STORY EXCERPT

Soren Chase was a whale. He was huge, even for six and a half months into his pregnancy. He was enormous.

And he was constantly in a bad mood. His ankles were swollen, he was constantly rushing to take a piss, and lately his back had been hurting.

Bruin had tried to joke with him that now he was starting to look forward to the birth of their pups so Soren could get back to his regular self.

Soren had just glared at his mate, and he also hadn’t talked to him for about a day and a half.

Right, Soren was taking things a little too personally lately, but he couldn’t help himself.

How could he when he felt as if he was an ever expanding balloon?

He wanted things to get back to normal, as normal as they could be, soon, but the closer the day came, the bigger he got, the more sore he got, and the more irritated he became.

At least he wasn’t puking anymore.

Morning sickness did not apply to just the morning. Soren had been desperately hoping that he would have been one of those rare and lucky few who would have been able to have their pregnancy without having any sort of sickness at all, but it seemed that it was not to be, because for about two weeks it seemed to come at all times during the day.

And night.

Finally, he was down to a time where he wasn’t getting it every day. Now it only seemed to happen whenever he was around any milk products.

Which was so not good for his morning routine.

Soren loved milk, and now that anything dairy made him want to hurl...well, it wasn’t making things much better for him.

If Bruin, who was terrified of the day coming when Soren would give birth, was starting to look forward to that day because he couldn’t handle Soren’s constant bad mood, then that was a clear indication that Soren might be a touch moody.

Maybe a lot moody.

Soren sighed, watching as Andy played with his three boys on the the carpet in the sitting room. A new furniture set had been brought in not too long ago, a coffee table that had round edges and no glass, and all the outlets in the house had since been covered up.

The three boys were getting to an age where they were crawling around. One of them was starting to pull himself up to his feet whenever he had a ledge to hang onto, which was a clear indication that he would soon be walking.

Right. It only made sense that the new parents wouldn’t want any of their pups to be sticking any stray items into those outlets.

Soren had no idea how Andy was able to handle the stress of three boys.

Soren was only carrying two. He still had the ultrasound photos, but Soren didn’t want to know the sexes of his babies. He and Bruin had decided to keep those a surprise until the birth, which meant that anything that came into the house for their nursery would be gender neutral colors. Yellows, purples, oranges and browns.

Soren was secretly hoping for girls, or at least one girl and one boy.

With one girl and one boy, he would have both, and then there would be no need for him and Bruin to have anymore children.

If both were girls, then Soren could start imagining how awesome it would be if one or both of them mated with any of Andy’s boys when they were older.

Of course, if Soren had boys, then he supposed there was nothing to stop his children and Andy’s children from pairing up together anyway.

Maybe he was looking a little too deeply into this.

It was easy for him to get lost in his thoughts when he missed Bruin as much as he did.

At least he did have another friend in this house, and by hanging around Andy, Soren was able to watch how the other man handled his pups, and maybe Soren would know a little better what to expect.

It was better than reading those damned books about babies. Soren was the sort of man who wanted hands on experience, so helping Andy to bottle feed, or using those little spoons to feed one of the boys some blueberry baby food, was something Soren could consider practice for the future.

Right now, however, he was kind of useless as he sat on the couch while Andy played with his boys on the floor.

One of them, Jeffrey, was already flipping through the digital pages of an interactive baby book on an iPad encased in a colorful baby proof shell.

Soren was transfixed as he watched the boy tap on the screen, watching it, while he sucked on a soother.

It was eery. How in the hell was it that a baby knew how to do that? Would it confuse the boy if Soren were to take the iPad and give something that couldn’t be tapped on? Like an actual book?

“Are you and Bruin not talking today?”

Soren blinked, coming out of his strange thoughts where babies were running the world from the comforts of their tablets, and he looked at Andy, who suddenly glanced away from him, and back down at the oversized puzzled project with the cartoon mouse on it.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

ADULT EXCERPT

“Soren, I know you’re doing well, but I don’t think we should do this right now.”

Soren took Bruin by both of his hands, gently guiding him back to the stairs that Andy and his nanny had just walked up. “Then you’re going to have to do your best to be as gentle as possible, because there’s no way you can leave me hanging like this.”

Bruin growled. “You think I like leaving myself like this?”

Soren grinned, and Bruin understood his mistake immediately. He’d given away that this was affecting him as well, and Soren, the little bastard, was going to use that against him.

And Bruin was going to let him.

He allowed his mate to lead him towards the stairs. Bruin was almost helpless against that eager smile, and the touch of those warm hands.

He’d thought that by gaining the title of alpha, he would have the strength to deny his mate whenever it wasn’t in Soren’s best interest to have sex, but it seemed that Bruin had greatly over estimated the amount of strength he would be given to fight off such an attack.

Even an alpha couldn’t withstand the seductive and eager expression of a mate when they wanted sex, it seemed.

Fuck, he was so dead.

“I need to listen in case Vaughn needs me.”

“Which is why we’ll be as quiet as possible,” Soren replied, looking back every once in a while, as if to make sure his feet were going to properly land on each step.

Bruin was glad his mate was at least thinking about staying safe like that, but he didn’t need to worry about it. If Soren missed a step and fell backwards, Bruin was going to make sure that he caught him.

They made it to their floor, and Soren made sure to keep eye contact with Bruin as he eagerly led him to their bedroom.

Bruin shook his head, kind of amused by the whole thing, if he was going to be honest with himself. “I would think that we haven’t had sex in months with the way you’re acting.”

“It’s been nine days, that’s close enough to forever as far as I’m concerned.”

Bruin blinked as Soren opened the door to their bedroom. “It hasn’t been nine days.”

"The last time we had sex was the Monday before last. So, yes, definitely nine days.”

Soren growled the accusation at him, as though it had irritated him to go without for so long.

Bruin could hardly believe it. The accusation, or the fact that it had been nine days since they’d been together.

Mostly, it was the reaction from his mate that made him laugh out loud.

“It’s not funny!” Soren snapped.

Had he been a shifter, Bruin would have sworn his mate’s hackles would have risen.

He was glad Soren wasn’t a shifter in that moment. So long as it kept him safe from being attacked by his horny mate, then that was all he was going to worry about.

“Bruin!”

Bruin shook his head, forcing some self control into himself, knowing how much this was irritating the other man, but he couldn’t entirely help himself either.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“Better be,” Soren mumbled, and he shoved Bruin, as best as he could shove him, towards the bed.

Bruin allowed it, and he went down onto the mattress, sitting on the edge of the bed, and feeling so much more eager now than he had been just a moment ago as his mate stepped between his legs and kissed him.

Bruin liked it. He enjoyed the warmth, the softness of his mate’s lips that was marred by only a hint of scratch from his jaw and chin.

Soren’s hair was a light shade of brown, so light that it was practically blond in the winter months, and though he looked as if he couldn’t grow any facial hair, Bruin was proven wrong when he kissed the man.

Soren didn’t have to shave every day, or even every other day, so it was always a nice surprise to feel something there.

Bruin didn’t understand those who didn’t enjoy being kissed by a man with a rough jaw. He happened to enjoy it.

He especially enjoyed it whenever Soren attempted to take control. When Soren pushed his tongue against Bruin’s lips, trying to show he could be dominant as well, and it was a game that Bruin most certainly enjoyed playing. He wouldn’t lie about that.

He also enjoyed taking that dominance away from his mate, of letting Soren taste what it was like to be in control before Bruin took command and made Soren moan for him.

So Bruin opened for the other man, allowing Soren to lick him deep inside of his mouth, and then enjoying it immensely when Soren swirled his tongue around, his hand sliding along Bruin’s neck.

A sensitive spot to any shifter, and a place that Bruin would allow no one but the man he loved to touch.

Bruin smiled through the kiss, enjoying himself perhaps a little too much as he readied himself to take control away from his mate and show him who was actually in command here, but Soren abruptly pulled away, ending the kiss before Bruin could make his move.

Bruin blinked at the sudden change, and Soren grinned at him.

“Thought you were going to take command there, did you?”

Bruin grinned. “What are you up to?”

Soren sank to his knees, his hands working on the belt and zipper of Bruin’s pants. “I’m just getting too smart for your usual plans, and I learned that I have to move quick if I want to do everything to you that I’ve been thinking about for the last nine days.”

Bruin’s brows shot up high. “I hadn’t realized you’d been thinking so much about this.”

Soren grinned up at him briefly, finally getting Bruin’s pants open, and his cock free.

It was hot, heavy, and thick. The shaft of Bruin’s dick throbbed hard when Soren took it into his hand, and Bruin sucked back a sharp breath through his teeth.

“I’ve been thinking of nothing else except for this,” Soren admitted, and then blew Bruin’s mind wide open with pleasure when he put the head of Bruin’s throbbing cock into his mouth.