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Owen tossed one towel over his shoulder and then crouched between her legs. There was a similar look of panic in his eyes, but Reika adored him even more for giving something as hectic as labor a good college try.
“Okay,” he said, frantically licking his lips. “If I learned anything from TV, it was that this was the part where I tell you to push.”
Reika felt like the baby was clawing through her, already eager to be a part of their lives. She clenched her eyes closed and proceeded to push her vaginal muscles outward, helping them move through the birth canal.
“AHHHHH!”
Reika’s screams somehow surpassed the thunderous clash of lightning ahead of them. Owen held onto her legs, peering with horror between them like some kind of alien had invaded her body.
“Yes, baby, yes!” he bellowed back. “I can see the head. Keep going! I believe in you!”
A rush of endorphins passed through her body as she pushed with everything she had, with her strong shifter Kegels. She knew that labor was going to be painful, whether you were a human or not. But nothing could have prepared her for that brief moment of severe pain, instantly eradicated from the heavenly sight of her child.
He came out crying with rain pattering his pink body. Reika’s pain magically disappeared when she watched Owen wrap the baby in a towel after tieing off and cutting the umbilical cord. He looked at him with such awe, like he was something supernatural entirely.
“Babe!” he yelled. “Babe!”
Reika immediately burst into tears, her legs still open wide and throbbing between them. She forgot all about Connor and Mateo, who were steering the boat without looking back. Owen helped Reika sit up, and they gazed at their little boy together. He was crying, which was a good sign. He flailed his arms in the air, emerging into this world with a dancing frenzy.
“This is our baby, baby,” Reika said, tears streaming down her face.
Owen let the tears fall, too, as they drove away from the storm that had threatened the island. Reika thought that it was the adrenaline from the labor, but she was feeling enraptured beyond belief.
Nothing was going to take away the love and support her little family had for each other.
THIRTY-TWO
OWEN
Owen wrapped the baby in a towel and pressed him close to his chest. He wrapped one arm around Reika while the other held onto their son. He gazed at him, feeling a bit dozy, the surrealist notion of holding something he created in his arms hitting him like a freight train.
Their love had made the baby he was holding, so why was it so difficult to accept their union? How could anything bad ever come from the birth of something so profoundly beautiful?
He was crying softly, his little howls piercing the air of the misty sea. He cradled him and rocked him while Reika watched, looking exhausted from the birth.
“We did this, Reika,” Owen whispered. “He is our son. We did this.”
Reika leaned onto his shoulder, and he felt tears fall onto him. They sat there for a long moment, rocking the baby back and forth to the rhythm of the waves.
Owen came back to himself as he kissed the baby’s head, then Reika’s. The storm was subsiding, thankfully, and winks of light were starting to appear over the horizon.
“How much longer, Mateo? Connor?” Owen yelled out.
“Not long now,” Mateo yelled back without turning. “I can see the shoreline.”
Owen held onto their child as they neared the shore, helping Reika clean herself up and place her clothing back on. He knew that she was going to need some much-deserved rest once they were able to get onto land.
“We should head out to the Lovell pack to see Holo,” Owen said to Reika. “Just to make sure everything is okay with you and him both.”
Reika nodded and smiled dreamily, still peering down at their little pup.
They arrived on land, and Connor and Mateo tied the boat while Owen helped Reika and their baby boy onto the sand. They were both a little shaky, looking at their boy and making sure that his whimpering was normal.
“He seems okay,” Reika said. “I know that lots of wailing is considered a good thing.”
Owen adored the sight of his beloved holding their child. It gave him a burst of joy inside his chest he had never known.
He kissed her head. “I’ll be right back,” he said and made his way over to Connor and Mateo to ask for a favor.
