5. Kai

Chapter 5

Kai

This was the perfect place to bring our child into the world.

My baby agreed. Maybe that was fanciful, but hey, I'd been transported to another world and met and mated alphas who had animals inside them. Who was to say the baby wasn't giving me the thumbs-up?

And I was surrounded by not one, not two, but three mates. While I was concentrating on listening to my body, I did side-eye Seymour for not declaring himself my mate. Not that I expected him to get on one knee and make a big deal about it. Though I kinda did.

My grunting and groaning might have been a little off-putting, but as my mate and one of our baby's fathers, he'd be dealing with poop explosions—lots of them—so he'd better get used to life with Kai. That sounded like the title of a TV serial.

I paced over the grass in my bare feet, enjoying the connection with the earth. If the baby was a shifter, they'd have a relationship with the earth and the world around us that I would never experience. So it was appropriate I gave birth here and not in some sterile hospital room, hooked up to beeping machines.

"Why are they not closer together?" The cramps were a couple of minutes apart, and while my body told me it wasn't time, my head was more than ready.

"Slow your breathing, Kai." Dante took my hand and kicked off his shoes, clawing his toes into the damp earth.

I matched him, breath in and breath out, and while the interval between contractions didn't shorten, having having him at my side calmed me.

"You know what might help?" I sensed our little one needed to be with their dads. Not in human form but after taking their fur. Hmmm, did Seymour have fur? Dragons were huge scaly beasts. Not fur or hair but scales.

The idea of having a real live dragon beside me was a tad scary, but a dragon could fend off any bad guys, so we'd never have to worry about anyone harming us. Though bears and wolves were pretty terrifying too.

"Shifting." That was how I got around the fur/scales issue.

Dante ripped off his clothes and didn't consult the other two. He was exercising his authority as Mate Number One. Nah, not really. Both Gideon and Dante considered themselves equal in our relationship, and if either had pulled a stunt and lorded it over the other, I'd have told them to get over themselves.

Despite being in the throes of labor, I admired Dante's cock. That man had one gorgeous dick. But it vanished along with the rest of him and his wolf appeared, nuzzling my big belly.

With the lights of the city below us, I paced with my wolf at my side. I was slower than before, my body conserving energy for when I had to push. Dante's beast's firm footing as we walked, or he walked and I waddled, my hand on his back, ensured I didn't stumble. The belly affected my sense of gravity, and I'd been prone to teetering and almost toppling over, only saved by my mates' shifter reflexes.

Me clutching the wolf's glossy fur reassured me my mates' beasts loved me and the baby as much as their human forms. And the wolf sensed when it was time for Gideon's bear to take his place.

Dante shifted and stood back while the bear lumbered back and forth, touching my bump with his snout.

"Thank you, my love."

Dante blew me a kiss, saying he'd do anything for me and our little one. My eyes were awash in tears as I thanked the universe for placing me in the café that day when I met my wolf mate.

Concentrating on the beasts and how they were helping me through labor put aside my anxiety of how I'd react when the dragon appeared. I couldn't hold his hand or run my fingers through his fur.

But Gideon shifted back, and he squeezed my hand, telling me I was doing great.

Now the moment was upon me when I'd meet a real live dragon. I rubbed my belly in the aftermath of the latest contraction and stood back. We all did. Dragons were enormous.

I did take a peek at Seymour's cock before he shifted, and I wasn't disappointed. Wowza!

Scales and veined wings, spikes, and a hint of fire on his breath accompanied the dragon. He wasn't as huge as I'd imagined, but my impression of dragons had come from human story books, and no human had ever seen a dragon. Maybe I was the only one.

Seymour's beast was a smaller package, though he did tower over me. The lights from the hospital illuminated the purple and silver streaks on his wings and swept over the tips of the spikes. Ouch! I wouldn't want to prick my finger on those.

The dragon tucked a wing around me and enveloped me in his and Seymour's scent. We toddled rather than walked as I guessed he was more accustomed to being in the air than tramping around a patch of grass.

"That was amazing. I can't wait to spend more time with your dragon."

"He loves you as much as I do."

My mates and their beasts rotated, each spending time with me, reassuring me the baby was doing well and would soon be here.

The night wore on, and I hoped the baby would be born before the noise level rose and people went to work. Not wanting to give birth in the middle of rush hour, I urged our little one to hurry up.

But babies had their own schedule, and it was close to dawn when the contractions got closer together. I sensed a shift in my body. Not that sort of shift, but a human one. Something was different, something had changed.

My mates picked up on it, and they formed a semi-circle around me.

It was time!