Vallis and I opted out of a mating feast, but some of the other bears still brought cooked dishes and gifts to leave for us. In the village, true-mates meeting was a whole village celebration. From the mating feast to taking care of the newly met mates during their matingmoon. They hadn’t had the chance to do that for us, but they didn’t want us to feel left out and I appreciated that. The less time we spent on cooking, the more time we could spend together and that’s all I wanted to do.
My grandparents and parents often talked about finding the rhythm to your life while I was growing up. I wasn’t sure if this is what they meant, because I didn’t particularly care what we did as long as we were together. Those first few weeks we did a lot of laying around and talking and late-night runs in the forest. Anywhere else, I imagined, that two bears barreling through the forest would’ve been a cause for alarm but here, it was just us having some fun and blowing off steam.
Eventually, I did start taking orders for clothes again and we’d work on them together. Not all true-mates received knowledge or kinetic memory from their mates during the claiming vows, but Vallis received enough to know his way around my projects. I also made him some t-shirts for his bear form and he let me take photographs for my website. He was a big, handsome bear.
Slowly, we filled up the baby registry, because I knew better than to shop before the others were finished giving us gifts. That’s why there was so much extra to go around in the first place. The nursery was another thing we talked about a lot and Vallis decided that was his project since it fell into his realm of magic. We’d keep as much of the original hardwood as we could. The house was old and had character. That’s why I chose it. Plus, my sire had lived here for a while as a kid. He was still in touch with Kodiak and a woman named Crystal who was Finn’s mate.
It was one night while we laid on the bare floor of the nursery that Finn came to say his goodbyes. At first I was suspicious, because he’d claimed he was going to move on before but had never done it. He walked in through the wall and looked around as if he saw the room how it must’ve been when his triplets were here. We sat up in case he wanted to talk or was about to have another episode of forgetting that he was dead like he was prone to doing.
“Hope you don’t mind. Didn’t want to bother you but wanted to see it one last time. I didn’t know it then but those boys were the best things in my life. They were so little and kept getting sick. They’re all grown up now. Good guys too. I think I’ve done everything I can do. I can’t think of a single other thing to do. I don’t mean that I’m bored. I haven’t been bored since I died. I think…” he let out a long sigh. “I think I had to dosomething for your family to make it right. Colton didn’t die but he almost did that night in the woods and it was my fault. I… I wanted your dad’s head. It was stupid. I was scared. I wanted my boys to be safe. Little did I know that they’d have been safer with him than some of the people I went on to socialize with. Ivan’s a good wolf.”
“He is,” Vallis said. “He’s a better guy than plenty of people.”
“I hope this house serves you well. I really do. It’s a good house and you’ve turned it into a home, Lero. Are you okay now? Is everything okay now?” His eyes looked so sleepy as he spoke with his eyelids trying to fall down closed.
“Everything’s good now, Finn. Thank you for helping us.”
“Thank your grandpa for not banishing me to the Pit,” he yawned and stretched out.
“Sleep well, friend,” Vallis said as Finn’s eyes drifted shut for the final time.
He dozed there in the empty nursery for awhile before fading away. I hoped this time that Finn really found peace.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Vallis
Nightshade Bear Territory
It wasn’t until the start of Lero’s second trimester that I felt ready to host a memorial for Broug. No one here had ever met him and it felt silly to ask them to mourn him or celebrate him. Still, when I brought up the idea again with Lero he was enthusiastic. Since Broug was unknown here we decided it was best to have a feast in his honor. The bears here loved a good feast and I was starting to think that way too. Besides, I hoped wherever Broug was that he was too happy to pay attention to what the living did.
It was Lero’s idea to get Broug’s story set into a dragon metal plaque. I thought he was going to hang it up inside the house or something, but at the feast it was drilled onto one of the picnic tables. Only then did I realize his wasn’t the only one. Many of the tables had plaques commemorating events and people who had passed on. My mate had cemented Broug’s story into the history of the Nightshade Bears. He was a part of our story forever now.
Each day, Lero’s stomach grew a little more as the life inside him stretched out and made itself known. Some mornings, when I woke up before Lero I marveled at it. His belly was big enough now that he needed to sleep on his side to avoidpain and complications. I always spooned in behind him and it was perfect for the mornings I woke up first. Peering over his shoulder, I marveled at how much our cub had already grown. Even more than the sonograms on the fridge, his belly showed the progress life made from nothing to something. I liked to run my hand over his belly, grateful he still slept without his shirt on. It was on one such morning that Lero startled awake because our cub decided it was time to kick me. I laughed and Lero startled awake, fist drawn toward the empty room, ready to fight.
“It was the baby,” I laughed and he did too, sitting back down.
“I’ve felt them move before but that was--- intense,” Lero said, staring down at his pregnant belly. “He was like trying out his first spin kick or something.”
“I’ve spent almost six months petting them through your stomach. They’ve probably been waiting for the moment they could kick the hand that kept waking them up early every morning,” I grinned.
“I know you say they because we don’t know yet but oh my Juda! I hope there isn’t a second one hiding inside me,” Lero laughed.
“We’ll find out today,” I said and kissed him on the cheek. “Your dad is coming to do another ultrasound.”
“If there’s a second one, you snuck them in there when I wasn’t looking.”
“Uh… Mate, you’ve seen every time I put something…” I started but Lero blushed and smacked me with a pillow.
“Keep that up and I’ll put a baby in you!” he said and whacked me again.
I laughed so hard I almost fell off the bed.
“You think that scares me? You wouldn’t be the first pregnant bear who decided to mount his mate,” I said, dodging the playful pillow. “You have a whack on you. Trying to knock me through the wall.”
“Show you wall,” Lero growled, wiggling around until he straddled my legs and leaned in for a long kiss. He growled against my lips, and I ran my hands up and down his warm thighs. It didn’t always start with a pillow fight but every morning we ended up getting each other off. It was fun and it helped manage Lero’s ups and downs. I’d get him off every hour if that’s what it took to keep him happy while pregnant.
***
