Phin sighs and willingly submits to the thrall. “I want a mating ceremony and a family. We have the house, we have the jobs, we have each other, but I’m greedy and I want more,” he confesses in a soft, deep rumble that melts me.
“You’re not greedy,” Sin insists, narrowing his eyes at our mate. “You should want a mating ceremony and a family. You should get what you want because you deserve every good thing we can give you.”
As happy as I am with how Sin loves me, how he loves Phin gives me so much more joy. I smile at him and mouth, “You’re my favorite,” before addressing Phin’s needs as well. “My love, I am happy for you to organize a mating ceremony for us, and I’m sure there are adoption opportunities for us among the species that we can explore as well. We should give ourselves a year or two before bringing in children to really establish the foundation of our relationship.”
Phin’s pang of panic followed by deliberate forced calm sets both me and Sin off as it shakes our bond, and we both move at the same time. I hug Phin’s head to my chest as Sin lays himself on top of him.
“Tell us why you panicked,” Sin demands, echoing my thought perfectly.
Phin whimpers softly and hides his face in my chest. “It’s my fault.”
I somehow doubt that.
“No, it’s not. Try again,” Sin corrects him.
I fucking love this man so fucking much.
“Tell us why you panicked,” I repeat, moving his head so that we can see him better without dislodging either of our physical connections to the man. I send another wave of thrall over him. “Relax,” I order him.
Phin submits as he always does, and his body goes limp. “I’m probably already pregnant, but we won’t know until the winter.”
Both Sin and I stop breathing at the same time, and our gazes clash together in surprise. For several long minutes we stare at each other, exchanging a whole conversation without a word between us. Sin shakes his head a moment and then takes a deep breath, closing his eyes to center himself.
“I didn’t know that shifter men could get pregnant,” I hum, thinking of all the surprises awaiting discovery for all the species. “I wonder if other species do that, too.”
“Gael,” Sin chastises.
I smile at him, wondering what he thinks I said wrong. I love it when he does that. It cracks me up every time.
He kisses Phin’s temple. “Are you intersex? We love you no matter what, and you are our perfect mate. Full stop.”
Sin is also a perfect mate, but this is about Phin, so I echo his words, happy with both of my mates.
Phin grumbles and shrugs. “I’m a receptive shifter. That’s a biological design, not a position preference.”
“Interesting,” I confess with an ever growing smile.
Phin shrugs again but he opens his eyes and stops trying to hide. “It’s why my grandfather hated me so much. The Mathan line doesn’t produce male receptives. Except I exist.”
An echo of that old pain throbs in the bond from him, and Sin and I both rally against it. “You are perfect,” I tell Phin, lifting his face toward mine. “Utterly perfect. You’re our favorite person, and we love who and what you are.”
Phin nods, leaking a couple of tears into his beard.
Sin kisses the mating mark on Phineas’s neck. “So, we’re going to be parents? At least you think so? Is there a test for that?”
Phin smiles and shrugs. “Bears have delayed implantation. I could be pregnant for up to nine months before the egg implants, and then I’ll be really pregnant for about seven more months. We’ll know when that happens because I’ll spontaneously shift and I won’t be able to shift back for four to six days while the embryo is establishing itself. After that I will be able to shift until about two weeks before delivery, and then I’ll be stuck in my shifted form until after the birth.”
Just talking about the process gives Phin so much peace and hope. He’s absolutely consumed with the idea of his future children, and I’m so very pleased for all of us.
Sin sucks on Phin’s mate mark, sparking arousal in the bond. “Thank you for explaining. Now we’re going to fuck you hard so you remember not to hide things from us, and then we’re going to start planning our mating ceremony so that you never feel insecure with us again, and tomorrow we will pick the room to turn into the nursery while Gael finds a way to let the other species know that receptivity in shifters is not limited to female presenting people.”
“I want to help pick out the nursery,” I complain, trying to pout at Sin, but I end up smiling at the skeptical expression he shoots at me.
“You would try to convince us to put them in this room because it’s your favorite, but then we would lose your favorite place to hang out when the baby is sleeping, and I’m not letting you do that to yourself,” Sin explains, completely logical about his assessment of what I was going to suggest.
“You know me so well,” I laugh, pushing my mates up because we do need to fuck Phineas, but the papasan is not the place for that. “Come on, mates. Let’s show Phineas who he belongs to.”
Sin grins back at me and launches to his feet, pulling Phineas up and off me. The taste of his frenetic energy is candy, and when he dips his hand into Phineas’s pants and grabs him by the dick, the mix of them turns to ambrosia on my tongue. I follow them to our bedroom, already planning exactly how I want them. A Phin roast sounds lovely for reminding my mate he’s ours.
