Epilogue
CARMINE
I was calm. I was collected. I was not in any pain.
I was calm. I was collected. I was not in any pain.
I repeated the mantra over and over, murmuring the words to myself as I sat on the floor of my bedroom. I sat on an overstuffed pillow with my legs in front of me, bare feet touching one another. There were candles burning around me as I enjoyed my new meditation.
Traveling back and forth between coasts was easy enough, up until I hit six months pregnant.
Then traveling became difficult, doing jobs became difficult.
More and more I was letting my mate take on the difficult tasks.
Sure, I still got to kill people, but only after my mate had caught them and practically delivered them to me on a platter. It really took the fun out of it.
It wasn’t worth the risk of me personally tracking down dangerous people.
It wasn’t as if I could chase anyone right now.
Then again, I was still faster than a lot of people.
I kept in good shape during my pregnancy.
The belly was in the way, of course, so doing some things was still dangerous.
I wasn’t risking my child’s life by doing anything dangerous, though.
I couldn't wait for our child to be born. As soon as I was healed, I was gonna go out on a job—a quick one. I didn't imagine that I would want to leave my child right away, but just one little tiny job, something where there was a bit of a chase.
Then I’d return to my baby and my mate.
A contraction rippled through my lower back, and I hissed in a breath. I breathed through it, checking the timer I had set.
"I am calm. I am collected. I am not in any pain."
These were just the early stages. I wasn’t in real labor yet. I had time. Plenty of time.
A knock at the door didn't surprise me. I kept my eyes closed, my breathing even.
"Come in," I said without raising my voice at all. Despite the hecticness of my job and the life that I lived, Dom and I kept ourselves calm throughout the pregnancy. I made sure that I remained as stress-free as possible. Which was why I’d taken up yoga and meditation.
Joey, Felik, and Connor all walked into the room.
"Will you please let us take you to the hospital room? It's all ready. The doctor is already here," Joey asked. As if the doctor wasn’t always here. Andro kept them on staff all the time now that the kids were bigger and they were getting into their own troubles.
Theo had broken his arm at the trampoline park that Andro purchased. After that experience with the regular emergency room, he decided that the house would have a doctor or two on site at all times.
"I'm fine," I said. “We have time.”
Of course, the very astute omegas, who had become some of my closest friends in the last few months, noticed this morning that I was in the early stages of labor. Being that it was my first child, these early stages would take a very long time. That had been ten hours ago.
"Did you call Dom and let him know?" Felik asked.
"He's arriving as we speak," I said. At least, I hoped he was. He said he was getting on a plane last I spoke to him. I didn’t tell him that I was in labor. He would have tried to rush home, and there was no rushing planes. He would get here when he got here, and until then, I could hold on.
Dom had been sent on a mission to the west coast. I’d spent the evening on the phone with him while he tracked down our mark and took him out. We stopped short of having him wear a body cam that I could watch the whole time he was away.
I wanted him here with me. I hated that he wasn’t here with me. His job was important and so was mine, it just so happened that right now my job was growing this baby.
As if letting their impatience known, my baby kicked solidly against my bladder. I hissed in pain.
"All right, we're escorting you to the hospital room. Don't make me carry you." Joey reached his hand out.
I stared at it, unmoving.
"None of you can pick me up. None of you can fight me." Not that I would ever lay a hand on any of them. I didn’t have a death wish. Plus, they were my closest friends, and they had their own self-defense training. I wouldn’t be surprised if they could hold their own in a fight with me.
It wasn’t something I wanted to find out.
Joey must’ve realized I was all bark and no bite, because he rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips. "Are you gonna disobey a direct order from the boss?"
"Joey, I respect you very much, but Andro is the boss, not you."
He bent down so we were eye to eye. "Do you want me to call him?"
I held his gaze for a long time. Fuck. He had me there. If Joey called Andro, then I was definitely getting a lecture.
I was not gonna pull Andro into this. And besides, these contractions were getting closer. One was rippling through my back as we spoke.
"Fine." I pushed myself to my feet. "But I'm walking there myself."
I took one step and then hissed in surprise as pain shot through my limbs.
"Oh, damn." I put a hand on my lower belly, holding it up. "That hurts. There's so much pressure. I feel like I'm carrying a cinder block. Fuck!" I shouted out in surprise, and the pain intensified to a burn that seemed to radiate from my core.
Connor chuckled. "Yep, I remember that feeling. They call it the Ring of Fire."
"Who came up with that dumb fucking name?" I groaned loudly while holding on to my stomach as if I could pick it up and keep the pressure from radiating through my back.
"How long have you been sitting there?" Joey asked.
"I don't know. I started the meditation music an hour or so ago.”
“Come on, let's get you to the hospital wing."
As we walked, the pain scaled back, thankfully, and I was able to walk there on my own without assistance.
Inside the hospital room, the doctor greeted me. It had been the same doctor all throughout my pregnancy
"Are we going to be stubborn and wait for the alpha father to arrive?" Dr. Nindy asked.
I nodded. "Indeed, we are. Dom will be here to see his child born. I will not be having the child till then. I will close my legs."
Dr. Nindy snorted. "That's not how it works, dear, but I do think you have quite a while."
"See? I didn't need to come down so soon. Should I go back to my room?" Actually, I definitely wasn’t moving. In fact, I was already removing my clothes in preparation of putting on the gown the other omegas had gifted me.
"No, you definitely should not. I'd like to get a monitor on you to make sure the baby is doing all right."
"They just kicked me,” I said.
“That's a good sign, but we still need you on the bed. Let's go."
Cord, Felik, and Joey left the room to give me privacy. I really was lucky to have them. I’d never had omega friends…or any friends. Until meeting Dom, my life had been mostly solitude.
Some days, I had to kick the omegas out of my space so I could get that solitude back. Temporarily, of course.
I changed into the hospital gown quickly. I had my robe wrapped around when the door burst open. “Did I miss it?”
Dom’s voice washed over me like soft waves on the shore smoothing out the disruption to the sand. “No, baby. You’re just in time.”
He came to my side in an instant. Just as he went to touch me, Dr. Nindy shouted. “Wash your hands and get a surgical gown on.”
My brow furrowed. “Do you think I’ll need a C-section?”
“No. I just know he’s been on a plane, and I need this area to be clean. So go get clean.”
Reluctantly, Dom left my side.
Ten minutes later, he came back, freshly showered, wearing a surgical gown. This time when he came to my side, he kissed me soundly and brushed the hair from my face. “You look gorgeous, mate. I’m so proud of you.”
“Did you get your mark?”
He smiled. “I did. It was quick because I wanted to get back to you.”
“Hmm. I wanted him to suffer.” Dom had been tracking down a former associate of my family who was using our connections to traffic young teens.
“He has a brother who was a part of the business also. We can track him down together.”
“Promise?”
“Of course.”
Now that my mate was here, it was as if my body and my baby decided it was go time. The contractions ramped up, and my back felt like it was on fire. I had my feet in the stirrups before I knew it, and I was sure my body was splitting in two.
I shouted through the first push. In all the hustle, I hadn’t gotten the epidural. I could handle it. I’d felt worse. Maybe.
Maybe a bullet to the thigh was less painful than childbirth. I was about to find out.
Dom gripped my hand. “Just breathe, love. You’ve got this. We’re gonna meet our little one.”
And we did.
With just a few pushes, our daughter entered the world. The pain was astronomical. My legs were shaking, and my whole body felt like I’d been hit by a bus, then run over by a train, then dropped from a plane onto concrete.
All of it was worth it when my daughter’s cry split through the air.
Dom laid her in my arms, and I looked at her wrinkly face all scrunched in terror because this world was so different from what she knew before. “Shh, baby. I’ve got you.”
She immediately calmed in my arms.
“Selene,” I said.
Dom settled next to me. “Is that her name?”
“I think so.” I nodded as I watched her tiny lips move into an O shape. “What do you think?”
He kissed my temple and nuzzled against us, hugging both me and our child. “I love it, and I love you.”
“I love you too, alpha. Forever.”