Shifter’s Baby (Alpha Fantasy Paranormal Billionaire Shifter BBW Romance) (111 page)

“Okay, I’ll pass the message along,” I told her and then hung up the phone. Slipping it into my pocket, I headed back to the fourth floor to find his room and see if he’d woken back up yet.

Rupert was awake when I got there and I walked over to him and hugged him again, being more careful this time not to hurt his shoulder.

“My mum says hi,” I squeezed his hand and kissed his cheek. “She also said you’d better be able to have the wedding or she’ll be mad at you.”

Rupert laughed and then winced. “There’s nothing short of being dead that would keep me from marrying you Lara, so tell your mother not to worry.”

“You scared me,” I told him. “Seeing you in a hospital bed like this, it terrified me. Please don’t do this to me again.”

“I’ll do my best not to get shot again, that shit hurts,” Rupert said and reached out and brought my knuckles to his lips. He pressed a gentle kiss to my knuckles and then rubbed his cheek against them.

A few minutes later the nurse came back in with the doctor to go over everything with Rupert and talk about when he could be discharged. I sighed in relief when they told me they planned on letting him go home in the morning as long as he was stable through the night. I could live with that.

Chapter 5

Rupert had been out of the hospital for a couple of days now, and he was moving around okay. His shoulder was still bothering him a lot, but I tried not to baby him or comment to much. He didn’t like being reminded he was injured. I was being laced up in my wedding gown, today was our wedding. We were getting married out on the lawn behind the palace. It was a big beautiful affair with lots of political parties invited. I really didn’t know any of them and part of me wished we could have just done a small, intimate family event. But when you marry royalty, you often suck it up and do things for the public. In this case, our wedding was also a political event.

The maid finished fastening my dress, and helped me slip my shoes on. I already had the pearl earrings and necklace on and she fastened the veil into my hair. She offered me the lipstick to touch up my lips before going down. The King was walking me down the aisle to his son, since he was my step father, and my mother was already down there waiting for me.

I knew Rupert would be there, waiting. I wondered how his shoulder would hold up, despite his best efforts to pretend it didn’t hurt, it did bother him if he stood or moved around for too long. He needed to give himself a chance to heal, but he’d been pushing himself hard to make sure everything was ready for the wedding.

I think part of him was afraid I’d flee if he gave me the chance. I chuckled as I thought of him chasing me down and tying me up with rope. I knew he’d never let me get away, and I actually found it comforting to know that he wouldn’t just let me run away from him without trying to fix it first.

The maid helped me carry the back of the dress down the stairs and hallways until I got outside. I took the King’s arm and he smiled at me, the gray at his temples and laugh lines at his eyes didn’t detract from his good lucks. I could see what his son would look like in another thirty years and I had no doubt that Rupert would be just as good looking.

“You ready Lara?” He asked me quietly as he patted my arm and started walking me towards the crowd of people.

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose,” I smiled and then looked forward, focusing on the end goal here. This was for Rupert, this was for our baby, this was so we could be a family together and it was official. I could do this. Having everyone stare at me as I walked past them to have my hand placed in Rupert’s made me nervous, I tried hard to pretend it was just him and me there.

The ceremony went quickly, and when we said our “I do’s to each other, I’d never seen Rupert smile bigger. He slipped the ring on my finger and crushed me to him. He kissed me like he was never going to let me go and the applause finally sunk in and I pulled back.

“We have our wedding night for this, let’s not give them anything to gossip about,” I whispered to him and poked his hip with a finger. He winked at me and I blushed a little bit. Rupert was not the shy type, and while he always tried to do the right thing, he still didn’t really care what people thought. I cared enough for both of us I supposed.

We did the after wedding thing, socialized, ate some cake, talked to people, and eventually, I was dragging, this pregnancy was going pretty smoothly, but I got tired so easily right now. We moved our trip for our honeymoon until Rupert’s shoulder was feeling better, I didn’t want to go anywhere while he was still healing. He’d reluctantly agreed it could wait a month.

I went to our room and got out of the fancy dress and put on a comfortable nighty. It wasn’t the sexy lace with corsets or any of the other wedding night stuff. This was a simple silk shift that went to my knees and curved around my breasts with some give room around my stomach. I finally was starting to get a little round in the belly and I couldn’t stand anything pressing on it. This nightie did the trick.

I went to the bathroom and brushed my hair out, brushed my teeth and washed the makeup off my face. One nice thing about Rupert is he liked me the way I looked natural. He made me feel beautiful just the way I was, and I appreciated that.

He was in the room a few minutes later when I came out of the bathroom and was shrugging out of his tux and tossing it on a chair across the room. He was completely naked except the bandages he still had on his shoulder. He seemed to be healing fine, but I still worried about hurting him a little bit.

I got under the covers in the bed and waited for him to finish up and join me. It didn’t take long before he was jumping back into bed with me. His hands wandered over me, stroking me. I put my head against his non-injured shoulder and laid close to him. I know this was supposed to be my wedding night, but I was just exhausted. I finally felt like everything stressful that had happened lately was over and now I could just move forward.

I yawned and he pressed a kiss to my temple.

“Should I let you get a nap before I wake you up for our wedding night?” He murmured softly to me as his fingers rubbed against my arm.

“I don’t want to fall asleep, but I’m pretty exhausted.” I told him as I felt my eyelids growing heavier as I snuggled by his side. The last thing I remember was him petting my hair.

Chapter 6

I was woken up the next morning to gentle kisses being pressed all over my face. I smiled sleepily and peeked an eye at my husband. My husband. I can officially say that and think it and not have a panic attack. I guess when things happen slow enough, you get time to adjust. That and nearly losing the man you love to bullet changes your mind about some things.

I opened my eyes and felt his hands going under my nightgown. I smiled and spread my legs for him. I liked when he touched me, his fingers always found the right places to press and touch and his tongue was out of this world amazing. I don’t think I would ever get tired of him using his tongue to pleasure me.

However, he was still injured and it was my job to take care of him right now. Pushing him off me, I made him lay down and let me take the lead. I pleasured him, I took him in my mouth and did all the work so he didn’t have to hurt his shoulder. By the time we were ready for breakfast, he had no complaints. We stayed in our room over the next couple of days, just making it about the two of us, when the baby got here, we wouldn’t be just us anymore. I wanted to make it count while we had the chance.

A few months later...

I was in labor and trying to push this baby out. The nurses wouldn’t leave me alone and I’d had to kick everyone out of the delivery room except Rupert, and my nurse. Everyone else irritated me right now.

Rupert was smart enough not to ask me how I was feeling, he just wiped my brow and held my hand and walked in circles with me when I needed to change position. I was trying to do this natural and I didn’t want anyone getting in my way. Letting out a loud moan, the nurse asked me to sit in the chair for a moment so she could see what was going on.

“I see hair, okay, sweetie, unless you want to push this baby out standing up, you need to find a play to squat or lay down, the bed please? I’ll get the doctor. He’s just down the hall.” She told me and gave Rupert a look I barely caught.

She immediately left, but Rupert guided me over to the bed and helped me get on it. I had no intention of lying flat on my back, it made the pain worse. So I squatted, on the bed. I held onto a metal bar that was above the bed, that I was assuming was meant for that purpose and sort of hung myself off it. I could feel the baby moving down and my uterus contracting as it tried to push the baby out.

“Rupert, the baby is coming right now,” I whispered to him and let out a loud moan as the head starting stretching skin that felt like it was on fire. I didn’t know where the nurse or the doctor was, but if they didn’t get back in here fast, they’d miss the show.

“I don’t know where they are, would you like me to go find them?” Rupert asked me, he’d been good about not leaving my side this entire time and he’s the one person I didn’t want to go away.

“No, but you need to catch the baby as it comes out, unless they get back in here in the next thirty seconds… because…here…he…. comes.” I said and then felt my body push hard. My legs shook and I felt like I had almost no control over what my body was doing. The muscles were working all on their own and I was just the vessel that had been the host for this little parasite for the last few months. Rupert’s stunned expression as he let go of my arm and put his hands under me to help guide the baby out was worth the pain. He was in complete shock of the situation and I knew the minute I got that baby out, my attention would no longer be on Rupert. I spent the last few seconds of pushing, staring at my husband and appreciating how he’d been there for me, and how he was helping me now.

One last big push and our son was out. Rupert stared down at him for a minute like he couldn’t figure out quite what to do with him and then he offered to hand him to me. The cord was still pulsing and I leaned back on the bed in a semi reclining position and took the baby from him. I held him to my chest and pointed to the blankets that were sitting on a table a few feet from the bed. He piled the blankets on top of us, and a few moments later, the doctor and nurse walked back in.

“You didn’t say she was pushing the baby out right this minute,” the doctor exclaimed when he saw the baby being held in my arms. He rushed over and examined both of us, while the nurse took a second to process everything and then went to start clamping the cord and cleaning up some of the mess.

“He’s breathing, he’s okay,” I told the doctor. Right this minute, all I could focus on was his sweet, wrinkled little face. He was rooting and looking to eat, and he latched with little effort. I had read a ton of books with Rupert on childbirth and breastfeeding and the little guy didn’t need to be taught. He just did it. I guess the baby was smarter than I was.

“He’s beautiful Lara, you did good.” Rupert said and kissed my brow. He put a hand gently on the top of the baby’s head, smiling at us both.

I was so busy focused on my new son and my husband, that I didn’t even notice that I delivered the placenta, or that the doctor had to give me two stitches. They let us bond with him for a while, before the nurse finally came to claim him. She had to take vitals and weigh him and get him cleaned up. He’d finished nursing, and I reluctantly handed him over. A second nurse came in, and helped me clean up and changed all the bedding.

“We’ll be transferring you to a recovery room shortly. We just want to monitor for another hour or so, then we’ll put you in a private room and you guys can go home in the morning,” the nurse told me as she handed me back my now swaddled baby.

“Thank you,” I told her and then asked her to bring our family back in to see the baby when she had time.

“Ready to do this again?” Rupert asked me jokingly.

“Can I at least enjoy this one first before we have another one?” I asked him and gave him a half smile. At least he wasn’t one of those men who found this situation such a turn off they couldn’t ever have sex with their wives again.

“Ha-ha, I just wanted to see how you were feeling. You are breathtaking Lara. You look like you just ran a ten-mile marathon, and you are glowing. You look so happy it almost hurts to look at you.” Rupert told me and kissed my forehead. “I like seeing you look like this.”

“Don’t think keeping me barefoot and pregnant for the rest of our lives is the key to happiness Rupert.” I told him and then laughed. Naked would be up on his list of things that would keep him happy, and I winced slightly as I realized how sore my body was. It was going to be a while before those type of activities could be achieved again.

“As long as I spend my life with you, we can do it however you want,” Rupert told me and then turned as our parents came in the room to meet their grandson. George Rupert. A good, strong name.

The rest of the day sort of passed in a blur for me. I was running on hormones, and endorphins, and the joy of having a healthy, baby boy with the man I loved. I knew that tomorrow would bring a new set of changes. I would have to go home and raise this little man to adulthood.

Now that was an entirely different journey. But with Rupert by my side, we’d find our way. We always did.

The End

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