Page 77 of Rhett

“You heard her,” Rhett said. “Move.”

Crouching by Heidi, I noticed her water had broken. “How far apart are your contractions?”

She grabbed her stomach. “Every four minutes, and they last for one minute.”

“Breathe,” the man clutching her hand ordered.

“Shut it, Bruce!” Heidi shouted. “Can’t you see that I’m trying?”

“I’m only helping, darling,” Bruce offered.

Heidi’s face was beet red as she huffed and puffed. “Well, zip it.”

Bruce rubbed her shoulders.

Eyeing Bruce, I said, “I presume you’re her mate.”

“You presume correctly, little lady, and I need to take her home to our birthing nest.”

“Bruce, I hate to break it to you, but your baby is on its way now.” I peered at Rhett. “We’re going to need to move her somewhere close that’s big and relatively clean.”

He gestured to the tent to our left. “This hospitality tent should do the trick.”

The audience continued pressing toward us.

“People, please step back,” Rhett ordered.

Heidi wailed.

I glanced over at Bruce and Rhett. “We need to move her quickly into the tent.” They both did as ordered, carefully carrying her inside.

“Get her on the cot in the corner,” I directed. “Bruce, sit down behind her, then ease her between your legs. We need to help her into a position to get her through contractions.” Once that was accomplished, I said, “Rhett, I’m going to need some clean cloths and a sharp instrument to cut the cord.”

He nodded and left the tent to handle his assignment.

Heidi wasn’t coping well with her contractions.

I patted her arm. “Heidi, I know this is not the best of circumstances, but we have to make do.” I took a deep breath, worried because I didn’t have any of my medical instruments needed to check her vitals and listen to the baby’s as well, but I had to roll with it.

Rhett returned with the things I had asked for.

I heard lots of noise outside, too close to the tent.

“Rhett, can you please keep everyone out of here?” I requested.

He nodded. “Will do.” He marched out of the tent. “Go on, people. Move. Everything’s being handled.”

Heidi wailed in pain again. Removing her panties, I checked her vagina. The head was crowning. Heidi was ready to deliver.

“Push!” I ordered. “Heidi, push.”

* * *

Hours later, Rhett and I stood by his cruiser, watching partiers dancing the night away.

“You were amazing back there,” Rhett praised. “You were solid as a rock and so confident. Are you sure this was your first time delivering shifters?”

“Hell yes.” I emptied my water bottle, tossing it into the nearby recycling bin. “I’ve helped deliver lots of babies but never triplet rabbit-shifters. That was a whole different experience for me.”