Bear's Fake Bride (Shifter Marriage Service 2)

“How far apart?” he asked.

“I don’t know. About ten minutes now, I guess.”

“Ten minutes?’ he said, his calm demeanor now slipping away.

“Yes.”

“Let’s go,” he said, walking her out of the kitchen, his hand on her elbow to slowly guide her to the community room.

“What’s happening?” a young woman named Paula asked as she caught the grimace on Kay’s face.

“Babies are coming,” Bradley grunted.

“Oh, wow. Do you need me to get her bag or something?” she gasped, tumbling off the sofa she had been lazily perched on staring at her phone.

“No. It’s already in the car. There’s a sandwich in the kitchen that needs to be eaten. Tend the house and lock it up when you leave. Let everyone know we’ve gone to the medical center.”

“Will do,” the girl said excitedly, running over to open the front door for them.

Bradley continued to gingerly walk Kay out to the car. He opened the door and helped her inside as people stopped what they were doing and took note. Several of them came running over to see what was happening.

“Kay is having the babies,” Paula said gleefully from the front porch.

Bradley ran around and jumped behind the wheel, starting the car and pointing it north toward their destination. His knuckles were white as he gripped the wheel so tightly Kay thought it might collapse beneath the pressure. He whipped skillfully around the mountain roads that surrounded the valley in which they lived and had them at the emergency entrance in no time.

An hour later, Kay was already in full blown labor, the cubs not wasting any time at all making their way into their new world. Bradley kept count as she delivered cub after cub, until the doctor determined there were no more.

“Twelve! My God, there are twelve of them, Kay,” Bradley boomed proudly.

Kay smiled at him, exhausted and sore from the efforts. He was excited, but also looked like he might pass out at any moment. She had been trying to keep up with what was happening as they emerged, but had lost count of how many were boys and how many were girls, though one of the nurses called out their sex and time of birth each time one was handed off to her.

There was a whole room full of people around them, each one caring for a cub as they received it until all were accounted for. Kay lay back and closed her eyes, relieved for it to be over and anxious about the days that would come with twelve tiny mouths to feed. She felt a cramp go through her and sat straight up in bed.

“What? What’s wrong, Kay?” Bradley said.

“I don’t know. It feels like another contraction,” she managed to utter through the pain.

“No. No. Lay back and relax, Kay. We’re not done here, it seems.”

“What?” Bradley and Kay both said in unison.

“Looks like we have a runt bringing up the back,” he laughed, talking her through the birth of one last cub.

“Girl. Nine Oh Six,” the nurse said. “Clean her up and get her into an incubator, stat.”

“What’s wrong? Is she okay?”

“She seems fine, just a bit smaller than the rest. We just want to make sure she stays extra warm and toasty. That’s all.”

Kay was distrustful of his words. Doctors sometimes told you things to keep you calm until you were in a better position to hear the truth.

“Are you sure, Doc?” Bradley asked, his tone having a lowkey menacing sound to it.

“I’m sure, Bradley. She’s just fine. Now, if you will step out, we will get Kay finished up and get the babies all cleaned up and dressed for the two of you to enjoy.”

Bradley looked reluctant to leave, but Kay squeezed his hand and nodded that it was okay. He sighed and kissed her softly.

“You did great. I love you so much,” he said.

“I love you too.”

A couple hours later, Kay was out of recovery and surrounded by her husband, babies and several nannies that had been hired to help out after the birth.

“We have eight boys and five girls,” Bradley said, looking around at all of their new children.

“They are all so pink and wrinkled,” Kay laughed. “How are we going to tell them apart?”

“I have no idea,” Bradley replied.

“Paint their toenails,” one of the nannies told them.

“What?” Bradley said.

“Color code them. Paint each one’s toenails a different color.”

“I’m not painting my sons’ toenails,” he gasped, causing Kay to laugh again.

“I seriously doubt they are going to mind having their toenails painted at this age.”

“Still. I’ll be the laughing stock of the clan. Can you imagine the alpha of the clan having sons with pink toenails?”

“Don’t be silly. We’ll use darker colors for them or maybe use just one of those thin nail pens to put a name on each one.”

Bradley seemed to consider this and then nodded in agreement.