My Eternal Mate

LYRA

"Happy Birthday," I told Ava as soon as I entered her house, embracing her in the process, with her giving me a half an embrace. "Is everything okay, Ave? You seem a little distant."

She was wearing a pink dress that flowed down, reaching above her knees, and had matched it with a pair of flat shoes. Her auburn hair was left down, with the tiniest amount of make up on her face. She always looked beautiful, but in that moment, there was a different glow about her.

"Everything is fine, don't worry. Come," she told me, before guiding Alexander and I towards the rest of the guests— which were just our usual group of friends and family.

After greeting everyone, Alexander tugged at my hand and held me close to his side. We were slow dancing in the corner, whilst everyone else seemed to be lost in conversation, with slow music playing in the background.

"How are you feeling, baby?" Alexander asked, one of his hands was holding mine, with his other wrapped around my waist.

"I'm okay," I assured, smiling. "The pup is becoming a lot like their daddy."

Alexander arched a brow. "Oh, really? How so?"

I gave him a pointed look. "Well it won't stop kicking me for one. I think that already tells me the lack of patience it has."

My mate chuckled, before his eyes dropped to the bump between us. "They may have my impatience, but they will have your looks," he said, cornily, a smile tugging at his lips, before he eyed me again. "I struggle to believe that we will be a family of three soon."

Biting my lip, I responded with, "Hopefully he or she will come soon. I'm not sure how much longer I can take this."

My mate leaned his head down to brush his lips on my forehead, pecking lightly. "I can only imagine, baby. You are doing great. I am proud of you."

I leaned my head in to his chest and let him sway us swiftly as we moved to the beat of the music in the background.

Our little dance session ended far too quickly when the clicking of a glass halted our movement. Turning around, I was met with Ava and Matteo standing together, with the male clicking a silver fork against his champagne glass.

"Guys, if I can have your attention for a moment," he urged, glancing around the room. "Thank you."

Ava smiled at all of us, before she exhaled quickly. "We will be quick, I promise," she said, almost nervously.

This girl was never nervous. It made me frown. I glanced up at Alexander, slightly concerned, but my mate simply pulled me closer to him and placed a lingering kiss on my temple.

"As most of you already know, the wedding date has been decided," Ava continued, smiling when my eyes met hers. "We will officially get married in two weeks."

A couple of cheers erupted in the room, before Matteo spoke again, silencing everyone. "But we do have another surprise."

"Ta-da!" Ava beamed, pushing her hands down on to her stomach, to flatten the flow and reveal the small bump.

At first, I completely frowned, thinking I was probably imagining this happening. That was until Alexander tightened his hold on me, and I was snapped back to reality.

I watched everyone embrace and congratulate the couple, whilst I was trying to calm the frantic beat of my heart. My best friend, Ava, was expecting a pup, frickin' same time as me. We were soon to be mothers, at the same time.

"Lyra," Alexander murmured, turning me to face him. "Baby, are you crying?"

I glanced at him, my brows pulled together. I dabbed my fingers on my cheek, feeling the wetness beneath my touch. "Oh," I said, surprised, not realising I had teared up.

"Come here," he said, chuckling softly as he pulled me close to him and hugged me.

We didn't get to embrace for long when Ava's voice made us pull apart.

"Normally, it's the people with the good news that get congratulated," she said, sarcastically, until she noticed that I was crying, and gasped. "Oh, God. Please, tell me you aren't giving birth right this instant."

I gave her a confused look, before I shook my head and stepped forward to wrap my arms around her. "No, you silly. I'm emotional because I can't believe you're pregnant. Why didn't you tell me?"

She pulled back to glance at me. "I was scared," she muttered, sighing. "I wasn't sure if I wanted the pup— you know, I don't feel ready to be a mother."

I frowned, hardly believing she had been feeling this way and I had no idea. She had been slightly distant in the past two weeks, but I had been so caught up with the pregnancy and Alexander, that I hadn't attended to Ava much. Now, I felt guilty.

Before I could respond, Matteo appeared behind his mate and wrapped his arms around her. "You will make an exceptional mother," he assured her, before he placed a soft kiss on her head. "Baby, we have talked about this. Hm?"

She nodded, leaning her head against his chin. Alexander pulled me back to him, holding me close.

"You alright?" he asked, his voice low against my ear.

I nodded, and inhaled his scent, feeling myself relax immediately. "Yeah, just a little surprised."

The rest of the day was eventful, Ava and I talked about pups and what we wanted to do together when our pups were born. She was also four weeks, but her bump was a lot smaller than mine, which explained the Alpha blood more.

"Should I be scared?" Jaxon questioned, when the three of us were alone in Ava's kitchen, with the rest of our friends still in the living room.

"Scared?" both Ava and I shrieked, simultaneously.

Jaxon shrugged. "Both of my best friends are pregnant," he elaborated. "With the amount of hormones flying in this room right now, I don't know how safe I feel."

I gave him a bored look. "Please. We aren't humans."

Ava grimaced. "Apparently, human pregnancies last for approximately nine months. Can you believe that?"

I had read some stuff on that when I had first researched on pregnancies, and honestly, found it quite shocking also. I was only a month in to this pregnancy and already had enough. To bare a pup for nine months was beyond me. Perhaps, humans were stronger than we gave them credit for. At least, the women.

"I could never do this for nine months," Ava continued. "It's been a month and I'm already anticipating the day this little demon comes out of me."

I giggled at her words, and wrapped an arm around her. "I'm glad we can do this together. Alexander is really supportive, but to have someone who is dealing with the same thing, is nice."

She gave me a sad smile. "I'm sorry for not telling you right away. I was freaking out for a good week or two when I found out."

Jaxon snorted. "I would too. I can't fathom having you as a mother," he replied, faking a shudder. "Scary."

"On second thoughts, with those hormones you mentioned earlier," Ava taunted, her eyes darkening as she glared at Jaxon. "I can show you scary if you want."

It was as if Jaxon had summoned his mate because Evan appeared in that exact moment, and wrapped his arms around Jaxon.

"I will take it from here," he told Ava, before he tugged at Jaxon's hand. "Congratulations once again. We can't wait to be the best uncles to those pups."

Evan started guiding Jaxon away, and our eyes met briefly, a knowing smile on both of our faces before he disappeared. I was so glad that Jaxon had Evan, and the fact that Jaxon was going to propose to him soon, made everything so much better.

They had talked about adopting a pup from the orphanage, and had been spending a lot of time there recently to get to know the pups. I was sure one of these days, they would come through with their own pup.

I smiled to myself as the thought of the three of us settling and having our own families. We had all come from backgrounds where family had either been torn away from us or just had toxic families. We were going to make sure that our pups never had to experience what we had.

"Thank you," I heard Ava say, bringing me out of my trance. "For being so strong, and never giving up on us."

"Ave," I whispered, already feeling tears accumulate in my eyes.

"No, really, Lyra. Perhaps, Jax is right," she said, chuckling as her eyes watered. "Pregnancy hormones are something else, but it made me realise how far we have come, and how lucky we are to have you. We wouldn't be where we are, so happy and free, if it hadn't been for you."

Ava continued to tell me everything that I had done for her and Matteo, and Jaxon. And how if it wasn't for me, Jaxon probably wouldn't have met Evan. But she didn't realise how much they, also, had done for me. They were my family, my everything, since day one.

The rest of the night consisted of a lot of crying followed by partying and playing games, before Alexander decided to call it a night, saying something about how he wanted alone time with the pup and I.

We had just made it home, when he pushed me up against our bedroom wall, his lips pressed up against mine. "I want you," he told me, huskily.

I giggled in to the kiss, panting as his hands raked down my sides. "You have me," I told him, cheekily.

He had tried to keep his hands off of me as much as he could during this pregnancy, because he was scared that we would hurt the pup, but in this moment, we both needed each other.

Alexander didn't waste time when he placed me on our bed, tore my panties and positioned himself on top of me. My legs spread for him, with him laid between them, his hard on pressed against my core as he peppered kisses down my neck.

He unzipped his trousers, springing his member to life, before he licked down at my mark and pushed himself inside of me, making me grip on to his shoulders tightly. It had been a good two weeks since I felt him inside of me, and I had almost forgotten how big he was, filling all my walls.

"Shit," I breathed, moaning, causing for Alexander to lift his head and glance down at me.

"Do you want me to stop?" he asked, concerned when he noticed the pain on my face.

"No, no," I quickly urged, swallowing my groan, before I lifted my head and told him, "Just kiss me."

That was all the words he needed, before his head dipped and he locked his lips with mine as his slow thrusts picked up it's pace. Pleasure took over after the initial pain, and we were at it for a while before he collapsed on top of me as we reached climax together.

"I love you," he murmured, placing a gentle kiss on my head before he rolled over and let sleep take him.