Page 14 of Highland Heat

He tiptoed into the room. His shoulders relaxed when he saw I was awake and sitting up.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Fine,” I said and he side-eyed me. “Really, I am.”

He watched my face and must’ve liked what he saw because his face relaxed.

“Micah just got here with the test if you want to take it. He also brought us dinner. I think he’s more excited for you to pee on that stick than we are.”

That sounded like my cousin.

I perked up at the thought of food. I was starving. “What time is it?”

“Just after five.”

That explained my hunger.

“I slept the whole day?”

Graham shrugged. “Kind of. But clearly you needed rest.”

“I can’t just not do any work around here, though. That isn’t fair to you.” Poor Graham had so much on today’s to-do list, the one that was designed for the two of us.

“You’re potentially growing a little human. Er… shifter. Wait, can you still shift? How does this work?” My mate was both excited and curious. It was adorable. Not that I’d call my big strong alpha adorable in front of others. That side of him was only for me.

I wasn’t ready to actually get up yet, despite the long nap. I was still very tired, so instead, I patted the bed beside me for my mate to come sit with me. If we were going to have an important conversation, we might as well both be comfortable.

“I can still shift, and in fact it’s recommended that I spend several hours a week grazing as the pregnancy progresses.” That was something I was looking forward to. I did love me some good pasture time. “I’ll give birth as a human though, and the baby won’t shift until they are older… around puberty.”

“Oh, thank goodness. I don’t know how to be a father to a baby, much less a baby that has two forms. Like would they have to take naps in the barn? Would they be huge? Would they want hay?” He kept mumbling question after question, none of which were valid any longer. Once again, he was being the most adorable alpha ever.

If I were to guess, he’d spent the entire afternoon thinking about all of this while I slept.

“Will they for sure be a shifter? They’ll be half human, after all. What if they are sad they aren’t like their daddy and uncles. We’d call your cousins uncles, right?”

A hundred percent he spent the entire afternoon overthinking. Why did I have to be so tired?

“Yes, they will be shifters. It’s a dominant trait. As far as what they call my cousins, we should probably ask them that. Technically, they are a cousin once removed, but uncle does have a nice ring to it.”

“Knock, knock!” My cousin Micah’s voice rang out through the house. He came inside without waiting for us to answer. Knowing him, waiting outside as long as he had had been rough. He carried a paper bag with him. “You look like shit.”

I rolled my eyes. “Gee, thanks. I knew I could count on you to keep my self-esteem in check.”

He stuck out his tongue, and my mate giggled.

“Sorry. You’re probably tired from growing the next generation and all that. Remember when Sue Ellen was preggo? She slept the whole month of August. She missed the best hay season.” Sue Ellen had been our grandfather’s neighbor and about ten years older than us. So not quite a friend and not quite an elder.

“Yeah, and what was your excuse when you slept through Christmas dinner and made us all have to wait for cake?” I snickered. I knew damn well that he had been hungover. Micah had been far more wild in his youth than the rest of us cousins. He was also the most grounded of us now, at least careerwise.

He stuck his tongue out at me again. So annoying. “You should be nice to me. I brought you a present.”

“You should be nice to me. I’m pregnant.”

“Fair enough.” He handed me the bag. It was heavier than I expected, considering I only asked him to bring me a pregnancy test.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“A test. And do you remember when Uncle Nick was pregnant and they were paranoid about everything, so they bought that heartbeat thing?”