Page 158 of Labor of Love

MAKLIHN

There was nothing like being woken up by the sound of giggles.

Our son, Johnson, was bouncing on the end of the bed. He had been awake for a while, and while I knew that my mate was trying to keep him quiet, nothing would make Johnson calm down. He only did what he wanted, when he wanted.

Stubborn boy.

The kid had more energy than both of us.

Not that I’m complaining.

Every minute we got with him was amazing. He brightened our life in a way that we could not have imagined.

Three hundred years of waiting for my mate to arrive, and within a matter of months, he changed everything. He gave me family and purpose.

I now had them to take care of. It was a full-time job on top of running the shop, but thankfully, I had been preparing for them long before I even knew who Clynt was.

I had worked to ensure that things would go smoothly. That started with hiring helpers for the shop. Of course, Judy and Kris also jumped in to help as needed when my other workers couldn't be there.

I took the first three months of my son's life off. I called it paternity leave, but at the end of the day, it was really just me not wanting to leave his side.

Shifter babies grew fast. You would blink and miss all the monumental things that human children did.

So I was there instead. I watched him roll over and shift as if he were going to crawl for the first time. I saw his eyes light up when me or my mate came into his room. I saw his mouth attempt to form Papa and Dada.

Every second of it was perfect.

The day I went back to work, I knew it would be another challenge. One that we would tackle together, obviously, but a challenge nonetheless.

And my mate —my sweet, perfect mate— knew exactly what I needed. He bundled up Johnson and brought our son into the shop to see me for lunch. Customers got a kick out of seeing our boy. They tickled his little belly and pinched his little cheeks.

He was growing rapidly. Most of them had missed the time when he was itty-bitty.

That day, my mate looked at me and said, "We should have another."

Our bond lit up with my excitement.

Practicing having a baby with him since he'd healed was enjoyable. I had discovered I had a bit of a breeding kink, so I constantly told him about how I wanted my knot to load him full and give us another child. It was all said in the moment, of course. Heated times when we were locked together.

A part of me had been serious as well.

I loved seeing him round and swollen with our child. Loved taking care of him every second of every day. Having him in the shop with me with his legs kicked up because he was too swollen to get around on his own. Going to late night grocery runs a fewtowns over because it was the only place open with the certain food he wanted.

Even the moments when he would yell and be angry with me were enjoyable. All of it grounded me. It reminded me that every wish and dream I had, had finally come true.

So with my mate telling me he was ready to conceive again, I saw no point in keeping the shop open. I took him home and after spending the evening playing with him and our son, I made love to him.

And then I fucked him.

And then I bred him.

There was no chance of us not conceiving. He had mentioned going off the birth control. He told me he had gone off it a couple of weeks before. It's why he hadn’t been as forward as usual. He wanted to make sure that his body was primed for my seed.

I appreciated the extra effort.

A few weeks later, we found out he was pregnant again. Between his fertile womb, and my advanced swimmers, the doctor said he wasn't surprised.

Johnson didn't quite understand that Dada had a baby in his belly. He thought it was funny how big his stomach got and how hard it was depending on where the baby sat.

---