Page 212 of Labor of Love

Smiling, I gestured for him to come snuggle up at my side, propped up against the truck’s cab. “Can I…?” I reached for his crotch. His cheeks —still flushed from his exertions— turned a deeper shade of pink. “I, uh, I already…”

“God, that’s hot, darlin’.” If I didn’t know how borderline-painful it would be to stimulate the knot, I would have stroked myself. Instead, I kept my hands off in the hope it wouldn’t take too long to deflate.

He nibbled his lower lip. “You don’t think it’s pathetic?”

“You came from blowing me. That gives my ego a real boost.” Kissing the top of his head, I nuzzled against him again. “Thank you for tonight, sweetheart. That was really special.”

“I’m just…I’m sorry I’m still not ready to go all the way, but?—”

“Baby, I don’t mind.” I cut him off. “We’ve only been dating for a handful of months. We’ve got time. I’m not going anywhere.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” he insisted. “Because I do. With how slick I just got, I know I’m physically ready, but…” His voice took on a choked quality that tugged at my heartstrings. “I’m not…I mean, surely you’ve noticed I’ve been indulging way too much on our dates. My body has changed. I’m getting fat and?—”

“Whoa,” I leaned away, frowning. It was true he had filled out over the few months we’d been dating, but I just thought he was finally getting healthier. “One; I don’t exactly have a six-pack either,” I gestured to the large, soft mound of my belly, “and two; you’re gorgeous to me, Tim. You’ve never looked healthier. Your skin glows now.”

It really was a far cry from how ill he’d been over summer, with dark circles and sunken eyes. Not that I hadn’t thought him attractive then, mind you.

He shrugged. “I just noticed it the other day and I’m not used to looking this way, that’s all.” Licking his lips, he looked up at the sky, adding. “Anyway, I still need to go talk to Eric or Brandt at the clinic before we have sex. I know we’ll use condoms, but I want to get on the pill, too. Just to be safe.”

“That’s fair,” I agreed. As much as my alpha was prowling under my skin, demanding we mate and bond, I wasn’t exactly ready to support a baby, considering I was still renting a room at Frat House. Plus, Tim was still so young. It made sense to be as cautious as possible. “And we still have time,” I repeated. “All the time in the world.”

He huffed a light laugh and snuggled into my side again. “You know what we could do?” he asked after a comfortable stretch of silence.

“Hmm?”

“We could shift. Introduce our animals to each other.”

Excitement traveled up my spine. “Wanna do that now?”

6

TIM

Conrad’s bear form was magnificent. He was big —even bigger than he was as a man— and covered in a thick layer of dark brown fur. But though he was a big grizzly, he looked like an overgrown teddy bear to me. Especially when he flopped onto the grass and rolled onto his back, bearing his belly and offering me the approximation of a smile, his tongue lolling out from between two rows of sharp teeth.

Still in my human form, I reached out to rub my hand over the soft fur over his exposed belly, marveling in his warmth and the comforting vibes he gave off. I just wanted to cuddle him, but he gave an impatient little huff, making me laugh.

“Alright, alright! One little red fox coming up.”

I turned my back to take off my clothes, still embarrassed by the outward curve of my stomach and the extra flesh on my thighs and chest, too. Even my face was getting rounder, something I tried not to acknowledge when I looked in the mirror every morning.

Shifting always felt like coming home. As my body shrank and twisted and morphed, limbs shortening and joints changing, fur sprouting and my snout elongating, I welcomed the strange aches. Within seconds, I was closer to the ground and on allfours, my vision and hearing quite different to that of my human form. I felt smaller and, usually, more agile in my fox form…but tonight I felt kind of ungainly, even in my fur.

Weird.

The grunt of a bear caught my attention. I looked up to find the now even more giant grizzly sitting on his butt, watching me intently. He whined at the back of his throat, pawing at the air with a claw which could easily disembowel me, and I yipped back at him.

He pawed at the air again and, had I been human, I would have smiled. I padded forward, closing the distance between us, unsurprised when one of his big, meaty paws clumsily stroked down my spine, petting me. It probably looked silly from an outsider’s point of view.

Still, my oversized furry boyfriend seemed more than content for our animal sides to bond this way. It was kind of a relief, because I felt even more tired after my shift than I had before it. I felt larger than usual, not as svelte or as swift, and I would be more than happy to just curl up against my mate’s warmth and sleep.

And there it was: the other reason I hadn’t slept with him yet.

Mate. My omega insisted that Conrad was our —my— mate. I was afraid that I might say something in the heat of the moment and freak him out. Dating was one thing but calling him something as huge and permanent as my mate was something completely different.

Conrad flopped back onto the ground, disrupting the dirt, sending up a cloud of dust that made me sneeze. He lay on his side and raised a paw, reminding me of his human ‘come snuggle’ gesture.

Relieved we were on the same page, I ducked under his paw, tucking myself against his warm, furry chest. He curled his much larger body over me, careful of my bushy tail, which I broughtup and wrapped around my feet and my nose, and he enveloped me in his alpha scent and bear-shaped protective bubble. His heartbeat was steady in my ears. Combined with the warmth of him around me, the sound made my eyelids droop.

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