Episode 34 Love in the Age of Instagram #2
Labor. Now? But no. No. I must have misheard him, he must mean something else.
“What do you mean she’s going into labor? There’s still two weeks until her due date.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Ren. The baby is coming. We’re packing up and heading to the hospital now.”
“No, but… I’m half a world away. She can’t have the baby now.”
Someone to my right chuckles and without looking at them I lash out with my fist and punch any bit of them I can reach. I’m met with a muffled ‘ow, killer,’ as Thayer grabs my still fisted hand and brushes kisses on my knuckles.
“Tell her to wait until I get there. Tell her she has to wait.” Oh god lord, I’m on the verge of tears. But I can’t miss this. I promised her I wouldn’t miss it. I’m set to return in two days because I thought that was plenty of time, early enough.
“No can do, sweetheart,” Jude says, voice soft and understanding. “I’m more than a little worried about the state of my nuts if I do that. She nearly ripped off Tic’s hand for suggesting she sit down while we gather our things.”
There’s a ruffle of fabric to my left, movement of bodies leaving the bed and then Forsythe is pressing into my side, plucking the phone from my fingers and putting it on speaker. “Jude?”
“Your highness.” Jude manages to sound cheery and snide while he says the title.
“We’re heading to the airport and should be in the air in less than an hour. We’ll be there in about eleven hours.”
I blow out a breath at his steady tone, the hand that’s sweeping up and down my spine, soothing me.
“Sounds good. But I’m not telling my omega to try to-”
“Is that Ren?” Haven’s voice comes through the line laced with… frustration? There’s a brief pause and then Haven comes through, sounding as on the verge of tears as I am.
“I’m sorry,” She chokes out. “I tried to wait. I told her. I said, ‘you have to wait for Auntie Ren. You can’t come now.’ But she just wouldn’t listen. I’m sorry.”
I shake my head even though she can’t see it. “No. No. Don’t be sorry. Our girl’s just excited to meet everyone. Sounds like she’s going to be a real extrovert.”
Haven snorts a laugh. “I miss you, Ren.” She sighs.
“I know, Haves. I miss you too. But I’ll be there soon. Okay?”
“Promise?”
A light turns on and I glance up to find all of my pack in the process of pulling on clothes or throwing things into bags. All of them but Forsythe who is still right next to me, offering his support.
“Promise, hon. We’re packing up right now. And they have a private jet, you know. And their own airfield. So we’ll be in the air in no time.”
There’s another long pause on her side. Then she says, softly, like she doesn’t want her alphas to overhear. “I’m scared. I’m-I’m not sure I can do this. It hurts so much, Ren.”
The fist I’d used to punch Thayer smacks into my forehead, three times before my prime stops me. Guilt drapes over my shoulders like a cloak. I should be there. I should be helping her through this, offering my support, not just over the phone, but holding her hand, helping her to the car.
But this isn’t about me, It's about her.
“I know you’re scared, honey. I know it.
But you can do this. Absolutely. One hundred percent you can do this.
There isn’t even a flicker in my mind that you can’t.
You are Haven motherfucking Calloway, you survived for years under Frederick Bell’s commands.
You were clever enough to find a way around them, to claim your pack.
Years, Haves. This is nothing. A few hours of labor and at the end you’re going to have the most perfect little girl in the entire world.
The little girl you’re going to name after me ‘cause I’m awesome too. ”
She gives a choked laugh. And I smile as Forsythe kisses my shoulder. I can feel his pride radiating out to me.
“Now, you need to get your butt to the hospital and I need to get on a plane so I can get there as soon as possible. Don’t try to wait for me, okay? You just do what you need to, and I’ll see you when I get there.”
“Okay,” Haven says, sounding as choked as I feel. “Also, I don’t really have the time to get into it with you, but I’m so pissed at you.”
My eyes close, guilt hitting hard. “I’m sorry. I know I promised I’d be there-”
“Not for being in Bravonne, Ren! I had to find out you’re bonded from an Instagram post? The fact that I’m in labor is probably your fault. The shock of it put me into it.”
I choke on a laugh. The idea of that is absurd, but she sounds so serious about it. “I’m not sure that’s how it works, Haves.”
“Don’t care. I’m blaming you.” There’s the low murmur of a male voice on the other side of the phone, and Haven makes a little chirruping sound that’s half excitement, half fear. “We have to go.”
“You got this, babe. I promise you can handle this.”
She takes a deep breath and lets it out. “You’re right. I can do this. I need to go, but don’t think our conversation is over. As soon as this little stinker is born we’re having a talk, you and I.”
I laugh. “We will.”
“Love you, Ren.”
“Love you too, Haves.”
As soon as the call ends I slap my palms over my eyes to try to stifle my tears, brought on by guilt and overwhelm more than anything.
“Come on, cor mea.” The words are whispered against my temple. “We need to move.”
Choking back a sob, I nod, still pressing my hands to my face. “I know. I know. Just…”
A low purr rumbles out of him, his hand slides under my hair to grip the back of my neck, fingers digging in just slightly, just enough for me to really feel his steady presence. I’m here, that grip says. I’ve got you. I’ll take care of everything.
And, strange as it seems after everything he’s put me through, I believe him.
“Okay, Pix.” Court’s voice has me peeking at him from between my spread fingers to find him standing with a bundle of clothes in his hands. “We gotta get you dressed, yeah? Grieves is checking on our security, and Thayer’s calling for a car. We’re almost ready.”
I nod, a sudden sense of urgency taking over as I scramble away from my prime, whose purr stutters out as I do. Sheepishly I crawl back to press a quick kiss to his lips. “Thank you,” I murmur against his mouth, his beard tickling my cheeks. “Thank you, alpha.”
One of his big hands smooths along the side of my head, cradling it like I’m precious. “You’re welcome, omega.”
“Fuck, Pix,” Court groans. “You need to put some clothes on, or I’m going to crawl up behind you and fill you before we get on the road.”
It's tempting, good lord is it tempting, especially when I glance over my shoulder at him and find his gaze heated and focused on my bare ass, I know I don’t have time for it. Not now at least.
“Wait until we get on the plane and have nothing to do for ten hours,” I suggest scrambling over to snatch the clothes from his hands. A pair of my leggings and one of his sweatshirts. Nothing else.
Maybe I should grab a pair of panties and a bra.
But one glance at the two alphas in the room with me is enough to know that putting them on for a thirty minute drive to their airstrip is pointless. I have no doubt as soon as the wheels are up and we’re in the air, I’ll be naked anyway.
“Is there-”
“I packed more clothes for you,” Piers says, popping out of my closet with a bag in his hand. “And some toiletries so you can get cleaned up before we land.”
Because he knows I’ll want to go right to the hospital and also that I won’t want to smell like sex when I do. I send a wave of love and gratitude toward him. And he beams at me in response.
“Thank you,” I say out loud, as I tug on Court’s sweatshirt. Followed by the leggings, as soon as I’m dressed, Court slings me over his shoulder and bolts from the room, as I shriek. “What are you doing?”
“The sooner we get to the airplane, the sooner I can be buried inside you, knot deep, pumping you full of my cum,” Court growls, one big hand caressing the curve of my ass. He sends a wave of pure lust through our bond and I swear I nearly come right there.
My perfume lifts in the air, thick and sweet and my pack groans. “Don’t do that, killer,” Thayer grunts. “We really don’t want to make the front page news for public indecency.”
“Or maybe we do,” I bob up and down as Court shrugs. “It would pair rather nicely with that picture Forsythe posted to his socials. No one would have any doubt who we belong to then.”
There’s a pause, like they’re all imagining fucking me publicly, claiming me in such a feral way. I’m thinking about it too, and I’m not too ashamed to admit that my sex gives another painful clench and slick soaks into my leggings.
“Fuuuuuck,” Court grunts as we burst from my building and find Grieves already waiting next to the car, shirt half unbuttoned and blond hair wild around his shoulders. He looks sexy as hell. And another waft of my perfume hits the air.
My pack growls.
“Get her in the fucking car,” Thayer grits out and a second later Court’s all but throwing me into the back seat of the vehicle, laying me down instead of letting me sit up. He comes in on top of me, my thighs bracketing his hips.
“Not gonna make it to the airplane,” Court growls. “Need inside you, Pix.”
“I need that too,” I tell him, grinding up into him. The way I’m feeling is actually wild. Like I might die if he’s not inside me in the next few seconds.
I have the very brief thought that maybe I’m in a heat spike? But surely if that were the case I’d feel hot with fever and Court would recognize it.
Maybe it’s just the bonds driving us together. Maybe it’s that we’re finally together with nothing between us. That it’s okay for us to express our love physically.
With a low growl, Court reaches for the crotch of my leggings and rips it out, a second later he’s thrusting into me, filling me up. We both moan.
I come three times before we even make it to the airstrip and it is glorious.