And so time passed. Summer turned to autumn, which meant Montana cooled down very rapidly. The nights were frigid and the days bordered on unbearably chilly. While the humans bundled up, the wolves felt less of a need to do so. Their tolerance for extreme temperatures went along with the other abilities they possessed; however, as was the case in most of these scenarios, it was simply easier to play along instead of constantly fending off questions about why they weren’t cold and what their secret was.

Corey’s birthday was a quiet affair. At least, the omega wanted it to be quiet. It turned into a baby shower and a party that lasted well into the night. At one point, Dell noticed he hadn’t seen his mate for a long while and went in search of him, only to find the man curled up asleep in bed.

On the other hand, Dell’s birthday was truly a quiet event. Corey presented him with a lumpy box covered in wrapping paper. He laughed and poked his finger through a gap in the paper. “You need to work on this.”

Corey scowled up at him. “This is the first time I’ve ever wrapped something. Give me props for even doing it instead of just plopping your present right on your chest.”

Dell pressed a kiss to his cheek and continued sliding his finger down the uneven seam of the box, ripping the paper easily. What tumbled out of the scraps of glittery blue was a beginning artist’s kit. He looked up at Corey, who was grinning broadly, and then back down at the kit. Tearing it open with fingers that trembled from a mix of trepidation and eagerness, he took out each item and examined it. A packet of pencils, a little baggy of charcoal sticks, two erasers, a sharpener, and a thin piece of rolled paper meant for blending.

“Thank you, Corey,” he said, meaning every syllable.

His mate caught his hand as he moved to set the kit down. “You have to draw me something right now!”

“Maybe later,” Dell said, softly. “When there’s more time. I have to go to work soon.”

“So? Look what else I got you!” Corey spun around, revealing that he had a sketchbook tucked away in the back of his pants. Dell couldn’t help but to laugh again and accepted the second gift, smoothing his fingers over the textured surface. It felt right in his hands, somehow. “Just do a quick practice drawing, please? I want to see what you can do.”

“I’ve never drawn a person before.”

Corey wiggled impatiently. “Well, then try!”

And Dell tried. He sat up and did his absolute best, wielding his new artistic weapons as best as he could, which was not very well at all because he didn’t know what the different types of pencils were. He focused like he hadn’t focused ever before, putting everything he had into this sketch.

He glanced over at the clock while switching pencils, and then set the packet down. “I should get ready for work.”

“Wait!” The omega snatched the sketchbook from his hands and turned it around so that he could see. “Oh. Well. At least you tried.”

As it turned out, Dell’s drawings of humans looked quite a bit like wolves. After that, he made the—sensible—decision to stick to drawing animals. As the days passed, he spent nearly all of his free time practicing. His skills grew in leaps and bounds, and all because Corey had encouraged him to pick up his pencil and eraser and take fifteen minutes for a sketch. He was so set in his own ways that only his mate could get him to do what was best.

My love. He’s going to be my rock throughout the years. I can tell.

And as Dell changed, so too did Corey change, though his changes were more physical. His stomach swelled and his joints became rounded and stiff, which led to a great deal of massages that then turned into sex. His omega was more sensitive than ever before, reaching orgasm quickly and repeatedly in just a single session. There were no mood swings, for which Dell was thankful. He’d seen many others in the midst of those and it was more terrifying than a panther battle.

Hell, nothing in the world was more terrifying than an angry, pregnant omega.

Nausea came and went, as did cravings. Nothing severe. Pregnancy agreed with Corey. Perhaps his body was making up for all its lost time as a wolf by making this part of his life extra easy on him. Whatever the reason, they were both enjoying themselves immensely.

Everything changed near the end of September, when Dell returned from a patrol. Sweating lightly, he pushed the door of the station open and was stepping through when a heavy body slammed into him.

“Shit!” he grunted, and reached back to stop himself from hitting the ground directly as he fell.

“Dell! There you are.”

He looked up to see Michael towering over him, looking stressed. “Chief. Why don’t you look where you’re going?” he growled. He was in a good mood though, and a fall couldn’t ruin that.

Michael had other plans, however. He yanked Dell to his feet and clicked his teeth at him, stating his place as pack alpha. As the deputy, Dell wasn’t particularly bothered, but he did get the message. “Something’s wrong. What is it?”

“Corey just rang the station. I was coming to find you.”

“Oh.” It felt like he’d been punched in the stomach by a panther, nearly doubling him over right there in broad daylight. Like many of the wolves, he didn’t carry a cellphone. Something about shapeshifting ruined the electronics at a pace that a normal person’s budget simply couldn’t account for. “What’s wrong? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine,” Michael growled. “As fine as he can be for someone whose water just broke. He needs you there.”

“Oh.”

And that was all he could say as another punch was delivered right in the same spot as the first. His knees felt weak with a combination of terror and excitement that he would finally be able to meet the little wolf spirit who had taken up residence in Corey’s stomach. How many nights had he fallen asleep recently, feeling that little life moving beneath his hand? He wanted so badly to meet it, to know whether he would be given a son or daughter, but there were no hospitals in the area that were shifter-friendly. There used to be one, but the doctor in charge of delivering babies had transferred recently and been replaced with one who knew nothing. Everything they had gone through thus far had been accomplished via blind luck and the wisdom of others who’d gone through the same thing previously.

“Go to him, man!” Michael growled. “What are you waiting for?”

“I… I won’t know what to do!” Dell sputtered out. “I’ve never delivered a baby before!”

“Neither has Corey, which is why he needs you! Timmy will be along shortly to help but…”

Dell turned and raced away, not needing to hear what was about to be said next. Shapeshifter births were an odd thing. Animals tended to have an easier time of birth when compared with humans, especially those who lived in the wild and hadn’t come to depend on a master. At the same time, birth was even rougher mentally on a shifter because of their animal side. Corey had been spending so much time in the house during the last month or so that the wolf inside him probably equated it with a den, which meant he was going to be fiercely protective. If anything went wrong and Corey didn’t accept help…

I can’t think about that.

The moment he hit an alleyway, Dell shifted and dropped down to his paws. He was back at his apartment in no time. His acute senses told him no one else was around, so he didn’t even bother turning back. He just ran across the parking lot on all fours, knocked the door open with his shoulder, and barged inside.

“Corey!” he cried out, stumbling up to two legs. He smelled strange fluids and sweat, which sent lightning bolts of panic through him. Was this normal?

Corey lay on his back in the bed, pulling in ragged gasps of breath while gripping his stomach. His nails dug into the skin but hardly made any depression at all, he was so swollen and rounded. As Dell watched, a massive ripple passed through his stomach. It was like watching someone tap gelatin and letting it wobble around on its own. A body simply wasn’t meant to do that under normal circumstances.

Dell raced up to the bed and put his face in front of Corey’s. “Baby!” he urged. “Talk to me. You okay?”

Corey looked at him with eyes so glazed they were practically white. Then, his gaze cleared and he clicked his pointed teeth at Dell in a threatening gesture. “Back… up…” he grunted.

Though it pained him to do so, Dell obediently pulled back. He wanted to be as close as possible to his mate right now, but he also didn’t relish the idea of having his throat bitten. Everything about Corey said that he was dangerous, from that look in his eyes, to his fangs, to the tension in his muscles and the scent pouring off him.

The omega did relax slightly when Dell pulled back. “Sorry,” he grunted, still clutching his stomach. “I just… felt penned in.”

“It’s okay,” Dell soothed. His heart pounded and he could smell his own fear in the air, both of which signaled that things might not be as okay as he said. However, he thought that Corey might be a bit too busy to pick up on those things. “I understand. You’re a wolf.”

“Tell me… about being… a wolf?”

Dell racked his brains, which felt as if they had been wiped clean. “Uh… well… in the wild, only alpha wolves get to mate.”

Corey clung to his every word, breathing in gasps. His eyes were crushed shut, creating creases in his dampened forehead. Dell wanted to smooth away those worry lines but he couldn’t without risking his fingers.

“The alpha female leaves the pack when she’s ready to give birth. She’ll have picked out her own den and she stays there to give birth and raise the pups until they’re old enough to rejoin the pack.”

“Why?” Corey grunted.

“I guess she wants them to be able to play with their new packmates,” Dell said. He thought this might not exactly be the best time to tell the truth, which was that the other wolves might kill or eat the babies. That wasn’t the sort of thing you told a person in pain.

Someone knocked on the front door. “Hey!” another omega’s voice called out. “It’s Tim! Can I come in?”

“Sure,” Dell called. Corey stared at him with incomprehension, waiting for an explanation. “You remember Timmy, right? Chief Michael’s husband?”

Corey swatted at him with one hand. Dell winced a little. It didn’t exactly hurt but there was quite a lot of force behind the blow. “Of course, I remember who he is! Why is he here?”

Timmy entered the room with his nose wrinkled at the smell of that strange fluid. “I’m here because I gave birth the most recently,” he said, tone cheerful. “I’ll be making sure that Dell does everything you tell him to.”

“Everything?” Corey breathed through a sigh, trying to smile. “I better not let this… go to waste.”

“Right,” Timmy said, still just as brightly as before. “And first thing we do is we need him to get some towels and put them under you. You… uh… also need to be naked.”

I didn’t factor in the nudity. Oh, hell.

Luckily, it seemed as if the omega was in too much pain to be self-conscious. Timmy left the room under the excuse that he was going to look at some of Dell’s drawings, and Dell fetched enough towels for an army of pregnant men. He thought it was enough, but would it really be? “You’re going to need to sit up now, baby. I need to put these on the bed. I’m sorry.”

Corey heaved a heavy sigh but tried to sit up, anyway. He couldn’t manage it until Dell grabbed his arms to help. “Well, I need to get naked anyway…”

That was true. Glad for the omega’s practicality, Dell hurried to spread the towels across the bed and then he helped the other to strip. It was difficult, and his nerves were frayed raw by the time they managed it. Every single movement made Corey yelp out in pain and he had no balance to speak of. In the end, they had to call in Timmy to assist them.

And from that point on, it was a waiting game. Labor was not something that happened quickly. It was a great deal of sitting around, enduring pain, and waiting for something to happen. Corey grunted, puffed, and heaved as spasms continuously rocked through his body. They were quite far apart but, when they came in, they were no gentle lapping tide. They were tsunami waves, crushing his breath and paining him to the point where he almost wished for death.

Dell paced. Timmy attempted to offer moral support by sitting on the edge of the bed, telling funny stories about his own birth and the antics of his daughter. Corey hardly seemed to be listening, but to fill the room with idle chatter was better than sitting in silence, listening to the pain.

“Dell, can you sit down for a minute? You’re about to drive me crazy with all that damn pacing of yours,” Timmy said as he looked up and growled. It wasn’t an intimidating sound at all, but Dell got the message: his pacing was bothering Corey, not Timmy.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at his agonized beloved. How much time had passed? Why hadn’t the baby come yet? “How do you feel?”

“How do you think I feel?” Corey snapped. “I’ve got a watermelon inside me trying to come out!”

“Do you need anything?” Dell looked around the room. What could he possibly provide? “Do you want some water? Some ice, maybe?”

“I want you to shut up and stop bothering me,” Corey snapped. “Everyone just shut up and leave me alone until this is all over!”

They could do nothing but what he requested. Silence fell upon the room, punctuated only by the sounds of labor. An hour passed, then two. Dell felt his nerves stretching, nearing the snapping point. Like any alpha who was in tune with his mate, he was receiving a lot of distress signals that told him to get rid of the problem. Only, he was powerless to stop it. He had no control over this, because there was no enemy to fight.

As time went on, Corey’s contractions came closer and closer together until he was constantly in the grips of one. He clawed at the mattress, arching his back while pained cries pulled from his throat. He hardly had enough breath left for that, and Dell could sense that he was weakening.

He looked over at Timmy anxiously, eyes wide. The omega noticed the look and stood up from where he’d taken up a perch on the bedroom floor. He went over to the other omega and took an embarrassed peek at his ass, to see how dilated he was.

“Well?” Dell demanded. “How does it look?”

“Very nice,” Timmy said, politely. “A very nice ass.”

The response shocked a laugh out of Dell. “Be serious, dammit.”

“I think he looks about the same as I did when I gave birth to Audrey,” Timmy replied, hesitantly. “And he’s having lots of contractions, so… I think it’s time. What do you think, Corey?”

The omega didn’t even bother replying. He just gripped the mattress again, braced his feet, and pushed so hard that his face turned red. Dell took up a position between Corey’s legs, although the sight made him want to pass out. He had seen blood and death, had been witness to extreme illness, but nothing prepared him to see a gaping opening, pulsating red and slick with strange fluids. As he watched, Corey’s push made it open wider and wider and now he could see things that should never have been seen outside of a terrible fight.

“You’re doing fine,” he said.

Timmy encouraged, “Push harder! Come on!”

Corey bore down again and, this time, Dell caught sight of something new down there. It was red as blood and pale as milk, but receded from sight the moment Corey stopped pushing. The omega panted, exhausted already.

Was that my baby? Did I see my baby?

“Do it again!”

“You do it again!” Corey snarled. He lay there flat on his back while his stomach convulsed, gathering the strength to go at it again. He screamed out his pain and Dell saw that red-and-white shape again, deep within but closer than before. Still screaming, Corey kept pushing, and Dell watched with a mixture of fascination and sickness as the top of his baby’s head appeared.

“I can see her!” Timmy crooned. “Here she comes! You’re doing so good, Corey!”

Corey’s scream reached new levels, and then rapidly abated into shuddering gasps as the baby finally arrived. Dell was there to catch it, and he stared down at the little life that lay so small in his hands. It screeched but the sound was music to his ears. Feet kicking, fists tossed around, it was displeased as hell to be in the cold air.

“Look,” Timmy breathed. “It’s a little boy.”

He had been so caught up in what was happening that he hadn’t even bothered to check. A little boy. His son.

“You did it,” Dell whispered, looking down at his mate with more love than he had known could fit inside any man’s body. “Well done, Corey.”

“Let me see my son,” the omega breathed. His eyes were still closed but they opened gradually when the baby was placed upon his chest. Father and son looked deeply into each other’s eyes, the angry cries slowly silenced as they acquainted themselves with one another. The child looked odd, with its skull elongated and its skin still patchy red and white, but it was also the most beautiful thing Dell had ever seen. It had a little tuft of dark hair, and its eyes were pale blue.

Timmy spoke from behind them both. “Don’t worry about the eyes. All baby wolves have blue eyes at first.”

Dell couldn’t have cared less. It wasn’t so much the appearance of the child that made it beautiful. No, it was the child’s very existence. He could feel it now, his son’s soul stronger than ever.

He tenderly stroked one velvet-soft cheek, and wrapped his arm around Corey’s shoulders. “You did it,” he whispered.

“I think we’re only going to have one baby,” Corey muttered back.

Dell laughed and kissed his dry lips, tasting blood where the omega had bitten them. He might say that now, but he knew his Corey. The omega’s eyes were so full of love and amazement. Clearly, the labor had been worth it, and he wouldn’t have been surprised if they had enough children to form their own pack, if they so wished. How many of them would become police officers? How many would become whatever they wished, earning their future as they went?

The years didn’t have to pass by for him to know that he would be proud of all of them.