Page 49 of Duke's Baby Deal
“I can see that. It’s beautiful. You didn’t need to put this much work into it.”
“My pups. I want them to have something nice. Maybe it’ll get passed down to our grandpups.”
“Grandpups.” Bram put his hands on his belly, his expression one of surprise and a bit of wonder. “I never thought of that.”
Duke draped an arm around Bram’s shoulders. “We’ll be old and gray, and we can spoil them and send them home to drive their parents crazy. I hear it’s fantastic revenge. If my mom still lived here, she’d be making lists.”
Bram leaned into Duke, his fingers still roaming over the rough lines of the carving. “What did she think when you told her about us?” His voice was surprisingly timid for Bram, almost like that first week, before they’d figured out what they felt for each other. The weight of his body against Duke’s almost begged for comfort.
Duke kissed the red-brown hair. “She told me it was time I grew up, if I was going to have a mate.” She had too, in that tone of voice that always seemed to remind him that she saw the irresponsible five-year-old lurking inside him, even now.
Bram snorted, and turned to look up at Duke. “Me too.”
“I think you’re plenty grown up. Enough for me, anyway.”
Bram smiled, but there was a distracted air about him. He traced the lines of the carving over and over, until he finally looked up at Duke, his eyes troubled. “I heard today that you were planning to go to the summer Alpha’s meeting with Quin.”
Where had he heard that?Jason. And Mac.“I was thinking about it.” He was going to have a talk with Mac. Shit, no, he couldn’t. Mac didn’tknow. Damn.
“I don’t want you to go.” Bram left off stroking the wood of the cradle and turned into Duke’s embrace. “If you go, you’ll be mad at Montana Border and something will happen.”
“I can look after myself,” Duke told him.
“I know that. But it’ll cause trouble and there’s already trouble between our packs.” Bram’s voice rose and he balled his fists in the front of Duke’s shirt. “Who knows what they’d want this time, if you went there and spilled blood? And,” he raised an accusatory finger, “I know you want to. I know you want to do something to Justin, something bad. I can smell it on you when his name comes up.” He put his hand back, this time flat against Duke’s chest. “Are you planning to leave me alone to raise these pups, because you need to show Justin who’s boss? Because that’s what will happen!” He slammed his hand against Duke’s chest and when Duke went to hold his hands, he fought against Duke’s grip, refusing to be held in any way. “No! Don’t you get it? Oh, for fuck’s sake, why amIcrying when it’syoubeing ridiculous?” And he was, tears creeping down his cheeks and his mouth crumpling around his words. “If you go there looking for trouble, you’re going to leave me alone, and I’m scared. I can’t do this by myself.” With this, he let Duke fold him into a hug. “I’m so mad at you right now, Duke Mercy Hills,” Bram muttered. “See if I don’t make you sleep on the couch tonight.”
Shit.“Can’t have that,” Duke murmured into Bram’s hair. It hurt like a punch to let go of his planned revenge, but he could smell the fear and the anger in Bram’s scent. He couldn’t do that to his mate. His other plan was probably better anyway. “If I promise not to go, can I sleep in our bed tonight?”
Bram was quiet for a moment, then he said, in a voice muffled by Duke’s chest, “You mean it?”
“I do.”
Bram held up a hand, the last finger stretched out away from the rest of them. “Pinky swear?” he asked, as if they were five.
Duke laughed and hooked his pinky through Bram’s. “Pinky swear.”
They rested there a moment, then Bram sat up and looked at Duke with the most serious expression Duke had ever seen on his mate’s face. More serious, even, than when they’d found out about the twins. “I mean it, Duke. I’m not fooling around about this. Justin can go suck eggs—I don’t want him to have any effect on our mating at all, even if it’s for revenge. And I’m holding you to that pinky swear, just as if we’d sworn on the moon.” He stared hard at Duke, his expression as severe as anything Abel’d ever worn during his worst days as Alpha. “You hear me?”
“Yes.” Okay, he was a little pissed, but he could wait for his revenge. His cousins had learned, when they were pups, how long he could wait if needed. And that had all been just fun and puppy pranks.
He could wait forever for Justin.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Okay, I didn’t really expect to be comfortable all the way through my pregnancy. After all, I had two rapidly growing pups fighting for space with each other and with my internal organs. But lately, it had moved way past discomfort. My belly was starting to hurt all the time now. Bax said it was normal, that it was just a ligament that was stretching and that it would pass. Except this new pain wasn’t near my bellybutton.
I bit my lip and used the seat of a nearby chair to help me get up off the floor. Storytime, which I normally loved, had left me achy and nerved up, and now with a stabbing pain in the middle of the burning on my omega line.
I was huge. In the two months since Christmas, I’d ballooned like a whale and I was exhausted all the time. It was like I didn’t haveanyenergy anymore—I could fall asleep as soon as I sat down. Actually, I had, one day—just one time—and the pups at the daycare had tiptoed around me until someone needed something and they woke me again. Adelaide said it was normal, but I’d noticed her frowning a lot more during my last two twice-monthly checkups. The pain sharpened and I put a hand under my belly to support it. I also had to pee, which was a total pain in the ass, because I couldn’t see anymore past my belly, and it wasn’t until I couldn’t use my eyes that I realized how much I used them to aim.
Oh, wow, I really needed to pee. “Table time, pups,” I called, and led them over to the rice table and the tiny town. I got out crayons and coloring book pages for the ones that preferred quieter activities and then, as soon as they were all occupied, I stepped out into the corridor to find someone to keep an eye on them while I went to the bathroom. Telinda, from the baby room, agreed to give me a few minutes, as long as I didn’t dawdle. I smiled and hurried to the bathroom—like dawdling was a possibility with two pups dancing hiphop on my bladder.
It had become a habit, ever since the awkward pains and weird sensations had started, to run my hand over the curve of my belly whenever I stopped for a moment. So, in the bathroom, I peed gratefully and, as I was finishing, I stroked the tight skin over the babies, starting at the top, down over the bulge where my bellybutton was already poking out, and under to run my fingers along my omega line. It burned so much lately, like it was being pulled on—a Beaver Burn I was giving myself. And there was that sharp pain, just to one side of the center.
My fingers stroked lightly over the skin, feeling for some change in it. It seemed normal, maybe a little warm, until my fingers got to that painful section on the left side.
My line was opening. It wasn’t big, but that was definitely a gap. I felt the blood drain out of my face and I had to lean against the wall for a moment.
Oh, shit, oh, shit, dammit, dammit, dammit.I felt along my line again, hoping I’d just been wrong, then tried to figure out how to get the mirror off the wall so I could see. I couldn’t have an opening in my omega line yet, it was too early for the babies to come!
