Larkin offered to give me some, as he bought his in bulk.
“Loud noises might irritate him.” Otto was scrolling on his phone. “That happened to me until Torin got me noise-cancelling headphones.”
We couldn’t afford any new technology, so I’d have to put cotton balls in his ears.
The pair helped me get everything that Roland asked for and placed it on a tray. Ebony, the zebra shifter, placed a flower on the tray. Larkin and Otto held in their laughter, and when Ebony left, they asked if my mate and Ebony were friends now.
“Calling them friends might be too much, but they're getting along sort of.”
Hoping I didn’t jostle the hot chocolate, I walked slowly to our cabin.
“Hey, hope you’re still hungry because I have loads of food for you.”
Roland was dozing, but he opened one eye and tossed a pillow at me which I dodged. “Don’t scare me like that. I thought you were a poacher.”
Oh shoot, I should have called out to my mate before I entered. “Sorry, my darling. I didn’t intend to frighten you.”
He harrumphed, and my bear was annoyed with me. But Roland beckoned me closer and peered at what I’d brought. He made me put more pillows behind him before tucking into breakfast.
“Awww, you brought me flowers?”
I had to fess up that it was his new bestie, Ebony.
“Oh, she’s quite nice. Not like her mate who is a real piece of work.” Roland put a piece of pancake in his mouth. “Why didn’t you get anything for yourself?” I’d forgotten but decided to have cereal which we had in the cupboard.
We ate in silence, but I’d forgotten napkins, so Roland had to make do with a roll of paper towels. He pushed away the last of the fruit and burst into tears. I kneeled beside the bed and dabbed at his cheeks with a paper towel, hoping I hadn’t forgotten anything else.
“I’ve been irritable and horrible with you today, and yesterday and the day before and probably tomorrow as well. What’s wrong with me?” he sobbed.
“Nothing. It’s pregnancy hormones. You’re discombobulated.”
I got a small grin out of him when I said that last word.
“You’re lugging around our child. Of course you’re going to be exhausted and fed up.”
“I can’t use the baby as an excuse for my shitty behavior.” He sniffed. “I love you. You’re my mate.”
“You can, darling. I can take it.” I showed him my muscles, and he giggled.
“Don’t make me laugh.”
Oops. “Sorry.” I moved the tray and climbed into bed with him. He put his head on my shoulder and wiped his tears on my shirt.
“The nine months of pregnancy are a wild ride.”
“But we’ll have a baby at the end.”
I told him Larkin was bringing over shower gel, and he asked why.
“Because the soap is slippery and you can’t pick it up.”
“Oh, okay.” My mate seemed to have forgotten the earlier incident with the soap.
We stayed where we were, and I read while Roland dozed. I had to go to work as we were short-staffed at the library—Evelyn was visiting her son—but Roland was already on paternity leave. I promised to bring him some new books at lunch time.
I was carrying a box of books with a variety of genres when I left the library. I made sure to call out when I returned a few hours later, but the door was already open. I was met with upturned chairs, a bed that’d been stripped, and a pile of trash nearthe table. Roland was mopping the bathroom, and the baby's bedding that we’d bought from the secondhand shop was drying on the line outside.
“What’s going on? Are we moving?”
