Page 46 of Ronen (Sweet Alps Legacy #1)

Chapter Thirty-Five

Ronen

August

This was bloody awful.

Whoever said giving birth was a beautiful thing was a complete wanker.

There was nothing beautiful about this at all.

I was covered in sweat, stuff was dripping from me, and the pain was absolutely unbearable.

Well, it had been until the nice man had come in with the lovely drugs. Now I just felt pressure. So much pressure.

“You’re doing so good, baby,” Mason wiped my face with a cool, damp cloth. “You’re amazing.”

“Damn right I am,” I panted, “And don’t you forget it.”

“Okay, Ronen,” Lily called from somewhere between my legs, “One more good push, and your baby’s head should be out.”

“Agggghhh,” I yelled from between gritted teeth, holding onto my knees, Mason’s strong hands supporting my back and helping me get a good push.

The pressure built until I didn’t think I could take it anymore, then crested and was done.

“Good, good!” Lily encouraged, “Now the next one, nice and easy. We need to get the shoulders out.”

The next few minutes were nothing but a blur, of Lily and Mason shouting instructions and encouragement, and my body feeling like I was no longer in control of it.

When I felt the baby slip from me, I collapsed into Mason’s arms, half laughing, half crying. He covered my face in kisses, saying nonsense words I couldn’t make out.

An angry wail filled the room, and I half laughed, half cried. “He’s here!”

Mason laughed too, his eyes shining. “And he is pissed! Must take after you,” he teased.

“He looks healthy,” Lily told us, laying the screaming, wet, red baby on my bare chest.

“Hello,” I crooned, running a hand over the baby’s back.

His dark hair was wetly plastered to his head, his face was scrunched up and reddish purple, as he screamed his lungs off, and he was absolutely the most beautiful sight I had ever seen.

“Hello, Colton,” Mason whispered, touching the baby like he was a piece of glass that might break. “Welcome to the world.”

“Colton?” A deep voice sounded offended from the doorway. “You’re naming my grandson Colton? ”

“Out!” I yelled, pointing at my dad. “Get. Out. Boundaries! Learn them!”

Jamie didn’t look sorry at all about practically walking in on his son giving birth. “I just wanted to make sure everything was going alright in here, and you were doing fine. You were taking forever. Your papa was worried.”

Bash appeared, grabbing his husband by the arm. “His papa was not worried! His papa told you to sit your ass in that hospital seat and to not move. This is what I get for having to use the loo. I should have known better than to leave you alone for even a minute.”

Bash pulled Jamie out of the room, calling, “We’ll be back when you are ready for visitors, Ronen. We love you! Colton is a fine name!”

Lily snickered from where she was still between my legs, doing whatever she was doing. “You’d think I would be used to your family after all these years, but nope. They still shock the hell out of me sometimes.”

She handed Mason a pair of surgical scissors. “Want to cut the cord, Daddy?”

“Yes,” Mason nodded like an overeager dog, but his hands were shaking as he cut through the umbilical cord that tied the baby to me.

Enfolding me and the baby in a hug, he whispered, “I love you so much. You were amazing. He’s amazing.”

Looking down at our son, who was staring at us quietly now, with unfocused eyes, I had to agree with my mate.

Mason

“As birthday presents go, this one tops all of them,” Matty stared down in awe at his sleeping nephew in his arms. ‘You always were such an overachiever, Ro.”

“I figure after this, I don’t owe you any more presents for life.” Ronen waved a hand at the baby. “I got you a baby for your birthday. You’re welcome.”

Jamie and Bash entered the room, laden down with gift bags and balloons.

“You didn’t have to get us anything else,” I told them, taking the bags from them. “You did enough at the baby shower.”

“Don’t ever tell grandparents they can’t buy for their grandchild,” Bash gave me an annoyed look. “Honestly. What is wrong with you?”

Holding up my hands in defeat, I slid back onto the bed next to Ronen.

He snuggled in, his head on my chest, and stifled a yawn.

It had been a long day, and we were both exhausted.

Plus we’d had an endless stream of Ronen’s visiting family.

On top of a facetime call with my family that had lasted over an hour.

Mostly consisting of me holding my phone so they could stare at a sleeping Colton.

Jamie scooped the baby from Matty, who squawked at his dad. “Um, excuse you, that’s my birthday present you just stole.”

“Get over it,” Jamie smiled down at the baby, plopping his butt on an empty chair. Bash looked over his shoulder, fussing with the blankets the baby was wrapped in.

“So,” Jamie asked us, “how set are we on the name Colton? Like has it been put on any legal documents yet or is there some wiggle room?”

Ronen raised his head off my chest, glaring daggers at his dad. “Very set. His name is Colton. Deal with it, old man.”

“Sounds like a cowboy,” Jamie muttered, while Bash told him to shush.

“Exactly,” Ronen grinned unapologetically. “Colton Sinclair Caldwell.”

Jamie shook his head, sighing dramatically. “That’s a big name for such a little fellow. We shall call you Colt.”

“We shall not,” Bash shook his head. “His name is Colton.”

“Eh,” Jamie wasn’t agreeing to any such thing.

“My dad is going to call him Colt, too,” I told them. “But he’s horse crazy and probably thinks we named him in some homage to him and my family ranch. We just liked the name.”

“Colt,” Jamie said to the baby, “I think you should have a colt of your own.”

“We have horses already,” I told them, “but when he’s older, sure.”

“Horses?” Jamie gave me a strange look. “I’m talking a gun, son. ”

“Nope,” Ronen shook his head. “No. You will not. Do you hear me? Absolutely not.”

“Your papa is no fun,” Jamie stage whispered to the sleeping baby, who thankfully was paying no attention to his grandfather. “We just won’t tell him what we get up to, now will we?”

“Yes, that is correct,” Ronen snarked, crossing his arms over his chest. “That’s me. The fun killer.”

“Let’s just stick with the horse,” I muttered.

Several hours later, we were finally alone, Colton sleeping in the little clear plastic bassinet next to the bed.

Ronen watched me from the bed, as I flitted about the room, cleaning up, making sure we were stocked for diapers and wipes for the night.

“Mason,” he held a hand out to me, “come to bed. He’ll be up again, soon enough, and all of that can wait until tomorrow.”

“I’m just making sure we have everything we need.”

“If we don’t, we have this handy call button.” He waved the call remote for the nurses at me. “Come to bed. I want to sleep on your chest and have your heartbeat lull me to sleep.”

Well, when he said things like that, I couldn’t resist doing what he asked.

Sliding in beside him, he got settled, his head on my chest, and I wrapped him in my arms.

“Marry me,” I whispered.

“Claim me,” Ronen whispered at the same time.

“What?” I raised my head to look into his green eyes staring up at me.

“What?”

“You first,” I told him.

“I want you to claim me,” he repeated. “And I want to claim you, obviously. It won’t be a one-sided claiming. ”

My brow wrinkled, “Is that a thing?”

He shrugged, “Don’t know. Just making sure my expectations were clear.”

“Marry me,” I repeated, not making it a question.

“Yes,” he grinned up at me, then laid his head back down. “But I want to ride your dragon.”

Groaning, I sighed. “This again?”

“Those are my terms. Marry you and I get to ride the dragon. And by ride the dragon, I’m not talking about your dick.”

Sighing dramatically, I said, “Fine. As long as Connor can make something to secure you.”

“My honey badger is small. So it doesn’t have to be too big.”

Eyebrows raised, I said, “Now your honey badger wants to ride?”

“Of course.”

“Of course, how silly of me.”

“Fine, your honey badger can ride, honey.”

“No,” Ronen said sharply, shaking his head. “No. We aren’t starting that. That will not be a thing .”

Placing a kiss on top of his head, I just smiled, content with my omega in my arms, our child sleeping next to us.

Ronen raised his head up, looking over at the bassinet, then laid his head back on my chest.

“Everything okay?” I whispered.

He rubbed his head against me, yawning. “Just the ghosts checking on the baby. They’ve been scarce today. Hospitals aren’t their favorite places.”

Ronen fell asleep a few minutes later, and I shifted him in my arms. Looking over at the bassinet, our son sleeping peacefully, I nearly jumped when his blanket levitated in the air, before covering his shoulders snugly .

“Uh, thanks,” I whispered, feeling foolish talking to thin air. “And thank you for helping him that night. And I guess, thanks for pushing me down the stairs. Without that…nudge, we might not be here today.”

I shivered as I swore a cold hand cupped my cheek, patting it gently, then was gone.