Page 32 of His Orc Warrior

“What?” His hand automatically went up to where my gaze fixed—a spot as clean as all the rest of his face. My chuckle brought a flush to those cheeks. “Not fair. You’re mean.”

“No, and I’m glad you liked the cake. I’ve never been known for my baking, and the fact you’re willing to eat so much of it makes me feel better about life.”

“Does that mean you’ll make another one?”

“Yes.”

He lit up and came over to throw his arms around me. “You’re the best alpha.”

“I am. And that is why I will bake a cake tomorrow, but you have to eat your oatmeal for breakfast.” I stood him up and gave him a pat on the bottom. “I’ll make it now, while you take your shower.”

Lucas took a couple of steps past me toward the kitchen door, calling over his shoulder, “How big a—”

I waited for him to continue, but when he didn’t, I turned to see him clinging to the doorframe, trembling from head to toe. “Omega!” I stood from the stool where I’d been sitting, catching a heel on the leg and sending the seat tumbling to the floor. “Lucas!”

He crumpled, eyes closing and knees giving way just as I got close to him and gathered him in my arms.

“Omega?” He was still quiet, limp, and I carried him into the living room to lay him on the sofa and call for help. Since it had been determined, primarily by the size of the fetus, that he carried an orkling for sure, we’d been visiting the orc healer more often than the human one, and so the orc healer was who I called. “He’s unconscious. Can you get here right away?”

We’d had a birth plan that involved going to the healers’ suite and giving birth in the delivery room there, but with Lucas in this shape, I was afraid to take him anywhere.

“Get him in bed, undressed, and I’ll be there in ten minutes.” The healer disconnected, and for a weird moment, I was afraid he’d meant I should be undressed. But I shook that off and went to the living room, so glad we were on paternity leave and able to be in the village full-time.

“Alpha?” Lucas called. “What happened?”

I raced back to his side. “You had your first contraction, I think, and you fainted a little.”

“C-can you faint a little?” He offered me a faint smile. “Boy, what fortitude, huh? I think…oh…wait…another is coming.”

I watched him carefully, as if I could do anything to help. In fact, I’d never felt so helpless in my life. The moment he lay back panting, I lifted him and, after pausing to make sure the front door was unlocked, carried him to the bedroom, laid him on the bed, and carefully undressed him between contractions that seemed to roll over one another. When he lay naked, I tenderly tucked the covers over him and sat on the edge of the mattress, tense as a coiled spring.

A hundred years—more likely ten minutes—later, I heard the front door open.

“We’re in the master bedroom,” I called, as if they would know where that was. Fortunately, they were able to follow my voice. They as in both healers. The room was soon crowded with two orcs and two humans, one of whom was rocketing toward delivery.

“Now, slow down, Lucas,” counseled Healer Fred. “You can’t push until you are fully dilated.” He was working with my omega on the finer points of his body while Healer Otis monitored the baby’s position and condition.

They were so serious, I began to wonder if I needed to be scared, but they also seemed to know just what they were doing, and seriousness was not alarm.

“He’s ready.” Healer Fred waved me to the head of the bed. “That’s where you stand for now. You are in charge of moral support and being sure that your omega hears our instructions. Can you do that?”

I nodded, hoping I could, and took Lucas’ hand again. “We are ready.”

From there, things went very fast. Three hard pushes and our son arrived. Green, healthy, with the tiny bumps that would one day be tusks. And with a set of lungs that made my orc heartproud. Our son whose emergence I watched from the head of the bed. I wasn’t sure if I was prouder of him or of his daddy who brought him safely into life.

Oliver, named after Lucas’ alpha father. Turned out, his human parents were every bit as concerned about his partner in life, despite my early thoughts that they might not. I just didn’t meet them until we had officially mated. It made me happy to realize he also had a strong loving family. Add in my mom and dad, and our son was going to have four fantastic grandparents. And two dads who loved him to the moon and back.

Epilogue

Lucas

I picked up Oliver and put him in the baby-carrier wrap, snuggling him in close. I thought he might stay awake long enough for us to walk over to his grandparents’ house, but he had other ideas in mind and was mostly asleep before I got him into the carrier. And I was glad for it.

Oliver wasn’t one to want to miss anything. And that meant sometimes, he tried to push through his tiredness. When he did that, it never ended well.

Giving in was better for all of us. He got the sleep he needed and we got a happy baby.

He was currently going through a growth spurt, and right now, he was either eating, sleeping, or crying. Those were his three modes.

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