Page 29 of The Quiet Alpha and His Fox

Waylan supervised the boys in the field nearby, keeping a nervous eye on me. I'd been reassuring him all morning that I was fine, but a few hours later, my back was beginning to hurt.

I waved at Waylan and motioned to the seed spreader. "I'm gonna go inside and take a break. Someone else can finish this."

Waylan came in a few minutes later to check on me. He rubbed my back, brought me a glass of lemonade, and then went back out to finish planting with the boys. I watched the green leaves swaying in the breeze outside the window as they slowly lulled me to sleep.

A while later, I woke up to the sound of footsteps. Waylan was pacing in the next room, so I sat up, worried something had happened with one of the boys. As helpful as they were, they were still clumsy teenagers. "Waylan?"

He stopped pacing and came into the bedroom. His face was pale and a thin layer of sweat coated his brow. "What is it? What happened?" His eyes searched my face. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine. My back hurts, but that's nothing new. Why do you look like that?"

He sat down next to me and took my hand.

I braced myself. Somebody had died. It was the only explanation for why he was acting so weird.

"I called Abigail. She's on her way, but it's gonna be a couple hours, probably more with traffic."

I looked at my belly to make sure I was still pregnant. "Why would you call Abigail? She was just here this morning. She said I have a few more days."

Waylan shook his head. "The baby's coming. You're already in labor."

I laughed and rubbed the sweat from his forehead. "I think I would know if I was in la—" A sudden deep, wringing motion happened in my body, and I doubled over with pain.

Waylan rubbed my back. "Breathe."

Breathe. Right, breathe. Could this be it? I breathed like Abigail had shown me, and after a minute or so, the pain subsided.

I looked at Waylan in wonder. "How did you know?"

He raised his hands in disbelief. "I don't know. Your scent changed this morning, which I thought was odd, but we also ate so much watermelon last night, I thought maybe it was that. And then I had a feeling when I was out in the field, and I just knew."

Our level of connection continued to surprise me. "Okay. Let's get everything ready. And if you have a feeling about when the next contraction is coming, let me know."

I'd barely finished the sentence when the next one hit. I doubled over again, breathing and rocking as I tried not to break apart into a million pieces, which was what it felt like was happening.

Waylan came running back in the room with sheets, towels, and pillows. I rolled from one side of the bed to the other while he prepared the space. We worked together to prop pillows into different configurations so that each time a contraction hit, I had a different position to move into. It was a nice idea in theory, but in practice, nothing worked.

I was just in pain.

Then I heard voices outside. "Is she here?"

Waylan ran out and came back a minute later. "It's just the boys, wondering what's going on. I told them the baby's coming."

I smiled at Waylan. "God, that sounds nice!" I started to laugh with excitement, but then another contraction hit. They were really close together, making my nerves ratchet up a notch. "Can you call Abigail again?"

Waylan pulled out his phone and dialed her number, then ran outside and gave his phone to the boys. "She's still a ways away. The boys are gonna keep an eye on the phone for us. Breathe, omega, breathe."

I clutched the pillow and grimaced, giving in to what my body was telling me to do. "I have to start pushing."

Waylan sat beside me and pushed on my back. "Hold on a little longer. Abigail will be here soon. You can do it."

"No.” I shook my head and tried to catch my breath. “Nope. I have to start pushing." Instinctively, I knew what to do. I got on my hands and knees and began to rock back and forth. My body was contracting to push the baby out. "Help me squat, Waylan."

I held his hands, and he helped me get into a squatting position. As scary as it was, I let my body take over and a huge wave moved through me.

I cried out in pain and fear and relief as it all happened in the span of a breath.

The boys on the porch fell silent and then one of them yelled, "Go, Joe!"

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