Shared By The Alpha Bears - Complete (20 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

As much as I loved living out in the boonies, miles from civilization, it comes with certain problems.  Like for example, getting to the hospital in an emergency takes fucking forever. Seriously, I thought we would never get there.  I was in the back seat of Max’s Hummer, clutching my belly and crying in pain as Sally tried to squeeze my hand and comfort me, for all the good that did, for what felt like hours.  There was more than one period where I seriously thought I was going to die before we got there, it hurt so bad.

Eventually everything started to get hazy, which I can only figure was my brain trying to shut out the pain.  I honestly don’t remember getting to the hospital, but I remember being carried through it.  From there my memory becomes fragmented.  I remember seeing Carol’s face, trying to tell me calm down, seeing her squeezing my hand the same way Sally had in the car.  I remember seeing ultrasound devices, and feeling more than a few needles used on me.  Then things start to become blurred, and then they go blank.

After that, I remember dreaming.

I dreamed I was queen of the forest.  I had an official coronation and everything, surrounded by my furry bear subjects.  I sat up on a hollowed out tree stump for a throne, wearing a glittering crown, and nothing else, with dozens of huge four-legged beasts bowing down to me.

I dreamed I had my two most powerful bear subjects happily bowing at my feet, until someone said that I could only have one king.  I tried to protest, saying I could make my own rules, but I was told I was naïve.  The forest did not work that way.  If I couldn’t choose, then one would be chosen for me.

I dreamed I had a wedding ceremony.  I stood before my woodland crowd, and the bear who would be my groom stepped forward.  But I didn’t recognize who he was.  At least, not until he changed into a man.  Then I recognized Jake’s face, and I was all too eager to accept him as my king.

I dreamed I then remembered my other big strong bear.  Where was he?  I looked everywhere, but couldn’t find him.  I called out his name.  “MAX!” I called.  I heard my cry echo throughout the forest.

I dreamed I saw Max walking away, deep into the forest.  I ran after him, calling his name, but he seemed to only get farther away.  I ran and ran and ran, until I couldn’t find him anymore.  And then I fell to my knees and started to cry.

I dreamed Max suddenly appeared in front of me.  He told me the choice had been made, and he couldn’t be my king anymore.  I asked him what he meant.  He didn’t answer directly, except to tell me I had my new little prince to worry about instead of him.  I looked down to see the fuzzy and adorable little bear cub that was squirming in my arms.  My son.  But not his.

I dreamed I looked up, and Max was gone.  I called out his name again.  But this time he didn’t appear.  He was just gone.  But then I looked behind me, and Jake was there.  Jake was always there.  I knew he always would be.  He was my bear king.

I dreamed…

…

…

I dreamed…

…

…

My next conscious awareness was of blinding light, and a dull, rhythmic beeping noise.  I blinked several times, breathing in the smell of sterile, overly conditioned air.  My vision slowly cleared, and I identified the fluorescent lights in the ceiling above me.  I identified the beeping heart monitor beside me, and I identified the tube that was inserted into my arm.  I identified the handles on the side of the hospital bed I was lying in, and I identified the hospital gown I was wearing. And then I identified the distinct lack of a baby bump under that gown.

I suddenly tried to sit up, only to have the world move with me way too fast, and collapsed back onto the pillow.  I was still too drugged up to move very well, but I was no less panicked or horrified:  my hands frantically felt all over my belly, trying desperately to find evidence that what I was seeing wasn’t real.  But there was nothing there to find.  No bump.  No baby.

Then everything went dark again.

The next thing I was aware of was the shape of Carol leaning over me, checking my monitors.  As soon as I was conscious enough to move, my hand came up and grabbed her arm.  “Carol?” I managed to rasp out.

She looked down and saw me looking at her, and quickly put her trademark calming hand on my shoulder.  “Easy, Billie,” she said.  “You’ve got to take it slow.  You’re not in the shape for exertion right now.”

But for once, there was no way her calming hand was going to calm me.  “What happened?” I choked out.  “Where’s my baby?  Where?  Please tell me!  WHAT HAPPENED?”

“Billie, you’ve got to calm down!”

“Tell me it’s not true!” I cried.  “TELL ME I DIDN’T LOSE THE BABY!”

“You didn’t lose the baby!” she shouted over me.

I finally stopped screaming.

“There were complications with your pregnancy.  Pretty serious ones.  And just as I feared, your body wasn’t fit to carry the baby to term.  Your baby’s bear traits were starting to develop inside you, and your body wasn’t up to supporting that.  So… I had to perform an emergency surgery to save you both.”

My face was positively drenched in tears.  “Where’s my baby?”

“He’s in an incubator,” Carol said.  “He was born way premature, and he’s got a lot of growing to do before you can take him home.”

“He?” I whimpered.

Carol nodded.  “It’s a boy.”

I sagged my head back in the pillow, squeezed my eyes shut and sobbed heavily with joy.

The door burst open suddenly, and in came Jake.  As soon as his eyes fell on me, his face brightened and he rushed to my side.  “Billie!” he gasped, grabbing my hand.  “My god, you’re finally awake!  We’ve been so worried about you for weeks!”

I blinked. 
“Weeks?”

Carol grimaced.  “I meant to tell you,” she said.  “You were hemorrhaging pretty bad, so we had to put you into a medically-induced coma.  You’ve been out of it for over three weeks.”

I nearly choked again. 
“Three weeks?”

“Yeah, it was bad,” Jake said.  “But it’s over now.  You’re back with us.”

I breathed hard, trying to collect my thoughts.  “I want to see my son.”

“Sorry, but that’s going to have to wait,” Carol said.  “You’ve just come out of a coma; you’re going to need some time to recover.  It’s still a bit early for you to start walking again.  And your baby can’t be moved from the incubator yet.  You’ve got to understand, his condition is extremely delicate.  If we’re not careful, we could still lose him.”

That was enough to scare me into shutting up.

“You’re going to have to stay here for a while,” Carol said.  “Waking up from a coma isn’t what those crappy Lifetime shows make it look like.  It’ll take you some time to be able to get around without someone to help you.  In the meantime, drink this,” she said, handing me a little paper cup of water.  I took it, and poured the cool liquid down my throat that I hadn’t even realized was parched.

“Get some rest,” Carol said.  “I’ll be back to check on you later.” 

Then she walked away, leaving me with Jake.  He tenderly stroked my hair, as I gazed lovingly at him.

“Where’s Max?” I asked.  “And Sally?”

“They had to head back home to our old cabin,” he told me.  “There were some things he had to take care of, as an alpha.  Actually there’s some things he and I have been neglecting for a while, living out here.  I’m gonna call them to let them know you’re awake.”

I didn’t give that too much thought at the time.  I just nodded.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Days ticked by, as I slowly started getting my strength back.  My legs, which at first felt like dead weights, slowly worked their way out of entropy, and by the fourth day I was able to wiggle my toes again.  Two days after that I was able to stand up—for a few seconds.

They got me a wheelchair, with which Jake finally brought me to the window looking into the room with the incubator where my prematurely born son was still developing.  And as soon as I laid eyes on him, I wanted to start crying again.  There lay this tiny, squirmy little lump of flesh with a scrunched-up face, all covered in tubes going every which way.

Carol stepped up behind me.  “How is he doing?” I asked her.

“Stable so far,” she said.  “I promise, I’m doing everything I can to make sure he stays that way.  I’ve already seen him show a few bear traits now and then, so his shifting abilities are present but not yet developed.”

I nodded, fighting my tears.  It was all I could ask of her, I knew.

As days turned into weeks, I slowly worked my way out of that wheelchair, but I hardly left the hospital at all.  I was practically glued to that window, watching that fragile little bit of life desperately clinging on.  Jake barely left my side the whole time.

Before I knew it, another month had gone by. And I still hadn’t seen Max. Funny, you’d think I would have been more upset about that.  But I was just too afraid for my baby to be upset.

Kim showed up, though.  She showed up to offer me some much-needed support, which I gladly accepted.  Even Joseph showed up eventually, along with the rest of his family.  He apologized for the way he acted toward me the day I showed up at his house, and was a little more open about introducing me to his wife and his son whom I hadn’t had the chance to meet before.

And then, even Warren showed up.  The old guy crossed whole state borders, and for the first time in years stood in the same room with his son.  As I stood there watching, the two of them exchanged a few awkward but heartfelt words, before they hugged it out.

Oh yeah, and Warren got to meet his grandkids.  Just like I’d wanted him to. Another family had been brought together by the uncertain future of mine. But still, no Max or Sally.

One month turned into two, and my son continued to grow in that incubator.  I started daring to believe I would actually be able to take him home one day soon.  In the meantime, I was spending more nights sleeping in the waiting room of that hospital than I did at home.

And it was one day that I woke up, having fallen asleep in a chair next to the window of the incubator room, and I looked up to see a face sitting next to me that I hadn’t seen in what felt like forever.

“Max!” I gasped, springing up and throwing my arms around his neck.  I started raining kisses all over his face, practically smothering him.

“It’s good to see you too, Billie,” he said.

“Hey Billie,” another familiar voice said.

I turned to see Sally coming in the door, munching on some snack foods.  I rushed to hug her too.  “Where have you guys been?  I’ve missed you both like crazy?”

“Yeah, we missed you too,” Sally said.  She sounded sadder than she should have.

“Billie,” Max said, sounding a bit wary as he rose from his seat, “we came here because we need to talk to you.”

I looked at him nervously.  This couldn’t be good.

Max took a breath, and said, “Sally and I are moving back home.  Back to our cabin.”

“So soon?” I said.

“We almost forgot it in all the time we were away, but Jake and I are still alphas.  And that means we have certain responsibilities in our territory.  And we’ve been neglecting them for a long time, all for your sake.”

I looked to the incubator.  “My baby’s not ready to come out yet,” I pointed out.  “I still have to stay here a while…”

“Billie,” Max cut me off, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come back with us.”

My mouth hung open.  “What are you saying?”

Max sighed.  “You belong with Jake.  It’s taken me a while, but I’ve finally accepted that.”

“What do you mean?  Just because of the baby?  It could easily have been yours…”

“It’s not just that,” he said.  “It’s been in front of us for a long time.  You know I care about you, Billie.  But I’ve come to realize, not in the way that Jake does.  Remember when the wolves threatened us, and we argued about how to deal with them?”

I nodded.  “Jake wanted to fight them…”

“And I wanted to send you away, for your safety.  Because I’d rather have you away from me and safe than beside me and dead.  And that’s still what I’m doing now.”

“Max…!”

“The wolves spared you because you were pregnant with a shifter child.  You’re not anymore.  If you go back now, you’ll just be in danger again.  I can’t put you in that position.”

“But why do you have to go?” I protested.

“Because at least one alpha needs to be there to govern the territory.  And we’ve been way too lax in that regard in all the time we’ve been here with you.”

“But why does it have to be…?”  I stopped short of finishing that sentence when I realized I had no alternatives to offer.

“It only makes sense for it to be me,” he said.  “I was the one who was willing to give you up to protect you.  I was the one who walked away to find help for you.  And yeah, it was all done with your safety in mind, but when has Jake ever left your side?  He’ll stay with you through Armageddon if he has to.  And as much as I want to, I can’t say the same.”

My face was streaked with tears by now.  I turned slowly to Sally.  “And you’re leaving me too?”

Sally bit her lip.  “Well… there’s something else that happened while we were away.”

“What do you mean?”

She paused.  “Well, uh… see… while you were comatose… I kind of… went into heat.”

“Into heat?” I echoed.  I paused a moment to process that, and said, “So then…”

Sally shrugged.  “My turn now, I guess.  I’m pregnant.” I wanted to jump and squeal for her.  Under any other circumstances I would have.

“Where he goes, I go,” Sally said.

“This isn’t goodbye, Billie,” Max said.  “Not by a long shot.  We still love you.  Both of us.”

I knew.  I really did know that.  I just needed a minute to sob it out on Max’s shoulder. By the time I had gotten my tears out, Jake had returned.  One look at his face, and I knew he already knew what had just gone down.  I glided into his arms, burying myself against his chest as I watched Max and Sally walk out the door.

“We’ll see you soon,” Max said before the door shut behind him.

I couldn’t help feeling like the moment Max walked out that door, that was when reality finally stepped in in his place.  A part of me always knew I couldn’t have my cake and eat it too forever.  Right then, I knew I’d woken up from what could only be a dream.

With his arm still around me, Jake and I stepped up to the window to continue watching my baby… no,
our
baby.  He was ours, Jake’s and mine.  I still had the baby, and I still had Jake.  The fantasy may have been over, but life would still be pretty good.

EPILOGUE

I was a little worried when Jake and I pulled the SUV up the dirt road to our house.  It was already almost 11, and we’d told Kim we’d be back by 9.  “You think she’ll be mad at us?” I asked.

“Who, Kim?” Jake said.  “Not a chance.”

We parked the car and walked in the door, to find Kim relaxing in front of the TV with a bowl of raspberry sorbet in her hand.  “Hey, I hope you weren’t saving this,” she said, holding the bowl up.  “You were late, and I got hungry.”

Jake shrugged.  “Sure.  Consider it an advance.”

“Did he get to sleep alright?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Kim nodded.  “Getting to sleep was the easy part.  It was when he felt like going all furry and running around the yard that things got difficult.”

I chuckled, and crept into my son’s room.  The little two-year-old didn’t stir slightly at the hallway light that came in the open door, or when I leaned over him to run my hand through his hair.  My Steven.  My little bear cub.

“Oh hey, Max called,” Kim said when I came back.  “He and Sally are gonna be coming by the area next week.  Th
ey’re hoping to bring little Tina by to see him.”

“In other words, give Steven another chance to bond with his future wife?” I grinned.  Jake gave me a playful smack on the arm.

“Sounds like fun,” Jake said.  “I’ve missed that little girl of theirs.”

“So,” Kim said, stepping forward, and arching her back provocatively to thrust her naked chest out, “do I get my proper payment for this job now?”

Jake and I were already setting about starting to get our clothes off too.  “Oh, absolutely,” I said, taking her into my arms before taking her tongue into my mouth.

“Just try to keep it down this time,” Jake told her as he put a hand on her tit.  “We don’t want to wake him again.”

THE END

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