15. Adan
FIFTEEN
ADAN
“You want to do what?” Aunt Ellie’s face loomed large on the laptop.
“Deliver the baby in the woods.” Braylon shared a glance with me before looking at the screen.
“Why not in a hospital? What if something goes wrong?” I wished I could reach through the screen and give Ellie a hug. She wanted what was best for the nephew she’d parented.
“I’ll have a midwife and…” Braylon hesitated, but we’d discussed this and I’d assured him I’d be in human form and so would the midwife and the baby, “…and if you’d like to be there.”
Ellie burst into tears, wiping them away with the back of her hand until Saul appeared with a box of tissues.
“I’d love to, darling. Thank you.”
My mate hadn’t issued an invitation to Saul, as his uncle was squeamish about blood and bodily functions.
“I’ll man the fort here with food for after the baby arrives.” Saul poked his head over his wife’s shoulder.
We said our goodbyes and signed off.
“I’ve asked you this a thousand times, but your wolf won’t take his fur just before or after the baby arrives, will he?” Braylon rubbed his bump as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a snack.
“No. He knows the deal.”
“Okay.” My mate nibbled a cereal bar and wandered into the nursery.
Is it musical furniture time? My wolf was curious about the concept of nesting because in the wild, wolves made a den before they gave birth. In our house, nesting required me to move furniture from one place to another until Braylon was satisfied. He would then take all the baby clothes from the drawers and refold them before putting them back.
Not sure . But I pulled up my sleeves, ready to get sweaty.
“Something isn’t quite right.” My mate sat in the rocking chair and peered around the room we’d decorated.
I had the laptop and phone ready to order whatever he wanted. Living in the city allowed our purchases to be delivered the following day. We were still a few weeks from the delivery date, so we had time to get whatever Braylon insisted we’d forgotten.
“Adan, the nursery’s in the wrong place.”
Oh, that was more than I expected. I’d be moving the furniture to what was now our home office. It’d take all day, but it was the weekend, so I had time.
“I’ll get everything out of the office and you can show me where to put the nursery furniture.”
He grabbed my hand. “Don’t take this the wrong way.”
I hugged him and kissed the top of his head. “You want professionals to do it? That’s fine.” My ego would survive my mate thinking my skills were not up to his standard.
“Wrong house, wrong city. Right mate, right wolf, right baby.”
My mate had the ability to surprise, even shock me, and my mouth hung open. We could afford a bigger house and mortgage, but bigger wasn’t necessarily better. I wasn’t the kinda guy that gathered more stuff just to have… more stuff.
But he was suggesting we move to a different town. Oh, it dawned on me what he was saying as he stroked the tattoo on his hand. While the mark my wolf made was our mating mark, the tat was more visible, and Braylon was very attached to it because he had taken a leap of faith and agreed to be my partner before I’d shown him my beast.
Taking both his hands, I said, “You want to be closer to Ellie and Saul.”
He sniffed and nodded. “I’m sorry. The bond you and I have is unbreakable. And while the connection I have with my aunt and uncle is different, it’s also indestructible.”
I pulled him onto the nursery daybed. “This will take some planning.” I’d have to find a job in Springfield, though Adan’s boss had agreed he could work from home after his paternity leave.
“I don’t expect it to happen before the baby’s born, but I’d like us to think about it.”
There was nothing tying me here. Our pack was based in town and the surrounding areas, but I doubted Alpha would refuse to let me leave.
The move made sense, because whenever we had a free weekend we flew to Springfield, and Ellie and Saul would collect us and drive to Rosedale. If the distance between the small town and Springfield were shorter, we could have lived in Rosedale. But I didn’t want to make that commute every day.
Braylon got up and paced round the room. “I feel a little weird.”
“The baby?” I shot up. We’d planned the birth in Rosedale. “Contractions?”
“No. But something is different.”
Is the birth imminent? I asked my wolf. He wasn’t familiar with the word “imminent” but said it was sooner than it had been. Not being a hundred percent certain what that meant, I decided we should catch a flight today. Braylon would be upset if he couldn’t deliver in the woods.
It was four weeks before his due date! That worried me a little, though all the literature said the baby was considered full-term at thirty-seven weeks. One week to go. But Braylon might not hold on until then.
We’d planned to take the train two weeks before his due date because the domestic airlines wouldn’t let a pregnant omega fly after thirty-six weeks. My mate’s bump was very small, and he was thirty-six weeks today. We’d have to go now or take the train or drive. No heavily pregnant omega wanted to be cooped up in a car for five hours.
I grabbed our two roll-on suitcases from the closet and tossed my clothes in one. My mate already has his bag packed and another for the baby. On the way to the airport, my mate booked our flights. Not wanting to alert Ellie and Saul the baby might be early, we’d rent a car from the airport.
“You again.” Gods, it was the same woman. Was she on duty permanently? Knowing we might fly in the weeks before the birth, Braylon had a certificate from a shifter doctor just in case.
They let us on after counting the days until his due date.
“You just squeaked in,” she noted. “Don’t go into labor on the flight.”
Yikes, I wasn’t superstitious, but saying that was a huge red flag to the universe. The flight was only one hour, so if the contractions started, my mate would still be laboring when the plane landed. Not that I wanted the baby to be born on a plane or an airport arrival lounge. My mate deserved a soft, peaceful environment to bring our child into the world.
Braylon grunted as he put on his seatbelt, and while the doors closed and we taxied onto the runway, he shifted his butt, saying he couldn’t get comfortable. No one would call seats in economy comfortable.
“One hour and we’ll be off the plane.”
We rose into the air, and I counted the minutes. Once the seatbelt sign was off, Braylon went to the bathroom, saying needed to move. He insisted he could go alone, but I walked in front in case he fell.
“You okay, love?” I rapped on the door. I hated plane bathrooms, they were so tiny and claustrophobic. My mate and his big belly might get wedged in there.
“Yeah.”
But when Braylon opened the door, his face was paler than when he’d entered. I took his arm and checked my watch. Thirty minutes remaining.
“My water broke.” Though Braylon had spoken in a whisper, shifters in the economy section leaped up, some turned around, and others yelled, “A man is in labor.”
Humans, who didn’t have shifters’ supersonic hearing, glanced around. Flight attendants raced down the aisle, and one alerted the captain, but as we were about to start our descent, there was no turning around.
We got my mate into business class which was almost empty. The baby wouldn’t be born on the plane. Labor was long and… and…
“I want to push.” My mate grunted and gripped his bump.
“Now?” I blurted out and wished I could take it back when he glared at me. “Sorry.” Shit, I was about to become a father and already F-ing it up. I grabbed the carry-on bag with the baby’s things.
The staff moved the business-class passengers and drew the curtains. They bought water and blankets, and a shifter doctor offered to stay close. The contractions were close together, and Braylon yelled again that he had to push. I pushed the seat back so it was almost flat and got his pants and underwear off.
He parted his legs, and I kneeled on the carpet. With both hands on his knees, he bore down and groaned before falling back panting.
“Again,” he moaned.
I’d watched vids of omegas giving birth, but this was my mate and our child. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I stifled my sobs, not wanting Braylon to misinterpret my tears as fear or sadness.
The baby’s head crowned, which was the only part that was familiar from the classes we’d attended. Everything was so fast, as though someone had sped up the video twice or four times.
I held the baby blanket as Braylon delivered our daughter. Making sure she had her fingers and toes, I wrapped her and placed her on my mate’s chest.
“It’s a girl,” one of the flight attendants yelled, and a huge cheer erupted from the economy section.
“Do you think she’ll get a lifetime of free flights?” Braylon asked as he kissed our daughter’s brow.