Page 31

Lily

Whoever said omegas will know when they’re in labor was a liar. I’d already been wrong twice. After no baby came, I didn’t trust myself anymore. I needed backup.

I called Rumor and asked her if she could stay with us until the baby arrived. It was a huge ask, between Bernadette being in her toddle everywhere and get into everything stage, and Evander still adjusting to being on this side of the womb, and Rumor still adjusting to being the mom of two.

Her answer had been an immediate yes. Her mates brought her over an hour later, her little ones with her, along with everything she would need for at least a week.

My mates were never far behind, but they understood something was telling me I needed to be around Rumor.

So that’s where they wanted me to be. They were so understanding like that.

Sylvia stopped by a couple of times. She very much stayed to herself, and that was fine.

Whatever made her happy was exactly what I wanted her to do.

The kids loved her, and they always had her smiling, so I was thrilled each time she showed up at the door.

Learning about her had taught me so much about her brother’s kindness and loyalty.

That morning, when I woke up, something had changed. I didn’t feel it as much as I could smell it. My scent had morphed…again. I woke Rumor, and she noticed it instantly.

“I don’t think that happened to me,” she said, which wasn’t instilling confidence. “Go get your mates.”

I didn’t have to go far. They were all asleep in wolf form on the porch, protecting the house from imaginary foes, I imagine.

When I came outside, they too noticed right away, shifting and coming in close.

They asked if I needed the midwife, and I didn’t think I did.

But also, I was scared not to have one, in case the scent thing was an issue.

We sent for her, and Rumor had her mates come and get the kids because we were pretty sure it was go time.

I’d only met the midwife a couple of times. There were not many who acknowledged our pack, partly because we still hadn’t named it, and mostly because there were those who thought us less than. We were a bastard pack, after all.

I still didn’t understand how our world could be so cruel to anyone, much less men as kind as my mates.

Two hours later, I still didn’t feel any contractions, but my scent morphed another time, making it the third scent in less than as many days: my pregnancy scent, my wake-up scent, and now this one.

Rumor held my hand tightly, telling me it was fine and that if there was something to be concerned about, the midwife would be here soon.

And finally, the midwife showed. She was old and not just could be my grandmother old, but possibly the oldest person I had ever met old.

“Why do you look so worried?” she asked when she walked up to me.

And before I could even explain, she smiled, her eyes falling to my belly. “You probably should have told me there were three in there.”

“Excuse me? Three babies?” Three babies. How had I not known that? I mean, I was a lot larger than Rumor ever got. I’d attributed it to mates who fed me every chance they got, not growing an entire litter. Three babies? Whoa!

The looks on my mates’ faces were priceless. It was Harlan who said, “Good. Three mates, three sets of arms, three babies.”

“There are four sets of arms,” I reminded him.

“Nope. You’ve already done the hard work. You need to be spoiled from now on.”

Rumor made a gagging sound, and rightfully so. As if I wasn’t spoiled twenty-four hours a day.

The midwife put her ear to my belly, grabbed me in all sorts of places I’d rather no one but my mates touched me, and then decided I needed to drink some special tea.

And I drank it trustingly, not asking what it was.

I’d still have taken it, even if I had known.

She was the midwife. She knew better than I what needed doing, but a warning would’ve been nice.

It didn’t ease me into labor. Nope. It was a jump-start.

I hadn’t even finished the entire cup when my water broke, and then, when the last drop was down, the contractions started, hard and fast. So hard that I worried.

I wasn’t foolish enough to believe labor wouldn’t involve pain, but I’d expected it to ramp up, not slam into me.

I wanted to have our babies in my nest, and going from the kitchen to there had taken the help of all three of my mates, and Rumor. But once we were inside and settled in, I was grateful. Because they were coming.

Harlan and Benji sat on each side of me, holding my hands tight. And Roan? He shifted, resting just above my head so I could feel his warmth and fur. Rumor helped the midwife, who assured me that this wasn’t too fast, and that everything was going as it should.

But even if I wanted to argue, what could I do? Nothing. Because this was happening.

We weren’t in my nest five minutes when the burning began.

Then she and Rumor told me to push. And I pushed. And I pushed, and just when I thought I couldn’t do it anymore, our first baby, a daughter was born.

I didn’t even get a chance to look at her pretty face when the urge to push came again. Rumor cleaned up my daughter as the midwife guided me through the second birth, a son. And the third baby came in the same rapid succession, our second daughter.

And soon, I had two babies on my chest, having their first meal, and a third being doted on by my mates.

“We don’t have three names.” I looked down at their sweet faces, feeling like I’d already let them down.

“No, but we have two.” Roan kissed the top of my head.

Our first daughter we named Calla. My mates insisted, saying that she needed to be a flower as beautiful as their omega. I rolled my eyes at their sappiness but also loved it.

Our son we named Ryder, for no other reason than we had liked the name.

And then it was time to name our second daughter. I looked at Benji. “What do you think of the name Rose?”

His sister was Sylvia Rose, and I didn’t want to take a name that she might want for her own child someday, but also, it was a name dear to my heart. I was going to defer to my mates on this one. “My mom’s middle name was Rose.”

Harlan picked up our sweet daughter. “You look like a Rose. The name is perfect.”

As I looked at my three beautiful babies and my three amazing mates, the name wasn’t the only thing that was perfect in my life. Not by a long shot.