by Alice Shaw
“Are you going to operate? Can someone tell me what’s going on?” I asked.
Tristan was red with fury. “Doc! What the fuck is happening? Can any of you give me an answer?”
The doctor remained calm. In hindsight, this is exactly what he should have done, but it sure pissed me off. He placed his hand in between his legs. I closed my eyes and felt a small pinch of pressure.
“We’re going to have to induce labor,” he said.
“You’re what?” I asked. My eyes peeled open with grief.
The doctor only smiled and grabbed a balloon, and an IV kit. “Don’t worry. This is standard procedure. A lot of omegas have to go through this,” he said.
Tristan offered me his hand. I looked at him in the same way a puppy looks at his master. Help, I telepathically said to him. He squeezed my hand with loving pressure.
Doctor Phillip’s assistant hooked up the IV, and within a second, I felt the drugs start to trickle in my system. “Whatever happens, I love you. Please, Tristan. Don’t let anything bad happen to the baby.”
“You can get through this. You want to know how I know?” he asked.
“No, not really. Because whatever you’re going to say is complete bullcrap,” I muttered.
Whatever I was saying was coming from a place of fear. The dark area inside of me had started to grow again. I remembered the snake we had fought in the forest. Somehow, that came from inside of me.
When I closed my eyes, I could hear that hissing voice again. It whispered: Come back, Ryan. It’s warmer here, isn’t it? It’s easier. Just. Give. Up.
In that time, the doctor had put up an aqua colored curtain between us. He inserted the cervical balloon. I felt a slight pressure and then a release. “Oh, no,” I whispered.
“Everything is going great, sweetheart,” the doctor said from behind the curtain.
“Well, it feels like a ping pong is inside of me!” I screamed.
Tristan’s eyes kept moving from the doctor to me. He didn’t know what to do. I could tell he felt hopeless because he couldn’t react in the way his biology told him to.
“There. It’s done,” doctor Phillips said, handing the tools back to his assistant to throw into the bin.
“Is everything okay?” Tristan asked.
“So far so good. Now, we have to get this baby out of there. I just need you both to stay calm, okay?” he asked.
Tristan was shaking with wrath. “Stay calm? My omega is here, suffering, and you want me to stay calm? I’m going to shift and rip your eyes out, doc!”
“Honey, please. We have to trust in the process. I’m terrified, but I don’t want you getting kicked out of this hospital room. So calm the heck down, okay?” I asked him. He nodded, inhaling the stale hospital air heavily.
The doctor eyed Tristan very carefully. “We’re good here?”
“Yes. Sorry, doc. I’m just worried. Please, do your thing. I won’t interrupt,” he said.
Wave upon wave of pressure was hitting me. I knew that I just had to keep breathing, so I closed my eyes and did the best that I could do. But, damn. It’s hard to breathe when a child is in crisis mode inside your womb.
The darkness wanted me to give into it. It wanted me to fall into fear. But I couldn’t let myself give in. I focused on everything good in my life. I had Tristan, I had new friends, and I was going to have a family again. We were going to visit the fae queendom someday, and everything was going to be full of beauty and warmth.
The pain was increasing, but the drugs were numbing my reaction to it considerably. I held onto my alpha’s hands and heard the muffled sounds coming from his mouth. “Push! Come on, big bear! Push!”
It all happened faster than I expected. As the waves of pressure increased, so did my resolve. I pushed and kept my mind occupied with good thoughts. Holger, my new friends, my fated mate. All of those people circled in my mind.
“Done!” Doctor Phillips threw his gloves into the bin and sighed loudly. “Ryan, you can open your eyes now. It’s all over.”
When I opened my eyes, I saw the doctor hand my baby to Tristan. I heard the harsh cries of our newborn, and I just bawled my eyes out.
“That’s him!” I said, exhausted. “It’s really him.”
Tristan’s pupils were enlarged with love. “It’s our baby boy,” he whispered. “Do you want to say hi to mommy, little guy?”
He handed me my son. His fragility shocked me. When he opened his eyes and saw me, I could see the chocolate brown eyes, and he understood I was his father. He clutched at my hospital gown, crying with me.
“Magnus,” I whispered. “I want his name to be Magnus.”
“It’s the name of a true hero,” Tristan whispered.
The doctor smiled and walked near the door. “I’ll be back in an hour to check on you. We’ll leave you two alone for now,” he said.
Tristan ran and hugged the doctor. “Thank you so much, doc. I’m sorry I snapped at you back there. I was just so freaked out about everything, but you did the best job in the world. I can’t thank you enough.”
The doctor laughed. “Anytime,” he said.
The doctor shut the door quietly. Tristan was beside himself for joy. I was still drugged up, but it felt like I was just filled with euphoria.
The infant gasped and started crying again. I wrapped him in my arms. “Big bear, this is the most precious thing I’ve ever seen,” Tristan said. “We’re fathers. Can you believe it?”
Tears filled my eyes. “It wasn’t that long ago that you saved my life. Remember?”
“I’ll never forget it,” he said while holding both of us.
“Frisky Pines.” I laughed. “I guess this is the place where miracles happen.”
Chapter 12
Tristan
“Samuel! How many times do I have to tell you? No teleporting in the living room! Jeez,” Jonas growled.
My son was curled up in his crib, somehow sleeping through all of the commotions. He cried a lot after he was born, but lately, he has been a stoic.
Jonas wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat down. “I swear, that one is going to grow up to be a troublemaker,” he said.
“He’ll hone his ability. He’s got a great set of parents, and a lot of people around him to keep him in check. I’m surprised that he’s already figured out how to teleport at age two,” I told him.
Ryan laughed to himself. “I think I’d lose my mind. No offense,” he said.
Jonas smirked. “None taken. My mind is already gone, thank you very much,” he said.
We still didn’t know our son’s ability. Frankly, we didn’t want to know yet. “So you guys are waiting?” Logan asked, handing me a nice glass of scotch.
I looked over at my omega. He was gazing fondly at our sleeping babe. “I am tired the heck out,” I admitted. “Two quests. Foes were coming at me, left and right. Gorbins was messing with my mojo. I died once, lest anyone forget. I am finished with this hero crap. I just want to be a dad. You know? A simple life sounds nice right about now.”
“Cheers to that, brother,” Logan smirked as we clinked our glasses together. I sipped the scotch and felt myself begin to relax.
Finally able to wrestle his son into his arms, Jonas sat down next to me. On the television was the Winter Olympics, and we all wanted to see our favorite shifter skater representing Frisky Pines.
I was surprised by my mate’s wherewithal to stay in the town, even after just giving birth. I expected him to want to head back to the south. But he loved the comforts of the city, and I think he liked being around what he now considered as family.
Just days after our son’s birth, I went back to the old cabin to gather up some of my things. I walked into the forest and watched the sunrise. The golden ember in the sky burned so brightly that day. The rays of sunlight were lavender and Auburn. It was just a beautiful day.
Of course, I remembered what we had gone through, but it also felt like a distant memory now. I walked toward the middle o
f the forest, where the dark reflective pool was. The cellar door that contained it was still there, but as I pried it open, I saw that it was gone.
Instead, there was a small patch of dirt. In the center of the dirty was the sprout of a new tree. I removed the wooden planks and let the sun shine down on the little guy.
There was so much life around us, and it wasn’t stopping. Sometimes, it was easy to believe that the world was full of darkness. But when you take a second to look at what you have, you begin to understand that the chaos is just the precursor to something better.
When the tree sprout grows into itself, our children would be on their way to adulthood. I stooped over the cradle and scooped our baby boy into my arms, despite Ryan’s protests. He opened his eyes and didn’t cry a peep.
“You know, when all our children grow up, they’re going to teach us some new lessons,” I said.
Logan sighed with the melancholy only a parent understands. It was the good kind of melancholy. It was the kind of melancholy that accompanies wisdom. Yes, the world had to keep spinning. It had to keep changing, and we had to be aware of that at all times.
“At least we get to rest for a bit,” Logan said.
It was true. The hardness of our lives was finally over. All of the endless searching, tireless fighting, and, in my case, dying was now over. Now, it was time for endless beach vacations, tireless school plays, and family dinners, complete with red velvet cake and freshly baked, warm apple pie.
…But in the corner of my eye, I swear I saw Gorbin’s face staring intently through the glass window. As I focused my sight, he was gone.
End
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Also by Alice Shaw
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Other books in the Frisky Pines Series:
Alpha’s Awakening
Alpha’s Calling