Page 15 of Her Shifter Babe

And I never would have known, but against all odds, she’d found me, and I would forever repay that strength and courage with kindness, and the love I knew was destined to grow and blossom between us. And I just had to trust that our perfect pairs bond would make itself known when the time was right.

I’d been around long enough to know that the path to lasting love was not always a straight one. Sometimes it was fraught with curves, kinks, and broken pavers along the way. And regardless of what we might face moving forward, we’d do it together.

Chapter 6

David

AFTER MY CHAOTIC RUN through the woods, I shared a quiet dinner with my parents and then stayed in my old room for the night. Mom and Dad didn’t ask why I wasn’t driving the three minutes back home. Instead, Dad had just poured me a double shot of whiskey, Mom put fresh sheets on my old bed, and I’d gone to bed early.

My heart hurt, like my chest was somehow too small for it. Tommy was going to be a father, and I was going to be a... what? An uncle? “Oh, my fucking... God!” I ran my fingers through my hair even as I lay in the old double bed, the lumpy mattress a testament to the decades that had passed since anyone had slept in this room.

I was never meant to be an uncle to anyone’s kids except my sister, who had unfortunately never found the right man, so she was the one looking forward to being an auntie. And Tommy and I had planned to give my parents the grandchildren they had always craved, and my sister the kids she so desperately wanted to dote on in her life. But now my brother had found a woman and started a family without me.

“This wasn’t the plan, Tommy. Fuck,” I moaned into the darkness. My whole life, I’d looked forward to our life. Our shared life. Our perfect pairs life. Our family. Our mate. Our kids.

What the hell am I going to do now?

***

THE NEXT MORNING, I slept until noon, having not fallen asleep until God knows what time in the early hours of the morning.. I’d been restless as hell and eventually had passed out from sheer frustration into a dreamless black sleep.

Mom poured me a cup of coffee and pushed a plate of golden scrambled eggs and crisp toast across the counter.

I picked up a fork and took a bite, groaning at the buttery, seasoned perfection. “How are your eggs still better than mine?” I asked with a sigh. I was the one who owned a restaurant, but it seemed I couldn’t touch a mother’s love.

She merely winked at me and went back to getting the bacon ready for my dad.

“Morning,” Dad said as he walked into the kitchen and slapped me on the back. “Restaurant closed today too?”

I shook my head. “Nah. I’ll be opening at five.”

“Oh, good. So you’ll have time.”

“For what?” I asked, taking a sip of my too sweet coffee.

“For the ultrasound,” he said matter-of-factly.

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