15
Sage
I thought beingpregnant was hard enough, but everything about giving birth majorly sucked. Well, except the fact that Xander was doting on me and giving me lots of attention. That part of nice. But the rest of it was garbage.
I whimpered as another painful pang went through me. Len was right, at least—it was less uncomfortable to do this in my shifted form. How humans pushed babies out of them was a complete mystery to me.
Xander pet my fur, from between my ears down to the base of my tail. The long, calming strokes was pleasant and distracted me from the discomfort.
The contractions were getting closer together now, which I hoped meant that this would be over soon. My sides rose and fell rapidly as I breathed hard.
“Talk about something,” I grumbled to Xander. “Anything.”
“All right. How about… What do you think our baby will be?”
I’d been wondering that the entire time I’d been pregnant. “I dunno. I mean, it won’t matter to me either way.”
“Do you think Lupa might like another wolf her age to play with?”
I chuckled. “I think Lupa would likeanykid her age to play with, regardless of species. She’s always wearing out Leveret and Ashe.”
“True.” Xander went quiet, still threading his fingers through my fur. “You won’t mind if it’s a mountain lion, like me?”
I remembered what Xander told me about his past and felt a flash of irritation towards his omega father. “Hell no! You know that already.” I growled and headbutted his thigh. “Don’t say dumb things like that again.”
Xander grinned. “Sorry.”
“That’s it. I made up my mind,” I announced.
“About what?”
“I’m gonna love Star twice as hard to make up for how your omega father treated you.”
Xander’s eyes widened and a shocked, soft expression spread over his face. He was strong and tough, but in this moment, I saw fragility in him. He smiled slowly and leaned down to press a kiss on my forehead.
“Thank you, Sage,” he murmured. “You’re the perfect fated mate.”
Hearing him say that lit up my heart. I whimpered with affection, craning my neck to lick his face all over. He chuckled but didn’t object as I bathed him with my wolf tongue.
The contractions came and went, making me grit my teeth and bear it until they passed, but having Xander around to pet my fur and talk to me made it a lot easier. I don’t know what I would’ve done without him. My family was around too. They gave me and Xander space while the boring part of labor passed but were nearby in case I needed them for something.
“Ugh, why is this taking so long?” I complained. “Come out already!”
“Looks like our baby’s as stubborn as we are,” Xander remarked, obviously amused.
“Star, come out right now or you’re grounded,” I warned.
Shockingly, Star did not come out.
“That does it. My baby’s going to be born grounded.”
Xander smirked. “I’m sure as soon as you see Star’s face, you’ll take back that punishment.”
“We’ll see about that.”
A wave of agony suddenly tore through me. I gasped and accidentally dug my nails into Xander’s thigh. He held me, waiting it out.
“I’m here. Bite down on me if you need to,” he said.
