Page 180 of Bred

Then she pushed.

Lily fell back against me as her hands instinctively went for the pup. She pulled the tiny babe up and against her chest. Beta Tiff threw a thin cloth over the pup, then rubbed its back vigorously. Her brutal movements made my fangs lengthen. She was being far too rough for such a slight creature. The pup let out a strangled cry, then learned quickly to use the full volume of its lungs, letting all of Madra hear its displeasure.

“There we are.” Tiff smiled.

Charis let out a deep breath, her hands over her heart.

“Boy or girl?” Lilly asked, wiping the pup’s face and cooing softly.

Charis lifted the edge of the blanket. “Boy,” she smiled.

I beamed. I couldn’t help it. We had a boy.

After another hour of waiting for some really disgusting stuff to come out of my mate, Tiff walked Lily through a few basics of caring for our new son and reminded me of my duties as a mate. I’d normally snap at anyone that dared to presume I didn’t know how to care for Lily, but I was far too happy, nodding like a simpleton.

After Tiff left, Charis cooed and kissed the pup while I helped Lily clean herself. After cooking a meal and kissing the pup one more time, Charis headed home, giving us some privacy.

The three of us snuggled into the now clean and freshly made nest. Lily had scented the blankets beforehand, making sure they were covered in a soft mixture of both our scents, letting our son get to know us. I spooned Lily, leaning over her to stare at our sweet little boy.

Pups didn’t present until the age of twelve or thirteen, but some pups were born with characteristics of their status so clear you could almost instantly tell what they would be. And this sweet pup was most definitely an omega.

Everything from his tiny toes to his fluttering eyelashes and milky scent screamed omega. And I had never been so fucking happy.

“What’s his name, alpha?” Lily kissed his little head for the hundredth time. I couldn’t blame her. The smell of new life was like nothing else on this earth.

“Endon?”

“This is serious,” she frowned. “Pick a real name.”

“Endon is a real name. I knew a very trustworthy troll named Endon.”

“I will not let my young be named after a troll.” She raised her brows to convey the seriousness of the situation.

“My apologies.” I held up a hand in surrender, not wanting to argue after seeing what she was capable of enduring. I was convinced Lily could be turned inside out and continue to live.

“Finn?”

She made a face.

“Ashor?”

She shook her head.

I suppressed the urge to groan and quickly went through the mental list of all the names I had thought of. It was a pack tradition to let the father name the baby, but it was also common knowledge that the person that birthed the pup had the final say. And after seeing what Lily went through, I couldn’t agree more.

“Tate?”

Lily gasped. “Tate.” She leaned down, pressing several small kisses along his cheeks, lips, and nose. “Do you like that? Do you want to be Tate?”

The pup let out a soft gurgle and his little arms startled.

“Oh, he just loves it,” Lily declared, fixing the small blanket around him.

I leaned down and kissed her shoulder, watching my mate dote on our pup. He had a little button nose, a few little wisps of black hair, and his lips were drawn in the softest pout.

He was his mother.

He was perfect.

THE END