I nodded and closed my eyes, but I didn’t need to, because Naja was there, kissing my face. The waves of her calm Omega power washed over me, and it still blew my mind that she’d had no idea she was Manix when we found her.
I could feel the weird sensation of the scalpel slicing my skin, but it didn’t hurt. “We haven’t thought of names,” Naja murmured softly.
Well, we had thought of names, but we hadn’t agreed on any yet. It was like giving the cubs names would have meant we’d love them even more, and if this went badly, I wasn’t sure I could ever recover if they’d already been named.
She rubbed her nose up and down my cheek. “You know, now's the time you can put your foot down and demand they be named whatever you want. No one can argue with you when you are doing all the hard work.”
“Seven,” Gatlin called, and my Beta stood quickly, moving down the end of the bed. Naja looked over her shoulder and then back at me.
“It’s okay, though I think I might not pursue a career as a surgeon.” She looked a little green, but she smiled. “We did it, Raiden. We have one healthy beautiful cub. Only four more to go.”
The soft cry of a baby was the best thing I’d ever heard. Seven came back with a white gunk-coated perfect little Manix, in its human form. He knelt by the bed and held it out to show me, and the noise that came from my throat was more animal than human. Sev grinned. “It’s a boy, baby.”
I felt the wet splashes of Naja’s tears on my face as we both looked at our firstborn. A baby made of her DNA, born of my body. I heard a happy rumbling noise and looked up at Finlo, who was crying hard.
“Hand that one to Finlo, Sev. We’ve got more.”
Seven handed the tiny cub to Finlo, and the baby wasn’t even as big as his hand. “Is it okay?”
“He’s doing just fine, Rai. He’s perfect,” Finlo gushed, and then Sev was back with another baby. It had a different colored blanket, and had a shock of dark hair. No guesses whose Daddy this one was. This little one went up into the crook of Finlo’s other arm, and then Seven was back down the business end.
“You are so perfect, Rai. Look what you’ve created,” Naja said, burrowing her head into my neck, and the smell of her hair was almost like a drug. Another baby came up to meet me, and I kissed its tiny cheek. Naja held out her hands, and Seven passed the baby to her.
“Another boy,” he cooed, and I smiled down at the pale, scrunched little face. I was mesmerized as another baby appeared in my arms. One more to Naja. Five. Five beautiful boy cubs. A perfect blend of us all.
“Sev,” Gatlin said sharply, and Seven looked to our Alpha. The panic in Gatlin’s voice had me defying his earlier request not to look. But the splayed open wound of my stomach was nothing compared to the tiny little unmoving baby in his hands. “This one goes to Doc. Now, Beta!”
Seven didn’t hesitate. My eyes couldn’t track him as he left the room.
“Alpha?” I said in a broken voice.
He gave me a tight smile that was probably supposed to be reassuring, but just made me panic more. “The boys were protecting their sister, apparently. Doc has her, Rai. She’ll be okay.”
Panic rose up in my chest, making it hard to breathe. We were all silent as our ears strained to hear what was going on in the other room. I could hear Doc muttering to the baby, sounding like he was checking off a list but also like he was talking to the baby.
Finally, the tiniest cry sounded, and I huffed out a breath of relief that was closely followed by tears. Seven and Doc reappeared in the room, Seven holding the baby which was good because as relieved as I was that Doc had been here, he was still a stranger in my Pack house to my Beast.
Seven dropped to his knees beside us. “Our baby girl.”
I reached up and touched her tiny head, not even half the size of my palm. She blinked an eye open, looked at me, and then closed it again.
I’d done it. I felt like I’d been through a blender, but I’d done it.
I looked around at my Pack. No, we’d done it. I closed my eyes and let exhaustion wash me away into oblivion.
Epilogue
Naja
“The natives are getting restless, Omegas.”Gatlin’s slightly amused whisper came from the doorway of Raiden’s nest. Against the walls were six Moses baskets, each with a tiny cub swaddled tightly inside. They were finally all sleeping at once, which was a small miracle. They’d almost doubled in size in the last week, which was equally miraculous.
The last week had been the best, most joyous, but also intense week of my life. After Raiden had passed out, Doc had come in and sewed him up properly, and the relief on Gatlin’s face would have been hilarious if we weren’t all feeling that way.
Raiden’s recovery had been nothing short of unbelievable. His body had healed the C-section scar in days and he even had his abs back. You wouldn’t have even known that a week ago, he’d been so huge that going up and down the stairs had been a challenge. Still, we’d been holed up in his nest during recovery, and I’d stayed with him. Mostly because I couldn’t bear to be away from him and the cubs.
Six. Five boys and a tiny baby girl. I couldn’t believe it. We’d decided to name them after virtues, because they were going to love matching names when they were teens. I grinned as I thought about it; I would be here to watch them grow and be happy. The thought made my throat thick with emotion.
Hale, Noble, August, Sage and Chance. Our precious baby girl was Amity Jane. They were perfect, and when Luisa had come in to visit, she’d been absolutely besotted with her new siblings.
