Unexpected Mates

He sucked in a breath as the implications hit him. Could Parker be his mate? His wolf hadn’t spoken the words, but what else could it be? He wasn’t sure there was another explanation, but finding a mate was the last thing he’d expected to happen.

His confusion was replaced with cold, hard fear as he remembered Cassie. Cassie had hated that Jared was a shifter. She wouldn’t even let anyone talk about shifters around her. And when she’d gotten pregnant, she’d freaked out, not wanting to have a shifter baby. She’d started taking foolish risks and Ty knew that Jared wondered if she’d done that on purpose, hoping to lose the baby. That’s how she’d died -- jumping a fence on her horse while she was pregnant.

Ty broke out in a cold sweat. What if Parker reacted the same way? What if she hated what Ty was? What the baby she carried was?

What if, by some miracle, she was okay with it and somehow lost the pup anyway? What if Parker lost her life trying to grow and have his child? Humans were fragile. She could get a papercut and die from infection.

Ty felt like he was going to be sick as he struggled to catch his breath.

How had Jared handled this? Adara was a shifter, true, and a dragon shifter at that, but dragons were hunted and killed often. They’d almost died out and become extinct for that reason alone. And Jared had lost a child before. How had he withstood this agonizing uncertainty?

Ty abruptly stood, sending the desk chair crashing back against the wall. There was only one way to find out.

Chapter Six

Tyler parked his truck in the driveway at Bear Claw Ranch, and then just sat there, clutching the steering wheel. Now that he was here, he was suddenly reluctant to get out. He wanted his questions answered, yes. Wanted to know how Jared had handled all of the uncertainty, how he hadn’t lost his mind with worry.

But Ty had hated Jared for years, and he had let that be known. Even after they’d come to a truce of sorts last year, he’d delighted in giving Jared hell, and it hadn’t all been innocent teasing, as he was sure Jared was aware.

How the hell was he going to approach Jared, of all people, for advice? Maybe he should re-think this.

Jared walked out of the house just then, looking at Ty’s truck in confusion. Ty let out a gust of breath and shoved his door open. Too late to turn back now.

Jared lifted a hand. “Tyler? What’s wrong?”

Ty took a deep breath as he walked up the porch to Jared. “I need to talk to you. In private.”

Jared frowned. “Come on in. We can talk in the office.”

Ty followed Jared in the house, looking around as he did and suddenly feeling nostalgic. Back when he was a kid and teenager, he’d spent almost every hour he wasn’t as school in this house. The last thing he’d ever wanted was to go home, so he’d come over here, dragging Chase with him. Ty, Jared and Jake, Jared’s twin brother, had been thick as thieves back then.

Ty sat down in the chair across the desk as Jared took his spot in his chair. The silence stretched out uncomfortably as Ty fought with what to say.

“What’s going on, Ty? Is there anything wrong?”

“I met a woman a few months ago,” Ty blurted. “I just found out she’s pregnant, and I think she might be my mate.”

Jared blinked, expressionless. Then a slow smile spread across his face, causing the scar on his cheek to catch the light. The scar that Ty had given him when Cassie died.

“Congratulations, man. That’s awesome.”

“How do you do it?” Ty replied quietly.

Jared frowned again. “Do what?”

“After Cassie… how did you get past the fear? Of losing Adara, of losing the babies?”

The confusion on Jared’s face cleared. He fidgeted with the laptop on his desk before answering. “I didn’t, not really. I was a nervous wreck every day of her pregnancy. I just did my best not to show it. Adara didn’t need the added stress of my freak out on top of everything else she was dealing with.”

Ty sighed. “That’s not really the answer I was looking for, man.”

Jared’s lips quirked. “It’s the only one I have to give you.” He looked at the desk in silence for a moment before looking back up, an uncomfortable expression on his face. “Losing Cassie would have been hard enough; losing the baby with her was unbearable. I’m not ashamed to admit that I was scared the whole nine months of Adara’s pregnancy. But it was a totally different situation. Adara is a shifter, and she wasn’t taking risks like Cassie was.”

Ty ran his hand through his hair in agitation. “Parker is human. And she doesn’t know what I am. What if… what if she reacts like Cassie did?”

Jared sighed deeply. “Not every human freaks out. Look at Ellie,” he said, speaking of Jake’s mate. “She took us being shifters very well. Not even a little freak out. Parker could be just like that.”

“What would the odds be, though? I don’t know how to tell her. I don’t even think I want to.”