Chapter Fourteen
Jameson
Russell was doing amazing in his pregnancy. I knew this. He’d gone past the first trimester with ease, not even puking his guts out like so many omegas did. I’d been asking—fine, nagging him to see the midwife, but he insisted that there was no need, that anything that went wrong the first trimester couldn’t be fixed anyway. Which didn’t help me feel any better, but I tried to respect his wishes. He was the one who had been through this before, making him the expert.
As the fourteenth week of his pregnancy rolled around and his belly became full enough he needed to start wearing paternity clothing, I knew it was time to see the midwife. Maybe they didn’t make a huge difference, as he insisted, but not bringing Russell had me feeling helpless and my wolf restless.
“So, Russell.” I placed the cup of tea I’d made for him on the coffee table. “I was thinking…”
“That can be dangerous.” He picked up the tea, blowing on it gently before taking a small sip.
“Agreed.” I sat beside him, my hand settling on his knee. “I really need you to go to the midwife.”
“You need me to?” He put the tea down and shifted to face me. He was not impressed. I’d been doing it all wrong.
“More, my wolf does. He is riding me so hard, worried that we aren’t taking care of your safety and health the way we should. Please.” Because, yeah, I was resorting to begging.
“I can’t,” he mumbled, eyes filling with tears.
What the heck had I just managed to do. This wasn’t about me or the baby, I could feel that. This was about more.
“Russell, love, please tell me why. Help me understand.” I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him close.
“The midwife in town is Marge.”
That told me nothing.
“Yes, and she’s supposed to be amazing. She’s been here for—” Shit. She’d been there forever, meaning she was there the last time Russell was pregnant. “What did she do to you?”
“Nothing. She did nothing.” He began to sob. “She called me a whore and said if I stayed she’d never be available. That was when my family turned on me and made me leave. They knew if even she wouldn’t accept me, no one would.”
It took every single bit of willpower I had to keep my human form. My wolf wanted blood. Marge’s blood to be exact. Travis hadn’t sent Russell away because he shamed the pack. He sent him away to be safe from the pack. Eff that.
“You are not going to that midwife.” I hugged him close rubbing small circles on his back.
No one was. I had some power in the pack, and I was going to use every last bit of it to get her out and a new midwife in. Until then, we were going to New Corbine and use one there. It wasn’t ideal for the birth since they were an hour away, but it would do while I took care of finding Marge a new place to open a practice. Not that I wanted her to leave town breathing, but if Travis had kept her around after what she’d said, he had a reason, and I doubted anything said now would change that. He was a stubborn man.
I grabbed my phone, did a quick search, and hit call. I’d found a midwife who from the last name, Behr, I was pretty sure was one of the local bear shifters from that area. I’d have preferred a wolf, but babies were babies, or so I tried to convince myself.
“Hayden Behr, how may I help you?” He picked up on the first ring. Voices could be deceiving, but he sounded young, which was probably good because it was the exact opposite of Marge, and as different as we could get was probably the way we should go.
“Hello, Hayden. I’m Jameson.” I paused to see if that rang a bell with him. I didn’t want to accidentally get a human midwife. I was sure they were well versed and all, but shifter pregnancies weren’t quite the same, and we didn't need any freaking-out midwife over fast heartbeats and super-hot temperatures.
“Are you native?” he hedged. Bingo. We’d found a shifter midwife.
“We are indeed, and my mate is in need of a midwife with your specialties.”
“My specialties with bears, or my specialties in general?” And there it was, the need to code speak vanished with that one little word—bears.
“My mate is fourteen weeks pregnant with our pup. He needs a midwife, and the local one isn’t our first choice.” Or last choice, for that matter.
Russell was just staring at me, jaw dropped open as he listened to both sides of the conversation. Had he not known I would fix anything for him as long as I knew the problem?
“You would not be the first. Fourteen weeks, you say? Best get him in here soon. I have four o’clock today and ten a.m. tomorrow. Would either of those work for you and your mate?”
Russ shrugged.” We’ll be there today. Thank you so much.”
He gave me the spiel about coming early for paperwork and directions before we bid our goodbyes.
“So, mate, does that work for you?” I asked, and he stuck out his tongue in response, his face more relaxed than I’d seen it in weeks. I’d assumed it was pregnancy related, and my wolf was pissed as fuck I’d missed such an important clue from my mate. Human me wasn’t impressed, either.
“It does and thank you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I was embarrassed. My last doctor wasn’t so kind.” He climbed onto my lap, and my hand found his small belly.
“Never be embarrassed by me about anything.” I kissed the top of his head. “I love you for your best moments, your worst moments, and everything in between. And that was all on Marge.”
“Still, thanks. Some days I wake up and wonder if I will discover it was all a dream, coming back to you.”
“If this is a dream, I am the one dreaming.” It was true; they weren’t just flowery words. Russell was my dream come true. “So, about Ollie. Do we bring him with us or ask your mom to watch him?”
“The first appointment is a little—invasive, so how about we ask my mom?” His blush was downright adorable.
“Why don’t you call her and see if she can pick him up from school, and I’ll make a business call. Then we can go.”
“You are getting Marge removed from the pack.”
“Maybe?” I confessed. There was no way I’d ever be able to lie to Russell, but playing coy I could attempt. Poorly, but attempted anyway.
“Well, have at it, then.” He leaned in close and whispered, “If you get her gone, I have a little surprise for you.” He nipped my earlobe before kissing me on the cheek with a loud smack and walking away to call his mom.
It took far less convincing to get Marge removed than I thought. Turned out our complaint wasn’t the first, it would just be the last.
I got up and made my way to the bedroom to find myself standing in front of a very naked omega who was ever so slowly stroking himself.
“Ollie is all set for this afternoon, and my eavesdropping tells me you get a surprise.”
I swallowed, my cock banging against my zipper, begging to be set free. I nodded in reply, my words not coming. All I could focus on was my sexy mate, his belly rounded with my child, and his cock begging to be licked.
“Oh no, you don’t get to lick your lips like that and think it will mean I don’t get to give you my surprise.” He took two steps closer before dropping to his knees. “I need you in my mouth, and before you argue, there is no time for that—or knotting, so hush with that nonsense.”
He was so damn sexy when he took control like that.
He dropped to his knees and worked my zipper as I stared down at him in awe.
“You are looking the wrong way,” he teased as he pushed my pants down, freeing my erection. He tilted his head to the side. Holy Toledo, he’d added a mirror to the room. Before I could comment, he took me in his mouth, swirling his tongue the way I liked, and my eyes glued to the mirror as my hand found the top of his head. I never directed him, but there was something about having my hand there that made it more intimate.
Watching him in the mirror as he bobbed up and down, the look of desire on his face reflecting back at me, his small belly putting a shadow over his own cock, the one he was working at the same exact pace he worked mine with his mouth was almost too much, and I shot down his throat as I watched his cum jet onto the floor.
I sank to the floor beside him, gathering him in my arms, murmuring words of praise as I slowly recovered from yet another mind-blowing orgasm. I seemed to have a lot of those when Russ was around. I was a lucky bastard.
“Shower time?” I asked when both of our breaths slowed and our heart rates returned to normal.
“Shower time,” he agreed, and I stood up, lifting him with me before heading to the bathroom.