Mrs. Harper Marcelo

SPENCER

I could feel a twinge in my lower abdomen, which was weird because I purposely made sure not to have the buck’s night before the wedding. This was all I wanted, I wasn’t about to screw this up.

“Did you go for a run last night?” Dad walks in, his sapphire blues identical to my own, sparkling away with such excitement.

“Yeah, is Alpha ready?”

“He is, are you? You don’t look so well, Spence.”

“I don’t feel so good,” I stated, clutching at my stomach as we stood just inside the pack house.

“Do you want me to get someone? Maybe Flank’s mate Cameron?”

“Oh my God, who’s excited?” Flank questions as he walks in with his hand raised, “me, that’s who.”

“Flank you know this is ~my~ wedding… right?” I questioned him with a raised brow.

“Is it so bad that I’m happy you’re finally getting hitched?” He knocks my shoulder with his. “Spencer…you don’t look so good, are you okay?”

Flank’s face drops as he stares at me.

My temperature had risen, I felt clammy and unsettled.

“Um, yeah, I don’t know. Let’s just head out. Harper should be ready soon. I want to be there the moment I see sweet cheeks walking down to officially be my… oooooohhhhhh…”

My abdomen tightens in pain and I keel over, gripping my stomach.

“Jesus, what did he eat?” Joey asks as he walks into the pack house.

I lift my hand to wipe away the perspiration I can feel trickling down my face, noticing immediately that my hand was covered in an enormous amount of sweat.

“Spencer, what’s wrong?” Alpha appears out of nowhere at my side.

“I-I don’t k-know.”

My vision begins to blur as wave after powerful wave of sickening hot heat wash over me. “Son, we should get you to the hospital.”

“No, Dad, it’s my wedding, I get to marry my sweet cheeks today.”

“Son, you look as pale as a ghost—you’re turning slightly green…”

“Bucket…,” I cry out, just as Flank thrusts a champagne bucket under my mouth.

My stomach wretches and my mouth waters. I heave up everything I had, emptying the entire contents of my stomach into the silver cylinder.

Chunky vomit dribbles from my lower lip as I pant heavily, sitting down on a chair.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck raise and my wolf pushes through to the forefront.

“Dad…Dad?” Leivon comes sprinting into the room.

A loud growl emanates from deep within my chest—Harper.

“Take me to her,” I snarl at him. His little eyes grow in size as he just nods.

“This way, Dad,” he summons.

“Did he just growl?” Joey pales.

With one arm around my father, leaning heavily on him for support, we make our way through the pack house to the bedroom Harper is in, having to stop on the way to heave again.

Cleo greets us at the door. “You can’t come in here, you’re not supposed to see her before the wed—um, Spencer? Are you okay?”

“S-sweet cheeks,” I rasp out.

“Omega Cleo, get Luna immediately,” Alpha orders.

“Omega Cleo?” Joey questions curiously as she bows and disappears quickly.

Alpha steps forward and knocks on Harper’s door. “Girly, it’s me, Alpha. You okay?”

Levi snakes through our legs and opens up Harper’s door before entering. “Mommy, Mommy, Dad’s here.”

“Good… boy… honey,” I hear her struggling as another ripple of excruciating pain tightens my abdomen as I hiss through the pain and my knees give way below me.

“Spencer!” Flank screams in the highest-pitched screech I have ever heard.

Harper pops her head through the doorway, seeing me crumpled and on the floor, desperately trying to get up. “What’s wrong?”

My head snaps up to meet her. “I don’t know… Jesus, sweet cheeks, you look beautiful.”

She smiles at me. “So do you, handsome…but what’s wrong?”

“I think I’m dying,” the room echoes with a collective gasp.

“W-what? What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry baby, I feel like this is the end…all I wanted to do was make you my wife but I fear this time, fate has other plans for us.”

Her beautiful eyes filled with sadness and panic. “No,” she cries out.

“I want you to know that I love you, I’ve always loved you. Take care of our kids, don’t let them forget me.”

“Don’t you die on me, Spencer, you can’t leave me,” she howls in pain.

“You’re not dying you fool, get up,” Luna snaps as she slips her hands into rubber gloves.

“Luna, how do you know? It feels like my entire insides are being ripped to shreds,” I implore.

“Yes, now you know how women feel. How far apart are the contractions, Harper?”

My eyes widen. “What the fuck?” Harper pales as she spits in surprise. “You mean…”

She points at me as my head snaps between Luna and sweet cheeks.

“That alpha inside you is powerful. Spencer is crumbling under sympathetic labor pains.”

Flank’s laughter ripples through the tense and confused air. “Spencer, you’re in labor.”

“Shut up, Flank,” I growl. “That’s not right, Luna, I can feel the darkness calling to me.”

“Oh Lord, this is why females are gifted with the task of reproduction. Men are idiots.”

“Hey!” Every male around us was highly offended by her flippant comment, including Alpha.

“Usually it happens during pregnancy, the official term is Couvade Syndrome. I don’t remember reading anything about it happening during childbirth, but then again, anything’s possible.” Luna clarifies to the bewildered onlookers.

“I’m…n-not dying?”

“Not today. Then again, let’s see if you can survive the actual birth?”

“Harper?” Joey interjects, “what does she mean alpha inside you? Isn’t Mr. Johnson alpha?”

We all cringe in realization. No one had informed Joey or Juniper about what we are.

“Um…um…ummmmm…” Harper starts looking at all of us for help.

“I got this…” Levi steps forward, holding his hands in the air.

“Wait…,” Harper cries, “Levi, we have to go to the hospital, Lexie, your sister is on her way, explain it to him while you find Tutu.”

Leivon collects Joey’s hand. “Okay, Grandpa Joe, do I have a story for you. So like a bazillion years ago, the moon goddess came to Earth…” You can hear Levi as he explains it just the way I had every night.

“I’m not dying,” I rasp out in jubilation.

“You think he can handle it?” Alpha asks me.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure he’s not going to believe a word Levi says.”

I look back at Harper, she looked so beautiful in her off-the-shoulder white lace princess dress. “What do you want to do, sweet cheeks, do we need to get you to the hospital?”

“But it’s my wedding…oooooohhhhhhh mmmmmm.”

She didn’t get to finish her complaint as my stomach contracts again, it felt as though I had a large hand wrapped around my middle and was squeezing the life out of me.

Both of us howling out in horrendous pain as the force ripped through us at an astounding rate.

“Alpha…,” she pants as the tension begins to subside, “I hope…you’re ready…to marry us…on the way…”

“Sweet cheeks?”

“Spencer…Marcelo…do you…or do you not…want to…marry me?”

“I do.”

“Flank, get the car,” she orders and everyone automatically moves, no questions asked, no room for disobeying.

“Spence…get up, if we are both in labor then you are not leaving my side.”

I slowly pull myself up off the floor just as the crippling clenching retracts. “Is it wrong that I’m kind of aroused by your forcefulness?”

“If we’re doing this, Harper, I need to check how dilated you are,” Luna interrupts, “lay down on the bed, feet together, knees apart.”

Harper does as she requests and I drag myself over to the bed and collect her hand in mine. “We’re going to do this together, sweet cheeks,” I affirm.

Luna’s head darts up over top of Harper’s big poofy skirt with extremely wide eyes. I catch Harper shaking her head vigorously and Luna chuckles from between her parted legs.

“You’re about five centimeters. Let’s head to the van, I’m presuming we’re exchanging vows on the way?”

“What? What’s below her skirt?” I questioned.

“Yes, Luna, I’m not having this alpha without being wed.”

They both ignored me completely.

“What? What’s below your skirt?” I questioned again.

Luna snorted before a ripple of laughter escaped. “Help me up,” Harper ordered. “It’s hard for me to maneuver with this dress and a giant belly.”

I did, before dropping to one knee and attempting to lift the material, “what was Luna horrified by?”

“Don’t, Spencer,” Harper growled.

“Why? Did you bejewel your pussy or something for our wedding night?” I teased.

She choked, smacking her chest and coughing. “Um, sure…let’s go with that.”

I frowned. What a shame her bedazzled pussy will remain untouched. Damn this child for coming today of all days.

“Everyone ready?” Flank questioned for the doorway.

“Yes, are you driving?”

“Spencer, it’s not like you can drive, you’re in labor.” That bastard snickered in amusement.

“Shut…oooohhhhh.” Both Harper and I keeled over, lost in an extreme haze of ravishing pain as it tore through us at an alarming rate.

I heard several hisses escape her before she spoke, “I’m…so glad…you’re going… through this…too.”

“Oh yeah…” I panted back, “this is…a fucking…dream.”

My sarcastic reply caused another ripple of laughter as Dad waltzes in to help me to the van.

“Come on, son,” he was trying hard to hold in his amusement. “Let’s get your…p-pregnant ass in the van.”

“This isn’t funny,” I snapped.

“Actually, it’s hilarious,” Flank chuckled, “Beta Fitz, who knew your son would be the first man ever to give birth?” Dad sniggered.

“Come along, Spencer, it’s not that bad, anyone would think you can’t handle pain?”

Harper strode out of the room confidently, followed by Luna and Flank.

“Christ son, you’re embarrassing the male population. Your woman is walking herself down the stairs and outside.”

I narrowed my eyes up at him. “I liked everyone so much better when I thought I was dying.”

Everyone was piled into the seats, which I now realized was a bus and not a van at all. These idiots all wanted to watch the ceremony on the way to the hospital.

Alpha stood behind Flank, who was situated behind the wheel. Levi, Joey and Juniper were in the second row back with Clade, Mom and Dad opposite them, leaving Harper and me in the front row.

“My apologies everyone, it seems Harper…and Spencer”—he cleared his throat as I lifted my middle finger to him—“have gone into labor. Our new alpha is almost here—exciting times.”

Harper and I both snapped our heads at Juniper and Joey, noticing their scrunched faces of confusion as the word ‘wolf’ rolled out of Levi’s mouth with an exaggerated nod of his head for confirmation.

We snickered as Flank started the bus and we headed for the hospital.

Harper and I sat on opposite sides of the aisle as Alpha began.

“We are gathered together on this glorious occasion, to unite two souls paired together in the most sacred of all traditions—wedded bliss. Harper Maddox wandered into our town a shy, lost and heartbroken little lamb, completely unaware her world was about to be turned upside down by our very own deputy, Spencer Marcelo—”

Flank hit a pothole and the bus jolted. “Watch where you’re going you idiot.”

“Alpha!” Flank whines, “I had to avoid the…um…goat, yes goat…pack of goats…in the middle of the road.”

“He was trying to look…ooooohhhh,” I cried out as another painful wave crashed over my already weakened body.

“Carry…on…” Harper panted from her seat as her body melted under the laboring tenses.

“Spencer!” my mother Patty screamed. “Block your connection to your child otherwise you’re going to end up pushing out something…that isn’t a baby.”

“Don’t tell him,” Luna cries, “we could have had fun here.”

“Luna, that’s horrible—you knew?” I screeched.

She sat there gaping at me, realizing she had just put her foot in it. “I would have told you eventually.”

I immediately closed off my connection to Lexie in my heart. Hell, one of us in labor is enough.

Harper was laughing her ass off, “I love this pack so much. Alpha, please continue.”

“Right,” Alpha Chad gripped the back of Flank’s seat as the bus swayed and jumped under the assault of the rocky uneven ground.

“To find your mate…soul mate, in today’s unsure times, is a blessing and one that will not only solidify our pack's future but will harmonize our worlds. Harper Maddox, do you take Spencer to be your husband? To cherish him in times of disbelief, to uphold the values and traditions of his family and kin? To love, honor, and support him in reaching his full potential as both a man and a…man?”

I snorted. He almost said wolf. “I do.”

“And do you, Spencer Marcelo, take Harper Maddox to be your wife? To cherish her in times of disbelief, to uphold the values and traditions of her family and kin? To love, honor, and support her in reaching her full potential in life as not only mother to our next leader but as a sacred woman?”

“Fuck yes I do.” A collective chuckle swept over the gathered occupants upon the bus as we hurtled at full speed to the hospital.

“Spencer, I believe you have something to say as you place your ring upon Harper’s finger.”

I motioned for Levi to come forth with the rings. I sat on the edge of my seat with Levi on my lap.

“Sweet cheeks, before you arrived, I was a broken and bitter man. My life consisted of work, pack, and anything I could find to fill in my lonely days. I yearned to have someone love me, to have the walls of my empty house brimming with laughter and life and to have that special someone to snuggle into at night—a dream I never thought would be possible—until you.”

I stood Levi up in front of me.

“Cowboy, my entire life, all I wanted to be was a father and from the moment I met you, I claimed you as my son—unofficially at first but now that you carry my last name, you are mine forever.

I promise to love you, your mother, and Lexie with everything I am, to cherish you and help you in any dream you wish to pursue. You are my son, Leivon Marcelo, our son”—I tapped my chest so he would understand I meant my wolf and I—“through thick and thin, cowboy, until the end of time.”

“I love you, Dad,” Levi smiled as I wrapped my arms around him.

“I love you so much, cowboy.” While the crowd was lost in their tears, I whispered in Levi’s ear, “you ready to be a part of the pack?”

“Yes, Dad.” I summoned my wolf, we had discussed this very thing in great length with cowboy and it was always going to be his own choice.

The tang of copper filled my mouth as my teeth retracted and my canines pushed through, my wolf's tongue searched for that claiming spot.

Levi giggled when I hit it and I bit down, inserting my fangs into the curve of his neck.

A flood of emotion rippled through my body as his memories of his life before moving to our town, our first meeting and every memory since entered my mind's eye.

I felt his sadness at having no father, his heart’s call for his mother to find someone to love and accept them both, his elation when I entered the picture…

His yearning to be ours, his happiness and finally, his pure love for me, his mother and his new baby sister.

My essence entered his bloodstream, my particular and very prominent scent being imprinted into his soul—this was a spectacular and proud moment for both of us.

My wolf licked at his opened wound, sealing it closed and pulling back to watch his happy face beaming brightly at me.

My wolf pushed to the forefront, sapphire eyes glazing over to pure black. “My son.”

Tilting my head upwards, I expanded my chest, opened my airways and howled.

All pack members on the bus joined in as Joey and Juniper covered their ears as the collaboration of howls echoed through the enclosed space.

We finally settled and the look on Harper’s parents’ faces was hysterical. They were completely and utterly horrified… Best of all, they looked at Levi with a look of dawning realization.

Harper was now keeled over and losing herself to the thrashing pain lashing at her body.

Finally not being controlled by crippling contractions—no thanks to Luna—I held her as she breathed through it all.

Once she had gained control of herself, she stared up at me…

“~O koʻu mau’ōma’ō nani,ʻa’ole mākou i ho’oka’awale i nā apo.~” (My handsome husband, we did not exchange rings.)

I just nodded, loving the way she spoke.

I had no idea what she said. “The rings,” Juniper pushed, and I paled.

~Oh, so that’s what that was.~

Levi pounced into action, handing them over and I slipped it onto her wedding finger, right next to her engagement ring. “I love you, Mrs. Harper Marcelo.”

“~Aloha au iāʻoeʻo~, Spencer Marcelo…I love you so much,” she smiled as she slipped on mine.

“I now pronounce you, officially—according to human laws—Mr. and Mrs. Marcelo. You may kiss the bride.”

“Finally,” I wrapped my full lips around sweet cheeks, slipping my tongue in to caress hers.

She pulls back with a frown, “did you spew?”