Page 25 of Unbar the Barred
His wolf went into hiding at the panic coursing through him, which appeared to have stolen the remaining ability to think rationally. He skidded to a halt, his eyes aching with how useless he felt.
Cassidy lifted pain-filled eyes as he faced the end of the bed, rocking on his hands and knees. “Did you… c-call the doc?”
“Fuck,” Trey growled and shook himself, going for his phone. “Sorry, I-I… oh gods, you’re bleedin’.”
“Ring… the fucking… docccccc…” he swayed, his large belly rippling as goo dripped onto the bed from between his spread thighs.
No matter how much they’d talked about this, Trey realized nothing could have prepared him for seeing Cassidy like this. The pain radiated off him and stabbed at Trey’s self-control.
“I’m so sorry, I did this to you.” Hand shaking, he dialed the doctor, his gaze fixed on Cassidy who grew sweatier by the second. His skin glistened in the light, no part of him still as he rocked.
“Trey… Trey… you there?”
Cassidy’s head hung between his shoulders. “Answer him,” he snapped breathlessly.
“Sorry Doc. Cass, he’s in labor. I don’t know what to do,” he cried in panic when Cassidy made a sound that sent all the hairs on his body into fight mode. They lifted as his wolf whined in his mind,Fix this.
You fucking fix it.
“Keep calm. Soothin’ touch, like I showed you. It will help Cassidy deal with the pain. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Trey didn’t say goodbye. He threw the phone toward a chair tucked in the corner and climbed back on the bed, avoiding looking at the mess. He ran a hand down Cassidy’s back, doing his best not to inhale.
“Tell me what you need,” he murmured softly, hoping he didn’t sound as frightened as he felt.Why would anyone want to go through this?
No matter how many times the doctor had assured him that his little chick’s body would adapt to birthing pups, nothing took away the worry. He kept it to himself as Cassidy had grown bigger and struggled to do simple things like bend.
“Not… sure…” he mewled, as his whole body appeared to tighten. “Need to push.”
Wasn’t this too fast? The doctor had said it would take hours.
Is there something wrong?
His animal sniffed at Cassidy.No, the pups are fine. They just wanna meet us.
Well, can you tell them to fucking hold their damn horses as we need the doc?
“Why you stoppin’?” Cassidy demanded in a strangled voice that put Trey on edge.
“Sorry.” He went through the moves that the doctor had said would help, keeping all the cursing to himself when it didn’t seem to calm Cassidy the way the doctor had assured him it would. The fucker lied to him.
“Go with the feelin’.” He hoped that was the right thing to say, because right then, it was all he had.
Cassidy
Waking with an ache in his lower belly, he had thought it was the pups trying to get comfortable, rather than labor. Over the last week, it had gotten decidedly harder to find a position that he liked. He’d lain listening to Trey breathing, using that in an attempt to lull himself back to sleep, only the ache had fastbecome a pain in his lower back that just didn’t seem to have a start, middle or end. It also came with belly cramping.
He had done everything the doctor had said, even stopped sitting on the ground so his girls could acquaint themselves with his belly when he struggled to get up and wrenched his back the week before. The pups weren’t due for days, or so the doctor had reassured him after he had gotten the once over after the minor mishap. One he had not told Trey about because his wolf, it turned out, was a worrier. Cassidy was now not doing any ranch work aside from looking after his chicks at Ethan’s insistence—or Trey’s—after his belly got in the way.
So when it had become impossible to hold still, he had given in and woken Trey. Now he could see his wolf had gone into panic mode again. It helped a little because Cassidy had something else to think about as his mate acted so out of sorts. If he’d had the energy, he would have laughed.
He listened to Trey and decided that going with his feelings was his only option when the pups wanted to meet their parents.
Rocking helped, so Cassidy did that. He mewled and panted because that helped, too. But when that failed, he cried and swore up a blue storm. As voices faded in and out around him, he felt his body prepare.
Sweat dripped from his chin and slid down the sides of his face, making him blink furiously to stop it stinging his eyes. There was the sound of cries, except the pain wasn’t stopping, so Cassidy focused and bore down with gritted teeth.
“That’s it, my little chick, you’re doin’ so well, my love.”
