He looked bashful. "If you don't mind. The pain's already starting."
I kissed his forehead, clammy with sweat. My mate liked to do everything on his own, so for him to accept the offer, he must've been smarting.
I rushed him to our birth room and laid him down on the bed. As I removed his clothes, Frederick breathed hard. He seemed to be concentrating on riding out the waves of pain. I was about to grab a damp towel when he held my wrist.
"Don't go," he said. "I can already feel it—" He cut off with a hiss, tossing his head back against the pillow.
"I'm here, baby, I ain't going nowhere," I said, stroking his hand. "Tell me what I can do."
"Just stay with me."
"You got it."
I kissed him and wiped the sweat off his forehead. I wished I could split some of the discomfort, but keeping him as comfortable as possible was the next best thing.
"Can you play some music?" Frederick mumbled.
"Of course, babe."
I leaned over to the radio and switched it on. Although at first it wasn't his cup of tea, but since moving in the country channels had grown on Frederick. He sighed and let the twangy song about riding horses fill the air. I rubbed his belly, massaging his body as he rode through the contraction.
"That's it," I murmured. "Keep doin' what you're doin'."
Frederick nodded distractedly. The crease in his brow told me he was concentrating hard. He grit his teeth and groaned as a wave of pain consumed him. I held his hand through it, letting him crush my bones as much as he needed to.
Thankfully his labor didn't last long enough for him to completely obliterate my hand. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought Frederick was a master birther. It was only an hour later that he was crying out for the last time and pushing out a small, wet bundle onto the arranged towels. My heart skipped a beat at my very first glimpse of our baby.
I gasped. "Frederick, you did it!"
He blinked blearily. "Huh? It's over already?"
My poor mate sounded exhausted. I laughed and wiped the damp sweat off his forehead before quickly responding to the sound of our whimpering infant. I was stunned at what I saw—not a human baby, but a little furry one.
A jackalope shifter.
I must've stared for a while because Frederick asked, "What?"
I couldn't answer him right away because my instincts took over. Shifting to my own jackalope form to mirror our child, I licked him off until he was clean and dry and no longer whimpering from discomfort. When I was satisfied, I shifted back, swaddled him in a soft blanket and handed him to Frederick. My mate's eyes lit up, instantly filling with tears. He didn't care that our child was a jackalope like me and not a pure human. He was ecstatic to see our son born safe and sound, no matter what he looked like.
I sat next to Frederick, putting my arm around his shoulders. "He's beautiful," I murmured.
Frederick was trembling with happy tears. He laughed and wiped them away. "He's themostbeautiful. Even if he does have his daddy's big ears," he teased.
I grinned. I was about to tease him back when, just like a human baby, our son opened his bright eyes. They were the same sky-blue as Frederick's.
I reached down to stroke his soft head when he chose that very moment to shift for the first time. It happened like thepopof popcorn—one second he was a little jackalope kit, and the next he was a big human baby.
"I can already tell Bandit's gonna get into loads of mischief," I said, using the name we'd chosen together.
Frederick smiled, rubbing his nose against Bandit's cheek. "Good. If he eats my research, maybe I can have my deadline extended. Right, Bandit?"
Bandit gurgled.
"Oh, crap," Frederick mumbled.
"What is it, Prof?”
He let out an exasperated laugh. He still hadn't taken his eyes off our brand-new son. "I said I'd fix that car before the baby was born. Guess that's not happening."
My heart soared with affection for both my mate and my child. I kissed Frederick's forehead.
"Maybe you and Bandit can work on it together when he's old enough," I suggested.
"I like that idea." He tickled Bandit's chest. "He's gonna be the best of both of us, brainsandbrawn."
I smiled as I gazed down at our perfect baby.
He was already the best of us.
THE END
