Page 44 of Ronen (Sweet Alps Legacy #1)

Chapter Thirty-Three

Mason

If Ronen didn’t calm down, they were going to have to give him something to calm him down.

Lily gave us a reassuring smile, as the nurse wheeled the ultrasound machine into the hospital room they had assigned Ronen.

Sebastian–Bash–his omega dad was on one side of him, trying to calm him, and I was on the other doing the same thing.

Bash pushed Ronen’s messy, sweaty hair back from his forehead. “Sweetheart, everything will be alright, I promise you. Your baby is fine.”

Bash and I shared a look over Ronen’s head, both of us worried, but not about to let Ronen know how much. Frankly, I was terrified, but I couldn’t let my mate know that. When he had collapsed in my arms I had nearly lost it.

“Where is Matty?” Ronen cried, looking around the room with panicked eyes.

“He’s being taken care of,” Bash kept his voice low and calm, while I watched the doctor fiddle with the machine to get it ready. “Your dad is with him. Let’s worry about you first, shall we? Then I’ll go look in on your brother.”

Ronen grabbed at his papa’s hand, green eyes wild. “And everyone else! No one got hurt, right? No one got bit? I heard the wolves, and uncle Quinn’s cat. They were there, weren’t they?”

Bash nodded, perching on the edge of the bed by Ronen’s hip.

“They were. Ryan and Charlie stayed behind. Uncle Brendan didn’t want their foxes anywhere near the snakes.

But they waited with clothes for everyone and called for the ambulances when they saw–” he glanced at me, then turned his head to look at the hospital personnel. “That the threat had been neutralized.”

I stared at Bash with narrowed eyes. That was not a typical word choice. Yep, I was definitely starting to think those rumors about Ronen’s parents were true.

“Okay, Ronen,” Lily said, her voice pleasant and most importantly, calm, “Are you ready to see your baby?”

Ronen took a shaky breath, his eyes glistening with tears. “Do you think I hurt the baby by shifting? I haven’t felt them move.”

His hand splayed across his stomach, and I covered it lightly with mine. He turned watery eyes to Bash. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you before now.”

“I wanted to tell you,” I said, totally throwing Ronen under the bus. Sorry, but his parents were scary and I didn’t need to be on their bad side.

Bash gave me a long look, his face unsmiling.

“Did you honestly think we didn’t know?” he gave a small snort, his accent sounding even more clipped and pronounced than before.

“Please. We’ve known for months. We’ve just been waiting on you to tell us,” He gently cupped Ronen’s face.

“You always told us things in your own time.”

Wait. They knew? How did they know? Never mind. I probably didn’t want to know.

“Ronen,” Lily broke in, giving us a smile, “do you honestly think you are the first patient of mine who has shifted after the twelve week mark? You aren’t. I’m sure everything is fine.” She patted his hand. “Until we know we have something to worry about, we aren’t going to worry.”

It was something she had told us at our first appointment, and I hoped the faith I was putting in the doctor wasn’t misplaced.

Once Ronen had his gown pulled up, and the blanket covering his lower half, Lily wasted no time starting the procedure.

She ran the hard wand over his stomach for what felt like forever, before she smiled broadly, and turned the screen so that we could all see the figure on it.

It looked so much different than the first time we had seen our baby on the screen.

This time it actually looked like a baby.

“Your baby is fine.” She pointed to the screen. “There’s the head and ah, I think I see why you haven’t felt them move. Look,” she pointed again, and we all leaned in closer, “they appear to be sleeping. Slept right through all the action.”

“Is that…are they…” Ronen leaned towards the screen. “Are they sucking their thumb?”

Lily nodded, “They sure are. Here’s the heartbeat.”

There was a rapid fluttering on the screen, and then she turned the volume up and the whoosh whoosh of the baby’s heartbeat filled the room.

Emotion washed over me, relief and so much love for this tiny person Ronen and I had created.

“It’s so fast,” I said, my voice choked and raspy, and Ronen squeezed my hand.

“That’s a good sign,” Lily told us, taking some measurements on the screen. “Everything looks good, and your baby is healthy. We’ll keep monitoring you, but I don’t think you did any damage, so stop feeling guilty, okay?”

Ronen sniffled, nodded, but said nothing.

Bash’s eyes were suspiciously glistening, as he stared at the screen in awe.

“Might we have a few pictures?” he asked, “I’m sure Jamie would love to see this.”

Honestly, I was a little surprised the man hadn’t appeared in the room by now, but he had been loathe to leave Matty’s side. I just hoped the fact that he hadn’t shown up yet didn’t mean Matty wasn’t out of the woods yet.

“Would you like to know the sex?” Lily asked us quietly, and I spun my head to look at Ronen.

He gave a little shrug, and a smile that said ‘do we?’ Then we both nodded at the same time.

“Yes, yes we would,” I told her.

“Congratulations, it’s a boy!”

“A boy,” Ronen whispered, looking down at his tiny baby bump. “You’ re a boy.”

Bash wiped at his eyes, smiling broadly. “Well, that’s just splendid now, isn’t it?”

Leaning down, I kissed Ronen hard. “We’re having a boy.”

“We are,” he giggled, relief in the sound. His entire body had visibly relaxed once Lily had assured us our baby wasn’t in danger.

“I love you,” I whispered, staring into his green eyes. “I thought I was going to lose you, and–”

“I know,” Ronen cupped my cheek. “I felt the same way. I love you so much, Mason. So much. I’m sorry I’ve been dragging my feet. I want us to live together, I don’t care what house, though yours makes more sense. I don’t want to live another minute without you, next to me, always.”

Joy overwhelmed me at his admission, only to be interrupted by a soft knock on the door. My deputy, Hank Anderson, poked his head in. “Can I see you outside, boss?”

“Ah, sure.” Untangling myself from Ronen, I gave him a soft kiss on the lips. “I’ll be right back. And, yes, to all of that. Yes.”

I followed Hank down the corridor to a small waiting room that was empty. He had his little notepad out, that I knew he used at scenes and on calls.

“There was a small fire out on the edge of town,” Hank started, “at the old abandoned manufacturing plant.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I kept my face bland. “I heard.”

“And Ronen and Matthew Sinclair were both kidnapped, but I’m assuming you know that.”

“Yes, I’m aware, obviously. Ronen is my fated mate.”

“He’s okay?” Hank asked, looking up from his notes.

“Well enough.”

“And Matty? ”

“Well enough.” We hadn’t heard otherwise yet, so I was going to put as many good thoughts out into the universe as possible.

“Do we know what was behind the kidnapping? Or who?”

I shrugged. “No clue.”

Hank stared at me hard and I stared right back, before he looked down at his notebook.

“There’s a whole lotta dead snake shifters that were found inside the building. Throats ripped out by some kind of animal.”

“Good riddance.” I ran a hand through my disheveled hair. “If you think I’m gonna feel bad that the people that took my mate, and nearly killed his brother, are dead, I’m not. Those rattler shifters cause nothing but trouble. Sweet Alps is better off with them dead.”

“You swore an oath,” Hank’s voice was soft.

“To my mate. And our child. Bad people come to bad ends. They got what they deserved.” My voice was hard, but I didn’t care what Hank, or anyone else, thought of my feelings on this matter.

“Some people driving in the vicinity reported seeing a–” he consulted his notebook once more, “–a really big thing flying in the sky, that was breathing fire, made god-awful noises, and I quote, ‘Looked like a dragon’. I suppose you don’t know anything about that either?”

“Dragons aren’t real,” I snorted. “Next thing you know, someone will report seeing a unicorn.”

Hank rolled his eyes. “That’s just crazy talk. We don’t need to spend our time chasing down sightings of mythical creatures.” He sighed loudly, “This has Jamie Sinclair’s name written all over it.”

“The man’s sons were kidnapped,” I snapped, “it seems like he defended them and himself. He got them back. That’s all I care about. I honestly don’t care by what means he did it. If he was involved.”

“If he was involved. ” Hank snapped his notebook shut. “This seems like a bunch of paperwork I don’t want to have to deal with. Self-defense. Let’s go with that.”

Nodding, I clapped him on the back. “Good man. Thank you, Hank.”

“I never wanted any of this to touch you. I’m so sorry.”

The whispered words had me stirring in the hard as fuck hospital chair I had fallen asleep in at Ronen’s bedside. Blinking my eyes open, I stared at the figure of Jamie Sinclair poised next to Ronen’s hip on the bed.

The man’s face was gray and grim; he looked like he had aged ten years in the last few hours.

He brushed Ronen’s messy hair back from his forehead. “If I had lost you, or your brother, I–” his voice cracked before trailing off, not finishing his sentence .

Ronen clasped his dad’s hand in his tightly. “We’re both going to be fine. But I do expect answers one day.”

Jamie nodded, looking away. “It was an old mission, that I thought was put to bed. I should have been more vigilant and kept an eye on Dimitrios. I got complacent, and I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.”

Ronen was silent, and the two just stared at each other for long moments, that I didn’t want to interrupt with my own questions for Jamie.

“I’m just so thankful that both my boys are going to be okay,” Jamie whispered, and Ronen flicked his gaze to the empty doorway.

“William had a lot to do with that,” he finally whispered, and Jamie’s head shot up.

The man looked startled hearing that. “He tried to warn me danger was coming, and I refused to listen to him. But he showed up for me and Matty tonight. He, with some help, got the door open. It’s how we got out. He helped save us.”

Jamie seemed to be at war with himself on how to respond to this news. Finally, he mumbled, “Tell him thank you, when you see him again.”

Ronen looked back at the doorway. “Tell him yourself. He’s here now.”

Jamie inhaled sharply, sitting up straighter. But he didn’t turn to the empty doorway, and his eyes had taken on a hard edge to them. Finally, his voice sounding strangled, he whispered, “Thank you for helping save my sons. You’re still a bastard, but I appreciate any assistance you offered."

Ronen raised one dark brow at his dad’s half-hearted thanks. “That’s the best you got? Really? ”

“Sure as fuck is,” Jamie stood up, straightening the blankets over Ronen. “This doesn’t mean he’s forgiven for shit. But I’m grateful that he tried to help. It was the least he could do.”

Ronen blew out a breath, “Fine. You’re not wrong about that.”

Jamie leaned down and planted a kiss on Ronen’s forehead. “Get some rest. You and the baby need it. About fucking time you told us. Thought I was going to have to break into Finn’s computer system just to find out my grandson’s due date. You’re as stubborn as your papa.”

Ronen snorted, “Funny, Papa says I’m as stubborn as you.”

I watched Jamie slip silently from the room, before climbing onto the bed with Ronen and gathering him into my arms. My hand rested firmly on the mound that was our baby. “Someday you’ll need to tell me the story of William and what he’s done.”

Ronen yawned, snuggling into my side, “Mmmm, someday.”

Relaxing, I let my eyes drift back closed, my omega and baby wrapped safely in my arms, where they belonged.