Nightshade Bear Territory
By the time the full moon rolled around, Vallis was ready to conjure our nursery, and everyone wanted to come over and watch him. Phooey for them because I had started denning down and my bear tolerated the presence of very few people. My grandparents, my parents, a few siblings that dropped by now and then, and Preston along with his baby. Grain was the other person my bear didn’t seem to mind. Though, he was just about grown up, he was very much a cub if you asked my bear and it was good for him to be around good magic. After all, he’d nearly torn his toe off the night Sharon Claudis lost her arm and got a frozen teat. Plus, he brought snacks. There was some grumbling that a cub with no expectations to go into magic was allowed to come over while others were left out. At the end of the day, maybe I was an asshole, but the house was now a den, and I wasn’t going to be held responsible for my bear eating people. Plus, my bear knew that on a very deep level, Vallis didn’t enjoy crowds. So that night, it was us, Grain, Preston and Andy, (Wess stayed home because he had ice magic to do and someone needed to watch the littlest cubs), my grandparents, and Dad. He was mostly there because he didn’t trust the others to monitor my excitement and he didn’t want me going into early labor. I was excited about the nursery, but I’d witnessed themagic through Vallis’s memories and had no doubt that it would work out just the way he planned for it to.
While everyone else stood around in the doorway of the nursery, Dad, me and Grain watched from the yard through one of the open windows. I didn’t understand the why behind it, but the open windows were a very important part of this sort of magic.
“I think you should’ve gotten to watch from inside,” Grain said.
“I could’ve,” I said. “I’m not afraid of his magic.”
“Surprised you came out with all the den talk,” Dad said.
“This is my den too. Being out here ensures I can bring my cub out when it’s time,” I said, echoing my bear’s thoughts from inside his inner sanctum.
“True,” Dad nodded.
I shifted my weight from foot to foot. Maybe I should’ve brought a chair out. Still, I focused on Vallis sitting on the floor, legs crossed and close to his body, his eyes dropped shut. The magic moved through him, bit by bit, and chakra by chakra. I felt its gentle path over our mating link. I shifted my weight again, trying to figure out which of my feet were less tired from carrying about my bulk.
“Do you need a chair, mate?” Vallis opened his eyes.
I almost said no but my discomfort distracted him. It was Grain that sprinted around to the back porch and brought around a lawn chair. I laughed because I wasn’t about to fit into that chair. Not with the bulk the baby had added to me.Some days I wondered if pregnancy had broadened my bones themselves out.
Vallis closed his eyes and a second later a chair stood a few feet away from me. Grain and the others marveled at it, but I wasn’t surprised. Of course, my guy could conjure a chair out of thin air! Vallis was incredible and magic saved lives every day. Dad brought the soft backed chair over and I sat down.
The magic moved through him again and spread throughout the room that would be our nursery soon. Bit my bit things morphed and changed. Brightly colored murals of bears frolicking through expansive fields of colorful wildflowers appeared on the walls. The wood of the floor changed to a soft color and little fuzzy carpets in the shapes of bear and wolf heads emerged from it. A crib, changing table, rocking chair, and other furniture came into being. Bit by bit everything that could be built by hand was built by magic. When the job was done Vallis hit the floor. His head landed on one of the brown fuzzy bear rugs.
“Steady,”my bear warned from inside his inner sanctum.“Alpha said this would happen. It’s like giving birth. It makes him tired.”
Still, my first instinct was to climb in through the window to get to him. Only I didn’t want to get stuck or tear up the light blue curtains he’d just hung up. It was Grandpa who went to him and smeared water across his lips. I watched the steady rise and fall of his chest before getting up the courage to go back inside the proper way. I almost sat down on the floor next to him by I was well past the point of getting up off the floor by myself and didn’t want to be stuck if something really went wrong.
“I’d move him into the bed but you’d kick me for something like that,” my grandsire said to my grandcarrier.
“You’re right,” Grandpa nodded. “We leave him here. It’s best to wake up where you fall asleep. Only tiny children enjoy the magic of teleporting to their bed after they’re asleep.”
I read on my phone while the others chatted, and we all waited for Vallis to wake up. Each time I turned the virtual page, I checked on him. The impulse itched at the back of my brain over and over. My mate dreamt of running through fields of wildflowers. He dreamt of talking out future building plans with Broug. He dreamt of a chunky bear cub racing around his feet. In his dreams, Vallis was content. So I was happy to keep reading my book. It was a short one that was some combo of horror and romance. The omega was being courted by a ghost. In this case, the ghost was an actual ghost, but it was close enough to me and Vallis that it was comforting and made me chuckle here and there.
Dad had to go home, and Grain had homework to do. Preston had left hours before because Baby Andy wanted to play the drums on Vallis’s head while he was asleep and didn’t understand why that wasn’t allowed. It was how he woke up Wess most mornings and the Snow Demon didn’t seem to mind. So, our little group shrunk to me and my grandparents. I didn’t mind. I could’ve waited alone but knew they wouldn’t leave until he was awake. Here, on Earthside, it wasn’t a good sign if someone used so much magic that they fell over like that. Apparently, it was common where Vallis came from. It was little wonder that he believed that Broug had used too much magic and passed away.
We ate leftover meatloaf and potatoes, and I tried waving a piece of pie under Vallis’s nose and he didn’t budge. Around midnight, I was yawning and close to giving up when Vallis sat up and ate the rest of the pie straight from the pan. Without saying good night to anyone, he picked me up and carried me off to bed. He didn’t even register my grandparents were still there. I shouted goodnight to them as he carried me off. Neither of them held it against him as they were no strangers to how magic took its toll.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Vallis
Nightshade Bear Territory
The day after building the nursery I was back to normal as I knew I’d be. I probably should’ve spent more time preparing the others for what would happen. I’d reminded Lero right before the others arrived but he knew from my memories that one room was a small task. I slept longer than I’d normally have. I blamed that on the comfy rug and the nearby scent of my mate. Every time I stirred in my floor sleep, I smelled his contentment and if he wasn’t upset I could stay asleep.
I watched Lero sleep, curled up on his side, his hands all folded into all angles and shoved up under his chin as if someone pinned them there. Some nights I tried to straighten them out but he needed his rest. He’d had a late night and our cub’s due date was fast approaching. Barry was showing up to do ultrasounds every other day now.
Lero wasn’t blood family but there was a cloud that hung over the family. Xenos’s carrier had died giving birth to him. Xenos suffered a similar complication with Mori and Preston and needed a c-section. Sometimes complications were genetic and sometimes they were just a roll of the dice. So I wasn’t sure whether or not to worry but figured with this many healersaround a c-section would be hectic and terrifying but Lero would be okay.
“Don’t be scary, okay?” I whispered to Lero’s belly.
“I can’t help it. I’m a bear,” Lero laughed. “It’s my birthright to be scary. Rawr!”
“I was talking to Urso,” I grinned and kissed his belly before sliding back up the bed to give my mate a real good morning kiss. We lay there for a few minutes enjoying the quiet of midmorning before I helped him out of the bed.
“He’s trying to eat me now,” he yawned as he waddled to the bathroom.
