Page 19 of Untamed Omega (One Wild Alpha #2)

Markus

Sam had been working from a sitting position a lot lately.

According to his healer, who was me, he had a week or so before he delivered but, then again, shifter pregnancies were wild and often didn’t follow the plans.

Then again, all we had to gauge from were other shifter births, which weren’t well-recorded, and human pregnancy.

I walked over to him and noticed the way he was stretching this way and that but without appearing to receive much relief. “Here, let me rub your back.”

“Oh, thank you. It’s been giving me trouble since this morning.”

That caught my attention. “Since this morning? Low back? Anything else bothering you?”

My omega shook his head. “Not really.”

While I rubbed, Sam hissed several times. “I have to get up. This stool is killing me. Nothing is comfortable nowadays.”

“I’m so sorry. Your legs have been tight too.”

“And swollen feet and this kid of yours keeps jabbing my ribs with his little feet. It’s fine sometimes but not at dawn.”

I rubbed my hands along the circumference of his belly. “Oh, are you bothering your daddy? That’s not nice. You have plenty of time to do that once you’re out here.”

Sam playfully slapped at my shoulder. “Stop that. He or she is going to be an absolute angel, just like Elise.”

Snorting, I shook my head. “The same Elise who threw a fit last night because Kellan tried to feed her potatoes?” Elise was a meat eater. Meat and nothing else. I knew it was a phase, but Kellan was concerned.

“Yes. That one. A very particular and persistent angel with lungs like a…like something with big lungs.”

We shared a laugh but, only seconds later, my mate’s smile turned into a frown. His eyes grew wide with wonder. “Markus. My water broke.”

I looked down and stared. My loud laughter had somehow drowned out the sound of my mate’s water breaking. “Sam, I think your backache is labor. Are the pains coming at regular intervals?”

He nodded then doubled over and cried out. I had to try not to. I’d delivered plenty of babies before coming here to the sanctuary, but never my own.

“All right, Sam. We’ve gone over this. You know what to do.”

Another nod. He waddled over to the bathroom and before anything, I knew that he would want to shower.

Water breaking wasn’t urine, of course, but it often made omegas feel a bit icky.

I didn’t blame them. “After the shower, where would you like to go?” I kept one hand on his back as he washed himself off.

“To the floor. My bear wants to go to the floor. On all fours. Hey, that rhymes.”

“Sort of.”

My mate leaned on me as we walked to the bedroom area. I quickly unfolded the thin mattress we’d bought for this occasion and got out the towels and the blankets. On the side was the medical kit, for cutting the umbilical cord.

We were ready for this. No amount of ready could take away the pain Sam was about to endure, but I hoped it would be replaced by awe at our baby.

“Can I examine you?”

Sam snorted. “Of course you can. It’s not like I have anything you haven’t seen before, Markus.”

“I know but this isn’t sex, my love. This is clinical.”

“Thank you for being respectful. Now, tell me if I’m ready to push this baby out.” He positioned himself on hands and knees, and I got behind him to examine him. He was, in fact, dilated and was ready to push this baby out. Omegas bodies were miracles in themselves.

“You’re ready, omega. Let your bear lead you. He knows what to do.”

Sam bore down, shifting back on his hips and pushed. He cried out my name, the goddess’ name, and cursed us both. Normal, of course.

Three more pushes from him and I saw the head. “The baby’s head is at the opening. A few more pushes and we have our cub. Come on, omega. You can do this.”

The next sound out of his mouth was guttural and came straight from his bear. Our baby came out and instantly began to cry. So did my omega. So did I.

“He’s here,” I said, wiping some of the fluids off of him. “We have a son, Sam.”

“We’re a family,” he said.

“Sam, my omega, we always have been.”