Unexpected Mates

How could she not realize how she looked? How beautiful she was, especially when she smiled and her light colored eyes twinkled at him? How alluring her deliciously curved body was?

She’d had a lifetime of people looking down on her and making her feel inferior because of her body type. People like Wendy and Hannah. He would skin them alive, let his wolf have them, if they ever made Parker feel like she was less than them again simply because of her body type. He didn’t even care that they were girls or humans. They wouldn’t get away with hurting her again, Wendy especially. She was the worst of the two, and from their interactions at the diner, she was definitely the one out to make Parker feel low about herself.

And there Parker was, outshining all of them. With her personality, her caring nature, her wit, and yes, that delectable body. One that pregnancy just made even more attractive. She was absolutely irresistible, and it was heady stuff to know that a woman like Parker was carrying his pup.

It felt disloyal to Cassie’s memory, but he was suddenly fiercely glad for the first time in his life that she’d chosen Jared. If she hadn’t, if she’d chosen Ty, he never would have met Parker. He never would have had what he had now. Sweet, beautiful Parker who didn’t see herself the way the sane half of the world did. And his pup, who he was sure that he already loved more than life itself. He’d do anything for them.

“What are you thinking about so intently?” Parker asked, raising a hand and smoothing her finger over the slight furrow between his eyes.

He captured her hand and placed a lingering kiss on her palm. “About how five months can feel like forever long and no time at all, all at once.”

“For me as well,” she replied softly. “I should have come back sooner, but I didn’t realize I was pregnant until I was almost three months along. And then I had things to take care of before I could. The honest truth, though, is that I was scared. Scared of seeing you again, scared of how you’d react. Just scared in general.”

Ty angled his head down to look at her, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze. “You were scared to see me again?”

He felt Parker’s sigh against his chest. “I’m not great with people, even on my best day. I don’t always react like a normal person does. It’s hard to be around others. Which is why I chose a job that I could work from home to do. I was able to be around you easily in March, but who knew if that was a fluke or not? And maybe you wouldn’t want to see me again. Maybe I’d been a one night stand and you never had any real interest, and I’d just been a warm body. Then there I am, showing up pregnant and asking to talk. I had a lot of worries over coming back here again.”

He frowned. “You were never just a warm body to me, sweetheart. I looked for you every time I went into town after that night. I wanted to see you again. I didn’t even get your last name that night. Hell, if I’d known you were Tiffany’s sister, I would have tracked her down to find you.”

She laughed wryly. “Me and Tiffany are so different, you couldn’t have realized. I didn’t exactly run in the same circles as my sister, or you. I had such a crush on you back in high school, but you never even knew I existed.”

Ty felt his eyebrows raise. “You had a crush on me?”

“Uh, yeah,” she said, her cheeks heating in a blush. “A pretty big one.”

“I wish I’d known that then.”

“I never would have told you. I couldn’t even look you in the eye when I passed you in the hall. My social anxiety was off the charts then, even worse than it is now.”

Ty was quiet for a moment. “It doesn’t matter, I guess. I wasn’t in the best place then, so maybe it was for the best. We’re here together now. That’s what matters.” He slid his hand down to her stomach. “And we have this beautiful life now. It’s okay that you waited to tell me. You could have not told me at all. I’m not upset, Parker. Not in the least.”

“I’m glad. Did you know you were my first?”

Ty froze. “You’re first? You were a virgin?” He felt her blush and nod against his chest. “Shit. I didn’t know that. And I just fucked you in a hotel room, like it was any old day.”

Parker leaned up and kissed him, shaking her head as she pulled back. “It wasn’t just any old day. It was the most amazing night of my life, Ty. I wouldn’t change a single thing about it. And it gave us this precious baby.”

Ty slid out from under her, placing a tender kiss on her lips before scooting down the bed. He gazed at her belly, r

ubbing his palms over it, before placing kiss on the swell of her belly and resting his cheek against it.

They laid like that for long moments. Parker smoothed his hair from his face as Ty closed his eyes, just listening and feeling for a moment.

His pup was so close to him right now. Right under his cheek. He felt his heart swelling with tenderness. He wondered what they were going to have. A strong little male wolf cub, already fierce? Or a little girl pup, just as fierce, but delicate and beautiful like her mother? He honestly didn’t care what sex the baby was, but he suddenly longed to have a little female wolf cub, with the long black curls and light bluish gray eyes of her mother.

Maybe… Maybe one day he could have that, even if this pup was a boy. Maybe he’d get to keep Parker, forever.

Wolf, he thought. Tell me that Parker is our mate. Tell me she’s destined to be with us forever.

Nothing. Nothing but his wolf sighing in the satisfaction of the moment. He was infuriatingly quiet, and now Ty was more sure than ever that he really was broken. Shouldn’t he be telling Ty what to do? Telling him if Parker was theirs or not?

Deliberately trying to push back the rapidly encroaching frustration that threatened to disrupt the quiet peacefulness of the moment, Ty turned his head and placed another long, lingering kiss on Parker’s belly. He froze as he felt the barest of bumps against his lips. Was that…?

“Ty?” Parker asked, fingers stilling in his hair. “Did… did you feel that, too?”

He pulled back, placing his hand where his lips had been. Sensing what he was trying to do, Parker reached down and moved his hand slightly, pushing his palm harder into her belly.

There it was again. Just the slightest of bumps, barely there, and the most incredible thing he’d ever felt in his life.