The Bear's Reluctant Wolf (16 page)

“Candace, it’ll happen. Don’t worry,
baby. Your stress can’t help things, okay?” She shook her head, because he was
right, which seemed to be more times than not. He might still be her prickly
biker polar bear, but he had more common sense and rationalization than what
was good for his ego.

“I know.” She exhaled, rested her head
back on his chest, and closed her eyes. She had only peed on the stick less
than a minute ago, but it seemed like forever. “I just really want this.” He
gave her a gentle squeeze right before he turned her around so she faced him.
Taking the stick out of her hand and setting it on the bathroom
counter,
he cupped her cheeks and looked into her eyes.

“Baby, it will happen. Maybe it won’t be
today, but we will get a little one in your arms. That I fucking promise you.”
Her heart hiccupped at his words, and she couldn’t help but smile.

“I love you so much, even if you still
get on my nerves with your growly gruffness.” He flashed
her
another
panty-dropping grin, lowered his face to hers, and kissed her so
deeply and thoroughly that she was lost to only him and what he was doing.

“You like when I’m all growly.” He made
that deep noise that had her insides melting, and she sighed against his lips.

“Maybe, but don’t let it go to your head
since it’s already too big.”

He chuckled. “I can’t help it if I’m
big.” His sexual innuendo was followed up by him pressing his erection into
her. She had to give him credit. He was the master of distraction.

She couldn’t help but laugh, but she
pushed him away, her heart pounding as she looked over to the counter. She
couldn’t see what it said given the way the stick was positioned, and so she
moved closer. It was when she stood right over it, looking down at the reading
that she felt the tears start to build in her eyes. Soon they were overflowing,
and she covered her face with her hands and let the body shaking sobs wrack
her. Trace pulled her into his arms and buried his face in her neck, breathing
deeply.

“
It’s
okay,
Candace. I will give you a baby if it’s the last thing I do.” She cried harder,
soaking his t-shirt, not knowing what to say. When she was composed enough that
she could pull away and
look
into his face, she was
surprised to see how much pain he had in his expression. He hurt because he
thought she hurt, but she could sense that it wasn’t just that. Trace wanted a
baby, too. Liam might be wild, but he was a good boy, and grown. He brushed her
tears away with his thumbs and tried to smile, but his pain was evident.

“Trace.”

He leaned down and kissed her softly. “Yeah,
baby?” He pulled back but only enough so that he could look into her eyes.

“It’s positive.” He blinked a few times,
pulled back from her to stand at his full height, and then blinked some more.

“It’s positive?” He said the words
slowly, as if trying to form them properly. She nodded, and didn’t hold in her
smile. Her tears had been ones of happiness, and of seeing that one huge word
that meant so much to her. She turned and grabbed the stick, and held it up so “PREGNANT”
was facing him. He blinked again and again, and then his smile grew into one
that was as big and wide as hers. He took her into his arms, ran the tip of his
nose up her throat in the way he loved to do, and growled low and deep, and
more possessively than ever before. “My mate is carrying my baby.” She was far
too early along to know if the baby would take after her or Trace as a shifter,
but none of that mattered. Nothing mattered aside from the fact she was
carrying her mate’s baby, and was going to be a mother.

“We’re going to have a baby, Trace.”

He pulled back and planted a deep, long
kiss right on her lips. “I love you so much, baby.” Before she could respond he
dropped to his knees and kissed her belly. “I hope you’re a little girl that
takes after your beautiful momma.” He lifted her shirt and kissed her belly
over and over again, and finally stood to wrap his arms around her and bring
her into the warmth of his chest. “If you thought I was protective before, you
haven’t seen anything yet.”

All she could do was smile and let the
warmth of having the man she loved wrapped around her encompass every part of
her body. A very happy and comfortable and quiet stillness surrounded them, and
Candace let it wash through her. The last year might have had some pretty
intense things, but all the negativity didn’t matter compared to this one
moment. The last they heard Karla had left Sweet Water, and was currently living
with some human male. She called Liam once she had reached Brockton, a city
about ten hours from Sweet Water. She had apologized for being a shitty mother,
but then again she had been drunk when she made that call to her son, so her
words and emotions were empty. That had been a month ago, and they hadn’t heard
from her since. Good riddance. Over the past year she had grown closer to Liam.
He had moved out once Candace and Trace had made their relationship official
and had let the mating do its thing, but he did come by every once in a while
for visits. It was nice having him around, and even though he and Trace were
too much alike for their own good and butted heads more times than not, she
felt the love father and son had for each other. But there were times when she
looked into Liam’s face, one that looked so much like Trace’s it startled her,
and wondered if he truly was okay. He hid his emotions very well, just like his
father, but she could sense
a wildness
inside of him.
It was like an itch, and she often wondered if it was because he was missing
his other half, the one that could be complete by finding his mate.

She and Trace
may
fight, and he may get on her nerves on a daily basis with his possessive
attitude, but he loved her more than anything else, and there was nothing else
in the world that she could ask for in life other than the male that cared for
her, and the baby growing inside of her.

The End

www.jenikasnow.com

Other
Books by
Jenika
Snow:

www.evernightpublishing.com/pages/Jenika-Snow.html

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Evernight
Publishing

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