Page 53 of His Prodigal Alpha

Rex pickedhimself up quickly and rushed to my side, his eyes scanning me over intently. “Are you feelin’ okay? Do I need to call Eric? Brandt? An ambulance? Shit, do they evenhaveambulances out this far?”

“The nearest hospital’s about an hour away,” I replied calmly, my heart tripping at his worry, “and, yes, they do have a fleet of three ambulances. But, no, I don’t need one.” I paused and grimaced through another belly cramp. They were painful but reminded me of gas pains more than anything else. Manageable.

I wasn’t naïve enough to believe they’d stay that way.

Still squinting at me with concern and mild panic, he asked, “How the hell are you so calm right now? Shouldn’t you be screamin’ about me never gettin’ to touch you again, or somethin’?”

I couldn’t help laughing at that, feeling marginally guilty at the pang of hurt in his eyes, which he blinked away as I answered, “It’s still super early right now. The contractions aren’t regular, and…theyou-know-whathasn’t formed yet.”

“Birth canal?” he hazarded a (correct) guess. I cringed.

“Shh! Don’t say the words!” I was still really uncomfortable with the concept of developing a whole new orifice. Even though I couldn’t stop my body from going through with it, I didn’t want to think about it.

While I shuddered through the thought, Rex located his discarded clothes and started to re-dress.

“Uh…what are you doing?” I asked, cocking my head.

He froze. “Getting dressed?”

I shook my head. “Nope. Strip.”

“What? Why?”

Frowning, I wondered if he’d paid any attention to any ofBrandt and Eric’s prenatal advice. Slowly, as if talking to a toddler, I answered, “I need you in the shower with me.”

“Uh…”

His bewildered expression would have been both adorable and comical if I wasn’t starting to give in to the discomfort of the cramps andthethingdeveloping between my legs.

“Eric and Brandt said that the warm water will help with the pain from the contractions later on,” I reminded him. “And it makes more sense to be naked for that.”

“But,” picking up on my rising irritation, Rex seemed to do his absolute best to speak calmly and carefully, “aren’t we going to the clinic to have the baby? You know, where they have all the medical tools and things?” He was smart enough to leave the ‘in case something goes wrong’ unspoken. I heard it anyway.

I hated to admit that he actually made a valid point. But…this was my home. I’d gotten comfortable in my apartment over the past few weeks. I’d gotten my bed all cushy, and the whole place smelled like me and Rex. It felt safe. Warm. Welcoming. The perfect location to welcome our cub into the world.

“Plus,” he added even more cautiously while my head warred with my shifter instincts, “your shower is, uh, kinda’ tiny, darlin’. I barely fit in there on my own.”

Damn him and his logic.

My lower lip quivered. Rex’s expression immediately softened and, before I knew it, he’d closed the short distance between us to wrap me in a hug. I clung to him like a life-raft. He really was my safe place.

“It’s gonna be okay, kitten, I promise,” he soothed as the first sobs escaped me. “It’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to changeplans. It’s okay to cry and scream like all those laboring people in the movies do.”

Through my tears, I snorted, but I really appreciated him saying ‘people’ and not ‘women’. Like, I knew that I was only the second documented pregnant male omega in a few centuries, but it was nice not to feel like it made me different. Really, it was likely that most omegascouldget pregnant…as long as they came across their fated mate or, as I kept thinking about it, a compatible alpha. With two of us going through this so close together, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it started becoming more common across the world. Like evolution had kicked into overdrive or whatever.

Anyway, I was thinking in circles, mostly to avoid facing the fact that I was actuallyhavinga baby.

The sense of calm which had settled over me only an hour or so earlier seemed to evaporate into thin air.

I was going into labor.

I was having a baby.

In a handful of hours, I would officially be a dad.

I didn’t knowhowto be a dad.

Why, during all those weeks of prenatal care, had Eric and Brandt not prepared me for that part?

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