Page 94 of Incompatible

The contractions keep hitting, far too frequent, far too strong.

Finally, we are both without pants.

In any other situation, undressing some stranger would be suspicious at best and morally questionable, but right now, necessity wins.

I can tell his labor is already advanced. After giving birth to three, I know a thing or two. I look between his pale, slenderlegs. His opening is wide, and more contractions move through his limp body.

But the same is happening to me.

I position myself beside him, feeling my baby’s head slip lower through the birth canal. I grit my teeth. During childbirth, I usually have Aiden’s help; his True Mate energy shields me from the worst of the pain and gives me strength, but now it is gone, so the pain hits with full force.

Gosh, it hurts!

I twist in a powerful contraction. Oh, how I appreciate Aiden’s support during my previous births now. He really did help me. It’s torture!

The unconscious omega groans too. I never knew a person could go through labor while unconscious, but here we are. Strange world.

A moment later, the crown of the baby’s head appears at his opening.

At the same moment, I feel the head begin to push out of mine.

One strong push, I gather myself and bear down, and the baby slides out. I look down.

I see the wet face of a newborn, typical and swollen around the eyes, with a dark red tuft of hair on the top of his head.

"Bay," I whisper softly. "My son…"

In the next instant, my gaze snaps away because the head of the second boy is born, and something catches my attention, something that makes my breath stop in terror.

Dear Fate…

No… not that, please!

ALEX

We are throwing a huge party for our eighteenth birthday.

It just so happens that we celebrate it on the same day, almost as if we were some kind of astral twins.

It is also the first day that the tiny house Bay bought can officially be used for overnight purposes.

The house arrived three weeks earlier, and during that time Bay and I were busy finishing its interior. There is still a lot to do, but the bathroom already works, and of course the bedroom has a massive bed that we barely managed to squeeze inside.

The party itself takes place on the patio, and all his brothers are here except for the oldest, River, along with a few cousins, including Gabriel and Veyron, whom I’m always happy to see, especially Veyron, who is so much fun.

We also invited a few classmates, among them Dereck from our previous school.

It turned out Dereck is going to the same college as we are, so keeping in touch with him makes sense, and the interesting part is that Dereck ended up deciding not to take music as his major but math, just like me, so we will be attending college together.

Of course my dad is also invited, though he mostly spends time chatting with Bay’s dad and with Jordan.

Bay’s father, with Winter and Snow helping, arranged an amazing show of quiet fireworks, safe for birds.

Some guests are swimming in the pool, and for this day his parents have turned on the heating, which is usually off because it is expensive to run, but today they made an exception, so the water is full of people. Bay’s younger brothers and cousins are frolicking there.

There is a ridiculous amount of food, and interestingly it feels more like a family gathering than a typical eighteenth birthday party filled with drunk teenagers. It reflects the fact that Bay and I do not really hang out with many people. We do not have close friends, just acquaintances.

We spend a lot of time at his house instead, so our eighteenth feels more like a middle school family birthday than a party with a spin the bottle theme.