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Rumor

“I think you’re a mermaid,” I whispered, twisting the rock around, making sure I got it right. Right. I slowly rotated it, and, when it was finally facing the correct direction, I realized I was right. This rock was meant to be a mermaid.

I put it down on the table and got my paints to create my palette. My stomach tightened.

I’d been really lucky this entire pregnancy. No morning sickness, no backaches, no swollen feet. But today, my stomach was off. Like someone was squeezing it.

“Maybe you’re a mermaid tomorrow,” I told the rock, patted it, and walked out of my art studio—the one Vargas had made for me—and waddled back toward the animals to see what Wilder was up to.

And yes, I was at the point of waddling.

I still had two weeks of this pregnancy left, at least if I went to my due date. I didn’t know how it was going to go. My mom went early because she had twins, and that was all I had to go by. And it wasn’t like I could call her and ask. That part of my life was over and done with.

Most of the time, I didn’t care. I was happier here than I’d ever been there. But sometimes, like this—when I needed maternal advice—it hurt.

Wilder was collecting my quail eggs when I got there. He insisted I not do it while I was pregnant. I didn’t think there were technically any rules about pregnant women and eggs, but in his mind, if we couldn’t be around cat messes, we shouldn’t be around chicken messes either. Or quail. Or any other critters. So he took over that task. I stopped arguing after two days. It wasn’t a battle I could win, especially not when he had my other mates on his side.

We’d built up a really good customer base of people who wanted the little eggs. I liked them, always had. They were delicious and added something special to a lot of different meals. I just hadn’t realized how popular they were.

“Hey, mate. You having a good day?” I leaned against the fence.

“I am, except for Wilder the quail. He’s kind of being a pain in the ass.”

Wilder liked to escape. And was quite good at it.

“Need my help?”

“No, I’m good. How are you? You look… I don’t know, not uncomfortable, but maybe—”

“No, it’s uncomfortable. My stomach’s not great. I think I might go in and lie down.” I could use the nap either which way.

“If you wait a second, I’ll walk you in,” he offered.

“I’ll meet you up there.” I had a feeling if I stood still too long, getting going again would be rough.

Halfway to the house, I ran into Penn, holding six jars of honey.

“Give me some of those.” I took three from him. “You don’t want to drop them.”

“Did I drop them?” he asked.

“Not yet.” I stuck my tongue out at him. “Is this all for us?”

“It is. I have some plans. Some baking plans.” Unless those plans included baklava for the entire village, he still had overstocked for us.

“That’s an awful lot of honey for baking plans.”

“Did I mention there were a lot?”

My stomach was now really hurting. “I’m going up to bed. I want to lie down.”

“Did you want company?”

“Maybe. Maybe I need a wolf.”

“I got you.”

I continued my waddle all the way to my room and climbed into my nest, hugging my down pillow to my chest and closing my eyes. I didn’t fall asleep until Penn joined me in his wolf form, his back pressed to mine, giving me a little bit of support and a whole lot of love.

When I woke up, it was because the pain had gotten worse, and I gave a little yelp.

“Are you okay?” Wilder was in the doorway.

“Yeah. I just…yeah.”

There was a lick on the back of my neck.

“Penn. I know you’re there.”

“Honey, need more company?” Wilder asked.

“I’d love some.”

He stripped his clothes and took his wolf and joined us on the bed.

The next time I woke up, Vargas was there, too, his wolf at the end of the bed, guarding the door, the position he tended to take when in this form.

I pushed to get up—and the bed was wet. Gross.

I climbed out to see what was happening, and the wolves all stood at attention, giving low growls, their eyes trained on the door.

“Cut it out, you guys. I just—I think I peed the bed.” There’d been a time I’d have been embarrassed to have said that, but now, out it came, no blushing or anything. “No one is coming to bother me.”

One by one, they shifted back.

“Let me hold your hand when I tell you this, Rumor,” Penn said, “but I don’t think that’s pee. I think it’s baby time. That’s your water breaking.”

“Do you need a midwife?” Vargas was already fishing through his clothes for his phone.

I shook my head. I didn’t want any strangers here. I only wanted family.

“No. I need Lily.” She’d been there for other omegas’ births. She could be there for mine.

Vargas ran out of the room, not even getting dressed. Poor Lily—things she was gonna have to deal with today.

She came up right away and took me to shower while the guys fixed up the bed.

We had a tentative plan for this birth—not that babies cared what our plans were, but when I came back, they had everything set up the way I’d asked.

The tightening in my stomach was now extremely painful. And very frequent.

I’d been having contractions all day without realizing it. I’d brushed them off, thinking they were a stomachache or a pulled muscle.

There was no denying it now. This baby was coming. And soon.

They helped me onto the bed. I wanted to have my wolves with me when I gave birth. For some reason, it felt important that they were front and center and, when I said as much, all three shifted back, without hesitation.

I had the best mates.

Vargas lay above my head, Wilder and Penn on either side of me, as Lily coached me through my labor the way the midwife and experience had taught her.

It was hard. Scary. Overwhelming. But with her guiding my breath and the warmth of my mates’ wolves surrounding me, I knew I could do it.

“It’s time to push,” Lily said, after I screamed about it burning.

I didn’t know what I’d thought delivering a baby would be like, but it wasn’t this. More than once, I feared I wasn’t going to be able to do it. But I had to, there was no other way. It wasn’t like I could asked the baby nicely to come out a secret passageway.

This burning, this pulling, this aching—it was too much.

I wasn’t sure I could do it. What if my fears were warranted?

“You’ve got this, Mama. You’re so strong. You are the strongest person I know. One push for me.” Lily’s calm voice gave me the strength I needed.

I sucked in a full breath and pushed with all my might.

When I heard the scream of our little girl for the first time, tears of joy fell down my face—all the pain all but forgotten, my heart filled with so much love.

Lily cleaned her up and put her on my chest, latching on for her first meal like a pro.

My wolves all looked at her, eyes wide.

“You can come back now, guys.”

They took their skins and took turns, each of them telling me how beautiful she was. How much they loved me.

“What’s her name?” Lily asked.

“Her name is Bernadette. It means strong and brave as a bear.” Alpha, omega, or beta, I didn’t care. She was going to be the woman the Goddess designed her to be, and I would spend every day showing her how brave, strong, and wonderful she was. She wasn’t going to get a childhood like mine.

“Just like our mate.” Penn kissed my cheek.

“Just like our mate,” the other two mirrored back.

I was only brave and strong because they showed me I could be.

“I love you, mates of mine. Thank you for buying me that day. No backsies.”

“No backsies!”