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“You absolutely do. Lonia is available when you need her. She said she may stop by this evening, if you haven’t called.” John was beaming at him. “Now go. Shoo.”

His mate was having a baby. His mate. His.

Rory was having his baby.

Fen hurried across the way, grunting softly as people greeted him.

But no one seemed too worried that he was being rude. In fact, everyone was smiling at him, nodding, wishing him congratulations and good luck.

All Fen could think was, his mate was having a baby.

Soon.

Maybe not right now, maybe not even tonight, but…but soon.

They were having a baby.

Apparently, the storage building room had been adequately cleaned by the time he arrived home, and it took him a moment to discover where his love had disappeared to.

“Rory?”

“Up here. In the baby’s room.”

Oh, excellent. Already upstairs meant closer to the bedroom. They had prepared the bed to be a whelping area as they’d come closer to the birth, and Fen liked the fact that Rory was close, in case the baby fell out or something.

He found Rory resorting baby things in the nursery. He was sitting on the floor, tears in his eyes, folding and unfolding, packing the little dresser and unpacking it, almost frantically.

“Mate, what’s wrong?”

“I just need to make this right. It’s just wrong. Everything is wrong. It’s not quite right. I want to make sure we have enough. What if we don’t have enough for Alexander? We need to have enough for Alexander.” There was a barely hidden panic in Rory’s voice that tore at his heart.

He looked around the room, which was equipped beautifully. He shook his head, but he didn’t argue. He’d been told about nesting by…well, every alpha with children in the pack. Apparently, the rules were quite firm.

One did not interfere. One did not tease. One helped whenever possible, and most importantly? One never argued.

“Would you like some help?”

Rory looked up at him with grateful eyes. “Oh, would you? I would love that. It seems like a lot, and my back hurts quite a bit.”

“Oh, sweet. I bet the floor is hard under your butt. Let’s finish this up, and then, if you’d like, maybe we should go sit somewhere more comfortable. We could sort things from the sofa or the bed. And then maybe your back wouldn’t hurt so much.” Although he knew that wasn’t why Rory’s back was hurting. He could almost see it the way that that sweet belly was hardening and easing rhythmically.

“I think. I think I might be in labor a little bit,” Rory admitted. “Although I’m not quite sure how you can be in a little bit of labor…”

Fen nodded, going for gently surprised. “Do you think so?”

This was going to be very much easier if Rory knew what was going on, and he admitted it.

“I do.” Rory sniffled. “I’m a little scared. What if I don’t do it right?”

“If something happens, the midwife is right here.” They finished folding up the clothes, and he stood carefully, easing Rory up.

“I think that I’d like to go sit in our room. I don’t think I want to do the stairs.”

“All right. I think that’s fine. We have clean sheets. But anywhere you want.”

He helped Rory to their room. Then he went to the window to lean out, calling to a passing omega. “Can you tell the midwife that we’ve started?”

The young man’s face split into a grin. “I will!” He ran off.