Chapter Eleven
Charlie
Isaac kept sniffing the air around me, his brows scrunched, and his eyes squinted. At first, I didn’t pay any attention to his peculiar behavior. I had found, over the years, that sometimes the alpha bear shifter picked up on scents and wouldn’t let it go until he figured it out. Maybe he was trying to figure out the base notes of Jamie’s body wash that I used that morning. But when he got super close and put his head on my stomach, I pushed him away.
“Dude.” I looked around to check if anyone else in Pink Coffee Café was paying attention to the scene. “What are you doing?”
“You smell weird.” Large brown eyes looked into mine, and I saw a little quirk of his lips. “And I wanted to verify something before I mentioned what I thought it was.”
“Well, I’m not sure what you were trying to verify, but I doubt laying your head in my lap will give you any answers.” I rolled my eyes and pushed him farther away before taking a sip of my matcha latte. “Some days, you are even weirder than your normal level of odd.”
“Whatever you say—” Isaac leaned in and whispered the next part. “Preggo.”
Isaac had only himself to blame for the amount of liquid that came spitting out of my mouth and into his face. He chose to be so close when he delivered that news bomb. “What?”
“Well, you know that bear shifter senses are a bit more advanced than fox and wolf shifters, right?” Isaac returned to his seat and wiped his face with a napkin as he waited for my nod before continuing. “I could smell a new undertone to your natural scent, under your body wash. By the way, I will needto know the brand of that later. Anyway, your natural scent now has the hint of honey mixed in. I couldn’t place it at first since the other scents on you were fighting for dominance, but eventually I was able to mentally separate them all and focus on the honey.”
“Okay?” I wasn’t sure what honey had to do with anything, but I was following Isaac’s explanation the best I could.
“Well, honey is the scent that omegas get when they are expecting a cub, or in your case, a pup or kit.” Isaac gestured to my abdomen. “But I needed to see if I heard a heartbeat before I said anything. Bear shifter senses are more advanced; I can sniff the scent changes and hear the heartbeat as soon as it develops. Most other types of shifters cannot. I once told a teacher that she was pregnant, only for it to be that she had been too close to another omega and the scent somehow worn off onto her clothes. Sometimes a hug will cause that. Anyway. I wanted to make sure I was right before getting you all excited. A fox pregnancy is comparatively short to a bear pregnancy, so I could detect the changes even earlier in you.”
“But you didn’t figure I might get creeped out that you were sniffing me like a dog and then burrowed your head in my lap in the middle of lunchtime in a public café?” I raised my brow at my best friend. “You could have said—well, I’m not sure what you could have said that wouldn’t sound weird unless you just spilled the truth.”
“Sorry.” Isaac held up his hands and ducked his head. “I didn’t really think about that. I just wanted to know if I was going to be an honorary uncle or not.”
“So, you heard something?” I remembered the new nickname he had bestowed on me. “I’m actually pregnant?”
“I will remind you to go get it verified from an actual doctor. They can run scans and make sure everything is going the way it should.” Isaac let the upturn of his lips grow into a full-blownsmile now. “But based on my super-powered bear senses, yes. We are having a baby.”
“You’re having a what now with my mate?” Jamie surprised us by coming up to our table with a large omega by his side. Both men were in their firefighter uniforms. “Care to explain, mate?”
“Congratulations, Daddy.” I shrugged and pointed down to my belly. “Seems that my bestie can scent a new pup or kit growing in here. Although, he does warn that a doctor’s verification is always advised.”
“Honey.” The omega next to Jamie nodded. “Oh yeah, I smell that too. Dragon here, our sense of smell is pretty on par with bear shifters. I would say about two weeks. Which lines up to the time you took leave, right?”
“Thanks.” I held out my hand to the large dragon. “I’m Charlie. Can I know the name of the man confirming my upcoming parenthood?”
“Oh yeah, sorry. I’m Thomas. Jamie and I are just here picking up some coffee for the crew. Our machine broke suddenly, and we need the brew.” Jamie’s co-worker shook my offered hand. “Why did I just rhyme?”
“Not sure, but I’m used to people who march to their own beat. So don’t worry about it.” I gestured toward Isaac. “This is my bestie, Isaac. He’s probably thrilled to have someone backing up his claim.”
I looked over at my best friend, a faint smile on his face as he looked Thomas up and down. I was about to say something about not lusting over new friends, but decided to keep my thoughts to myself. Something about the way Thomas was looking back at Isaac told me to mind my own business and let them figure it out.
Maybe double dates will be in our future.
“We need to get going. Promised not to take too long.” Jamie leaned down and kissed me. “But I wish I could ditch work and take you to the doctor right now and verify with a test.”
“You can do that tomorrow when you’re off work.” I looked at my phone. “I’ll call for an appointment now and let you know when we can go in.”
“Okay.” Jamie glanced at my belly and then back at my eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” I smiled. “Be safe at work. No distractions.”
“I promise I’ll keep him focused.” Thomas clapped a hand on Jamie’s shoulder. “My honorary niece and nephew are counting on me.”
“See you at home.” Jamie gave a wave to Isaac and turned toward the counter, the barista calling his name to pick up their order.
“Wanna tell me what that was about?” I asked Isaac as I noticed his eyes following Thomas even as they exited the café and walked down the street toward the station.
