My jaguar gave a lazy shrug. Instead, he coaxed me in another direction entirely.Feed him. Now.He said he was hungry.
Are you sure you wouldn’t rather I chase him around a little? Maybe just around the apartment?
No. Food, then sleep.
Okay, now I knew something was wrong. I peeked over at Joel, who seemed oblivious to the conversation going on in my head. “Um, babe? I was thinking… maybe we should call it an early night tonight. We could cuddle up and watch a movie or—”
“That soundsperfect,” he agreed quickly. “I’ve been so exhausted lately. I guess I’m still getting used to sharing a bed with someone.”
I frowned harder. That wasn’t even remotely true. He always fell asleep within minutes of crawling into bed, usually draped across my chest, and he was in the same position when he woke up a full eight hours later. It was like he hadn’t even moved.
Okay, seriously, what’s going on?I grilled my jaguar.You knowsomething. Tell me.
He yawned lazily, but I swore I could feel his smugness.Can’t you tell?he asked. Then gave me a hint.Take a deep breath.
I did as he said, but with a cutting board full of onions in front of me, it was hard to scent anything else. Since I assumed this had something to do with our mate, I came up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist, drawing him nice and close, then nuzzled deep into the crook of his neck and breathed in.
Joel giggled. “Stop that, your whiskers tickle.”
I froze, though, because now that I was paying attention, I could detect the faintest shift in his scent. Now he wasn’t just mist and moss and delicate flowers; he was also rich loam and ferns. It was like the individual notes of his scent had deepened and multiplied. Like instead of chords, there was now an entire orchestra.
“Joel,” I whispered, suddenly making sense of my beast’s need to provide for our mate. “I think… you’re pregnant.”
His whole body locked up, and for a second, I worried he was upset, that it was too soon and he didn’t want our baby. But then he spun around in my arms, and the look on his face cleared up any misunderstanding. His eyes were wide and bright, already glassy with excited tears. “Are you serious? Like… for real?For realfor real?”
“I mean, I don’t know for sure, but—”
He wrenched himself out of my arms faster than I could catch him, bolting down the hall toward the bathroom. “I can finally use that pregnancy test!” he squealed, in a tone of voice that was anything but disappointed. He emerged three minutes later, shouting, “I’m not just getting fat, I’m pregnant!”
Our lives had officially changed forever, and we were so excited to see what came next.
Itturnedoutthatwhat came next was… chaos. And the baby wasn’t even born yet.
As excited as Joel and I were, nothing could’ve prepared us for how seriously my beast would take this pregnancy. He must’ve decided that I wasn’t feeding our mate enough, because it wasn’t long before I found I had started sleep-shifting again. And it wasn’t for anything so fun as stalking our mate this time.
Nope. This was much, much worse.
“Um… North?” Joel nudged me in the pec with a finger. “North, wake up.”
“Mm,” I mumbled, trying to roll over.
But then Joel said, “It happened again,” and there was something in the urgency of his tone that had my eyes snapping open. Joel was sitting up in bed beside me, knees to chest, blanket pulled up to his chin.
“Oh gods, what is it this time?” I asked, bracing myself for the answer.
Last time my beast had left a dead bunny on the kitchen floor. I suppose he meant for us to cook it, but both Joel and I were too appalled. Joel had insisted we take the poor thing to the woods and give it a proper burial. My jaguar, of course, hadn’t understood why we were burying a perfectly good meal.
I wasn’t sure I could handle another carcass this early in the morning. I hadn’t even had my coffee yet.
Joel, however, turned his wide eyes on mine. “I’m not sure what it is, but it’s not too happy about being trapped in our apartment.”
I blinked a few times, trying to process what he’d said. “I’m sorry, did you just say—?” And that was when I heard it. A frantic scrabbling of tiny claws coming from the living room.
Groaning, I scrubbed a hand down my face.What did you do?
Last time wasn’t fresh enough for our mate. This time… it’s fresher.
For fuck’s sake. I wasn’t sure if this was better or worse. I threw back the blanket and rolled out of bed. “How does one dress to face an unknown wild animal trapped in their apartment?” I asked Joel, pulling on some jeans. “Asking for a friend.”
