Fanged secrets a m m mpr.., p.14
Fanged Secrets : A M/M Mpreg Romance, page 14
The morning of the day when Shepard and I became fathers in the solid world I woke up and the urge to hunt wasn’t there. It was replaced by the urge to barricade the house. My wolf was growling orders to board up the windows and to find dragons to stand guard at the doorways. I didn’t connect the urge to Baby Norbert’s birth until after the fact.
That morning, Shepard woke up with a huge thirst for blood. The shakes weren’t hitting the spot after three. So, he and I excused ourselves from the breakfast table and slid into the bedroom. Our sex life had gone from us romping around multiple times a day to Shepard’s libido being hit or miss. His desire came in waves that consumed our free time for days on end and then ebbed for days at a time too. Blood drinking always hit me square in the balls. It didn’t matter if I were drinking from him, or he drank from me. It always made me want him more than I always did. That morning he wasn’t in the mood, but I didn’t complain.
His pregnant belly made it impossible for him to wear anything except sweatpants and my old shirts. He was sexy as ever, but the extra weight didn’t do much for his desire to shimmy and shake around. So, after he and Irwin left for the library, I texted the guard group chat and told them I was running late.
In the shower, under the hot water, I stroked myself, hard and fast to thoughts of him. It was easy to call his scent to mind – it covered every nook and cranny of our home. Shepard was beautiful – pregnant or not, maybe even more so now that he glowed with all the magic of growing a life inside his body.
“ALPHA!” His voice cut through my thoughts over our mating link.
It wasn’t low and full of need like in my fantasies, but urgent and high, strung with fear.
“My water just broke all over the library’s carpet! Liam is going to kill me!”
“I’m on my way! Stay calm! I’m on my way! You’re okay. You’re okay.”
“I wet myself in public!”
“Oh, mate. No one will talk about that once the baby’s here. Norbert will be all they remember about today.”
I always heard children interrupted your sex life and time alone and of course, my child would start his entrance to the world and catch me not just with my pants down, but with my dick in my hand. Not that it was hard anymore. As soon as Shepard’s panic hit me, it fell flaccid and useless, reserving the blood for muscles that were much better at protecting him.
I barely bothered to dry off before I shimmied into my jeans sans the underwear and didn’t bother with a shirt or shoes. Heartville was lucky that I even bothered to put on pants as Shepard’s fear, pain, and excitement poured over our mating link.
“The clinic, Daniel!” Dara’s voice cut in over the pack link.
Later, I wouldn’t remember my sprint across the village to the clinic. I’d only remember my wolf howling inside my head that our pup was on his way into the world.
“Daniel!” Shepard tried to get out of the birthing pool in the clinic once he saw me.
“Stay where you are,” I said, panting and covering the last few steps between us.
The clinic’s birthing pool was a new addition added by Dara after his baby was born in a tub at his house.
I climbed into the tub not worrying about getting my clothes wet. Irwin was there, smelling almost as frantic as Shepard. He knelt on the far side of the tub and held onto his friend’s hand for dear life.
“We might be in for a bit of a wait,” Dara announced. “First babies like to take their time.”
I barely heard him, because I was straddled over Shepard’s trembling thighs with my forehead pressed to his. I attended births before – usually regulated to boiling water or getting ice chips, but my hands had never trembled then. I held Shepard’s face in them, even as they trembled.
“We’re a hot mess,” Shepard laughed. “We’ve faced down so much – ghosts and all – but now we’re a hot mess,” he laughed and then his face contorted up into a snarl of pain.
“Dar-----”
“Don’t,” Dara shook his head. “Breathe with him, Daniel. He’s only at three centimeters.”
My wolf growled but I swallowed down the sound.
“Look at me,” I whispered. “We talked about this, right? We’re going to breathe----”
I never finished that sentence, because Shepard took my hand from his face and only glanced at me a microsecond for permission before he bit into my wrist. My wolf yelped, caught off guard as my blood flowed into his mouth. The pain left his face, and he sank back into the water.
“Shepard, you’re not going to be able to do that with every contraction if we’re here for long,” Dara said, and I almost told him to shut up.
I could feed my mate as much as he needed. Only I didn’t bother to argue with the doctor. Everyone more or less knew I was a vampire, but that didn’t mean they knew what I did about my genetics. Thankfully, when the next contraction came and Shepard bit into my shoulder Dara didn’t try to stop him.
“I’m going to run to the house and make some shakes. Maybe sandwiches too?” Irwin pushed himself upright. “If he’s eating you, you’re going to need to eat.”
“Thanks, Irwin,” Shepard said, his eyes looking dreamy.
“I have questions,” Dara said, “but I have a feeling they’ll need to wait until later.”
“Will you sit behind me, Alpha?” Shepard asked, still looking a bit spaced out. “The tub is hurting my back.”
Standing up, I adjusted our positions, until I sat behind him, with my hands resting on his stomach. Four bites later, I told Dara it was probably time to check him again. He huffed at being told how to do his job, but it was my hands on Shepard’s belly feeling our baby start his descent.
“Just about ready to push,” Dara admitted a few seconds later after taking a peek.
“Ready?” I whispered in Shepard’s ear.
His fingers wrapped around my arms and his nails dug into my crisscrossing the bite marks he’d left behind.
“I think so, but I don’t think I have a choice,” he managed a small chuckle.
Then his belly pulled tense and his back arched.
“We’re ready for pushing,” Dara said, as Irwin stumbled back into the room his arms full of tote bags of food.
He sat them down quickly, nearly dropping them on the floor, and rushed back to the side of the tub.
I took a deep breath and watched the left-over blood trickling down my arms from where Shepard had bit me. The wounds were nearly healed already. I wiped the blood from each arm with the fingers of the opposite hand and slid them one by one into Shepard’s mouth as if urged on by some quiet whisper inside of me. I made sure my fingers were clear of his mouth before he began to push.
Time stopped or maybe it sped ahead. I wasn’t sure which, but I was pretty damn sure that the birthing pool was a sacred place free from time. I forgot that Irwin and Dara were there with us. It was just me and Shepard and the baby our love brought into the world.
He panted between pushes and contractions. Sometimes biting into my arms again, making Dara cringe each time. I didn’t care. This is what Shepard needed and it was something I could give to him so easily. So, I did.
Later, we’d know it was only half an hour of pushing to usher Baby Norbert into the world, but it felt like a second and eternity all at once.
“He’s so tiny,” Shepard panted, his face and mouth smeared with blood and sweat as Dara clamped the cord.
I leaned around Shepard careful not to jostle him more than absolutely necessary and cut it. A wail filled the air as our first son announced his entrance into our lives and Dara gave him a quick looksy over before laying him on Shepard’s chest. My stomach growled. I would need to eat soon, but for now my stomach could wait.
“He’s so beautiful,” Shepard said.
“He looks so much like you, mate,” I said and kissed the top of his damp head. “Of course, he’s beautiful!”
Later there would be family to call and visits to manage, but in that moment, we had everything we needed and more. Our beautiful baby boy, Norbert, had found his way healthily into the world despite everything the universe had thrown at us. This time we won – we won in the most glorious way of life bringing and that taste of happiness would make us fight for more every day.
“I love you and I want to be dry now,” Shepard said, pulling me from my own thoughts.
“Let’s get you dry and see how long Dara says it’ll be before we can take our baby home,” I said again and kissed the top of his head.
“Our little family is going home,” Shepard sniffled. “All four of us!” He added in Irwin’s direction.
Read on to find out if sparks fly between Irwin and Marcus when they meet or if Irwin’s crush is just another false alarm. A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Hey lovelies!
I wanted to drop a note here, first, to thank you all for reading this book and the previous ones in the series and maybe my other series too. This one has a special place in my heart, because Daniel was the first baby to be born in any of my books. His entrance into the world was pretty traumatic and I’ve always felt I owed him a happy ending at some point. I wasn’t sure what to do with him for a while until I realized his secret. Which like, Papa Bear said, wasn’t that big of a secret at all, once I thought about it.
Just a few housekeeping items before I sign off on this one!
1) Sergei’s parents will have a resolution at some point. This is planned. I don’t know what they’re going to do yet, but yep. They will have some resolution and I’ll update you guys (via stories of course) as soon as they let me know what’s going on. I’ve mentioned this one a few times, but included it here just in case anyone missed it before.
2) Starry ---- yes! He is going to have a book and if everything works out how I’m currently envisioning it, he’ll be the omega MC in the holiday book this year! It’s about time for the winter holidays to come to Heartville and I can’t wait to see what they come up with! Only one more story to write, before our beloved Starry slides into the MC seat!
3) This one was new to me, but a few readers have asked questions that I’d love to answer in slice of life stories. For those of you who don’t follow my FB right now my life is noisy. I’m not making the noise. No one in my house is making the noise. It’s just noisy on my street at the moment. It shouldn’t be this way forever. If/when it ends slice of life stories that never quite fit into the books might be a possibility. I have one in mind where Wrynn and Darian go on an anniversary trip. It only seems fair to start with them, since they started the whole universe of books.
As of right now there is still a lot of noise going on in my neighborhood. I could say a lot about the people causing it, but I’m trying not to dwell on them. BUT if time allows there is a good possibility of Clarence and Medwin having a little holiday war time short. I’m really hoping that the noise/time allows me to do this. I start writing for the holidays in October. So we’ll know soon. Fingers crossed and maybe toes crossed too.
4) I’ve been asked about a family tree/trees and at this moment I don’t have one made up. It’s something I’ve thought about putting together, but it’s a massive undertaking. Had I known that Darian and Wrynn’s book would lead to all of this – I would’ve started it then, but I had no idea! Again, the noise and just life stuff, have prevented me from taking on this task. If I have to choose between writing and extras, I’ll always choose writing the stories.
I think that’s it for housekeeping for the Hemlock Mpreg Universe! Thanks again for coming along on the journey with me and my imaginary friends! If you have the time, dropping a quick review on Amazon, Goodreads, BookBub, or your favorite place to review books would be my favorite gift in the world. It’s reviews and readers who continue to support the books that make expansion of the Hemlock Mpreg Universe possible.
Happy Reading and Loads of Love!
XOXO
~Maggie
Reading Order for Maggie’s Books
This has been much asked for, and despite posting it on the blog and FB I always get folks asking. So, if I remember, it’ll be tucked in here at the end of every book. It’s also always posted in my FB group (Hemlock Wolf Pack.)
The First Omega
Omega Studies
Omega Sight
Omega Magic
Healer’s Oath
Omega’s Homecoming & Ardan’s Oath
Claiming the Shaman
The Sleeping Omega Prince
Omega Rebellion
Skystead Wolves
Mated for the Holidays.
Saving Cinder
Freeing Fenrir
Crow King’s Heir
Alpha in Distress
Sky’s Homecoming
All the Pieces of Us
As Long as You Need Me
Omega Midwife
Pheromone Swap
Making Room for Love
Behind Dragon Wings
Interview with a Captive Dragon
The Other Mr. Claus
Yuletide Bites
Stay with Us
Guardians of Glitter Bomb
To Save a Sidhe
Dead Mates Society
The Love We Choose
The Love Right in Front of Us
Alphas of Lore
The Vampire and the Beast
Catnip & Mistletoe
The Practice Alpha
Alpha Unleashed
Alpha Misunderstood
The Pride of Glitter Bomb
The Age of Lions
A Worthy Bear
Stuck Between Two Bears
Omega in the Stars
Just a Wolf
Canton: A Memoir
Wildlands Omega
A Wilder Alpha
Omega’s Fall
Alpha’s Curse
Alpha of My Heart
A Wildlands Yuletide
Omega’s Second Chance
Alpha’s Sacrifice
Omega’s Return
The Little Hemlock King
The Kissing Wars
Haunted Mates
Keeper of My Secrets
Invisible Alpha
Banished Alpha
Kiss Me Better
Surrounded By Scales
Fanged Secrets (You are here!)
Find more books by Maggie and stay in the loop on all the events in the Hemlock Mpreg Universe.
BookBub
Amazon
Blog
Much Asked For Reading Order
About the Author
Maggie Avery Hemlock (they/them) calls the Appalachian foothills home along with their cats Fenrir and Achilles. In their free time, Maggie and their furbabies, enjoy reading, nature, and chasing the red light of doom. (One day, Fenrir will finally capture it, but only if Achilles doesn’t beat her to it!)
Their career started in freelance journalism and expanded into fiction as the years passed. While reality may be stranger than fiction, storytelling is their first true love. Their tall tales caused her trouble during their early years of childhood, but soon with chubby-pencil to paper, they began story writing.
Decades later, this love matured into a passion, and they’ve written across many genres. Their current love is MPREG, both for the genre’s shifters and gender-bending nature. It’s so much better to read and write about people falling in love, making babies, and raising happy families than it is to read about them killing one another off.
With a strong belief in live and let live and all love is love, Maggie Avery Hemlock is both a member of and an advocate for the LGBT community.
Maggie Hemlock, Fanged Secrets : A M/M Mpreg Romance
