Page 20 of Untamed Omega

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.”

Chapter Twenty

Sam

Boredom was no longer a problem. Despite my new position as facilitator with the escapees who’d made their way or were brought to us, I’d still had plenty of time on my hands until the moment my mate placed our son in my arms.

He was such a little thing with a red face and waving arms, and I was instantly madly in love. What I didn’t know was that this tiny boy, the one we named Cody and whose nursery was fully decorated and ready to go, who latched on and chest fed like a world champion, did not intend to sleep…ever.

Every time I thought he was down for a while and I’d be able to follow the common wisdom of resting when the baby did, his eyes flew open and he wanted to eat or play or have a new diaper or just generally fuss.

After about a week, not only I but Markus were running on fumes. We were sitting on the sofa with Cody, passing him back and forth like a hot potato. He was adorable and sweet and wide awake.

“We could put him down,” I said, “and see if he’ll fall asleep.”

“We tried that an hour ago,” Markus replied, “and he just cried.”

“Right.” We’d tried everything we could think of, but this child not only didn’t sleep, he didn’t want to be put down. Some of the other parents said to let him cry, but it broke our hearts to hear him be sad.

But if things didn’t change, Cody was going to be an orphan with parents who died from sleep deprivation.

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