Page 50 of Slow Birth
Vale nodded. He did hear. And he understood, but what if…
Then Urho came into the room, reeking of Caleb’s scent, and radiating frustration and worry. Urho dismissed the servant and Jason helped Vale lift his robe, exposing himself from the waist down for Urho to have a look. Vale clutched the windowpane as Urho knelt behind him and spread his ass apart to look. Another contraction came. By the time it had dissipated, Urho’s examination and evaluation were conclusive—this was it.
The baby was on his way.
All the months of growing and hoping came to a head in clammy hands and grinding pain, but Jason was there, solid and certain, saying all the things Vale most wanted to hear, and suddenly found hard to believe.
“You can do this, Vale. You’re going to be just fine. And the baby, too. I’m here. I’ve got you.”
Vale whimpered, shaking his head until Jason took hold of his chin and insisted, “You will be all right. Say it.”
“I will be all right.”
“The baby is healthy.”
“Yes, the baby is healthy,” Vale agreed. Sweat slipped down his back, and he shivered as a cool breeze floated in the window.
“We’re going to be a family soon. You and me and this one.”
“A family—” Vale groaned as the pain took the rest of his sentence away.
Caleb’s cries of heat-induced agony collided with Vale’s shouts of pain. And as he labored by the window, refusing to get in the bed, the household dissolved into chaos and panic. Vale could hear it in the shouts from the hall, feel it in the strain Urho exhibited. In between contractions, Vale tried to collect himself, but it was all too much. It was all Vale could do not to panic, himself.
Jason was a rock, though. Calm and collected, putting Vale before any other distraction. He rubbed Vale’s back soothingly, sang him lullabies, and held him in determined silence when the pains grew unbearable. His earnestness was so darling that it almost made Vale laugh. Except Vale was alternately in too much pain or too exhausted to laugh. He was scared, too, despite Jason’s assurances. He was well and truly scared.
“I’ve got you,” Jason said again. “You don’t have to be afraid. I have you.”
Vale looked into his blue eyes and took a deep breath, trying to believe, wanting to, and then when Jason took hold of his chin again and spoke in that deep alpha voice, it came home for him.
“You are my omega. Mine. You’re strong enough to do this. And you will.”
A flow of certainty started like a pinprick in Vale’s doubt but soon flowed strong as Jason continued to encourage him. Yes, he would do this, and his son would be born, and they’d be a family. Just a little longer. Just a few more pushes.
After some more discussion and debate about moving to the bed—which Vale won again—Jason helped Vale put his leg up on a chair to give Urho more access to his birth canal. He wanted to remain standing. It felt right somehow to be on his feet. Lying down in a bed seemed all wrong.
Jason’s face was pale but calm as blood and slick slipped down Vale’s thighs onto the gathered towels. “You can do this,” he reiterated. “I believe in you, Vale.”
Vale nodded, a contraction coming on again, and he pushed hard.
“That’s it!” Urho cried from where he kneeled at Vale’s feet. “A little more. I can almost—”
“Help me!” Caleb screamed from the opposite wing. The words echoed around the massive house. Vale’s memories of suffering an unserviced heat sliced through his current agony, and pity and rage tore through him at his friend’s predicament.
“For wolf-god’s sake, help him!” Vale shouted, nearly kicking Urho in the face where he knelt with his fingers in Vale’s ass. Urho withdrew them quickly as Vale spun away from the window, glaring at him. “He’s hurting. He’ssuffering. Go in there and help him.”
“No!” Jason exclaimed, grabbing Vale by the shoulders. His face was flushed—his voice rough and certain. “We need Urho here. If something goes wro—” He bit off his words and added, “Vale, I can’t deliver this baby. It’s too risky. Urho stays with us until a doctor or our baby arrives.”
“A doctor’s coming,” Urho said, standing up and obviously trying to sound as confident as he possibly could. “He should be here soon.”
Vale wanted to argue, to remind them all that omegas gave birth every day and that he could do this. Jason had just said that he could, and he’d believed him! But then he groaned and held his stomach. He strained, eyes bulging as another contraction gripped his body, and he clutched the back of the chair with white knuckles to stay upright.
“That’s it,” Urho said. “Just breathe.”
Vale sucked in a breath, and his entire body clenched. He screeched.
A matching, wrenching scream echoed through the halls and the still-open hallway door. Caleb’s cries grew louder and louder as Vale’s labor intensified.
The world was agony and he and Caleb were lost in it.
