Chapter Thirty-Four
The gel was cold and Cade made a face, clutching tight to Hunter’s hand.
“This won’t hurt a bit,” Joe promised, “but you might feel some pressure from me pushing the probe down. Shout if it’s too much.”
Cade suspected it would be Hunter doing the shouting from how hard he squeezed the alpha’s hand. The static sound from the ultrasound machine didn’t help.
“So, we’ll go from left to right,” Joe said, all business-like as he worked. Jensen stood over his shoulder, watching. “There’s the first one, we’ll call this guy baby A. He, or she, looks good. Showing off for us, I think. Jazz hands.” Sure enough Cade could count all ten fingers splayed out. “Small but that’s to be expected with multiples.”
Cade hadn’t expected the image on the screen to be so clear. “Hunter, it’s our baby.”
The alpha was staring at the screen, mesmerized. He leaned close to Cade’s ear. “I think he has your nose.” Cade giggled as Joe swept right.
“There’s baby B, head up, feet down. See him kicking away there.”
Cade made a face. “I can feel that. Little tearaway is kicking my bladder.”
Hunter made a sympathetic face next to him, rubbing Cade’s hip with his hand.
“And baby C, all tucked up at the top here. That’s the weird sensation you were feeling under your ribs. I think he's got a foot wedged in there.”
“Triplets,” Hunter said with satisfaction.
“Hold on,” Joe said, “I think we’re not quite finished yet. Just the way this guy is lying makes me suspect…”
He pushed the probe downward. “Ah-ha. There, see…”
There was one last baby curled up near Cade’s hip.
“Quadruplets,” Hunter said, his voice sounding stronger than Cade was expecting. He was taking all this in his stride.
“Is he…” Cade started to ask.
Joe laughed. “Sucking his thumb? Yep. He’s a little cutie, isn’t he?”
He looked up at them. “Do you want to know the sexes?
Cade and Hunter shared a look.
“No,” Hunter replied. “We’d like a surprise. Four surprises, to be exact.”
He tucked a finger under Cade’s chin, nudging him so they were eye to eye. “You are amazing, did you know that. And I’m so lucky to have you.”
“Even if neither of us ever get another night’s sleep again?” Already, Cade’s sleep was restless with the babies moving and kicking.
“Even if.”
Joe wiped away the gel and tidied up his things. “We’ll just give you two a few minutes, okay?”
“Thanks, Joe,” they both said. Jensen and Joe left, and the two of them sat there in silence. It was a nice silence, not awkward.
“I’m scared,” Cade admitted.
“Scared of what?” Hunter asked, holding Cade’s hand in his and glancing around as if searching for danger.
“Of giving birth. Of minding four tiny babies. Of being good parents.”
“Well, you have me, and your brothers, and so many friends here. We’re not alone in this. Though, yeah, it does seem a little unfair that you have to carry and give birth to all four. Seems like a fifty-fifty split would be fairer.”
Cade laughed at the image of both of them sporting matching bumps.
“And the parents thing… well, you’d probably know better than I would what that means. What I can tell you, from my experience, is that the people who I consider my parents are the people who were actually there for me. Proximity seems kind of key. Unconditional love, too. I’m sure there’s more to it than that, the day to day stuff.”
Cade set a hand over Hunter’s. “We’ll muddle through and we’ll learn. As long as the love is there.”
“It’s there,” Hunter insisted, “it’s there.”
Ollie moved out of the house he shared with Cade and into a house with Joe, giving Hunter and Cade the space they needed to get things ready for the babies’ arrival. They turned Ollie’s room into a nursery. They were gifted two cribs and a changing table and Hunter put his half-baked carpentry skills into practice building two more cribs, a second changing table, and rocking chairs.
“We can co-sleep them when they’re small,” Cade suggested to him one afternoon, as they painted the walls. Hunter was insistent that Cade not overexert himself, so it was mostly him painting and Cade watching. “But we might need to separate them later, especially when they start shifting.”
“When will that be?” Hunter asked.
“Usually after a week or so.”
Hunter dropped the paintbrush in surprise and turned to his mate.
“A week?”
Cade nodded. “I think it’s an omega hormone thing. They’ll all be able to shift into different animals for the first while. The betas and alphas will stop that eventually and settle on one animal form. The omegas will keep the ability but should have an affinity for one form in particular.”
“Like your tiger.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Four tiny babies, all capable of shifting. It’s going to be chaos.”
“It won’t be so bad. Actually, it can be helpful as I can shift and my scent will encourage them to shift too so I can feed them. It’ll save on bottles and night feeds.”
Hunter blinked, trying to get his head around it, then grinned. “Well, when you put it like that, I can see the benefit. So you become a tiger, they’ll shift into tiger cubs.”
“And if you shift into a bear, they’ll turn into bear cubs.”
“Cool.” It was fascinating to imagine babies so small doing so much.
“Very cool,” Cade agreed. He leaned forward, resting a hand on the small of his back.
“Something wrong?” Hunter asked, moving to his side.
“Just some back pain. Jensen says it’s totally normal when you’re carrying so many babies.”
He winced again and bent forward, groaning. “Doesn’t make it any more pleasant, though.”
Hunter resting a hand on Cade’s lower back, rubbing firmly. His mate sighed and leaned into his touch. “I think you’ve missed your calling as a masseuse.”
“Not so,” Hunter rumbled. “I’m your personal masseuse, that’s all.”
“Then I guess I’m very lucky,” Cade replied wryly.
“I like to think so,” he teased.
Cade squirmed uncomfortably in the chair. “This pain doesn’t feel right.”
“I’ll call Joe, ask him to pay a visit,” Hunter said, reaching for his phone.
“No, I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“We have a doctor and a midwife on call. Let’s let them tell us that.” Hunter wasn’t budging. He wouldn’t take chances with his mate and their pups.
They got Cade over to the clinic, Hunter carrying him most of the way, ignoring Cade’s protests that he could walk.
Joe did an examination while Hunter held his hand.
“Um, Cade,” Joe ventured.
“Yeah?”
“You know how I said that when labor happened, it would happen quickly?”
“Right.”
“It’s happening.”
Cade half-smiled, giving a Hunter a bewildered look. “No, it’s just some back pain. Probably one of the babies has jammed a foot into- ow. Ow, ow, ow.”
He bent forward, an arm wrapped around his waist. Joe looked under the blanket he’d covered Cade with. “And your waters have broken. It’s definitely happening.”
“Shit, now?” Hunter wasn’t ready. Cade wasn’t ready. Nothing was ready.
Jensen’s hand was suddenly on his shoulder. Hunter looked back at him.
“Why don’t you call Seth, tell him to head on over?”
“Right,” Hunter said, taking a deep breath and pulled himself together. “I should call Seth.” He waited until Cade’s pain eased before slipping out and making the call.
Seth promised he’d head straight there and Hunter gave himself sixty-seconds to feel everything; panicked, overwhelmed, unprepared, before he pulled himself together and stepped back into the room.
He took Cade’s hand. “Seth’s on his way. How are you doing?”
“I’m kind of over this whole pain thing.”
“That I get. But you might have to put up with a bit more of it before all is said and done.”
Cade’s shoulders sagged. “I was afraid you were going to say that. Can I still take you up on the offer of doing fifty percent of the work? You know, I push one out, you do the second, I do the third…”
“I’m game,” Hunter joked softly. “But I think there might be some logistical issues.”
“I hate logistics. I’m not too fond of you right now either.”
“Hey!” Hunter pretended to be affronted. “What did I do?”
“How do you think I got into this predicament in the first place?”
“You swallowed some apple seeds?”
“What?”
Hunter grinned at his perplexed mate, happy to provide a distraction.
“When Seth was a kid, someone told him if you ate an apple seed, it would grow in your stomach like a baby. He believed that for a whole year. Wouldn’t eat anything with seeds.”
Cade laughed. “Oh, poor little Seth. I bet he was a cute kid.”
“What about me?”
“I bet you were a handful.”
“I was,” Hunter admitted.
“It’ll be different for our kids. They’ll be able to shift. All that anger, all that frustration, they won’t have to go through that.”
The pain returned, Cade grimacing and squeezing Hunter’s hand. “Ow, ow, ow. Seriously, is this supposed to hurt so much?”
“Just focus on the end game. You’ll forget all about the pain when you get to hold our first little one in your arms.”
“Yeah, except then I have to do it three more times!”
“Cade.” That was Joe, leaning closer so they were to eye to eye. “You need to calm down, okay?”
“But-”
“I know you’re worried, but your fear is going to make this harder. For shifters, birth shouldn’t be all that painful, whether it’s one baby or four. But you’re scared and tensing up and that’s making things hurt more than they should.”
“I don’t know how to calm down,” Cade replied. “I’ve never done this before.”
Hunter squeezed his hand. “I have an idea if you’re game to try it.”
“Anything,” Cade replied, “if it means this won’t hurt so bad.”
“Could we get some privacy?” Hunter asked, turning to Jensen and Joe.
The two shared a look but readily agreed.
“We’ll be right next door.”
That left Cade alone with his alpha, wondering what exactly Hunter had in mind.
“Do you think you’d be comfortable lying on your side?” Hunter asked.
“I’m not sure there’s any way for me to be comfortable right now,” Cade grumbled.
“There is,” Hunter insisted. “Remember what you said before? You said this was always going to happen, we were always going to end up right here.”
“From the moment I got your scent from your jacket,” Cade said, remembering the conversation that seemed to have taken places years rather than weeks before.
“Right. And I know when I’ve been angry, stressed, or scared these past few months, your scent has helped get me through it. And that time you’d been alone too long, my touch helped ground you, helped you feel yourself again.”
Cade knew what Hunter was getting at. His alpha was right. Grumbling under his breath about know-it-all alphas, he turned to lie on his side, shifting so he lay on one side of the bed. Hunter lay down next to him, spooning against Cade’s back and wrapping one strong arm around him. Hunter’s scent and touch worked their magic almost instantly and Cade gave a sigh of relief, relaxing onto the exam bed. Hunter nuzzled the back of his neck, the gesture both soothing and just a little possessive. Cade liked that, like knowing Hunter wanted him, would fight for him, and would be there by his side through everything. He placed his hand over Hunter’s where it lay on his stomach.
“Better?” the alpha asked.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “Lots better.”