Mason

"So that's everything. Nash and Gage you'll get in touch with some of our government contacts to let them know we're open for business. I'll start talking to some of the shifter dens around the country, and Mason, you're in charge of letting the locals know we're here and what services we're offering."

I jolted when Kaden said my name. Shit, I'd tuned out of more than half of the very first official company meeting. I ran my hands over my face. I'd tried to pay attention to what was going on around me. But my mind kept going back to the tiny, voluptuous, curly-haired blonde I'd left back at my house.

"Mason, you with us man?" Nash's voice broke through my thoughts once more.

Fuck it. The three men in this room knew me better than I knew myself. And Alyssa was Kaden's mate so I'm sure he'd share anything on his mind with her. That's just the way it was with true mates.

"I'm going to be a father," I announced. My gaze took a tour around the faces of the four other people seated at the table. The circumstances were serious, but I couldn't help the smile that wanted to break free seeing the shock so clearly on all their faces. So much for being a bunch of badasses. The only one who didn't deserve to be teased was Alyssa. She never claimed to be a badass. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit seeing her face with her wide eyes and her mouth in an almost perfect "O" of astonishment made my lips twitch.

"What the fuck, man?" Kaden asked.

I leaned back in the comfortable office chair, one of a dozen that Alyssa had ordered for seating around the conference room table, and shrugged. "Sorry. I know you guys need my head in the game, but it's a little hard. Right before I got here, a woman I had a night with when I was on R&R in New Orleans found me and shared that she's expecting our baby."

"Seriously?" Nash shook his head. "You ever hear of birth control?"

I shrugged and grinned. "We used condoms. But I guess my guys are stronger than the average swimmers because at least one of them broke his way through."

Alyssa whacked me on the shoulder. "That's gross, Mason."

"Just speaking the truth," I teased.

"She's from New Orleans? How did she find you?" Nash narrowed his eyes on me.

I figured this was coming. I'd been through hell and back with the guys in this room. There's no way they'd let me drop a bombshell like that without a full explanation. So I shared everything--where my head was when I arrived in New Orleans after some shit for brains bureaucrat gave us bad intel that made the mission I'd just barely made it out of go FUBAR and meeting Juliet at a club one night and allowing her to breath a little life back into me with her flirting and her sunny smile. I brushed over the details of the night we'd spent together for Alyssa's sake, but I'm sure my buddies got the picture.

"The next day I had to head back to the unit and that was it. Until Juliet showed up this morning and told me she was pregnant," I said.

"Are you sure it's yours?" Nash demanded.

My eyes narrowed and my bear reared up and roared. It took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to launch myself across the table and beat the shit out of my friend.

Nash held up his hands. "No offense meant, man. I'm just looking out for you."

I nodded, but my jaw stayed clenched and I gripped the arms of my chair tightly.

Alyssa leaned in and put a gentle hand on my arm, despite a warning growl from Kaden. "It's obvious you care about this girl, Mason. We just want to make sure she's not taking advantage of you. You know how some women are about shifters."

The anger leached from my body as I met Alyssa's eyes. She had first-hand experience of how some human women were about shifters. Alyssa's mother had been a shifter-chaser. A human woman who wanted to get changed by a shifter.

I offered her a smile. "I appreciate you guys looking out for me. But I’m pretty sure the baby is mine. Unless she's the best damn liar in the world, Juliet didn't even realize I was a shifter. At least, not until she found out she was pregnant." I quickly explained the timing and the delayed implantation and the fact Juliet herself showed signs she was shifting.

"You mean I could be pregnant for five months and not even realize it?" Alyssa's eyes were wide and a little panicked.

Kaden stood and pulled her from her chair into his arms. "It doesn't happen very often, sweetheart. And when it does, it's usually in circumstances like Mason's where the pair isn't mated."

Kaden's words hit me like an arrow to the heart. I tuned out of the rest of their conversation as I realized the truth of his words. Juliet wasn't bonded to me the way Alyssa was to Kaden. We were having a baby together, but we didn't have the connection these two had.

At the thought, my bear roared again, and I felt him pacing impatiently inside me, fighting to get out. I held him back, working hard to keep a tight rein on my emotions.

Turning my attention back to the people in the room, I realized Alyssa was excusing herself to go make copies of a few of the pages Kaden handed out during the meeting.

"She okay?" I asked him after she closed the door behind her.

"She'll be okay. I'm just trying to ease her into all the details of being a shifter. The way she grew up..." Kaden shook his head. "Let's just say her mother did a number on her and she felt like all the shifters in the Kodiak Den thought she was the same kind of trash. I've been trying not to spring all the details on her at once."

"Sorry, man. I would have held back some of the info if I realized that," I said.

He shook his head. "No problem. It's one more step."

"Has she seen your bear yet?" Nash asked.

I swung my head to him and then right back to Kaden. It hadn't even occurred to me Kaden would have hidden his shifting from his mate.

"Not yet. One more thing I'm easing her into."

A month ago, hell, a day ago, I probably would have argued with Kaden about waiting. Didn't seem like a good decision. But with my own beautiful human woman currently tucked away at my house, I had a new perspective. "Trying to tie her to you as tight as possible before you show her everything."

Kaden just nodded his agreement at my words.

I stood and clapped a hand down on his shoulder. "You've got nothing to worry about. That woman is yours. No doubt about it. And seeing your bear or finding out about how you can change her or pregnancy will bring on the shift won't make a difference to her."

"Thanks, man," Kaden said. "I know you're right. I just worry about her. She's been hurt enough. I want to protect her from anything else that might do more damage."

I nodded, suddenly fully understanding his need to protect his mate.

"I hate to break up this love fest," Nash broke in drily, "but Mason have you considered what it means that your woman is shifting during her pregnancy?"

My mind stuck on the words "your woman" so long, I didn't have time to register his meaning until Gage spoke up.

"She's your mate."

I turned to him. "What?"

Gage shrugged. "You know how it goes. Human women only shift during pregnancy if they're pregnant with their true mate's baby."

My heart might have come to a complete stop in my chest. I know my breath did. I struggled to pull air into my lungs as his words sank fully into my mind and heart and soul. Then everything that had stopped came to life again at double the speed. My heart thudded at twice its normal rate and my breathing came quick and shallow as the realization solidified itself inside me.

Juliet Bellamy, the woman carrying my baby, was my mate.