3. Kai

Chapter 3

Kai

I was dreading my mates' arrival.

No, I wasn't. Yeah, I kinda was. They'd be annoyed, and rightfully so, that I took me and bump out for an evening when most people, including them, were sound asleep.

But I needed them for me and the baby. Maybe if I told them to hold off on giving me a telling-off and we could do that next week, month, or year?

Dante pulled up where the taxi had been. A rush of affection ripped through me, and I could have bounded over to the car if it hadn't been for… the belly and the contractions.

"Kai." Gideon jumped out of the moving vehicle before Dante had killed the engine, and he raced onto the deck, holding out his arms for me to fall into. I grunted in response and bent forward, digging my nails into his hands.

"The baby's coming."

I adored my bear shifter mate, but everyone was annoying me, saying the obvious.

Dante flung himself onto the deck. My first mate, the man who'd guided me through the confusion of maybe dying and arriving in Tarrin. The before time of how I got here was still a chaotic mess, but I would never have survived without the love and support of Mate Number One.

Gideon moved aside, and Dante whispered in my ear how he couldn't wait to meet our baby.

"How did you get here?" Gideon asked, giving Seymour the once-over.

"Cab," I said innocently, as though sneaking out of our bed after midnight when I was so close to giving birth was the norm.

"Where'd the taxi disappear to?"

I inspected my nails, not wanting to look my bear and wolf shifter mates in the eye. That was kinda weird ‘cause I was bracing myself for another contraction.

"I paid the guy and told him to leave," I said in a small voice.

"Oh." For the first time since he arrived, Dante looked at Seymour. He didn't grimace or growl, nor did he shove him out of the way and lead me off the deck to the car.

The focus had to be on the baby, not whether my current mates would be dicks about the newest one. Not that they were showing any signs of being dicks. Oh shoot, even though the contractions were coming at shorter intervals, thinking of dicks and my mates sent my heart racing.

I told my length to cool it ‘cause this body was about to give birth.

"I want to have my baby outside." Why did I say that? Was it because I had a little shifter inside me? While the baby would be a wolf, if it took after their wolf dad, Gideon had embraced fatherhood, and he was already as much of a parent as Dante and me.

"And I need everyone there."

"Everyone?" Gideon's raised brows suggested he might not be on board with the plan. "As in people in the neighborhood?"

A giggle escaped my lips which became a groan, and Gideon supported me from behind while I squatted, and Dante got on his haunches in front and panted with me.

When I was done, I answered my bear mate. "No, my mates. All of you."

"I know a place that's calm and peaceful, no noise from city traffic, and it's private." He added an extra tidbit that this location was close to the nearest hospital.

Seymour hadn't declared himself, but I wasn't waiting for Mr. Slow to yell, "I'm your mate." He hadn't run away and appeared to be willing to stay during the birth. Or perhaps he was just being helpful.

But I needed him there, along with Dante and Gideon, when my baby entered the world.

"I can tell you how to get there."

While my old truck at home, in Pinedale, didn't have GPS, all new and newish cars did. But like blogs and no apps, Tarrin was a tad behind the technology front compared to… the before time. But if Seymour was going to scribble a map on a notepad, he was mistaken. Being present when a human gave birth might not have been in his plans for the night, but it was happening.

"Thanks." The four of us stood on the deck, no one saying anything until my belly cramped again, and Dante took over, holding and encouraging me.

"You have to come too," I told Seymour when I'd recovered from the contraction.

"Of course." He glanced at my mates, and they nodded, so everyone was in agreement. If they'd caused a ruckus, saying we'd only just met Seymour, I'd have quashed their objections. The belly ruled, and I was in charge. Or maybe it was the baby, but I pretended I was.

"We need supplies," Seymour announced.

"I'm not hungry, if that's what you're thinking."

"No, towels, baby blankets, ice cubes, an air mattress, and cushions." Seymour reeled off a list, almost as if he kept one in his head in case a pregnant human who just happened to be his mate stumbled into his life.

"I'll help." Gideon pushed Seymour into the house while Dante helped me to the car.

"What do you think?" I asked Mate Number One.

"About becoming a dad?" He grinned and kissed my brow. "We've talked about this many times. You know how excited I am."

Tonight everyone was being a little… oblivious, and I stifled my irritation.

"No, silly. Seymour."

"I'm grateful he looked after you until we arrived, and he was very helpful." He sat me in the back of the car and kneeled on the grass. "Is that what you were asking?"

I kissed him, savoring his familiar taste, the one that kept me safe when life was so confusing. "Yeah, that's exactly what I wanted to know."

With the baby's birth imminent, this wasn't the moment to pummel Dante with questions about how we'd work as a foursome and was he willing to accept Seymour into our life.

And the most important question: How big a bed would we need for four adults?