Read The Lion's Pride (BBW Paranormal Lion Shifter Romance) (The True Date Agency) for Free Online Page A

wanted. And a mother.
    Just do it! Turn it over.
    Rotating the test in a shaking hand, I forced my eyes open. Two pink lines stared back at me. Stumbling back in shock, I sank down onto the bed. It was actually true! I was going to have a baby ! Joy soared through me, filling me full of the kind of hope I had not felt in… I blinked, the reality of just how unhappy I had been hitting me. It had been a very long time since I had actually looked forward to the future. Had not just pretended while really trying to convince myself that somehow everything was going to be okay, was going to be worth the effort of getting through the day. Yeah, a very long time.
    With the confirmation in my hand, there was no reason to doubt Sarah’s prediction, and the image of a little baby boy formed in my mind. What would he look like? Would he have my caramel skin, my eyes? Then it hit me—he would be a shifter. A lion shifter. Just like his dad. The brown eyes in my vision faded to be replaced with a piercing green, the imagined dark hair lightening and tufting with gold.
    I flopped back on the bed, questions firing in my mind. What did I know about raising a shifter baby? What if he shifted in public? Would I know how to help him? I stared at the ceiling as though it were going to give me the answers. I wanted to be a good mom, but how could I if I didn’t know where to start?
    I gave myself a mental shove. Lolling around like this feeling sorry for myself isn’t going to help! I could let doubt take over or I could hold on to the fact that every woman out there who had a baby for the first time went through this, through the uncertainty of not knowing how they were going to cope. They trusted that they were going to know what to do or, at least, figure it out when they had to. I sat up, determination steeling my spine. I would learn the old-fashioned way—with hands-on experience.
    Wow! I was knocked up and sitting on my own, but I was grinning so much my cheeks were starting to ache. I was really going to do this! This was really happening! Okay, it wasn’t exactly how I had envisioned it—I was missing the perfect husband, a house in the suburbs, and the compulsory family dog, but hey, life wasn’t perfect.
    I stroked a hand over my stomach. One day soon, I would feel little feet kicking! For the first time in my life, I wished I were a shifter—if I had their senses, I would be able to scent the baby, I would know him already…
    For over an hour, my mind danced, imagining the new possibilities, the ideas, considering and rejecting possible baby names. Planning out our future together. Avoiding. Because no matter how hard I tried to block out the one question I didn’t want to face, I kept coming back to it. Should I tell Zane? No, I told myself firmly, my conscience pricking at me. It wasn’t really a question of should , it was a question of when . I couldn’t not tell him; it wouldn’t be fair.
    I’d already known the answer, I just hadn’t wanted to face it, hadn’t wanted to think about it right now. Not when I was so happy. But facts were facts. I had to go back to the club knowing that there would never be a future between us, knowing that I wasn’t the one who could make him happy. I wasn’t his mate, and he wasn’t my perfect husband. If I was being brutally honest with myself, what I had done was so out of character for me I still had trouble believing it had actually happened! I wasn’t the kind of woman that had a one-night stand. I just didn’t. I had to connect on an emotional level before getting naked.
    I stifled a snort. Not that there had been much getting naked—we hadn’t been able to wait that long. The mirth faded as I forced myself to really think about that night. The pull between us had been so intense, so real , it had been like we had connected on some unconscious level. Like our souls had called to one another. Since that night, an ache had grown inside of me, a constant reminder.
    I