws scrabbling on tiles.
Bodhi followed him and they scampered to the pool room where he rose up to push down the door handle.
He’d made sure to install a lever-type instead of a round one, so he could do exactly that and get in the pool even if he was a little too eager to go in while in human form.
He splashed into the water, and Bodhi went shooting past him in a sleek dive that took him halfway across the pool with one swish of his tail. He was a stunning swimmer.
They made laps around the pool, chasing each other’s tails. Both of them dived deep, then rocking their way back up, slipping out of the pool and then diving back in again, exhibiting all sorts of otter behavior. And River was so happy for Bodhi because River could feel his joy.
Finally though, Bodhi pulled himself out of the pool, his tail helping to push off on the edge of the coping. He flopped over on his back, all four feet in the air, his little toes sort of stretching and grasping. He was panting, and River got the feeling he was exhausted.
Did you wear yourself out, love?
Bodhi turned his head and looked at him. Those brown eyes so bright, his little pink tongue sticking out. I think I did, yeah, but it was so much fun.
River shifted easily into his human form and then scooped Bodhi up into his arms to take him to the main part of the house. They would take a rinse off in the shower, and then he would put Bodhi back to bed and let him have the rest of his nap.
By the time he got the water running after setting Bodhi down on the toilet, his mate was back to being human and blinking at him, his wet hair sticking up in all directions.
“Did you see that, River? I shifted. I didn’t think I could shift. I didn’t think I knew how.”
“Whatever the blockage was, it seems like it’s broken now.” He turned around to stroke Bodhi’s hair back off his face. “I’m so happy for you, baby.”
He wouldn’t have cared if Bodhi had never shifted, but he knew it really bothered his mate, and he knew Bodhi worried about his kids not being able to do it.
“Me too.” Bodhi yawned and let him easily pull him up to take him to the shower and wash him clean. He lifted his mate off his feet once the shower was over, drying him off with a big towel and taking him out to bed. Bodhi was asleep on his feet, and River just let him have his little nap.
Clearly pregnancy agreed with his mate because things were really looking up.
Even if Bodhi was kind of a weenie when it came to hardcore exercise.