Page 60 of Duke's Baby Deal
“What?” Mac asked, glancing back and forth between the two of us.
I sighed. “I wanted to call them Tristan and Isolde, you know, from Shakespeare? I thought it was a cool combination, and they’re twins, they should have names that go together. But apparently there’s someone on the other side of the enclave who’s already named Tristan, which spoiled the whole plan.” I frowned even harder at Duke and he just smiled lazily. Big mean alpha. “So, the girl will be Isolde, but we ended up naming the boy after an uncle of Duke’s. Jedrick.”
“Good names,” Mac said.
“I like them,” Jason chimed in.
We passed the rest of the afternoon talking about the changes going on in the enclave. Bax was working wonders with the humans, had somehow arranged a contract with a local human business, something about environmental energy, and Mercy Hills was going to be gearing up to build solar panels on a much larger scale. It meant that we were going to be short on labor to build the houses, but Mac said that Quin was talking to other packs to see about hiring a few more of their electricians and carpenters. Quin was looking for people willing to put them up, and he’d been actively recruiting young shifters to work at putting the panels together once the building for business was completed.
Jason winked at me—the Omega Pack was out of their mind excited about this sudden influx of foreign alphas and betas, which made me laugh. I wouldn’t have wanted to mate elsewhere, but to each his own, I guessed.
They had to leave just before supper—there hadn’t been any room in the enclave. Evidently, Mercy Hills wasn’t the only pack with space problems. Stupid laws. So I pasted a cheerful expression on my face and waved goodbye to them. Then Duke and I settled down to eat leftovers and roam the channels on the television, something I hadn’t yet grown tired of.
Eventually, it was time for Duke to go as well. I kissed him goodbye, unaccountably unsettled by him leaving, but he couldn’t stay or he’d be arrested. So I watched him go, and then I pulled my blankets tight around me, pretending it was him that I was wrapping myself up in, and watched television until I fell asleep.
I wasn’t sure what woke me up at first. It was quiet, everyone was asleep. Someone had come in and turned off my television and there was nothing but the hum of the air circulating through the vents and the heavy stillness of the hospital at night.Might as well pee.I got up off the bed and my stomach cramped.Great. I can finally eat whatever I want, and now my stomach decides to give me grief about it.I hoped I wouldn't’ be spending the rest of the night on the toilet. On the other hand, it wasn’t like I had to get up for work tomorrow.
The front of my pajamas were wet, so I grabbed a new pair out of the drawer, grumbling that now I was pissing myself, and maybe it was time for the babies to make their appearance.
Except when I got into the bathroom and turned on the light, I realized the wet wasn’t coming from my cock, but higher. And when I pulled the pajama pants out of the way, the wrap attempting to hold my belly together was soaked and it didn’t smell like pee.
I hurried out to the bed and hit the button that was supposed to call the nurse, my hands holding my belly, hoping for someone, anyone. The clock on the wall read just past five after five. There was another cramp, and it occurred to me that this might not be all the Thai and Greek food I’d eaten yesterday, but my womb giving up the ghost on my babies. I hoped I was wrong, that it really was the food, because there was still five weeks to go in my pregnancy.
I waited and waited, and hit the button again and again, until the speaker crackled and Nurse Cranky angrily demanded to know what I wanted.
“Ma’am, I need help.” I said. Catch more flies with honey, right?
She ignored me.
“Ma’am,” I said again, a bit louder. “I think something’s wrong. The front of my pajamas is wet.”
There was a pause, and then her voice came through the speaker again. “You should change your pants, then, and get back into bed. You’re on bed rest, remember?”
“But I think something’s wrong. I woke up and my dressing was soaked.”
“You probably just had an accident. It happens. Go back to bed and I’ll come in a bit to change you.” Her tone implied I was being a baby, and that she would be changing me like I was a baby with a diaper.
I reddened, but to be honest, she scared me, because I didn’t trust her fear. “I don’t think it is. It doesn’t smell right. Please, just look?”
“You just follow instructions. I’m the nurse, I know what’s going on.”
So I hauled myself back off to my bed and stripped off the damp sheets, while my belly kept shivering and changing shape, and I knew I was in labor, but what did I do when the nurse didn’t believe me? I half wondered if she wanted me to lose the pups, and I started to cry silently while I looked through the cupboards in hopes of finding clean sheets to put on the mattress, but there were none, and I wanted Duke but he was at the enclave and couldn’t even leave for another hour and I was scared.
I waited and waited and waited. A couple of times I went to the door to see if she was coming, but there was no answer to my yelling and pounding.
Finally, at quarter to six, Kristy came in for her morning shift. Like every morning, the first thing she did was unlock the door of my room and wave hi. Today, though, she paused and took a second look at me. “Bram, is everything okay?”
I shook my head and tears started running down my cheeks. “I think I’m having the babies.” I clutched my belly and leaned against the door frame.
She came right over, even though she hadn’t done any of her start-of-shift stuff. I was never so grateful to a human in my life as I was to her in that moment. “What are you feeling?” She ushered me back into the room and stopped dead when she saw my stripped bed. “Where are your sheets?”
“I took them off. They’re wet. My bandage is wet, and I’m having cramps.”
She led me over to a chair and made me sit. “Okay, let’s have a look here.” Carefully, she unwrapped the bandage supporting my belly, then peeled away the gauze beneath it. I smelled the fear off her, more sharp and preylike than shifter fear, though her expression remained carefully neutral.
“Sweetie, I’m going to get you a wheelchair and we’re going to take you somewhere else for a little while. I’ll have someone come clean your room up for you while you’re out.”
“I’m having them, right?”
