Chapter 6
Lothian collapsed back onto the bed, his round stomach sticking out above him.
“It’s not going to fit.”
Ryland chuckled from his spot on the edge of the bed.
“It’s okay if it doesn’t. We can improvise.”
Beside them, Dante humphed.
“Whose idea was it to have a Bonding Ritual when you’re about to give birth?”
Lothian reached up and touched the marks on his neck, the remnant of their bonding.
But he had been adamant he wanted a Bonding Ritual before the baby came.
Now, when the dress wouldn’t stretch over his belly, he was reconsidering.
Ryland ran a hand over his shoulder and smoothed his hair.
“It’s fine. You still have a week until the ceremony. We’ll have the modiste take it out. Problem solved.”
A pain rippled through Lothian’s abdomen.
He cupped the rounded flesh.
Ryland covered his hand with his own.
Beneath their twined fingers, the baby shifted.
Lothian gasped.
Ryland frowned.
“What is it?”
He’d been having pains off and on for weeks, but nothing quite this sharp.
He sat up, rubbing a hand against his side as his muscles clenched.
Then, he felt a gush of wetness between his thighs.
It felt like slick but more watery.
“Oh.” He met Ryland’s golden gaze.
“Best go get Agnes. I think it’s time.”
Dante stood up.
“He’s early!”
“Only a little. That happens sometimes. It’s fine.”
Ryland helped Lothian up off the bed and wrapped an arm around his waist to support his weight.
“Let’s get you to the birthing room.”
“How are you so calm?” Dante took his place on Lothian’s other side, gripping his arm.
Lothian shrugged, heart swelling.
“This is the easy part. I just do what my body tells me.”
Dante snorted.
“Oh, now you do. I had to practically kidnap you to get you and Ryland together.”
Another pain gripped him.
He breathed in sharply.
Ryland pushed open the door to the birthing room and led him to the bed.
Thinking back on that day, remembering Ryland’s words to him, he felt a rush of love well up in him.
He gripped Ryland’s hand.
“Thank you.”
Ryland frowned, that adorable line appearing between his eyebrows.
“For what?”
Lothian reached up and smoothed the line with his thumb.
“For taking care of me. Always.”
Ryland dropped a kiss on Lothian’s forehead.
He smiled up at the alpha.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too. Now, let’s have this baby.”
The midwife arrived an hour later.
The pains were close together by then, gripping Lothian like an invisible fist.
He panted, clasping one of Ryland’s hands and one of Dante’s.
Neither of them complained as he crushed their fingers in his.
“Breathe,” the midwife said.
She examined Lothian’s hole gently, testing his readiness.
Lothian exhaled a long breath.
“You’re just about ready to push!” She beamed at them, then nodded at Ryland.
“You can give him the bite whenever he’s ready. This next part will hurt like fire without it.”
Ryland slid behind Lothian on the bed, letting him lean back against him.
He wrapped his arms around the omega, holding on to his belly.
He kissed his neck.
“Are you ready?”
Ryland had fed from Lothian many times since they’d bonded, but Lothian never got tired of it.
The sharp prick of his teeth.
The rush of pleasure that flowed through his veins, heightening every sensation.
He wondered if it would feel different now.
He need only wait a moment to find out.
Lothian nodded.
“I’m ready.”
Ryland’s mouth brushed across Lothian’s vein, and then his fangs sank into Lothian’s flesh.
He drew a mouthful of blood, then swallowed.
Lothian gasped as warmth and pleasure flowed through him.
His whole body relaxed.
The midwife hummed.
“Good, good. Now, push.”
Lothian pushed.
And pushed.
And pushed.
For what felt like hours.
Finally, something in his body shifted, and he felt a strange sort of stretching, and then so much pressure.
He cried out, though it wasn’t in pain.
He was still riding the high of Ryland’s bite.
“Here he comes!” The midwife reached between Lothian’s spread thighs and eased the baby from his body.
Lothian sagged, sweat dripping down his face.
Ryland squeezed him gently.
Dante, who had been remarkably quiet throughout the birth, suddenly sniffled.
“He’s perfect.”
Ryland brushed his mouth against Lothian’s ear.
“We have a son.”
Lothian peered at his son as the midwife bathed him.
Then, he looked at Dante, who was wiping his nose, and Ryland, who was beaming at him, and shook his head.
“We have a family .”