Page 17

Kenny

The babies were coming, and it couldn’t be soon enough. We’d been busy as anything preparing for them ever since we learned they were a litter instead of a singleton. Turned out, there were people in our pack with skills that made expanding our home in the short time before the babies were due to arrive possible.

And, the room addition was a gift from the pack itself.

I’d argued that it was not necessary since my salary was excellent, the benefits even better than my old job in the human world, and we could manage ourselves. But Alpha Aspen said it would be a lot better if we didn’t have debt with five more mouths to feed, and he also gave me a raise. Now we were down to the wire with a big, beautiful nursery, enough clothes, diapers, and baby stuff from the shower of the century given us by both packs, jointly, and all we needed were the babies to fill the cribs.

“Mate, where are you?” I usually found him in the living room, sitting on the one chair comfortable enough to support him but firm enough that he could get out of it on his own. We’d decided I would work until his due date or when the babies arrived, whichever came first, but each day when I left was harder than the one before. I peeked in the kitchen and den and downstairs powder room, but no sign of him. “Are you taking a nap?”

I worried about him. He hadn’t been able to fit behind the steering wheel for a couple of weeks, so we took that as a sign that he should go on paternity leave. I had suggested earlier, but he pointed out that we were going to have a whole lot of expenses and, even with the pack’s help, extra couldn’t hurt. My independent omega, always putting others first.

I climbed the stairs, headed for our bedroom, although he hadn’t answered me. If he wasn’t in our bedroom, perhaps the nursery or Madeline’s room. But I didn’t have to go far because when I ducked into our room, I heard his moans from the en suite. “Omega!” I dashed over and tried to open the door. It was stuck. “Omega, open the door. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I am sitting against it.”

“Why? Can’t you get up?”

“I don’t know.” He huffed. “Hang on, I’m trying.”

I tapped my toe, desperate to get in there with him. Had he had the babies? I had to help my omega. Finally, just as I was thinking of going outside, getting a ladder, and climbing in the window, the door swung open to reveal my omega lying on the bathroom floor, his pants around his knees, and his face tense with strain.

“Omega, what are you doing?” This was not the plan!

“I’m having our babies. Feel free to help.”

I reeled back. This was not how my omega behaved. The sarcasm hung thick in the air. But that wasn’t the immediate problem. When I looked closely, I could see the top of a head. “Okay, omega. We’re going to be having a home birth, but let’s not do it on the bathroom floor.” I put an arm under his shoulders and the other under his knees. “We’ll have our babies in our own bed.”

From that moment, they came fast. We’d had plenty of time to plan our in-hospital birth with everything there in case anything went wrong. But that was before this day when all that changed. I carried him to our bed, tapped a message into my phone, and stood between his legs. “I called for the healer.” I hoped they’d come. But it didn’t matter because no sooner did I have that thought than our son, Buddy, was in my hands.

By the time the healer arrived and let himself in, along with his nurse, Kemi, Ana, Tani, and Georgia, the rest of the litter, were lined up on the bed, wrapped in towels, and I was never so glad to see anyone because that was really all I knew to do.

The healer and nurse took over, cleaning up my mate and the babies and doing all the things that they were so good at while I sat on the bed next to my mate and watched.

“Have you ever seen such beautiful children,” Mulder marveled. “They’re so tiny, though.”

“They’re perfect.” I kissed him and then sat back to take the two babies the nurse was handing me. “And so are you.”

“Did you pick up Madeline?” he asked suddenly.

“No, was I supposed to?”

“She’s with Grandpa Swale,” Mulder said. “I sent her to him when I felt the first pains. I called you to tell you.” He reached for his phone on the bed table and looked at the screen. “The message never sent.”

“We’re going to have to do a better job with six than we just did with one.” I felt like an awful father as the nurse fitted a third baby into my arms. “Call him and see if he can bring her home?”

Ten minutes later, all the babies were cleaned up and wrapped up and tucked into their bassinets. Madeline was perched on the bed between us, and our family was together for the first time.

We were going to need help, but we’d had so many offers already, and we were going to accept them. At least for a while, until we felt as if we could handle everything ourselves. Because they were given in love, and our babies would grow up knowing how many people cared about them. And that people helped one another in happy times and sad. Our little wolves and/or cats were born to this pack.

What lucky babies!

What lucky dads.