by Hawke Oakley
“You’re so fucking hot,” I muttered. Leaning over, I put my arms on either side of Mason like a cage. I rocked my hips back and thrust into him, slow and deep. Sweat rolled down both of our foreheads. As I gently fucked him, I felt my cock swelling and filling him. I bit my lip. My whole body pulsed with arousal and need; my alpha instincts told me to fuck Mason and fill him with my seed, even though he was already pregnant.
“Fuck me harder, please,” Mason begged. “I need it so badly.”
Gripping the sheets, I obliged him. I pulled back and thrust into him as deep as my cock would go. He cried out. I leaned down and bit his neck gently, leaving a mark to claim him as mine. That made my dick swell even more. My hips rocked furiously as I fucked him, deep and fast and hard. His own cock was hard again and pressed against his stomach. Every time I thrusted into him, the motion caused friction and his cock inched closer to another orgasm.
Mason threw his arms around my neck desperately. His breathing was short and choppy as he murmured my name under his breath. I was so close to cumming, and I knew he was too.
“I love you, my mate,” I growled as I possessively bit the other side of his neck.
“I love you, too,” Mason murmured.
With a final thrust, I let out a deep growl as my cock exploded. Thick ropes of cum shot inside Mason’s ass. His cock twitched and came as well, spilling for a second time across his swollen belly.
I exhaled and collapsed on the bed. “Holy shit.”
Mason wiped himself off with a grumble and then shuffled closer to me. He rested his head on my chest, and I wrapped my arms around him. His scent was like a drug. I couldn’t stop smelling him.
“Cut that out or we’re gonna have to have a round two,” he muttered.
I laughed breathlessly. “So, you’re not opposed to that, or…?”
He pulled up the blankets over us. “Keep your dick in your pants, alpha. It’s time for bed.”
I kissed his forehead. “Alright, my little omega. My wish is your command.”
“Good.”
We drifted off easily into a content sleep. For now, our life was perfect. We had friends, our pack, and each other.
Now all that was left was for Mason to deliver his pups, but that was two and a half months to come. All we could do was wait.
Chapter 9: Mason
I woke in a cold sweat.
I shot up in bed - well, as much as I could with a belly that was five and a half months swollen and close to exploding. My elbows dug into the bed and my breaths came out short and choppy. A slowly building pain was clawing its way up from my stomach. I swallowed hard and prayed it would go away.
I tried to lay back down, but then a sharp pain shot up my body and I gasped.
Beside me, my mate roused. When he saw the look of agony on my face, he instantly got up.
“Mason?” Jericho growled. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything hurts,” I whimpered.
His brow knitted in sympathy before his gaze flitted to my belly. “Is it the baby?” he asked.
“I don't know!” I cried. “I’ve never had a damn baby before, how am I supposed to know what it feels like?”
Jericho was instantly on his feet, digging for his cell phone. “I’m calling Ken. Even if you’re not having the baby right now, I want him to know about this.”
“Okay,” I said breathlessly. Ken had been the one giving me regular checkups for the past five and a half months. I trusted him, and I was relieved knowing that he’d be coming over soon.
“Ken? Can you get over here? Fast?” Jericho spoke quickly. He paused. “Yeah, I think it might be the baby. Okay. See you soon.”
He hung up and immediately ran to the bathroom, getting me a glass of water and a moist towel for my forehead. I felt clammy and disgusting and I must’ve been making the ugliest expression from the amount of pain I was in, but I couldn’t even bring myself to care. It was like my stomach was being ripped out from the inside.
I groaned while tossing and turning in bed. Finally the door open and Ken rushed in with his supply kit. He spoke to Jericho for a moment before turning his attention to me. He did some measurements and poked around my body quickly before he shook his head.
“We can’t do this here,” he stated. “He needs to be taken to the hospital for a c-section.”
“What?” Jericho cried. “But you delivered Casey at home, why can’t you do the same thing here?”
“Because Mason isn’t just having one pup,” Ken snapped. “He’s having two.”
I stared at him like I’d been shocked.
Jericho’s jaw dropped.
“You’ll have time to gawk later,” Ken growled as he put away his medical equipment. “Come on. We need to get Mason to the hospital, now.”
Suddenly I felt a flash of desperation and panic. My hand shot out to grab Jericho’s arm. “Wait,” I whimpered.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I - I want Beth there, too,” I said.
He nodded in sympathy. “Okay. I’ll call her and tell her to meet us there.”
“Thank you,” I whimpered.
I felt pathetic and weak and fucking scared. I’d never given birth before, and now here I was with not just one, but two pups about to come out of me. Wasn’t the first pup too late? Wasn’t the second too early? I trembled with fear and uncertainty.
But then I felt Jericho’s strong arms embrace me. He cradled me in his arms and looked down at me with a firm but gentle nod.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” he reassured me. “I promise.”
A sense of calm cut through my anxiety like a soothing knife. I found myself trusting Jericho and believing in his words. If he said it would be okay, it must be true.
“Okay,” I said with a tiny nod.
***
I had nearly blacked out with pain on the way to the hospital, and the memories of how we even got there were vague at best. I think Jericho must have carried me or something, because I felt sweat drip down his forehead before he and Ken placed me on the stretcher.
“...your name Mason?”
“Huh?” I asked, blinking underneath the harsh fluorescent lighting.
“Is your name Mason?” the woman asked again. A nurse, I realized.
“Yeah,” I croaked.
“We’re going to get you feeling better soon, don’t worry. The pup is on its way out,” she said.
“Pups,” Ken corrected. “I’m a doctor and I gave him a quick once-over before we came here. He’s having two.”
Her brows raised. “Two, eh?” she said to me with a smile. “Well, aren’t you lucky.”
Right now, I did not feel lucky at all. My whole body was wracked with pain. Jericho held my hand, and I felt like I was nearly tearing it off with the amount of force I was mustering. But my sweet alpha never complained. He gazed down at me with eyes full of sympathy.
“I know it hurts,” he said, smoothing back my hair with his free hand that I wasn’t currently crushing. “But it’s going to be all over soon, and you’re going to forget about the pain as soon as you see your babies. I promise.”
I whimpered, unable to speak, and nodded slightly. He leaned down and kissed my forehead. I almost started crying. I don’t know what I would’ve done if Jericho wasn’t here.
At that moment, I heard a door burst open and footsteps rushed in.
“Mason, are you okay?” Beth cried.
My hormones were raging and I almost cried at the sight of my friend. “Yeah. Well, no. I’m in agony.”
She smiled. “I know. It must really suck. But I heard you’re having twins?”
Before I could answer her, more people rushed into the room.
“Is he delivering right now?” Charlie asked Ken frantically.
There were more of my friends’ voices - I heard Flint, Shadow, and Tyson, at the very least. More voices mingled until it was all chaos in my head. I groaned but couldn’t find the words to make everyone be quiet
.
Thankfully the nurse and Jericho had the same idea at the same time. They turned towards the gaggle of people crowding up the room and snapped, “Everyone be quiet!”
It went silent.
“Come. Let’s go get you prepared to have those babies,” the nurse said gently to me.
Jericho and Ken followed us in. I saw Beth coming towards me with a sympathetic expression, but the nurse held out a hand to prevent her from following.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Family and doctors only, please. You can see your friend once he’s done delivering.”
Beth and I exchanged a glance, then she disappeared from sight as the nurse wheeled me away to the delivery room.
***
I woke, groggy and confused. I was aware of being in a hospital bed, and hating it. The white walls and fluorescent lights made me feel uncomfortable and out of place.
Then I remembered where the hell I was and what was happening.
“My pups,” I muttered, my voice hoarse from disuse.
Instantly Jericho was there, and calm washed over me again. His face was bright and his mouth was stretched in a big grin.
“Hey there, gorgeous,” he said softly, tucking my hair behind my ear. “Finally awake?”
“What happened?” I mumbled. I tried to look down at my body, but the hospital gown and blankets were in the way. “Are they out of me?”
Jericho laughed. “Is that any way to talk about your kids? And yes, for the record, they are out of you.”
“Finally,” I mumbled, letting myself fall back in exhaustion. “Where are they? Why aren’t they in here with me?”
“The nurses are just making sure they’re healthy, don’t worry. They’ll have them back to you in a jiffy,” he reassured me. “By the way, I gotta say… the sweaty, pissed off hospital gown look? I’m totally loving it.”
“Oh, shut up,” I muttered, but I couldn’t help smiling. Even when he was being an idiot, I loved him.
We made small talk - mostly of half-horny mutterings that were probably inappropriate for a hospital room - when I realized half an hour had passed and I still hadn’t seen my babies since waking up. A strange sense of unease came over me.
“Jericho, where are they?” I asked, my brows furrowing.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe they’re still cleaning them up? Do you want me to go check?”
I knew the prickle of anxiety would only get stronger if he didn’t, so I said yes. He nodded and quickly left the room, heading for the nursery.
I sighed and stared at the ceiling. I was drugged up and fucking tired and suddenly incredibly anxious and stressed that I wasn’t holding my children right now. I thought about all the other people who had seen my babies before I did. That just wasn’t right.
A moment later, the door opened again. My heart fluttered, hoping Jericho brought good news.
But it wasn’t Jericho standing there.
“Oh, Beth,” I said, my hopes dashed slightly. “Are they letting people visit me now?”
“I guess,” she said with a light chuckle and a shrug. She looked around the room. “Where are the pups?”
“I don’t know,” I said, wrinkling my face. “Jericho said they must still be looking them over or something. He went to ask.”
“But there were two, right?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “But I don’t know anything beyond that.”
She nodded slowly. I noticed the friendly smile on her face from before I went into surgery was gone. Instead a strange, faraway look was cast on her expression.
“Are you okay, Beth?” I asked, suddenly feeling uneasy again.
She stepped closer to the hospital bed and wouldn’t meet my eye. She looked me up and down as if she were eyeing a piece of meat. A cold anxiety ran down my spine.
“Mason,” she said quietly. “It’s time to go.”
I stared at her with wide eyes. The only answer I could muster was, “What?”
She reached down and touched my arm. Fear exploded through me, like electricity running through my skin. I wrenched my arm out of her way, but I couldn’t escape. I was exhausted and stuck in a hospital bed.
“It’s time to go,” she repeated, almost coldly this time. She grabbed me by the arms and began lifting me from the bed.
“Beth, what the hell are you doing?” I cried, struggling in her grip. I tried as hard as I could to escape, but I was enormously fatigued and she was stronger than she looked. As a beta wolf, she was naturally stronger than me, but especially when I was so exhausted.
She took me in her grip and dragged me out of bed towards the door. My heart raced with fear, but my throat felt tight, like I couldn’t scream even if I wanted to. She had me halfway down the hall before the thought of my pups came to me. Where was Beth taking me? Why was she separating me from my family?
My protective instincts exploded. I wrenched myself out of her hands and tried to run in the opposite direction. I heard Beth snarl behind me, then heard her rapid footsteps. I couldn’t run far. I had just gone through a surgery.
“Get back here!” Beth snapped. She was on me in an instant. I felt weak and useless and could only growl at her as she gripped me again.
“What the fuck’s wrong with you!?” I snapped. “What are you doing?”
“I’m taking you back to where you belong,” she snarled back in my face. “To Scarlet Ridge, which you cowardly escaped from!”
Shock hit me like a lightning strike. I stared at her in horror.
“It’s you,” I murmured. “You’re the traitor he warned us about.”
“If anyone’s a traitor, it’s you,” Beth growled deeply. “You thought you could just slink away from Gunner and live in harmony here?” she said sarcastically. “You’re delusional. I hope you enjoyed your little vacation while you could, because you’re going straight back to him, and this time he’ll make sure your collar is permanent.”
I clawed her across the face. While she was growling and checking her wound, I screamed for Jericho. When Beth realized what I was doing, she slapped a hand down over my mouth.
“Be quiet, you cur!” she snapped.
But it was too late. Jericho had heard me. With blazing eyes, he rushed into the hall and instantly saw what was going on. Within a split second he shifted. A massive wolf shot through the air like a golden bullet and slammed into Beth, knocking her to the ground.
“What are you doing to him?” Jericho snarled.
But Beth wasn’t going down without a fight. She shifted instantly and slipped out from underneath him before swatting at his muzzle with her claws. Jericho dodged and snapped at her paw, catching it with his teeth. She yelped and retracted it like she’d been burned.
In a flash, Jericho was by my side, growling protectively. “What’s going on?” he asked me.
“I don’t know,” I said, still in a daze from all that was happening. “She just went nuts and started trying to kidnap me!”
“It’s not kidnapping if I’m taking you back to where you belong,” Beth growled. “Jericho, move out of the way.”
“You’re crazy if you think you’re leaving here with my mate,” Jericho snarled, deep and threatening.
A moment later everyone rushed into the hallway, including the nurse from earlier. She gasped. “What is going on here?”
“Mason, are you okay?” Charlie cried as he came to my side.
He helped me out of my awkward fallen position. Pain shoot through me at the movement and I grimaced.
“Jericho, she’s the traitor,” I managed to say through gritted teeth.
He growled. “I can’t believe you. You pretended to be Mason’s friend for so long, and for what? What’s your MO?”
Beth’s narrowed piercing eyes snapped to Charlie. “Do you really think your stunt went unnoticed? That Gunner would let more fertile omegas escape after what you did? You’re all naive. After Charlie’s so-called escape, he sent me to infiltrate this pack after Hector’
s horrendous failure. One loss was something he could deal with, but not two.” Her eyes flitted to me now, fiery and hungry. “Especially not an omega who experiences a double heat.”
Jericho let out a humorless laugh. “So that’s why you’re doing this. Because you and Gunner and the rest of Scarlet Ridge just see Mason as a baby machine.”
“It’s just nature,” Beth growled. “It’s nothing personal.”
“And what do you have to gain from all this?” Charlie cried, his eyes rimmed with furious tears. “You’re not even an alpha. Why are you working with Gunner?”
“You really think life is easy for betas? You really are stupid,” she growled at him. “We’re just backup baby machines in case you omegas don’t work out. And with the way you keep escaping, who do you think the burden falls to? Us.”
I was shocked. I didn’t know any of that took place. Despite everything, I felt bad for Beth - but more than that, I felt furious anger towards Gunner and his barbaric pack.
“Beth,” I said, looking her in the eye. “You don’t have to do this. You can stay here in Indigo Mountain and forget about Gunner.”
She laughed coldly. “I’m just one beta. There are countless others. I would be selfish for only saving myself like you did.”
Her words stung and hit me with a horrible sense of guilt. Was I really selfish for leaving the other Scarlet Ridge omegas behind?
Jericho growled loudly. “That’s enough. I’m sure the nurse has already called security, and if not - well, there are more than enough of us here to get rid of you ourselves.”
“Beth, please,” I cried. “Don’t do this! I don’t want you to die! What about all the time we spent together? What about your life here?”
She snorted. “Typical sentimental omega. Don’t compare yourself to me. I’m nothing like you.”
With that, she launched herself at Jericho, all fangs and claws. He fought back, a golden blur of fury and protection. The hallway filled with the chaotic noise of two wolves fighting. The space was too tight for anyone to help; Flint and the others could only watch in horror as the two attacked each other. Charlie had pulled me aside out of the fray and was holding me. Ken and the nurse quickly came to my side and checked to see if I was wounded.