“Wake up, big bear. We’re in Frisky Pines.” Tristan’s soft fingers grazed down my shoulders. Goosebumps formed on my flesh. I smiled and opened my eyes, seeing me handsome mate’s excitement.

“I must have slept the whole here.” I yawned and stretched my arms around Tristan’s toned body.

“You did, baby. Twenty-three whole hours!” he exclaimed.

I looked out the window and the beautiful, modern city. “Whoa, they have a monorail here?”

“They have everything,” he said. “But mostly, they have friends and family. You think you’d want to move here?”

“Well, we can keep my cabin down south. We can visit Holger in the winters. I’ve always wanted to live in the city,” I said. “I say we give it a try. The weather seems beautiful.”

“You’re going to love it!” he exclaimed.

His friends were sweet enough to pick us up in a big van, outside of the airport. Crawling in like a beached whale was not fun. I felt embarrassed, but the party was so welcoming that it didn’t even matter.

Jackson laughed and rubbed my shoulder. “I remember how bad my freaking back hurt all the time. Is he massaging you regularly? If not, you better make him!”

“You don’t do it enough,” I said to Tristan.

Logan laughed. “Oh, man. You have to give the backrubs. Don’t skimp on the massages.”

“Alright, alright! I’ll give more backrubs,” Tristan said.

You know you’ve been amazing to me. I’m just playing around with your friends, Tristan.

He squeezed my hand and smiled. He knew and didn’t seem to mind one bit.

Jonas relaxes in the very back seat with his wise-looking alpha wolf, Freddie. “You’re excited though, right?” he asked.

I nod my head with vigor. “We are beyond excited, actually,” I said.

“Yeah, I would be too,” Logan said. “One kid. Jeez. Sounds like a breeze.”

“Hey, at least you don’t have three to worry about. Samuel is always teleporting away from us. Things start to get crazy when they’re around two years old,” Jonas said.

I kept glancing out the window and looking at every shop that we passed by. There’s a cute little pastry shop on the corner, a café across the street, and a quaint little park! I imagined pushing our boy on the swing in that park.

Frisky Pines was the kind of place you imagine in a dream. It’s everything you’d want as a parent. To be honest, I was ready just to stay here.

“Have you been getting any contractions?” Freddie asked.

Jonas chuckled. “Freddie, those don’t come until it’s time.” The wolf blushes.

“Well, a lot has been going on. I feel like I haven’t had much time to think about it,” I said.

Tristan leaned over the front seat excitedly. “You guys don’t understand. I know I told you all about it on the phone, but my mate is a freakin’ warrior. He saved my life. Seriously, he killed a giant snake with a baby bump and everything,” he said.

I squeezed my omega’s hand. I couldn’t even believe all of that happened. The weirdest part was that at the moment, it all felt normal. I had to act.

“It was the least I could do,” I joked.

The van came to a stop at the light, and I felt my belly harden. I exhaled, feeling a little out of breath. I checked my pulse at the neck like I always do when I get anxiety. Of course, I couldn’t get a reading. I wasn’t a doctor. Something felt a little off.

“Big bear, are you alright?” Tristan asked. He held my hand gently and looked at me with worry in his eyes.

“Yeah. I think I’m okay. Just cramps, probably,” I said.

But as soon as I said it, the pains increased in strength. My belly felt hard and tight. Everyone in the van was looking at me with apprehension. Logan was the first to break the silence. “We have to get him to Dr. Phillip,” he said.

“A doctor?” I asked. “No. I think I have some time before the baby comes.”

Jackson rubbed my shoulder more. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll just go and see, okay? It’s better to be safe than sorry, as they say.”

My mind started to race. A million thoughts entered into my head per second. My heart was beating as fast as a hummingbird’s. “Tristan, I’m worried. Is everything going to be okay?”

“Everything is going to be fine,” Tristan said.

I could tell that he had no clue. There was no time to read any books on the subject. We just jumped into this. Our emotions got the best of us, and the quest took precedence.

Logan turned the van around as fast as he could. Judging by the speed in which he was driving, I could tell something was wrong. Tristan didn’t want me to worry. I could tell that he just wanted to ease the pain, but I couldn’t come back from the darkness.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the codex. He placed it in my palm and squeezed. “Remember everything we went through?” I nodded, tearing up. “Everything is going to be fine. We were meant to be parents.”

The pressure just kept building. It started to hurt in a way that I never anticipated. Everything felt sort of… clogged.

“This isn’t good,” I whispered. “Are we close?”

Logan peeled around the corner. “One more block! Don’t worry, Ryan. We’re going to get you the best damn care Frisky Pines has to offer,” he said.

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing to ease the pain. None of the crap I read about childbirth was helping me. I knew that something terrible was going on. All of my worst fears had somehow manifested into reality.

“We’re here!” Tristan shouted.

My alpha ran inside and grabbed a wheelchair. He swung it near the van and secured me in. I was trying my best to hold back from screaming. The situation was dire.

“Doctor Philip!” Logan screamed. “We need doctor Phillip now.”

The man at the receptionist area took one look at me and jumped out of his seat. “Shit. Give me one second. I’ll find him,” he said.

Tristan was pacing the room erratically, which wasn’t helping the situation at all. All of his alpha tendencies were starting to come out. “Is he coming or what?” he asked Logan.

Logan looked anxiously through the receptionist window. He nodded when he saw the doctor running. “There he is!”

The doctor burst through the door and grabbed my wheelchair. “Come, come! Tell me what you’re feeling,” he said while pushing me through the hall.

Tristan followed while the others waited in the room. I groaned with pain, but managed to tell him everything. “It just came out of nowhere,” I said.

“Is it a pressure? Or is it a pain? Both?” he asked.

“Both. I don’t know if these are the contractions, but it sure feels like it. It feels like something is stuck,” I said.

The doctor’s face looked anxious. Tristan was on the verge of causing a major scene. “Nurse!” the doctor yelled. “I need some assistance!”

We moved into a white room. I couldn’t stop staring at the ceiling. I just kept hoping and praying that everything was going to be alright. I couldn’t lose my baby. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to cope.

When the doctor and his assistants sanitized their hands and put on gloves, a set of surgical tools is brought out. I nearly fainted when I saw it.

“Are you going to operate? Can someone tell me what’s going on?” I asked.

Tristan was red with fury. “Doc! What the fuck is happening? Can any of you give me an answer?”

The doctor remained calm. In hindsight, this is exactly what he should have done, but it sure pissed me off. He placed his hand in between his legs. I closed my eyes and felt a small pinch of pressure.

“We’re going to have to induce labor,” he said.

“You’re what?” I asked. My eyes peeled open with grief.

The doctor only smiled and grabbed a balloon, and an IV kit. “Don’t worry. This is standard procedure. A lot of omegas have to go through this,” he said.

Tristan offered me his hand. I looked at him in the same way a puppy looks at his master. Help, I telepathically said to him. He squeezed my hand with loving pressure.

Doctor Phillip’s assistant hooked up the IV, and within a second, I felt the drugs start to trickle in my system. “Whatever happens, I love you. Please, Tristan. Don’t let anything bad happen to the baby.”

“You can get through this. You want to know how I know?” he asked.

“No, not really. Because whatever you’re going to say is complete bullcrap,” I muttered.

Whatever I was saying was coming from a place of fear. The dark area inside of me had started to grow again. I remembered the snake we had fought in the forest. Somehow, that came from inside of me.

When I closed my eyes, I could hear that hissing voice again. It whispered: Come back, Ryan. It’s warmer here, isn’t it? It’s easier. Just. Give. Up.

In that time, the doctor had put up an aqua colored curtain between us. He inserted the cervical balloon. I felt a slight pressure and then a release. “Oh, no,” I whispered.

“Everything is going great, sweetheart,” the doctor said from behind the curtain.

“Well, it feels like a ping pong is inside of me!” I screamed.

Tristan’s eyes kept moving from the doctor to me. He didn’t know what to do. I could tell he felt hopeless because he couldn’t react in the way his biology told him to.

“There. It’s done,” doctor Phillips said, handing the tools back to his assistant to throw into the bin.

“Is everything okay?” Tristan asked.

“So far so good. Now, we have to get this baby out of there. I just need you both to stay calm, okay?” he asked.

Tristan was shaking with wrath. “Stay calm? My omega is here, suffering, and you want me to stay calm? I’m going to shift and rip your eyes out, doc!”

“Honey, please. We have to trust in the process. I’m terrified, but I don’t want you getting kicked out of this hospital room. So calm the heck down, okay?” I asked him. He nodded, inhaling the stale hospital air heavily.

The doctor eyed Tristan very carefully. “We’re good here?”

“Yes. Sorry, doc. I’m just worried. Please, do your thing. I won’t interrupt,” he said.

Wave upon wave of pressure was hitting me. I knew that I just had to keep breathing, so I closed my eyes and did the best that I could do. But, damn. It’s hard to breathe when a child is in crisis mode inside your womb.

The darkness wanted me to give into it. It wanted me to fall into fear. But I couldn’t let myself give in. I focused on everything good in my life. I had Tristan, I had new friends, and I was going to have a family again. We were going to visit the fae queendom someday, and everything was going to be full of beauty and warmth.

The pain was increasing, but the drugs were numbing my reaction to it considerably. I held onto my alpha’s hands and heard the muffled sounds coming from his mouth. “Push! Come on, big bear! Push!”

It all happened faster than I expected. As the waves of pressure increased, so did my resolve. I pushed and kept my mind occupied with good thoughts. Holger, my new friends, my fated mate. All of those people circled in my mind.

“Done!” Doctor Phillips threw his gloves into the bin and sighed loudly. “Ryan, you can open your eyes now. It’s all over.”

When I opened my eyes, I saw the doctor hand my baby to Tristan. I heard the harsh cries of our newborn, and I just bawled my eyes out.

“That’s him!” I said, exhausted. “It’s really him.”

Tristan’s pupils were enlarged with love. “It’s our baby boy,” he whispered. “Do you want to say hi to mommy, little guy?”

He handed me my son. His fragility shocked me. When he opened his eyes and saw me, I could see the chocolate brown eyes, and he understood I was his father. He clutched at my hospital gown, crying with me.

“Magnus,” I whispered. “I want his name to be Magnus.”

“It’s the name of a true hero,” Tristan whispered.

The doctor smiled and walked near the door. “I’ll be back in an hour to check on you. We’ll leave you two alone for now,” he said.

Tristan ran and hugged the doctor. “Thank you so much, doc. I’m sorry I snapped at you back there. I was just so freaked out about everything, but you did the best job in the world. I can’t thank you enough.”

The doctor laughed. “Anytime,” he said.

The doctor shut the door quietly. Tristan was beside himself for joy. I was still drugged up, but it felt like I was just filled with euphoria.

The infant gasped and started crying again. I wrapped him in my arms. “Big bear, this is the most precious thing I’ve ever seen,” Tristan said. “We’re fathers. Can you believe it?”

Tears filled my eyes. “It wasn’t that long ago that you saved my life. Remember?”

“I’ll never forget it,” he said while holding both of us.

“Frisky Pines.” I laughed. “I guess this is the place where miracles happen.”