That made me panic a bit. My heart thrummed hard in my chest. “Any day? I thought we had almost a month left?” I took Evander’s hand and squeezed it tightly like our daughter was coming right that minute.
“Well, each case is different, and shifters generally don’t carry all the way to term like a human.”
She patted my leg. “Everything is going to be okay.”
I cleaned up with Evander’s help and reached for my pants, when I felt a big whoosh come from my backside. I held onto the bed and let out a gasp.
“What is it?” Evander asked, looking at the floor. “Oh, Hudson. I think your water just broke.”
“What?” I exclaimed and then instantly tried to take deep breaths. “Get the healer. Please.”
I calmed myself as much as possible while Evander called out for help. In minutes, the healer came in along with a nurse and looked me over. “Your water broke. It’s okay. You still have time, unless…”
A gripping, gnawing pain started at my lower back and radiated throughout my lower body. I gripped the bed harder and bent over with the force of it.
“That’s a big contraction.”
The healer helped me back on the bed and examined me. “When a baby is ready to come, she’s really ready. You’re fully dilated, Hudson. It’s time to move you to the birthing room.”
“I don’t have my bag. My things. My…I’m not ready, alpha,” I whined. None of those things mattered, my brain told me, but fear stepped in and took the spotlight.
“We will get someone to get your things, and I’m here. You’re here. You are strong and brave and absolutely ready, omega mine. You can do this. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
They moved me to one of the birthing rooms we’d toured only weeks ago, turning on soft lighting and even softer ocean sounds.
I rode wave after wave of the pain until the pressure became too much. “This is it,” the healer said. “It’s time to push.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Evander
I knew my job. I’d read about it, watched videos, even practiced at the birthing classes we’d taken only two weeks before. And even without all that, an alpha grew up knowing their role. Be there. Be strong. Reassure the omega. Do. Not. Freak. Out.
It sounded easier than it turned out to be. I’d figured if my father did it and his father and all the other alphas, it must come naturally.
But nothing prepared me for seeing my omega in pain. Every inch of me wanted to make it stop. To take on the pain myself. We’d had a birth plan and had spent hours putting the bag together with his laboring outfit, postpartum clothes, all the little gadgets and devices that would help him feel better. Snacks for us both, little straws of hydration powders that somehow made water better than water.
Instead, here we were, going from a regular appointment to the birthing room. And my omega, after just a comment or two of dismay, was handling everything like a champ, while I was ready to jump out the window.
Things were moving awfully fast, and I just wanted it to slow down, maybe to stop. We’d thought we had a month more to get ready, but here we were. Hudson labored on, his face tightening with each contraction, and then, out of nowhere, I knew what to do. All the tricks and tips and techniques were very well and good, but I couldn’t stop this. Our baby was on the way, and my omega was doing it alone. He’d counted on me to help him, and what was I doing? Everything fell into place.
The healer told him to push.
I sat on the edge of the bed and took his hand. “You’ve got this, omega. Our little girl will be here in no time.”
“It’s hard,” he said from deep inside a contraction that had his whole body rigid except his belly that rippled ominously. “So hard.”
“But so worth it,” I soothed, squeezing his hand. “You’ve already done most of the work, and the baby is on her way. She’s going to be adorable, isn’t she?”
He nodded, doubling up. “Y-yes. So cute.”
“Push,” the midwife said. “Focus. Help him out, alpha.”
“Come on, omega. Put everything into it. Our daughter is ready to join us.”
He rose off the bed again, letting out a groan and squeezing his face into a grimace. “Ohhhh.”
“I can see the top of the head,” the midwife said.
