Page 124 of Vegas Baby!

Omega labors tended to go fairly quickly, though goingthatfast wasn’t as common. Still, it was better safe than sorry.

“Shit,” said Luke.

“What?”

“Charlotte’s probably already at the airport in New York to fly out.”

I had almost forgotten she would be making the trip out here with all of the chaos. “The guest rooms are already set up for her and the kids; we just haven’t done the grocery shop. We can put in an order to have it delivered.”

Ava’s face pinched and she let out a squeak.

“Sweetness, was that another contraction?”

She swept her hand over her belly. “Yep.”

That was only four minutes since the last one. It was possible she had been in labor for longer and all the sensations of Lukeand Micah playing with her had drowned out the early signs. Either way, we needed to get a move on.

“Okay, let’s get you to the hospital.”

I passed my keychain to Callie. “The hospital bag is up in the nursery. Your pack knows where to go.” I helped Ava to her feet, getting her quickly bundled in the green dress she had worn over here.

“You’re a lifesaver, Cal,” said Luke. “We may need to get someone to pick up Charlotte and the kids from the airport tonight.”

“We’ve got it covered,” Callie promised. Ava had given her a brief rundown of everything during another of their hangouts, so Callie wasn’t entirely out of the loop and wasting time on questions when we needed to get moving. “Go be with your omega. Anything that needs doing will get figured out.”

We navigated Ava out of the studio and down to our van, pausing for another contraction on the way. We pulled out one of the middle seats so it was easier for Ava to get into the back, and just left it on the studio lawn for now. I got her settled in the back row and seat belted, Luke on one side, and me on the other. Bryce took the remaining middle seat, and Micah climbed into the driver seat, getting onto the road to the hospital.

Ava whined with another contraction and cuddled into Luke’s arms. I tried to push down my nerves, but each contraction was moving closer than the last. The vehicle slowed after a few minutes and I turned my attention from Ava to the road ahead of us that was full of gridlock traffic.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“It’s rush hour,” Micah defended. “The hospital Ness works at is downtown.”

I bit down on a growl. It was going to be fine. Rush hour was shit, but it wasn’t the end of the world. We should, in theory,have a few hours before the baby would be making its entrance into the world.

My optimism waned bit by bit as minutes turned into hours and we found out it wasn’t just rush hour slowing us down, but a pile-up accident blocking the major intersection that kept us trapped on this road.

The vehicle smelled of burnt sugar. It didn’t matter how much we tried to comfort Ava, we couldn’t do anything about the pain. It wasn’t detrimental to me through the bond quite yet, but each of her contractions sent an ache through my body.

“Keep breathing for me, sweetness.” I led her through the exercises, her little hand shaking in mine as the waves of pain hit her. “You’re doing so good. We’re almost there.”

“Jesseee,” she whined. “The baby feels really low.”

“Do you want me to check?”

Ava nodded, white-knuckling Luke’s arm with a whimper. We were moving slowly enough I took the risk and got onto the floor of the vehicle in front of her. Lifting the skirt of her dress sent a flare of panic down my spine.

“What? What is it? What’s wrong?”

“That is a crowning baby. They’re coming right now.”

“But we’re on the road!” Ava cried.

“It’s all going to be okay. I’ve delivered a baby before. Micah, get your sister on speakerphone right now.”

He hit the button on the console, filling the vehicle with the sound of ringing and Janessa’s voice a moment later.

“How’s the labor progressing?” she asked.

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