Page 24 of Lonely Alpha
William
It shouldn’t be this hard, should it?
Of course, I knew giving birth was difficult, but the omegas in my old pack had said that after you gave birth, you’d forget what it was like and want to do it again. “This one is going to be an only child,” I gasped.
We were all ready for our child with the nursery finished, tons of cloth diapers folded in stacks, and anything else we could think of that the baby might need. My new business in contract computer security as well as my mate’s solid income made it possible for us to go forward without worry for at least the financial aspects of fatherhood. But there was no amount of money that could make what I was going through feel any better.
The pains were coming just a couple of minutes apart, and I was starting to think I should have had a birth plan that included going to a hospital and getting as much pain medication as they would give me.
“Something is off. I know it,” I gasped. “The baby is stuck in the birth canal and doing backflips.”
“Now, William,” the midwife chided, fluffing the pillows behind me. “You know that’s not true. You’re just in the most intense portion of your labor, transition, and that means baby will be here very soon.”
“No they won’t. They’re just going to stay in there getting bigger and bigger and never leave.”
She laughed and moved back to the foot of the bed. “Let’s see what’s going on here. Scoot down.”
“Okay.” It literally felt as if the baby had doubled in size in the last half hour, although that was impossible. Another contraction tore through me, making me shake like a leaf. Sweat poured off me in giant drops, spattering my mate who sat beside me, holding my hand. “W-what do you see?”
“I see an omega who will be holding his baby before he knows it.” She beamed up at me. “And I see the head. Can you hold out for just a little longer before you push?”
“I’m that close?” I tightened my grip on my mate. “Go and see if you can see the baby too.”
“If you’ll let go of me,” he said, prying my fingers loose. The red marks left behind made me feel guilty until the next contraction reminded me that he did this to me. “Oh, mate, there it is.”
“Can you tell if it’s a boy or a girl?” I gasped.
“No. The top of the head is pretty much unisex, but we’ll know soon.” He left his position between my legs and returned to take my hand again. “So soon.”
“You’re glad, right? You want to have a baby?” Even in this moment, old insecurities came over me and reminded me of our time apart. I’d probably never get over it entirely, but I liked to think it made me more grateful than if we’d had a smooth relationship from the start.
I woke up every morning, looked over at my mate sleeping there, and couldn’t believe he was mine. This sweet image was quickly supplanted by the searing agony of the next contraction. “Th-there’s nothing I can do about this?”
“Absolutely there is.” The midwife was disgustingly cheerful. “Push.”
“Finally,” I grumbled. “I thought you were in on the plot to keep the baby from getting out of me. Come on, little one, this is your eviction notice.”
“Does she get thirty days?” he asked, unable to resist, but my cheerful reply ended when his hand-holding crossed over into pain again. “Mate!”
“I’m pushing already. Don’t lecture me about how to do this.”
He was gracious enough not to snap back that he wasn’t doing that. I pushed and panted and breathed and did everything the midwife told me to but with all the grumbling of a bear instead of a wolf. I’d trained as a soldier, even if I ended up in a military office, but the training should be enough to carry me through to the end. The baby was right there, and I could feel it, feel them making their way out.
“They’re coming,” the midwife sang. “Push, push, push.”
My breaths were in short bursts, my eyes closed with starbursts creating galaxies behind them, and I pushed one more time, bearing down with a tremendous cry as the pressure exploded out into the world.
“She’s here,” my mate yelled. “Hello, little girl.”
“Maybe don’t shout?” I suggested. “It is her first day after all.” I extended grabby hands and the midwife placed our daughter in them. She was still covered with all the fluids of birth, eyes squeezed closed against the harshness outside of my body, but I didn’t care.
She was here.
And she was lovely.
I wanted six more just like her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
