Page 44 of Lone Wolf
I turned on my public house expression and freed one hand so I could grab a good handful of his fantastic ass. “Who said anything about massage?” And then I sauntered away, the heel of one hand jammed in my mouth so he wouldn’t hear me giggling.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
The next day, I was in labor, and all our plans to go to Mercy Hills went up in flames.
I had reason to be grateful for the soundproofing in this part of the house—labor hurt! “Aaaah!” I yelled when the next contraction hit. Damian tried to put a damp cloth on my forehead and I glared at him with such fury it was a wonder he didn’t explode into cloud of tiny tiny shifter pieces.
“You’re doing fine,” Oscar said from down by my knees.
I glared at him too and hoped with all my might that he’d spontaneously combust or something. Of all the things to have happen, for me to go into labor and the only person we could call on wasOscar, because he’d been a medic in the Army and a paramedic before that.
The Trickster was having a grand time with my life, wasn’t he?
Damian tried again with the cloth when the contraction ended.
“I will bite you,” I said between gritted teeth, each word snapped off as if it was his fingers I was chewing on.
Oscar glanced over at Damian, then back at me. “Damian, we could probably use some boiled water. You know, to sterilize it? Maybe a couple of quarts.”
My mate turned to me, a question in his eyes.
“Go ahead, I’ll be fine,” I told him. “If we need it, we need it. I’ll call you if anything happens.”
“There’s some old towels in the back room here,” Oscar called after him. “If you could tear them up, maybe one foot by two? That would be great.”
“What do we need the water for?” I asked after Damian left, only partly to distract myself.
“To give him something to do before he drives you to tear his head off,” Oscar said simply.
Ah.I glanced over my shoulder toward the kitchen and would have laughed except the next contraction decided to hit right then and steal my breath away.
“They’re getting closer,” Oscar said, looking down at his watch. “Does it feel like it’s progressing?”
“How would I know? I’ve never had a pup before.”
Oscar nodded. “I had a woman who was on her sixth baby once tell me that she knew when labor was getting serious, because everything seemed to start pushingdown, instead of just pushing. I couldn’t find anything that said if your kind had the same thing.”
“I don’t think so,” I said doubtfully, because what did I know? “I should start feeling something in my—” I stuttered to a stop. I just couldnotmake myself say ‘omega line’ in front of the human.
He watched me for a moment, then put a hand on mine. “Do you want me to check it?”
The next contraction hit before I could answer him and with it came a sharp tearing pain at the bottom of my belly. Not a terrible pain, but a sure sign that something was happening. “I think it’s starting to separate,” I gasped and grabbed for his hand to squeeze while my womb held me in its iron grip.
“Damian,” Oscar shouted. “Bring those towels out here. I don’t care if they’re torn or not.” He adjusted the hem of the over-sized t-shirt I was wearing so it sat higher on my belly. “I think you’re right,” he told me. “From this point on, I’m afraid you’re not going to get much of a break.”
I nodded but couldn’t find the breath for words, and then Damian was there and I let go of Oscar’s hand to flail for my mate’s.
For all that he’d annoyed me to the Barrens before, now that labor was really on me, he was the only thing that kept me going. That, and my fear that my inexperience would harm the baby as he or she was being born. So when fire burned across my omega line, I clamped my teeth against the pain and listened intently to Damian telling me how proud he was of me, what a great job I was doing. Not that I believed him, but I didn’t have much attention to spare for more than just listening to the comforting sound of his voice.
“I see a head,” Oscar announced. “You’re doing great, Salem. Just a few more pushes.”
I leaned back against Damian’s chest and tried to smile when he kissed my sweaty forehead. “Almost there,” he said and then I was pushing again, harder this time, and the space around my omega line stretched and ached and then suddenly…nothing.
The baby was born.
And it was quiet.
“Oscar?” I asked, my voice shaking. Please…
