Page 296 of Labor of Love

I groaned. “It was lame. I’ll do better. When did the pack get so big!? There were so many people looking at me.”

He chuckled, and his chest rumbled against my cheek. “Come, mate. We should shift also and lead the run. They are waiting for us.”

I lifted my head and indeed the pack was waiting for us to join them. Mostly wolves and bears, with the occasional lion and tiger in the mix. Then, of course, there was the massive dragon and his three dragonets that were a part of the pack.

“Let’s shift then, mate, and join our pack.” I went up on my tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss.

His smile lit up my entire world. In his eyes I saw the same pride and acceptance that I did in the rest of the pack.

6

TYLER

Iwalked out of the bakery with a bag full of delicious goodness. Though I wasn’t sure which I was more looking forward to, the donuts or the look on Theo’s face when I brought them home. I found myself more and more often looking for ways to make my mate smile. Lucky for me, it wasn’t difficult.

Present him with baked goods. End of task.

Recently I discovered his love for organization accessories—binders, color-coordinated folders, paper clips, and these little tab sticky-note things. When he moved the entirety of his filing cabinet system to my home, I realized just how much my mate had done for our pack, and I fell in love with him all over again. I never knew organization could be so sexy.

“Alpha!” Dr. Quinn shouted from the open window of what had to be one of the exam rooms in the small clinic he ran. We had a larger medical center right next to the clinic, but he preferred to work out of the smaller building for general appointments.

“Yes?” I stopped on the sidewalk.

“You better get in here.”

Shit. Whatever it was couldn’t be good if I was being called into a clinic room. Was someone hurt? I was the fire chief, ifthere was an accident someone would have let me know, right? I pulled out my phone as I jogged into the building, ready to let my mate know that I would be running late. Once I stepped in the building, Theo’s scent hit me. It was fresh. He was here.

I moved faster, entering the exam room where my mate lay on the table wearing a pair of scrub pants and a hospital gown. He smiled wide when he saw me.

“Hi, honey!”

“Theo?” I rushed to his side. “What is going on? Are you okay?”

“He’s about as well as he can be right now. I’ll leave you to it, Theo. Let me know if you have any more questions, and before you leave, let’s set up your next few checkups, okay?”

“Thanks, Doc!”

The door clicked closed, and I turned my attention back to Theo. I held his hand. He didn’t smell like he was hurt or in pain or any such thing. Instead, happiness radiated off him.

“What is it?”

He brushed his hand over my cheek, his eyes glittering with excitement. “We’re going to have a baby, Tyler.”

“What?”

“You heard me. We’re expecting. Or I’m expecting. However you want to phrase it. I’m carrying your child.”

The shock of his words hit me full force like a tidal wave. “A baby? You’re serious?” Of course he was. He’d never lead me here and say those words without them being true.

Theo giggled, the sound both nervous and giddy. “Totally serious. And so fucking excited, Tyler! We’re going to be dads! Do you know what this means? One, our moms will get off our backs. But two, we get to have a baby shower, and we can add on to the house, and redecorate, and we can add on to the park. I’ve been looking for an excuse to pick up that project.”

I curled my arms under Theo and lifted him, then spun him around. I kissed his lips soundly, silencing the barrage of information he was spewing. We’d talk about all of those things very soon, but for right now, I just needed to hold him.

“I’m so happy, mate.”

“You won’t be mad if our child is a bear like me?” he asked. His voice was quiet. He had come a long way in the past few weeks in overcoming the insecurities that held him back, but there were still some things that creeped out every now and again.

“Darling, I would never. You could give birth to a chipmunk and I would be ecstatic because they would be ours.”

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