Chapter Twenty-Six
After their bonding, life settled into more of a routine for them both. While Max was keen to get back to work, Griffin felt it was too soon and that they needed to wait longer for the heat of his escape with Michael to die down. Instead, Max found himself helping with the construction of a new cottage near the main house. The pack was growing and space inside the main house was becoming hard to find. For that reason, Griffin let him and Michael stay in the guest wing so they could have both the space and privacy to enjoy their new bond.
Michael, meanwhile, was kept busy learning various skills from the others in the house. Max suspected most of it was just to keep the omega distracted, but Michael seemed to have really taken to the cooking lessons, and Max was enjoying the meals he cooked for them. He also cooked for the pack as a whole sometimes, and the positive feedback was doing wonders for his confidence.
They had good days and bad days, like any couple. There were days where even the sight of another child seemed too much for Michael and he’d head off into the woods for hours until Max tracked him down. And there were nights when Max’s memories swamped him and he’d shift to escape them, trudging through the grounds until morning, more often than not with an ocelot by his side.
So, when Michael got quiet all of a sudden, Max wasn’t surprised or suspicious. Usually, whatever was bothering the omega came out during the day or seemed to work itself out. But when three days passed with no change and Michael brushing off his concerns, Max was a little at a loss. More than once, he found the omega staring out a window or at a wall, seemingly looking at nothing. Another time, he found him having a whispered conversation with Noah that ended abruptly as soon as he came into view.
Worried, he went to Griffin.
“Has Michael talked to you?” he asked the omega outright as he stepped into Griffin’s study. “Because I can tell something’s wrong, but I can’t get a word out of him.”
Griffin waved him into a chair.
“Yes, he has talked to me.”
Max gave a sigh of relief. “Good, I’m glad. Is it me? Something I’ve done?”
The omega almost smiled before schooling his face into a blander expression. “You haven’t done anything wrong. Michael is just… struggling with something.”
“But you don’t want to tell me what that something is?”
“That isn’t my place,” Griffin said. “It’s his.”
“I’ve asked, and he just says everything’s fine.”
“Maybe he needs time before he talks to you. The important thing is, he is talking about it and not bottling it all up. I’m sure he’ll tell you when he’s ready.”
Somewhat reassured, Max went back to work. Afterward, expecting Michael to be helping Noah in the kitchen, he returned to the guest wing to change. He stepped into their bedroom, surprised to find the omega napping on their bed. He took a seat on the edge of the bed, sorrowed to see tears on Michael’s cheeks, even in sleep.
Sighing, he reached out and wiped them away with his thumb. Michael’s eyes fluttered open, and he smiled when he saw him.
“Hey, you.”
“Hi. Feeling okay?”
Michael made a face. “Tired. And a little crabby.”
Max wasn’t sure what that meant. “Do you need anything?”
The omega shook his head, reaching for his hand. “Just you.”
“Then you have me.”
Michael turned his hand over, tracing a finger across the palm of Max’s hand. “I’m sorry I’ve been distant these past few days. I know you’re worried.”
“I am but that’s okay.”
“It’s just, I knew it could happen, but I wasn’t expecting it, and…” A few tears slipped down the omega’s cheeks. He lifted Max’s hand and pressed it to his lower abdomen. Max knew what his mate was telling him.
“Are you sure?”
Michael nodded, a few more tears slipping free. “Noah got me a test.”
Max helped him sit up, pulling him into a hug. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
He wanted to jump up and down or go shout from the rooftops, but for Michael’s sake, he was clamping down hard on any reaction until he understood where the omega’s head was at.
“I’m just not sure I can do this again. The last three times, I had no choice, no say. It was so hard with Eliot, after I’d lost the second baby, constantly worrying about what they’d do if I lost another one but almost wishing for it because that was better than handing them another child they’d eventually tear me away from and—”
Max let his eyes close, feeling a heavy sense of sadness tempered by his love for the omega in his arms. Pulling himself together, locking down his emotions as tightly as he could, he forced himself to take a deep breath, let it out, and open his eyes.
Cupping Michael’s chin, he tipped his head up.
“If this is too much for you, if you feel you can’t handle it, there are options.”
Michael stared at him for a long moment.
“What about you? What about what you want?”
“You are my first concern, and only you.”
“Do you want a baby?”
“When the time is right, for both of us.”
“And if the time is right now?”
“Then I want nothing more. But I’m not going to force you into anything you don’t want. I’ll be right here, by your side, whatever happens.”
The omega hugged him tightly. “Thank you. Just hearing you say that… it makes me feel a thousand times better.”
Max hugged him back. “I’m your mate, for life. I’m no fair-weather alpha.”
Michael laughed, the sound a little choked.
“Griffin says it’ll be different. A baby that’s yours and mine, born from a bond and not forced on me with chemicals and fake hormones. I won’t get sick right after the birth and… no one will take my baby from me, not for any reason.”
“They’d have to get through me first,” Max replied, putting his fiercest expression on his face.
“My protector,” Michael said. “Keeping me safe.”
“Always.”
The omega looked down at their joined hands then back up at him.
“Then I guess we’re having a baby.”
Max leaned in to kiss his cheek. “And I couldn’t be happier.”
Watching Michael’s body change was a source of endless fascination for him. At first, there wasn’t much to see but then a small bump appeared, hidden under the omega’s clothes but obvious to Max’s eyes, his touch.
The pace of their lovemaking didn’t vary. Michael seemed to want sex as much now as he had right after their bond. He also slept more, needed copious cuddles on cold mornings, and went off a different food every week. Max took it all in his stride, doing his best to help his omega connect with their unborn child after Michael tearfully confessed to him one night that he was scared to get attached. Max understood, given how often Michael’s kids were on his mind.
Max took to talking to the baby at night, stroking Michael’s bump and encouraging the omega to let their little one learn their voices. While that helped, he didn’t feel it was enough, seeking Noah and Griffin’s help for ideas to ease Michael’s fears and help him bond with their baby.
Which was how they ended up in a borrowed car driving a few hours west of the pack.
“You really can’t tell me where we’re going?” Michael asked, staring out the window.
“It’s a surprise. But if you want to know, I’ll tell you.”
“A good surprise?”
“I only do good surprises. I’ll tell you if you want to know.”
Michael shifted in his seat, adjusting the seatbelt across his bump. They’d spent the ten minutes before they’d left getting it just right so Max knew it wasn’t discomfort so much as anxiety.
“I don’t want to ruin your surprise.”
“You won’t. I’m telling you when we get there anyway.”
“Is it something for the baby?”
“It’s something for the three of us.”
Michael rested a hand on his stomach. “He’s kicking again.”
The omega had been able to feel movement for almost a month but the kicking was very new.
“Can I feel?”
Michael nodded, and Max pulled in, putting the handbrake on and leaning over. The omega’s hand took his and guided it to a spot on his bump.
“There, feel that?”
He did, a soft push of movement.
“Oh, wow. Is that a foot?”
“I think so. Might be a hand. Or an elbow.”
“And it doesn’t hurt?”
“Nu-uh. Feels a little uncomfortable when they jam it up next to your rib cage though.”
“He’s got a lot going on in there.”
“Yeah. I wish we had a little window so we could see in there. See how he’s doing.”
“What if we did?” Max asked. “For a little while, at least?”
“Huh?” Michael said questioningly.
“That’s your surprise. We’re going to go see our baby. We could even find out if it’s a girl or a boy, if you want? I thought it might help things feel more real if you could see his or her little face. If you could know more about our baby. We could even choose a name.”
Max hadn’t been expecting the tears but was reassured by the smile on the omega’s face.
“Thanks, Max. You take such good care of me.”
“And there is your baby,” Doctor Mac said, sliding the probe across Michael’s stomach. “See, here’s the baby’s head.”
Max craned his neck, keeping half an eye on the screen and half an eye on Michael, a little worried about the omega’s state of mind. His worries faded a moment later.
“I think he has your nose,” Michael piped up.
Max did a startled double-take, then laughed. “I think you’re right. Is he… sucking his thumb?”
“Yes,” Doctor Mac agreed. “Little cutie, performing for the ultrasound. Now, baby’s lying in a good position if you want to know the sex.”
Max looked to Michael. “Your choice, Mike.”
The omega gave a shaky nod. “I want to know, please.”
Max held his hand while the doctor did her work, twisting the probe this way and that.
“Congratulations, guys. You’re having a boy.”
Grinning, Max pressed a kiss to the back of Michael’s hand. He saw the omega’s expression dim a little. Leaning in, having a good idea what was troubling his mate, he whispered in his ear.
“Our baby, yours and mine. Alpha, beta, omega; he’ll be protected, always.”
The omega’s smile was beautiful and brilliant.
“Now, let’s switch to 3-D,” Doctor Mac continued, “and you can really see the family resemblance.”
Michael let out a little cry of happy surprise as the baby’s face appeared on the screen, his hand reaching out to touch it.
“He looks like a mini-you,” he told Max and seemed a little relieved.
“I don’t know,” he teased back gently. “I think that chin looks familiar and not from staring in the mirror every morning.”
“He’s healthy?” Michael wanted to know as the doctor moved away to check the rest of the baby.
“Two arms, two legs, organs looks normal, heart is exactly as it should be and strong. He’s perfect.”
The relief was stronger than Max had realized. He’d known Michael had worried about the effects of his forced pregnancies on this one but he hadn’t realized how concerned he’d been until that moment.
Doctor Mac moved the probe back to the baby’s face again, getting Max to hold it in place, then excused herself for a few minutes.
“I’ll let the three of you have some time to get acquainted,” she said with a smile.
“Hi, baby,” Michael whispered, smiling when the baby seemed to react to his voice, reaching toward them. “We’re so excited you’re in there, and we can’t wait to meet you.”
“And one day,” Max added, “we’ll introduce you to your brothers. And we’ll be one big family.”
He wasn’t giving up hope and he didn’t want Michael to either. And he never wanted him to see their baby as a replacement.
“What do you think of Benjamin, for a name?” the omega asked.
Max like the idea of naming the baby there and then, to strengthen the bond between them all.
“I like it. We could call him Ben or Benny.”
“Ben sounds good. Do you think he looks like a Ben?”
As if he’d heard them, the baby turned his head a little, giving them the perfect view.
“I think he looks like ours.”