Chapter 9: Mason
I woke in a cold sweat.
I shot up in bed - well, as much as I could with a belly that was five and a half months swollen and close to exploding. My elbows dug into the bed and my breaths came out short and choppy. A slowly building pain was clawing its way up from my stomach. I swallowed hard and prayed it would go away.
I tried to lay back down, but then a sharp pain shot up my body and I gasped.
Beside me, my mate roused. When he saw the look of agony on my face, he instantly got up.
“Mason?” Jericho growled. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything hurts,” I whimpered.
His brow knitted in sympathy before his gaze flitted to my belly. “Is it the baby?” he asked.
“I don't know!” I cried. “I’ve never had a damn baby before, how am I supposed to know what it feels like?”
Jericho was instantly on his feet, digging for his cell phone. “I’m calling Ken. Even if you’re not having the baby right now, I want him to know about this.”
“Okay,” I said breathlessly. Ken had been the one giving me regular checkups for the past five and a half months. I trusted him, and I was relieved knowing that he’d be coming over soon.
“Ken? Can you get over here? Fast?” Jericho spoke quickly. He paused. “Yeah, I think it might be the baby. Okay. See you soon.”
He hung up and immediately ran to the bathroom, getting me a glass of water and a moist towel for my forehead. I felt clammy and disgusting and I must’ve been making the ugliest expression from the amount of pain I was in, but I couldn’t even bring myself to care. It was like my stomach was being ripped out from the inside.
I groaned while tossing and turning in bed. Finally the door open and Ken rushed in with his supply kit. He spoke to Jericho for a moment before turning his attention to me. He did some measurements and poked around my body quickly before he shook his head.
“We can’t do this here,” he stated. “He needs to be taken to the hospital for a c-section.”
“What?” Jericho cried. “But you delivered Casey at home, why can’t you do the same thing here?”
“Because Mason isn’t just having one pup,” Ken snapped. “He’s havingtwo.”
I stared at him like I’d been shocked.
Jericho’s jaw dropped.
“You’ll have time to gawk later,” Ken growled as he put away his medical equipment. “Come on. We need to get Mason to the hospital, now.”
Suddenly I felt a flash of desperation and panic. My hand shot out to grab Jericho’s arm. “Wait,” I whimpered.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I - I want Beth there, too,” I said.
He nodded in sympathy. “Okay. I’ll call her and tell her to meet us there.”
“Thank you,” I whimpered.
I felt pathetic and weak and fuckingscared. I’d never given birth before, and now here I was with not just one, but two pups about to come out of me. Wasn’t the first pup too late? Wasn’t the second too early? I trembled with fear and uncertainty.
But then I felt Jericho’s strong arms embrace me. He cradled me in his arms and looked down at me with a firm but gentle nod.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” he reassured me. “I promise.”
A sense of calm cut through my anxiety like a soothing knife. I found myself trusting Jericho and believing in his words. If he said it would be okay, itmustbe true.
“Okay,” I said with a tiny nod.
