Alpha's to Mate: 3 Book Shifter Romance Bundle

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A few days later, Cole was again waiting beside his car for Tarsha. This time, it was because she had agreed to let him transport her safely to her appointment with the doctor. She had, at first, insisted that he did not need to go for the routine appointment, but he had known better. If the baby was truly his, which he knew in his heart was true; she was going to get some unsettling news from the doctor.

Werebear babies grew much faster than human babies, with pregnancy lasting only 4 or 5 months. If the babe inside of her was his, there was going to be quite a bit of confusion for both her and the doctor and he wanted to be there to reassure her. Despite his best intentions, he felt himself growing more and more invested in her. Though the best thing for both of them would be for him to allow the baby to come without making her his own, he was not entirely sure that he was capable of letting her go.

When she did emerge from her brownstone, she was glowing in a way that he had never seen before. He had often heard humans say that pregnant women glowed, but he had never really understood the phrase until that moment. Maybe it was the sunlight or perhaps just the knowledge that a piece of him grew inside of her, but he was awestruck by her loveliness as she made her way down the street towards his car. He could tell from the swell of her belly that the baby was healthy, growing rapidly inside of her.

He rounded the car to greet her, earning him a dazzling smile from her, though she clearly looked exhausted.

“Thanks for picking me up,” she said as he opened her door for her.

“It is the least that I could do,” he said, thinking of all she was enduring while carrying their baby and all she would go through when she found out that the baby inside of her was not human. Giving her a ride truly was the least that he could do.

“I really appreciate it. I know I am not far along, but I wear it feels like I am already 6 months along, with as swollen as my feet are and as much pain I have, as my back hurts,” she said as she settled in to her seat. He thought of the contrast between how she had looked in that seat the first night he had driven her to his apartment and now. Though she had been alluring that first night, he much preferred her as she sat before him, broad smile and swollen belly.

“Yes, well there may be good reason for that,” he said, looking down at her with real concern of his face. For the first time, he wondered what it might be doing to her body to carry a cub within her. Never in his lifetime had he witnessed the phenomenon. His father had told him the tales, but they were just stories. What if it harmed her? What if his baby took her life when it came in to the world?

“What? Does some medical condition run in your family?” she asked, wrapping her arms protectively around her stomach and their unborn child.

“No, nothing like that,” he assured her as he closed her door and climbed in behind the wheel.

“Good. I just want a happy, healthy baby,” she said wistfully, staring off in to space as if she was picturing at child in her mind’s eye.

“And that is exactly what we are going to have,” he said as he reached over and put a comforting hand over hers before starting he car.

When they arrived at the doctor’s office, the waiting room was fully of happy, hopeful couples. He wondered to himself what kind of a picture they made, Tarsha without a wedding ring. Still, everyone there seemed too lost in their own happiness to judge them for the baby that was so obviously conceived out of wedlock, or perhaps none of them really cared.

While they waited, Tarsha fidgeted nervously, bouncing her knee up and down while he sat as stiff as a statue. Many of the other men in the room were holding their partners’ hands, but he was not entirely sure she would let him. When their name finally was called, he rose and followed her back into the hall, much to her surprise. He sat dutifully by her side as the doctor performed his tests and examination. He wanted to be able to do something more for her and the child, but he was at a loss.

When the doctor returned with his results, his face was sullen and he heard Tarsha’s heartbeat increase, worried that something was wrong with the child within her. This baby was, after all, likely her only chance to be a mother.

“Everything looks fine,” the doctor began. Tarsha relaxed immediately, exhaling and unknotting the muscles of her shoulders.

“Thank goodness,” she said, looking to Cole with a sigh of relief.

“But, I think we misdiagnosed how far along you were at your last appointment. Your baby is months further along than we had originally thought. I do not understand it,” the doctor admitted, looking as though he was thoroughly at a loss to explain how he could have been so wrong in his calculations. As Cole expected, the doctor’s earlier worry had not been the result of a problem with the baby. It was his inability to understand what was happening to his patient’s body that had him troubled.

“That is not possible,” Tarsha said flatly, having no doubt in her mind when the baby had been conceived.

“Do not worry,” Cole whispered in an attempt to calm her, but she was already beginning to grow red with anger.

“I know exactly when I got pregnant,” she said as she turned to him, worried that he thought she was trying to trick him in to thinking that he was the father of another man’s baby. Much worries, he knew, were his fault because of how he initially reacted. All he could do now was try to make it right.

“Do not worry about it. This is the part that runs in my family. I will explain everything,” he said calmly, no longer fighting the urge to take her hand in his own. She looked at him curiously, but did seem to relax a bit. Her hand was so small in his own as he looked down at their interwoven fingers. He could hear how quickly her heart was racing and he grew concerned that she might pass out.

“Son, that just is not possible,” the doctor said, looking truly concerned at what the younger man was telling Tarsha. Clearly, he doctor felt protective of her.

“Doctor, you would be surprised what is possible,” Cole said without taking his eyes off of Tarsha. She still looked as if she might faint and he could not take the chance of being distracted for even a moment if he might need to catch her.

“Can you take me home now? I feel so tired,” she whispered to him. She made no effort to remove her hand from his and he was glad of it. Since she had begun to look so pale, the bear within him was only being restrained by the need to keep her safe and calm. Otherwise he might have thrown her over his shoulder and carried her out of the office the moment the doctor said the baby was fine.

“Yes, of course,” he said, helping her up and guiding her from the room without looking back at the doctor.

She looked so tired that he was afraid she might not make it to the car. He himself did. To relax until she was safely settled inside. He popped the trunk and pulled out a blanket that he wordlessly tucked around her. Neither of them said anything at all as he drove from the parking garage toward her apartment.

It only took a few moments for her to let sleep overcome her. When he returned to the brownstone, he pulled her keys from her bag before lifting her from his car. He carried her carefully, without waking her, up the stairs and let himself in her front door. Without hesitation, he made his way past her curtain and in to the nook that she had made in to her bedroom.

He softly laid her down and then found himself a chair, waiting for her to awake. He sat just beyond the curtain and listened to her shallow breathing and the beat of her heart and the heartbeat of the baby inside of her. He could not remember a moment in his life when he had felt so at peace.

When he finally did hear her begin to stir, he worried for a fraction of a second that she would be displeased that he had stayed. After all, she had made it clear that she wanted to keep a distance between them. He way that her eyes lit up when she caught sight of him, though, left no doubt that she was glad he had stayed with her.

“You stayed with me,” she said, unable to hide the surprise in her voice.

“Of course,” he said simply, rising to offer her his arm because she still looked a bit unsteady.

“Why?” she asked, unsatisfied with his answer.

“Because you should not have been alone,” he said as he helped her in to the chair that he had been sitting in.

“I do not understand,” she said groggily. He crouched down before her and took her hands in his.

“Let’s go see my father tomorrow. You will like him and he will love you,” he suggested, evading her questions further.

“Are you sure?” She blurted out before thinking, causing him to laugh quite heartily. The thought of any father welcoming his son’s one night stand was a comical one, he supposed.

“Yes,” he said with no doubt in his voice.

“Why are you not more suspicious that the baby is not yours?” She asked, all of her former grogginess and confusion faded. Her eyes were sharp and she was watching him closely.

“This only confirms that it is mine,” he said as he reached out and laid his hand against her stomach as though he could already communicate with the baby within.

“I am so light headed. I do not understand you at all and I can’t tell if it is you or me who is not making sense,” she said, clearly frustrated at how little she understood about the situation. It was clear to her that something was not as it should be, she just did not know what that was.

“Babies in our family move along a bit quicker than the average child,” he said with a simple shrug of his shoulders.

“That is not possible,” she argued, thinking back to her high school s*x Ed class.

“Oh my dear, I assure you that it is,” he said with a tone of certainty that did make her feel a bit better.

“Is that why you want to go see your father? Do you think he will make me feel better?” she asked, eager to meet the man who had raised Cole.

“I know he will. Besides, it is time,” he said with a sly smile, thinking of his father’s face when he brought her to the village.

“Alright. When shall we go?” she asked, happy to know that he no longer thought she was trying to trap him with a fake pregnancy.

“Tomorrow I think. It is a long drive so we should get an early start,” he said, thinking of how nice it would be to have so much time alone with her in the car. She appreciated beauty so much that he had no doubt that she would love the landscape they would pass through as they aimed their journey north.

“OK I don’t have any classes so that will be just fine,” she said, surprised that he wanted to go so soon.

“Alright then. I should go now,” he said reluctantly.

“Yes, I should go back to sleep,” she said gently, her exhaustion returning.

“Goodnight my dear,” he said as he made his way to the door.

“Goodnight,” she called after him.

He did not return to his car though. When he left her apartment, he simply went one floor below and let himself in to the now vacant apartment beneath hers. He sat there for hours, listening to her sleep and trying to decide what it was that he truly wanted in life. Never before had he considered giving up his playboy lifestyle for anything. Now, though, he saw the possibility of an entirely different life with her and it was not an unappealing one. Being close to her seemed to make him a new person; a better person.

He had evicted her downstairs neighbors initially to give her peace and quiet as she awaited the baby’s arrival. Over the last few days, though, he had been using the apartment himself. There had been no excuse to see her since their crib shopping trip and he had not been able to stand not being close enough to hear her heartbeat. He knew that it was the bear within him, eager to protect his young but he could not separate his instinct from rational thought.

On the first night, he had merely come to her street to walk a bit, sure that seeing her shadow in the window would be enough to calm the roaring inside of him. It had done just the opposite. It had taken all of his will to keep from running up the stairs and rushing in to her apartment, just to lay eyes on her and to hear the baby inside of her.

That, he knew, was not an option. He needed to ensure that he did not frighten her. The intensity that came over him when his instincts were in control was intimidating to the most seasoned of businessmen. He could not imagine how a hormonal, pregnant artist might react to it. It had been in that moment that he remembered that he still had the key to the apartment under hers in his pocket from his earlier meeting with the tenants.

When he had opened the door, he found it completely empty, save for a folding chair carelessly left behind in their rush to pack. In an effort to get them out quickly, he had offered them $5000 dollars each if they were out the same day he spoke to them. Clearly they had taken his offer.

After he let himself in, he pulled out the folding chair and made himself comfortable. He had listened closely to the activity above him. He listened to Tarsha talk to Gwen on the phone for nearly an hour, speaking only about how excited she was to be a mother. Then, she had spent the rest of the evening painting. His heightened senses allowed him to hear ever stroke of her paintbrush. He tried to imagine what she might be working on, all the while struggling to catch her scent through the floorboards that separated them.

When she had finally gone to bed, he had lain on the floor directly underneath her and listened to her breathing slow as she drifted off to sleep. It was only then that he had been able to find sleep himself.

He had only planned to do it that night. He thought that if he satisfied his inner bear, that he would then be able to make it until their next time together, but he had been wrong. The taste of such prolonged proximity to her and the baby only made him crave it more. It got so difficult that he could barely concentrate at work, a problem that he had never had before. His heightened senses had allowed him to overhear many of his partners and employees wondering to each other what could have him so distracted, with many hypothesizing that either love or heartbreak was the cause. In order to be even a shadow of himself, he needed to satisfy his instincts and they could only be satisfied through knowing that Tarsha and the babe were well.

Since that moment, it had become his ritual. He waited until darkness fell so that she would not see him approaching the building. Then he drove from his lavishly furnished apartment to the barren one underneath her. He parked blocks away so that neither Tarsha nor anyone else in the building would see his car on the street. Only then did he creep quietly in to the building.

Then, he listened to her and the baby, proving to the bear within him that both were indeed safe and sound. He had considered having furniture added, but he did not want to arouse suspicion. Instead, he had brought only a sleeping bag with him on his second visit to the empty apartment to give him comfort. It was not an ideal situation, but it did allow him to function in his life without his thoughts being totally consumed by her welfare.

Now, as he entered again, he could tell that Tarsha had immediately lain back down to rest and to deal with the emotions that were plaguing her. He knew, of course, that it was unfair to allow her to worry over what was making their baby grow so quickly. He needed to tell her the truth about himself and the baby and he needed to do it soon.

He just has no idea how. He lay there in the darkness, trying to solve that puzzle until sleep finally took him too. There was no script for telling the woman who carried your child that her life was about to change in more ways than she could even imagine. He just needed to find a way to do it in such a way that he did not lose her and the baby in the process.

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