Page 18 of Highland Heat

I wanted our sweet baby to have the most perfect, easy, wonderful transition that was known to man, and for my mate to feel absolutely no pain. I knew neither of those were possible, but an alpha could dream.

Chapter 12

Ewan

I was three days past my due date, and more than anything on this planet, I wanted to eat hay, lots and lots of hay, and maybe some grass from the pasture. No other food sounded good—not the scrambled eggs my mate made me, or the grilled cheese, or the ice cream he scooped up after I asked for it. Everything that sounded good today, no longer did once it was in front of me.

And that was how I found myself sneaking out of the house to break my promise to my Graham. I’d told him I wouldn’t shift past my due date, that I’d learned from Sue Ellen’s mistake. At the time, I’d meant that promise. I meant it with everything fiber of my being.

No one told me what this would be like or I might not have.

The smart thing to do would be to call Cora and tell her what I was going through. She was the healthcare professional, after all. But I wasn’t feeling smart. I was feeling hungry. I waddled to the barn, skipping the pasture that was calling to me because I knew without a shadow of a doubt I’d be caught there. One of my cousins would see me there, or worse, my mate would when he looked out the window. As it was, I was on borrowed time. Graham was finishing up chili he promised my cousins, and once that was set to simmer, he’d be looking for me.

Graham didn’t like that I was past my due date. Not that I loved it, but it was pretty common for my breed. Cora said it was that the due dates were based on human biology and not ours. That did make sense. I didn’t love it though, because I was so ready to meet our little one.

I went into the barn and looked around to make sure my cousins weren’t here before taking off my clothes. It was a lot more difficult at this stage of my pregnancy. I’d taken to wearing slides two sizes too big on my feet because I tended to swell, and since I couldn’t see my feet, tying my shoes became problematic. I was wearing my new uniform, sweats and a t-shirt, which made them easier to get off than any of my other clothes. I laid them over the gate, ready to devour some hay, but there was a problem with that plan—there wasn’t any.

Crap. That meant I needed to get more, and where was that more located? In the freaking hay loft. It was as if the world were telling me to give up and go eat something from the kitchen. Heck, it was shouting that, but I pretended not to hear. I wanted that hay, and I’d come too far to give up.

I slipped on my slides and climbed up the ladder and into the loft. I took it slow, but that didn’t make this the safe choice. Once up, I tossed a bale of hay down. Of course, that was when Micah walked in.

“Explain to me why you’re wearing slippers in the loft, nine months pregnant, with your dick hanging out, please, because every scenario in my head is not good.”

Reality wasn’t going to be any better.

“You can’t tell my mate.” Graham was going to kill me.

“That’s your response? For me to keep this from your mate?” He pulled out his phone. “I need you down here with your feet on the ground. Safely. Or I’m dialing.”

“You’re an ass.”

He wasn’t. He was doing exactly what I would do in this position, but that didn’t mean I liked being caught. Getting down was exponentially more difficult than getting up. My belly kept hitting the rungs of the ladder. I apologized to our little one each time it did and was grateful when I made it down without injury.

“I followed your rules. Put the phone away.”

“Slippers. Explain.”

He was so hung up on that.

“They’re not slippers. They are slides, you know, footwear you can wear anywhere. All the cool kids are wearing them.” I wasn’t sure about the last part, but the rest was true.

“Are you saying you’re a cool kid now?”

“Fuck off!” I was not in the mood. The hay was so close and yet so far away. It wasn’t fair.

“Real talk, I need to know what you were doing out here, or I am going to tell your mate. Not because I want to be a jerk, but I’m worried about you.”

How could I be mad at that? I wanted to be, though.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. But please don’t tell him. He’ll be mad.” I’d end up confessing. I hated keeping anything from my mate, including presents. It was rough at Christmas time.

“I’m fairly confident that’s true.”

“I wanted hay. I wanted hay so bad. Nothing tastes good. Nothing smells good. Nothing sounds good. Except hay.”

“You were going to shift now.” His eyes went wide.

I covered my face with my hand and mumbled, “Yes.”