My Destiny Mate by ARIE78 (Completed)

Chapter Five Beam

I leaned over the smooth, reflective surface of the small lake and stretched out my bare
arm above the water. I gave my triceps a little jiggle and was horrified to observe the little
bit of flab shake. I'd always been if not skinny, then lean and firm, and now, in the month
since I'd found out I was pregnant, I was gaining weight faster than I could tolerate.I pulled back my arm before Forth, who was filling two gallon plastic bottles with water a bit further up the shore, could see me. He'd think I was superficial or would say the usual "You look fantastic," which didn't help with my confidence much. I knew he was just saying it to make me feel better and because for some reason now he had a completely skewed view of me. I'd catch him gazing at me lovingly and I knew he didn't see any flab or swollen fingers and ankles or the intricate map of veins criss-crossing my skin. All he saw was my compact, protruding belly and he seemed to be picturing his child already, grinning happily at the image all day long. I sat back over the lush grass at the edge of the lake and watched as my Alpha tied the cord of a makeshift fishing pole to a small hook he'd fashioned out of a rusty nail. He was determined to catch me some fish to eat, because he'd heard it had all the good nutrients for growing a healthy baby. I'd had no idea.

Somehow he seemed to be taking my pregnancy a lot more easily than I could manage
myself. It wasn't just the fact that he didn't have to go through the various aches and
pains, the sleepless nights and the constant trips to the toilet, but he was also more
psychologically prepared to be a father. I, for one, had never even expected that I could get
pregnant, so I was still dealing with the shock and the daily surprises of my changing
body. After a lifetime of living among the Black Phantome, where no one ever conceived, the possibility of pregnancy had become just theoretical for me. Forth, on the other hand, seemed to be following some sort of perfect daddy manual. To begin with, he always asked the right question or said the right things.

"Is the pain dull?

Do you feel a tightness? Or is it short and shooting?" when I clutched my lower belly with a gasp.

"Stay away from those! They aren't safe for you," when I got the sudden craving
for a wild mushroom. "Did you drink enough water today? How's your tail bone? You
should try to sleep on your side, it would ease the discomfort." It almost seemed like
gone through all this himself before, but when I asked him how he knew so much, he said
that in the tight community in Pulau Singa Besar when someone was pregnant, it always felt
like they all were.

Forth attached a worm and a fly to the end of the hook and swung the fishing rod above
his head, shooting the hook and the small weight far out into the lake. He was clearly
enjoying himself. He'd been at it for almost an hour and he wasn't getting impatient with
the lack of yield or the constantly breaking cord. I eased back slowly and lay down,
propped on my elbows, enjoying the sun and the gorgeous mountain view. This was perfect. Although every move I made was accompanied by endless panting and sighs, I was finally at peace. We'd finally settled down after weeks of being on the move, only stopping in shady motels or camping out when we hadn't reached a town by nightfall. Finding the abandoned shed in the woods, a couple of miles away from Pulau Mutiara, a small town of about four thousand people, was perfect timing. I'd grown too big and heavy to easily take on the exhausting daily trips and we'd decided to settle down here at least until the baby came. Shifter babies were not like human ones—they grew much faster and pregnancy was much shorter. It was both a blessing and a curse. I was going through the typical symptoms at an accelerated pace and though it seemed like all the discomforts had been dumped on me at once, at least they took shorter to endure. It was definitely better than the human nine months, but the only thing I envied them for was the long time they had to get used to the idea of having a baby and having their whole lives flipped around.