"No!" she yelled. I'm sure Hunter heard that because his scent faded from me.
"Don't worry, he isn't."
I'm leaving for a while, he told me.
You better not be going after Erik.
You're on a first name basis with him? he said all full of jealousy.
Oh please. The man helped us and is one of your own, so quit it. Bye.
"I've got to leave. I feel weird today," Chloe admitted.
"How long has this been going on?" I asked.
"Well we talk all the time. Sometimes we text when he's just waiting in his patrol car," she confessed. "My feelings have grown these last few weeks."
"Let's go. You can stay with us tonight," I said.
We just walked outside the hotel when the sheriff pulled up in his squad car and his eyes made contact with Chloe's.
"I can't see him when he doesn't want me," she whispered to me. He was in front of us before I realized it. His hands on Chloe's face.
"Chloe, who dared make you cry?" he snarled as he caressed her cheek.
"Smith, what are you doing here?" my husband asked in a gruff and threatening tone. Just as he said that there was a change in Hunter.
"So you know why I'm here," he confirmed.
"You're my new Beta," Hunter spoke.
"Yes," he said before turning back to Chloe, his eyes constantly turning to her like he was fighting two urges at once.
"Are you going to tell me whose throat I'm going to shred?"
"Your own," Hunter educated Erik.
"I made you cry?!" Erik faltered. "I wouldn't do anything to hurt you." He hadn't stop touching her, which to me was weird because, from what I learned, it wasn't something they all did. Especially because they weren't attracted to each other until they mated. Hunter looked at them with concern.
Are you worried, my love, I asked him.
A little, they shouldn't be this close unless they mated, but they haven't, he said in confusion.
We were all standing there when the moon started to rise. Erik's face changed, and he looked at Hunter then back at Chloe.
"Erik take her out of here right now," Hunter roared. That's when I noticed the change in the air. The tension between the two was about to come to a head. Then it dawned on me. They were about to mate.
Erik scooped up his mate, barely making it to the edge of the forest before I heard him howl loudly. I couldn't help but smile before I turned to Hunter.
"So she's delusional?" I sneered at my mate.
"They must have had a stronger bond than most because he's the Beta," he guessed.
"Do most usually find their mates during the full moon?" I asked as he wrapped me up in his arms.
He squeezed me tight, then he said, "No, but it's probably because he needed to become Beta first, and that had to wait until the full moon."
Looking up at my handsome beast, I inquired, "What happened to my parents?"
I felt his tension before he answered, "They decided to leave. Are you upset?"
"No. I didn't want to have you eat them," she said with a chuckle.
"I wouldn't have eatenthem-I would've just torn them to bits," he admitted as he leaned in to nuzzle my neck.
"Exactly, my love." I let out a sigh of pleasure.
"I'm sorry about being an ass," he whispered as he bent to kiss my lips.
"Don't let it happen again. Let's go home so you can make it up to me."
"Damn it! I hate being Alpha sometimes. I can't babe. I have to patrol tonight because of the changes."
"Pity. I'm going to miss you, my lover," I goaded as I rubbed my thigh along his thick ridge.
"Is this my punishment for earlier?" he groaned.
I just smiled with an evil grin and a wink.
"Erik is dealing with the next full moon!" he bellowed before leaving me standing outside of the hotel and going to his truck.
See you in the morning, I said sensually.
Get in the truck, he ordered.
I've got to work still, I reminded him.
I could hear him huffing before he snarled, Oh, you've got to work alright. You're going to be working my dick. Get in the truck.
With a giggle I rushed inside the hotel. I knew I was going to get it when he got home tonight, but I was looking forward to my mate built up lust.
The moment I smelled him approach my body melted. He laughed to himself, knowing how needy I was feeling, but I had a surprise for him.
He walked into the bedroom door, paused as his eyes lit up, and let out a low rumble. "I thought I shredded that," he wondered as he looked down at my lacy pink nightgown. He continued to strip as he stalked toward me.
"I got more of them," I purred as I parted my thighs.
He was on me in a flash the moment I bared my pussy to him. In one move he was thrust into me. "Mine!"
Epilogue
"Gage, I've gotta go. This was a bad fucking idea. Cat's in labor; I can feel it," I complained as we packed up the truck from an afternoon of fishing.
"I'm surprised you left her side for a moment, let alone a whole afternoon," Gage remarked as we both jumped into the truck.
"She said I needed to decompress. I was too stressed out, and it wasn't good for her or our pups," I griped
"She's right. You feel each other's emotions. That's crazy. So when you're stressed, she becomes stressed. It must be like hell for her to be worried all the time that you're going attack a guest, like you almost did last month, when that guy said something about Cat having the ‘just fucked look.'"
"I wanted to rip his throat out and had he'd said that shit somewhere isolated...a hiker would have gone missing and eaten by animals. Just saying," I snarled.
Wife, I'm coming, and so help me if you try and hide that shit from me again.
I'm sorry, Hunter. I need you. Please hurry. I could hear her whimper, and I felt the pain rip through me like it was my own. Suddenly my dick and abs fucking hurt like hell.
Seeing me struggle to catch my breath, Gage asked frantically, "Hunter, you alright, man?"
"I'm fine, but I can feel her pain. Fuck. Hurry. She's hurting a hell of a lot more than me."
Relax, my love. It hurts, but it's normal.
I love you, Cat. Stay strong. I'm on my way.
We got to the house five minutes later, and my woman was on our oversized sofas with her thighs wide open-her pussy on full display.
"Stay back, Gage," I commanded in fury. No one but the doc, the midwife, and me were going to see my wife's goodies.
"How are you, my heart?" I asked as I joined her on the sofa and held onto her hand.
"Hunter, it came on so fast. It hurts … agh!" she cried out. I nearly doubled over when she gripped my hand tighter and squeezed it. Shit, no wonder it took an Alpha to handle breeding a human. Feeling her emotions combined with her sudden shifter strength, I was feeling almost as bad as when I was shot.
"You can do this, Cat," I cheered, hoping that would calm her some.
The pains were coming every thirty seconds or so, but in between her screams she would relax. During one of those rare moments she murmured, "I forgot to ask, but do they come out like little pups or human babies?" I tried not to laugh, but she looked so damn cute. Her concern was legitimate for someone who had no clue about shifters.
"Love, they come out like regular babies. They don't start to shift until they're five," I answered, then moved her hair out of the way to kiss her forehead.
She let out a loud howl, then gave me the death grip again as she began to push my pup out. I felt the tension leave her body as my son was expelled from her womb. A loud wail echoed in the room. Then I heard a "Congrats" come from my brother, who was waiting in our kitchen, eating us out of house and home.
"Thank you, Cat. Thank you for my son," I said, thinking that was it. But her body contorted again, and I felt her belly constrict as the midwife took my son from the doc. Again she howled and pushed a second son out of her womb. Two sons. I was beyond happy. I looked at my love and thanked her from deep within.
Cat, you're the greatest thing to ever happen to me and now you gave me two little guys to love. Thank you, my love, my heart, my mate.
Hunter, I … agh! The pangs started again, and I was surprised to see my third child entering this world, a daughter.
I took one look at my little princess, and I knew I was in a hell of a lot of trouble. She had mischief written in her eyes, which were a complete copy of mine.
By the end of the day, we'd received well wishes from all those in the pack. Many of them brought gifts and shared their advice. It was finally calm in the house, and I got to hold my mate tightly as she slept. Now came the next struggle, how was I not supposed to mate with her when both of us were already starting to ache?