“We know you’ll take good care of him,” Colt said. “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome. Listen, there’s something else. I am a little surprised at how much Ben is showing just a few months into his pregnancy. I want to take a listen with my stethoscope to see if I hear more than one heartbeat.”
Colt and I looked at each other, eyes wide, then watched Laura warm the chest piece of her stethoscope with her hand before pressing it to Ben’s distended belly. She moved it around a few times, listening.
“Well?” I asked when she removed the earpieces from her ears.
“I only hear one heartbeat, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he isn’t carrying twins. One could be behind the other one.” Standing, she took her bag in hand. “Goodnight. Come get me if you need me.”
I managed a smile and nod to her before she walked out of the room. I really was thankful to her, but not having any realanswers was damned frustrating, and now she was talking about twins.
“We have enough to worry about. Let’s not think about the possibility of twins,” Colt said.
I began pacing the room. “We’re his alphas, for fuck’s sake! We should be able to help him.”
A soft knock at the door preceded David poking his head around the door. His eyes were red. I felt bad for interrogating him earlier. Holding up his cellphone, he turned it toward us, showing us Jackson’s worried face on the screen.
“I told him what happened, and he wants to see Ben for himself,” David said.
Colt motioned for David to come in. “Hi Jackson. Laura said Ben’s not in coma, and she thinks the sleeping is some kind of pregnant omega protective instinct or something.”
David turned the phone to show Ben lying on the bed, his eyes moving rapidly beneath his lids and his lips parted. Every so often, he made a sound as though he were dreaming, but he didn’t seem agitated.
“I hate being so far away,” Jackson said. “I miss you guys.”
“We’re taking care of him,” David said. “I’ll call you in the morning, okay?” He turned and left the room, still talking to Jackson.
Agreeing there wasn’t much we could do except be with Ben, Colt and I got ready for bed, then stripped Ben down to his underwear before climbing in on each side of him under the covers.
I barely slept. I kept jerking awake and checking on Ben to make sure he was still breathing or maybe awake. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, I woke up to find him on his side, his left arm and leg draped over my chest and hips. Colt was breathing evenly on the other side of the bed.
Stroking Ben’s arm, I whispered, “Ben, please wake up.” And, just as though this were any night, Ben’s eyes drifted open.
“Hm?” he murmured.
“Ben? Are you alright?” I said, louder this time.
On the other side of Ben, Colt sat up, hair in disarray and face scrunched up from sleep.
“Ben’s awake,” I said, a grin spreading over my face.
“He is? Ben?”
Rolling onto his back, Ben looked from Colt to me. “What is it?” he asked groggily.
“Oh, nothing, except you scared the fuck out of us,” I said, pushing myself up to lean on the headboard.
Ben frowned. “What? How?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Colt asked, taking Ben’s hand and kissing his knuckles.
“Uh, I remember being at the bunkhouse and drinking ginger ale. I was really sleepy. Then, I guess I fell asleep. Did you bring me back here to bed?”
“We couldn’t wake you up,” I said. “You literally would not wake up.”
“Huh?” Obviously confused, Ben kept frowning and looking from one of us to the other.
“We brought you back here and Laura examined you. She’s in the guest room sleeping in case we needed her. You were sleeping and dreaming, but we couldn’t rouse you.”