22. Carlton

"Push, Theo."

"I am pushing." There was no doubt about my mate's irritated tone, his huffing and puffing and the curse words spilling from his lips, not to mention the sweat stains on his shirt.

He stood, hand on hips, gasping, his chest heaving. "Isn't that what I should be saying to you?"

He thinks he's so clever. I was the jokester in the family, often with terrible timing, but now Theo was trying to be funny.

"I guarantee I'll be pushing longer and harder."

"Shall we give up and call roadside assistance?" He slumped into the passenger seat, his body odor masking his usual intoxicating scent.

"I think so."

Thank gods we didn't have the kittens with us. The sun was high and beating down on the car that refused to move, and without the air-conditioning, I was fanning myself with an ancient magazine that'd been stuffed under the driver's seat.

"You need to be in the shade." Theo chugged water from his bottle and handed it to me.

"We could call Jack." We'd been for another ultrasound and were on our way home when the car broke down. But the engine died a few minutes after we left the midwife's.

"Good idea. If he can pick you up, I won't worry about you overheating."

"Just like the car." I giggled. Theo raised a brow. "The car overheated too."

Jack arrived and ushered both of us toward his vehicle. Theo protested, saying he had to stay here for when the mechanic arrived. But another car pulled up behind Jack's and a shifter got out, his scent signaling he was a wolf.

"I'll fix this." He lifted the hood and rummaged around underneath. "Hmmm. This will take a while. You go with Jack and I'll drive the car back when I'm done."

Arriving at Jack's was like stumbling on an oasis in the middle of the desert. He served us drinks and snacks, and I put my feet up while Theo and Jack went into the garden and picked vegetables for a salad. While they prepped lunch, the midwife explained how he came to live here, and Theo peppered him with questions. I sipped on apple juice, made from fruit in Jack's orchard, happy I wasn't in a car under the blazing sun.

When Marlowe, Jack's mechanic friend arrived with our car, he refused payment, saying neighbors helped neighbors, so we thanked him and said next time he was in the city, we'd take him out for a meal.

"That might not be for a while." He explained he wasn't a city person.

After dropping Marlow at his car, Theo marveled at Jack's and the mechanic's generosity, and Jack's garden and orchard and how beautiful the area was. He was raving about the fresh air and wide-open spaces, comparing it to our small apartment and the noise and pollution in the city. That was a contrast to when I'd met him, and he complained about creepy crawlies.

"Remember, love, you can't order pizza at midnight out here." I peered out the window as the countryside faded and was replaced with concrete and neon signs and freeways. "Besides, the kittens would not survive out here." I didn't go into detail, but they'd be no match for the wild animals that lived in the surrounding woods.

The poor kitties. My bear was sobbing, not with real tears, but my belly was flip-flopping, thanks to his shuddering.

"They're house cats now. No reason for them not to be house cats here."

His tone had my head snapping toward him. "Are you serious? Would you like to live near Jack's?"

My beast stopped his weeping and gnashing of teeth. I could take my fur every day.

Theo pulled up at a red light, the sun reflecting off the car in front, and I held my hand up to the light. My mate glanced at me. "It would be a joint decision. And you would have to drive into the city two days a week when your paternity leave ends."

The car edged forward as a driver in another lane beeped the horn at the car in front.

"Let's agree to think about it after the baby's born."

We drove the rest of the way home in silence, with me noting everything I disliked about city life and weighing it up with the advantages, of which there were many. But houses didn't come up for sale every day in Jack's area, and if we wanted to move, we'd need to commit now and start searching so hopefully in six months or a year, we might find a home.

The kittens greeted us as if we'd been gone for years, and I headed to our bedroom for a nap, with a detour to the bathroom. But the baby had other ideas, waking up and bouncing around, so I didn't get any sleep.

"Theo, wanna feel the baby?"

My mate loved placing his head on my belly and talking to our little one about all the fun things we'd do after the birth.

"And your uncle bear is looking forward to meeting you too." My mate kissed my belly as the baby rummaged around as if they'd lost something.

I'm an uncle, my beast mused. What do uncles do?

They teach their niece or nephew the ways of the forest and allow them to snuggle close when they're tired.

I want to be an uncle.

"Would you like to live in the countryside?" Theo posed the question to my belly. "One kick for yes. Two kicks for no."

The baby kicked. "One kick, it's settled." Theo added, "That's a joke, babe."

We're moving to the woods. My bear was ready to pack his bags, not that he had any stuff.

Being heavily pregnant, my world revolved around naps, peeing, eating, and waddling. Rinse and repeat. I couldn't contemplate a move, even after the baby was born, and I had to be honest with Theo.

"Love, if I could click my fingers and we'd be settled in a cute country cottage with a huge garden that backed onto the woods, I'd move in a heartbeat." Just thinking about packing up and I wanted to hide under the covers.

My mate patted my hand. "I get it. This is something for the future, maybe in a few years' time." His wistful tone suggested if I weren't pregnant, he'd be scouring the real estate sites for suitable homes. "I don't want to add any more stress to our lives, especially yours, when you're carrying our child."

Theo lay beside me until the baby quietened. The kittens leaped onto the bed, snuggled by my bump, and we napped. But when I opened my eyes, the room was almost dark, and Theo was beside me, sporting a broad smile.

Something was up. Maybe I was going to get a blow job, though not with the kittens on the bed. That couldn't happen. He wouldn't be plowing into me. I couldn't find a comfortable position for sex now that my bump was so big, but blow job? Yes, please.

"You'll have to pull my briefs down." I didn't have the energy to wriggle them off.

"I can give you a blow job later but first something better."

What would be better than my cock in my mate's mouth and me coming? My brain couldn't fathom a substitute.

"Jack called, and he had a surprise."

Hmmm. Unless somehow Jack had birthed our baby without me knowing and our little one was smuggled into the crib in their room, safe and sound, I was lost as to why my mate was beaming.

"No stress." Theo held up both hands as if he was surrendering. This just got more weird. "It's just something that he thought we might be interested in."

"Did he find a baby in his cabbage patch? Did the stork make a delivery?" Why was Jack phoning Theo? I was his patient. Irritation niggled at me, and I grunted, peeved that Theo was holding something back.

"He says there's a house not far from his place, nestled in the woods, that's up for sale. But we don't have to make a decision until we're ready, in three months, six months, or whenever."

It must've been a ruin, with no roof, barely any walls, and vines creeping through what was left of the rooms. "Sounds awful. And what owner says take years to decide but the house will still be here waiting for you?"

"That's because it belongs to Jack. It was his late parents', and he's been renting it out, but his latest tenant left last month."

That piqued my interest, but I didn't want to appear too enthusiastic. "And it's not a tumbledown shack?"

"Nope." Theo popped the P. "Wanna see photos?"

I did, and I nodded. He gave me his phone, and I scrolled through the pics, trying to dampen my excitement. There had to be a drawback, something Jack wasn't telling us. Houses like this didn't fall into people's laps. He must've been asking an outrageous price.

"What's the catch?" I asked as I imagined our little one playing on a swing in that garden.