The next day, I was in labor, and all our plans to go to Mercy Hills went up in flames.

I had reason to be grateful for the soundproofing in this part of the house—labor hurt! “Aaaah!” I yelled when the next contraction hit. Damian tried to put a damp cloth on my forehead and I glared at him with such fury it was a wonder he didn’t explode into cloud of tiny tiny shifter pieces.

“You’re doing fine,” Oscar said from down by my knees.

I glared at him too and hoped with all my might that he’d spontaneously combust or something. Of all the things to have happen, for me to go into labor and the only person we could call on was Oscar, because he’d been a medic in the Army and a paramedic before that.

The Trickster was having a grand time with my life, wasn’t he?

Damian tried again with the cloth when the contraction ended.

“I will bite you,” I said between gritted teeth, each word snapped off as if it was his fingers I was chewing on.

Oscar glanced over at Damian, then back at me. “Damian, we could probably use some boiled water. You know, to sterilize it? Maybe a couple of quarts.”

My mate turned to me, a question in his eyes.

“Go ahead, I’ll be fine,” I told him. “If we need it, we need it. I’ll call you if anything happens.”

“There’s some old towels in the back room here,” Oscar called after him. “If you could tear them up, maybe one foot by two? That would be great.”

“What do we need the water for?” I asked after Damian left, only partly to distract myself.

“To give him something to do before he drives you to tear his head off,” Oscar said simply.

Ah. I glanced over my shoulder toward the kitchen and would have laughed except the next contraction decided to hit right then and steal my breath away.

“They’re getting closer,” Oscar said, looking down at his watch. “Does it feel like it’s progressing?”

“How would I know? I’ve never had a pup before.”

Oscar nodded. “I had a woman who was on her sixth baby once tell me that she knew when labor was getting serious, because everything seemed to start pushing down, instead of just pushing. I couldn’t find anything that said if your kind had the same thing.”

“I don’t think so,” I said doubtfully, because what did I know? “I should start feeling something in my—” I stuttered to a stop. I just could not make myself say ‘omega line’ in front of the human.

He watched me for a moment, then put a hand on mine. “Do you want me to check it?”

The next contraction hit before I could answer him and with it came a sharp tearing pain at the bottom of my belly. Not a terrible pain, but a sure sign that something was happening. “I think it’s starting to separate,” I gasped and grabbed for his hand to squeeze while my womb held me in its iron grip.

“Damian,” Oscar shouted. “Bring those towels out here. I don’t care if they’re torn or not.” He adjusted the hem of the over-sized t-shirt I was wearing so it sat higher on my belly. “I think you’re right,” he told me. “From this point on, I’m afraid you’re not going to get much of a break.”

I nodded but couldn’t find the breath for words, and then Damian was there and I let go of Oscar’s hand to flail for my mate’s.

For all that he’d annoyed me to the Barrens before, now that labor was really on me, he was the only thing that kept me going. That, and my fear that my inexperience would harm the baby as he or she was being born. So when fire burned across my omega line, I clamped my teeth against the pain and listened intently to Damian telling me how proud he was of me, what a great job I was doing. Not that I believed him, but I didn’t have much attention to spare for more than just listening to the comforting sound of his voice.

“I see a head,” Oscar announced. “You’re doing great, Salem. Just a few more pushes.”

I leaned back against Damian’s chest and tried to smile when he kissed my sweaty forehead. “Almost there,” he said and then I was pushing again, harder this time, and the space around my omega line stretched and ached and then suddenly…nothing.

The baby was born.

And it was quiet.

“Oscar?” I asked, my voice shaking. Please…

And then the baby wailed and Oscar brought him up to lie on my chest. “Baby boy, guys. Gonna be an alpha like his dad from the sound of those lungs.”

I stroked my baby’s head and soothed away his cries.

“Here,” Damian said. “I have a blanket.”

“He should be washed first.” But I couldn’t stop staring at him.

“Now’s the time for that water,” Oscar said casually. I felt a tugging sensation in my belly and then a heavy falling feeling and out of the corner of my eye I saw Oscar wrapping my afterbirth up in one of the towels that Damian had brought with him.

I’d been so wrapped up in the baby that I hadn’t even noticed Damian leaving or coming back until he handed me a warm, damp cloth. “Is there anything I can help with?”

Oscar excused himself, having the grace to give us a bit of privacy for this moment by puttering away at something at the far end of the apartment.

“Help me make sure I don’t drop him?” I asked.

“Sure,” Damian replied, and began to hover in a way I suddenly found absolutely adorable. He seemed as captured by the baby as I was and together we cleaned our son of the evidence of his birth.

“Oh.” I said softly as we got to the last bits. “Not alpha.” A narrow line, a shade or two pinker than the flesh around, stretched from one hip to the other. I’d given my mate an omega, which in Nevada Ashes was no big deal, but I realized in that moment that Montana Border for almost certain thought differently about them. That Damian most likely thought differently about them.

Damian stroked the baby’s cheek and leaned his head against mine. “I know an alpha’s supposed to wish for another alpha to carry on the line, but I find it hard to be disappointed. He’s perfect, just as he is. I never thought I’d ever meet a pup of my own getting.” He kissed the pup on the head, and then kissed me. “Thank you.” He hugged us and I felt how happy he was in the touch of his skin against mine.

I had to look away to hide the upswell of emotion that filled me. So much joy, so much relief. I had a mate I’d never chosen and a baby I’d never asked for, yet somehow it felt absolutely right. As if I’d just had to get out of my own way and the world had given me exactly what I needed. It was a miracle of the strangest sort.

“What should we call him?” I asked. We hadn’t spent much time talking about names. I certainly hadn’t considered any omega ones.

“Back home, we’d pick something gentle. Did you do that in Nevada Ashes?”

I nodded.

He handed me the blanket again and I wrapped our son in it and handed him to his sire. “I think,” Damian said in that slow way that I’d already learned meant that he’d actually put a lot of thought into this. “We’re going to live among humans. We’re going to act like humans, interact with humans. We’re going to do human things. Unless you’re tied to the pack traditions, I think we can name him whatever we want.”

Oh. Sudden vistas opened up before me. “Anything?” So many names to choose from…

“Anything,” Damian assured me. “Except Oscar.”

I laughed. “No, no Oscar.”

“Well, I’m insulted,” Oscar said from behind us. “And after I left a hot date for you.”

“You’ll live,” Damian told him carelessly.

Oscar casually picked up one of the cloths Damian had dropped on the bedside table and dipped it into the warm water. “Unless you want to clean your mate up?” he said, raising his eyebrow at Damian.

I looked up from the baby and caught Oscar’s eye. “I think you’d probably do a better job.” I grimaced. “I have to…” I blushed. The human had seen me split from hip to hip—I should have been able to talk to him about sealing my line.

“Yeah, I know.” Oscar smiled and went to work and, honestly, he was as gentle and careful as I’d seen any of the midwives being back in Nevada Ashes. And when he was done, I was pretty certain he’d done as good a job as any of them would have, too. Not that I thought Damian would be bothered, but it eased something in me to know that I wouldn’t have the odd bulges or wrinkles that sometimes happened if a line was resealed crookedly.

“I think you’re done,” Oscar said reassuringly as he wrapped a long bandage around my hips. “I’m going to stay in the house upstairs. Buzz me if you think anything’s going wrong. Do you want me to talk to Quin and see if I can get one of his medical people over here to look you over?”

“Are you going to have to take a beating again in trade?” Damian asked him.

“Might.” Oscar looked at the baby. “Small price to pay for that little bit of hope. Let me know. Underneath it all, he’s a good guy. Hell of a Master Sargent. I hear he’s working for more equality for your people.”

I didn’t care. I just wanted my mate and my baby and our home. But, just in case… “I feel fine, but if that changes?”

Oscar nodded and gathered up his things. “I’ll leave you three to get used to each other.” He stopped at the door and turned back. “I know breastfeeding is a big thing in the packs, but you know human males can’t do that, right?”

“We’ll figure it out,” I said stubbornly.

“I’m sure you will,” Oscar said with a broad grin, and left us in peace.