98- Myself onto my bed

Eron smiled at me. “Yeah, I guess so.” He pulled out his wallet and tucked the receipts inside. “I guess we’ll be all set when we start the reopening planning.” He stood, and extended a hand to me. “Isn’t it about time for your nap?”

“Probably.” I let him help me to my feet, not minding as he shadowed me up the stairs. “Oh, I almost forgot. Segel is going to book a hotel here next week, so he can be in town when the baby comes.”

“Fantastic!” Eron cried. “I’ve been worried about that.”

I pulled off my shirt when we got to the room, tossed it aside, and eased myself onto my bed. Eron pulled off his own shirt, and pants, and joined me, curling an arm around me and caressing my belly.

“Napping with me?”

“At least for a little,” he said. The bare skin of his chest was hot against my bare back, and I pressed against him, hungry to touch every possibly inch of him. He nuzzled my neck and I felt the still-new-and-unusual sensation of purring. Eron started purring in response. The sound was comforting and soothing, and combined with the gentle vibrations from both of our humming bodies, quickly began to lull me to sleep.

At least, until I noticed something hard against the back of my thigh and rubbed against it. “Mmm,” Eron moaned softly. “Tease.”

“Who says I’m teasing?” I murmured sleepily. I reached a hand behind me and cupped his erection through his boxers, gently pressing against it.

He arched into my palm with another groan. “Don’t, not if you’re tired.”

“I’m not too tired for this,” I said. Eron adjusted himself, trying to find a good way to reach my dick around my belly. “Don’t worry about it,” I told him. As I spoke, I slid my hand into his boxers and wrapped it around his penis. He thrust into my hand and a jolt of shared pleasure rushed though me. I moaned in response. He chuckled, knowing I was enjoying what he felt.

I pumped, slowly and gently, as he rocked back and forth against me. The pleasure built and he moaned against my neck. The purring, from both of us, intensified and Eron reached up and rubbed his fingers against the mark where he claimed me. The contact made me gasp. Then, he leaned down

and bit the side of my neck with a soft growl.

It was slow, almost lazy, as I jerked him off. He nibbled and bit at my neck, scratching that magic spot on my collarbone, as I did. With some effort, I turned, and we kissed. Our tongues swirled around each other, and I reveled in his taste. That mix of hazelnut and vanilla and… what was it?

His breath quickened and he sped up his hips. I matched his speed with my hand, feeling our shared pleasure mounting. And then, he came. The sensation made me come as well. I sank back against him with a satisfied moan. He kissed me one more time, then settled back with his arm back around me.

“Chai,” I murmured as it finally came to me. “What, love?”

“You taste like chai tea,” I chuckled sleepily. “I’ve been trying to figure it out. When we kiss you remind me of hazelnut, vanilla, and chai. And maybe a dash of ginger.”

Eron laughed. “I hope that’s a good thing.” “Better than coffee.”

He purred and kissed the back of my neck. I snuggled against him, feeling the baby kicking and wiggling as I drifted off to sleep.Something disturbed me enough to wake me up. I automatically reached my arm out and found that Milan was no longer in the bed. I sat up, my eyes quickly adjusting to the dark, and saw him pacing back and forth in the small room.

“Milan?” I called softly. “Are you okay, my tabby-love?”

I could sense a vague discomfort through our bond and had a feeling that he wasn't okay. The last of the sleep fog fled my brain, as I realized we were close to the due date. “Is it the baby?”

“I think so.” Milan stopped pacing and put his hands on his stomach. “Walking isn't making it go away.”

“I'll call the doctor,” I said quickly. I sprang out of bed and grabbed my cell phone, silently thanking Segel – and every other area shifter for not being due soon – to have a free enough schedule to stay in Port Canard this week. I didn’t know what I would have done if we had to wait three hours for him to arrive. I had paid for Segel to be in a rather nice suite, as my thanks.

“Doctor Neen,” he answered somewhat groggily. “Segel, it’s Eron,” I said, “I think it's time.”

“Wonderful!” he said, sounding instantly awake. “I'll be right there. Do your best to make him comfortable and get some towels ready.”

“You got it,” I said. I was glad he had mentioned the towels. Our carefully rehearsed birth plan pretty much flew out the window for me the moment that Milan said it was time.

I went quickly to him and took his hands. “Are you okay?” I asked. “Segel is on his way.”

He took a deep breath. “Yeah, yeah.” He pulled one hand free and pressed it against his lower abdomen. “It's just really getting painful.”

“Have you been timing them?” I asked.

“No,” he admitted with a wince. “I should have been.”

“That's okay. Here, Carrick told me about this app...” I quickly pulled it up on my phone and handed to Milan.

“Oh,” he said looking at it. “This is neat.” “Here, this is where the contractions timer is.” “Great. Thank you.”

“Can I get you anything?”

Milan made a face. “I’m kind of hungry. But, Segel said I shouldn’t eat once it starts “Labor or once you start pushing?” I asked. “You could be in labor for hours.”

“I suppose a little something wouldn't hurt. Maybe just a slice of bread?”

“Absolutely,” I said. I rushed downstairs for a slice of bread, and grabbed a stack of clean towels as I did. Once upstairs, I started spreading them out on the bed and getting some pillows ready, while Milan sat and nibbled the bread.

“That's better,” he said when he finished it. “Thank you. Oh!” He doubled over. “Oh, wow, this is a bad one.”

My own abdomen felt tight and crampy. I couldn't imagine what it was like feeling it firsthand. I was uncomfortable enough. I had to take a deep breath, before pulling out my phone and starting the contraction timer.

“Let me know when it ends,” I said, even though I knew I could probably tell. He nodded and I wrapped my arms around him. I hated to see my mate in pain. And being able to sense it wasn’t very pleasant either. I could indeed tell when it started to subside.

Milan heaved a sigh of relief and leaned back against the pillows. “You can stop the timer,” he said with a groan, even as I was already doing it.

I heard the door open downstairs and the sound of rapid footsteps. Segel was up the stairs in a flash.

“How is he?”

“I'm okay,” Milan said.

Segel nodded. “How frequent are the contractions?”

“I'm afraid we've only timed one… And it was almost exactly two minutes long,” I told him. “Good, good,” Segel said. He opened his large bag and growled. “I’m sorry, I meant to bring a

gown. Do you have anything else you can wear?”

“Yeah, I've got a shirt. Eron, can you get one of the big ones” Milan asked.

I opened the drawer of extra Caffeinated Cat merchandise and pulled out the largest shirt I could find, and gave it to Milan. He changed into it with some difficulty. In spite of his massive belly, the shirt still hung off him like a tent.

“Think this will work?” he asked. “That's perfect,” said Segel.

Milan awkwardly clambered back onto the bed and spread his legs out. My inner cat snarled angrily as Segel began to poke a finger into my mate. I didn't realize I was growling out loud as well, until he chuckled.

“Don't worry Eron. I'm a doctor.”

I flushed and swallowed hard, still feeling the urge to hiss at him. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. You’re not the first over-protective alpha I've dealt with.” He turned his attention back to Milan. “Okay… goodness, you’re seven centimeters already.”

“Is that good?” asked Milan nervously.

Segel smiled. “Well, it means that you're progressing nice and fast. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and get you set up.”