Kitten shoved my arm. “I got this, Coop. Go.” She stroked Darius’s back. “Let’s go, baby. Have I told you lately that you’re fucking amazing?” she crooned to him, and it was a testament to how much he loved her that he just purred. If I’d tried to say the same thing at that moment, he would have eaten me.
I ran out of the house, grabbing my phone on the way. I tried the guys first, but no one was answering. Beckett would be teaching, but Corvin should have his phone on. Fuck it. Instead, I ran straight to the new doctor’s office. Bursting through the front door, I halted when I saw Tanner kissing—
Fuck, it didn’t matter. “Darius is in labor.”
Tanner spun around, grabbing his bag. “I’ll be right there,” he told me, then he paused. He glanced over his shoulder at the Omega behind him, then gave me a cool look. “About this…”
I waved a hand. “I couldn’t fucking give a shit.” I looked at the Omega. “Good for you. You deserve this. Now,myOmega is in pain and about to give birth in an extremely dangerous manner, so let’s get the fuck out of here. Your kinkery can wait.”
After leaving the doctor's office and telling Tanner to head straight to the house, I ran to the garage. I knew immediately why Corvin hadn’t heard his phone, since he was blasting pop music. It was the funniest fucking thing, this giant, burly Alpha with a love of pop music.
He was underneath the old Mustang, and I could hear him singing along. I stopped, just for a moment, to appreciate how much I loved this man. He was going to make a wonderful father—I knew that in my soul.
I grabbed him by the ankles, pulling him out from beneath the car. He frowned at me, but one look at my face had him scrambling to his feet. “What’s wrong? Is it time?”
I nodded. “It’s time. Tanner’s on his way over already, and Kitten’s with Darius. Get over there. I’ll go collect Beckett.”
But he was already gone before I finished my sentence. I locked the front doors of the garage and ran to the school. I was beginning to really regret loaning the car to my parents today.
The school was basically just a large, open storage shed, and instead of having the school segregated into upper and lower classes, they were all together in one room. Terra was still in Moonburst, but she was going to return to Maxton with her Pack to ensure they’d still have a teacher there. I was eternally grateful to Terra; she was selfless and one of the best people I knew.
I wrenched open the door, and fifty faces turned toward me.
“Cooper? Is everything alright?” Terra asked, stepping toward me quickly.
I gave her a tight smile. “I’m just looking for Beckett.”
Her eyes went wide. “Oh. Oh, yes. He’s out back doing gym class with the older kids. Stephanie! Run out and get Mr. Reid. Knees to chest, child, knees to chest,” she shouted after her as tiny little Stephanie ran like the wind out the door. Terra turned back toward me. “You’ll give Darius my love, won’t you? I’ll send up a blessing to the Goddess when I get home.”
Beckett returned with a pleased-looking Stephanie in tow. “I ran so fast, the world went blurry,” she crowed, and I laughed.
Terra rolled her eyes at me, but then turned and smiled at the girl. “That makes you the student of the day, Steph. Go put your picture on the board.” She shooed the girl away, turning back to us. “Go, Beckett. I’ll call in Trace to make them run laps until they whine. Go have some babies.”
Beckett hugged her tight. “Thanks, Terra,” he said quickly, then we raced from the room.
Much like Stephanie, we ran so fast the world was a blur. Our future awaited.
45
KITTEN
Darius groaned loudly, rolling onto his hands and knees. “For the sweet love of the fucking Goddess, they need to hurry up. These cubs are doing their best impression of Tasmanian devils on my insides.”
I rubbed his back, pouring every ounce of Omega pheromone I could muster into his body. He was a lot more relaxed than he’d been earlier, but he was still in pain and there wasn’t any amount of good vibes that could help that.
Tanner finally showed up, but as soon as Darius saw him, he scrabbled to the other side of the bed, growling low. Shit, that sound was way more Beast than man.
I crawled across the bed after him, pulling him softly into my arms as I thrummed. It didn’t sound quite the same as when the males did it, but hopefully it was comforting nonetheless. “It’s time now. We have to meet our cubs, but you’ve got to let Tanner work. We trust him—he wants what's best for both you and the babies. But if you really don’t want him here, the guys will be back soon. They can deliver the cubs, but it will be more dangerous: for you, for them, and for our Alphas. They love you. The last thing they want is to do surgery on you when they’ve never held a scalpel in their lives.” I cuddled his head close to my chest, the tension in his body making him stiff.
“I need my Alphas,” he whined, and I swallowed back my panic. Okay, we could make this work. “But Tanner can deliver the babies.” The relieved whoosh of my breath ruffled his hair.
Tanner was still moving quietly around the room, setting up everything he needed. “That's a bloody relief,” he whispered under his breath, and I wholeheartedly agreed. “Get him to lie on his back, Omega. Sit up there by his head and keep him calm. Your Alphas shouldn’t be too far away now. I don’t think there’s time for an epidural, but I’ll give as much local as I can, to try and numb the pain. It might still be uncomfortable though.”
I stroked a hand down Darius’s back as he let out a pitiful sound, and I could feel the cubs moving around in his body. When Darius had first gotten pregnant, I’d done some reading. Without the help of their Pack to cut open the womb, the cubs would eventually claw and chew their way out of an Omega, though the mortality rate for all of them was nearly a hundred percent. Seemed like an evolutionary fuckup.
“Come on now, Omega. You heard the doctor, onto your back.” I moved away but he let out a low keening sound that tore at my heart. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m here for you forever, my love,” I crooned, and when he rolled onto his back, I scooted behind him, my legs either side of his shoulders, so he could rest his head on my thighs. I looked down at his face. “We’ve got this, Darius. You and me. I love you.”
His hands gripped my ankles, anchoring himself to me. “Love you,” he grunted, and from this angle, I could see just how much his stomach was rolling around. Jesus, it looked like an alien had crawled in there and was doing a jig.
