Ollie, I thought. Little baby Ollie.

I looked down at my son, swaddled in my arms in a blanket given to us by Jamie, and felt the tears roll down my cheeks.

“It’s an okay time to cry,” Jamie told me as she stitched up my arm. “I know it isn’t from this big goddamn wound either.”

She was right. I barely even felt the needle going in and out of my skin as she sewed me up. I’d lost a lot of blood from the nasty laceration Killoran had given me, and almost passed out after Percy had given birth. But with a little help from Jamie, and a whole lot of fluids, I was hanging in there.

“I have a son, Jamie,” I told her, my eyes locked on his adorable, soft, pink little face.

“Congratulations, Gabriel,” she said in a tone uncharacteristically sweet for her. It was impossible to tell who he’d look like this early on, but I was secretly hoping he’d look like Percy. He was an omega, the first omega baby to be born on the farm.

Some alphas would be disappointed that their mate hadn’t given birth to an alpha, but not me. I wasn’t that proud. All I cared about was providing him the best life I could, and making sure that whatever alpha decided to pony up to him later in his life was absolutely worthy of him. No slouches or losers for my baby boy!

Percy groaned and stirred in his sleep on the bed beside me. He’d stayed awake for a while after Ollie arrived, but once I’d taken him, he took the opportunity for a nice, well-deserved nap.

My son stirred slightly too, making a strange face that reminded me of an old man. His little baby hairs on the top of his head were barely there, like some strange alien noodle that wasn’t even really hair. I just couldn’t believe the size of his hands—impossibly small, with little pink sausages for fingers that didn’t even appear to have joints yet.

“Can I get you guys anything?” Kenneth asked from the door.

“I’m all right,” I replied, shaking my head. But Kenneth didn’t go anywhere. I felt him waiting at the door and knew what he wanted, so I turned around and smiled.

“Want to come and see him?” I asked. He smiled and nodded eagerly. “Well, come on in. Just try to be quiet. I want Percy to get some rest.”

Kenneth just nodded and came over beside me to peer over my shoulder. I’d never felt more proud in my life than I did as I showed off my son to him. My mate and I had created something beautiful, and it had brought us even closer together than we’d been before. We weren’t just fated mates anymore. We were parents.

It was our job to take care of our baby now—be providers. The rest of the pack would be there, of course, to support us, but this little bundle of joy was going to rely on us to teach him about the world, and to be honest, I was slightly terrified.

What did I know about parenting? I’d never known good parents. I’d been on my own for so long that the whole thing was a mystery to me. When do I talk to him? When am I too overbearing? What do I do when he’s hurting? What do I do when he’s a brat?

So many questions!

As though she could read my mind, Jamie chimed in beside me. “Don’t worry, big fella. You’ll be a great father.”

“Yeah?” I asked, turning to face her.

She nodded and frowned as though it was self-evident and I was being silly for even thinking otherwise. “How could you not? You’re smart, sweet and capable. And you’re not an asshole.”

I chuckled, then joked with her. “Hey, watch the language around my son, would ya?”

“See what I mean?” She laughed as she finished the last stitch. “Already protective of him.”

“God, what am I going to do when he gets his first crush? When the alphas start hitting on him?”

“You are thinking way too far into the future, slugger. Think about teaching him how to walk, ride a bike, throw a ball. Ya know? All that good guy stuff.”

I smiled. She was right. There were an infinite number of steps to raising a child, and here I was on step one, but my mind was on step 963.

“There you go,” she told me as she taped a bandage over my stitches. “You’re all set. Now, if you don’t mind, I have to go do the same to Terry’s leg now. You boys sure got yourselves into a big mess.”

“Yeah, you should see the other guys,” I chuckled as she patted my shoulder and left the room.

Looking down at my baby boy, I felt a renewed sense of life wash over me. I rocked him gently and watched his expressions change.

What’s he thinking right now? I wondered. Is he dreaming? If so, about what?

My mate stirred on the bed and opened his eyes. I smiled down at him.

“Hey, sleepyhead.”

He smirked back up at me and stretched both arms above his head. “How is he?”

“About the same as when you gave him to me,” I replied. “How was your nap?”

“God, I needed that,” he laughed softly. “Giving birth is quite a workout.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it.”

“You should try it!”

“No, I think I’ll leave all that to you,” I smirked. “Unless you want to do all the killing other alphas stuff.”

Percy’s expression shifted and I instantly knew I shouldn’t have said that.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” he told me. “I was stupid. Kenneth told me not to go there alone, and I did it anyway—”

“Forget I said anything,” I replied quickly, waving my hands. “That’s my job—to be there for you. And I always will.”

Percy smiled, but I knew he still felt bad. “I know that, baby.”

“And you know what? If you hadn’t gone to that bar, I wouldn’t have been able to deal with Killoran, and we’d still be worried about him. Now we don’t have to.”

He did his best to laugh, but he was exhausted. “I guess there’s a bright side to everything.”

“That’s right!” I replied as I handed over our child to him. He took him and the light returned to his eyes. He held him close and smelled him and I took a mental picture of the moment and imbedded it in my mind forever. I knew we’d have a thousand more like it, but this was our first real moment as a family, and I never wanted to let myself forget it.

“Speaking of which, do you know what I was thinking?”

“What?”

“Now that you are recovering from your pregnancy. Wouldn’t it be a fantastic time to start your book?”

Percy’s eyes lit up again. “That’s a good point! I’m sure it’ll be a few days before I have the strength, but the outline is finished, and Scotty said he’d read some chapters for me!”

“See? Perfect plan,” I grinned. “And before you know it, you’ll be a bigtime famous author and we’ll all be rich!”

“Do you want a Ferrari or a Lamborghini?” he joked.

“Hummer.”

“Oh, I can handle your hummers,” he winked. “But seriously, I don’t need to be rich. I have everything I need already. But for people to like my work? That would be just…awesome!”

Ollie stirred in my mate’s arms and he cradled him to his chest and moved the blanket aside so he could feed. I leaned down and kissed him on the forehead as I got to my feet.

“You want something to eat?” I asked him, grabbing his empty glass from the nightstand. “I’ll get you some more water while I’m out there.”

“I’d kill for some ice cream,” he replied. “Do we have any?”

“I’ll check,” I told him. “If not, I’ll head into town and grab some.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that!”

“I want to,” I replied. “Besides, while he’s feeding there’s not a ton else for me to do!”

Percy puckered his lips at me before I left, letting me know he wanted a kiss. I gave him one, and then planted another on my baby boy as he sucked away, then stepped from the room into the kitchen. The entire pack was stuffed into the living room chatting, all excited by the arrival of a new life.

“Congratulations!” They all said in unison, keeping their voices low.

“Thank you, thank you,” I replied with a silly bow. “I have joined the ranks of the fathers.”

“You’re gonna have a blast,” Juan told me. “Once you get used to not getting any sleep of course.”

“And all the crying…” Preston added.

“And the baby puke,” Terry laughed.

They were giving me a hard time—hazing me on purpose, letting me know I was part of the group and what I was in for. I laughed and grabbed the keys to the truck.

“I’m going out to get some ice cream for Percy. Anyone want anything?”

“Oh, and the constant errands!” Kenneth added as I shoved the door open, laughing to myself.

I’m ready for it all, I thought. All of it.