Page 41 of Omega's Flight

Adelaide checked beneath the sheets again and I felt the soft brushing of a towel once more, though this time she was careful not to touch my omega line. "It shouldn't get much worse than this."

Something in her tone of voice made my eyes open wide and I started to sit up.

"Do you want the head of the bed up again?" Bax asked. We'd put it down when the cramps had started to get worse.

"He should stay as flat as possible," Adelaide said sternly. She waved Bram out of the way and checked my pulse, then took my blood pressure again for probably the sixth time. I was learning all the medical jargon today.

Bax pulled her off to the side and they had an intense conversation while my insides tried to knit themselves into a sweater. I was still grunting and squirming on the bed when he came back, his face grim and an angry light in his eyes that I didn't think I'd ever seen. "So, it looks like I'm the expert here." He began to raise the head of the bed. "If you get lightheaded, let me know. And when that contraction wears off, we can get you up to walk around some."

"Walk?" How was I going to walk? And what did he mean by being the expert? "Bax? What's going on?"

He patted my hand. "Have some more ice. She's probably right about the painkillers, unfortunately. But I've seen two omega miscarriages. She's only read about them. So we're going to work together. Are you comfortable?"

I looked to Bram, who was staring at Bax as if he'd just seen the second coming of the Lady Medeina. "When did you see a miscarriage?" he demanded, stuttering in his haste.

"Once in Buffalo Gap, once in Jackson-Jellystone."

Oh, Lysoonka, I remembered hearing about the one in Jackson-Jellystone, now that he mentioned it. "Shit."

"You aren't going to have those troubles," Bax insisted. "I'm here, Bram is here, and so is Adelaide. We have your blood type and a list of pack members with the same, if the worst happens. But you're handling this fine."

My belly finally took some pity on me and I relaxed against the pillows. "I don't understand why it hurts so much. Labor was never like this."

"I can answer that," Adelaide said, shamefaced. "The pressure inside your womb during birth is higher, and that numbs the area a bit. There's hormones, too, that change how your body perceives pain. None of that is in place when you're this early."

A knock on the door interrupted my response, and then Holland put his head in when Bax replied to the noise. "Cas said you were planning to stay?" he said to Bax. Bax nodded and Holland came the rest of the way in, resting a casual hand on Bax's shoulder. "I gather the news isn't good?" he asked gently.

Bax shook his head and I turned my face away as I fought a sob. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder and when I turned back, it was to find Holland's blue eyes right there, filled with compassion and somehow, offering the strength I wasn't sure I had.

"Thank you," I stuttered and put a hand up to cover his.

"You're pack, now, right?" He smiled and reached to brush the hair off my forehead. His eyes went unfocused for a moment and he let out a short, sharp breath, then he was focused on me again. Somehow, I felt better about everything, even though the cramps were still there. "I asked Quin to make sure the pups had a place to stay for however long this takes. He's pretty good at deflecting questions and even better at answering them without upsetting the pups. Agatha and Dorian were good training for that." He patted my shoulder and moved away, to find a chair I thought.

My lack of understanding about the pups though must have shown on my face, because Bax said quietly, "They're adopted. From Green Moon."

The fire. Those poor pups. I wondered briefly how many they'd lost, but my own heart threatened to overflow just with mine; better not to add anyone else's tragedy to its burden. "I'm sorry."

"They're fine now. Or mostly," Holland said with a smile. "It all takes time. You can meet them, if you want. Though Agatha will probably want to cut your hair. Don't let her—her Da already made that mistake."

Bax looked startled. "When did that happen?"

"The day he got that Marine buzz-cut back," Holland said dryly.

Bax went off in a peal of laughter, laughing until he had to rest his head on the railing of the bed, almost crying with hilarity. Holland's eyes met mine and I felt a smile grow on my face—I could picture the whole thing, though the thought of the Alpha sitting still to let his daughter come at him with scissors still boggled my mind.

Holland shook his head ruefully. "It was my fault, not warning him. He's dealt with all sorts of humans and shifters and never put a foot wrong, he raised Abel and Kaden and Cas, but our Agatha slips through his defenses every time."

"That's why you took her markers away after she painted her face?" Bax asked, wiping his streaming eyes.

"It is. I could see her eyeing her little brother and her Da, wondering which would be easier prey. I didn't need that on my plate on top of everything else."

A knock on the door distracted them, something I was extremely happy for. The tightening in my belly had started again, the spasms coming closer together. They felt different this time, like they had direction, and the sharp sting of my omega line opening was spreading.

It was happening.

I did my best to hide it, but Bram noticed something—maybe a change in my breathing, I couldn't tell. But suddenly he was there by my side, checking my eyes, my pulse, the warmth of my cheek. "Adelaide?" he called, then he caught my hand in his and gave me a solemn look. "You're not alone. No one's going to leave you, okay?"

"I'm not worried about that," I told him, but the last word squeaked a little as my current cramp turned into a contraction. The world faded away except for Bram's grip on my hand and the warmth of Bax's hand against my chest. It hurt, more than any of my labors had, with a sharp, tearing pain that made it hard to breathe.