Chapter Fifteen

I WAS PREGNANT. I KEPT RUBBING MY STOMACH—not bloating, baby. Dear God, I’d have to give birth. The thought was frightening. Bauer said a midwife would be arriving shortly. He called one for me the day before. I felt like I was going to vomit.

The doorbell rang, and I thought I was going to pass out.

“I’ll get it,” Bauer said.

I stood in the living room, trying to remember how to breathe, and heard Bauer greet the midwife. They appeared from the foyer seconds later.

“Hey, baby,” Bauer said. “Breathe.”

I blew out a breath.

“This is Charles Everett. He’s a midwife.” Charles was tall, thin, and balding.

“Midwife is a confusing term. It actually refers to the one having the baby, not the one providing prenatal care. Even though half the people having babies these days are not beta women, the title has stayed the same. Maybe mid-husband was too much of a mouthful. Excuse me, I’m carrying on. Shall we get started?” He held out his hand, and I stared at it thinking how I was in the group of people who were not betas having a baby. I essentially was in the omega half of those people. Decades ago, almost a century now probably, it was mostly beta women having children, and then the great disease came. Many of them lost their ability to be with child, and a good deal of the children born were omegas, so the omega population grew. Now, like Charles said, they made up half of the people having babies.

I gulped, blew out a breath, and nodded, still staring at his hand.

“Where would you like to do the exam?” he asked with a smile, giving my shoulder a squeeze.

I pointed to my side because, most apparently, I forgot how to speak.

“Back in the bedroom,” Bauer said. “This way.” He put his hand on the small of my back and encouraged me to move.

The three of us went down the hall together.

“Right in here.” Bauer guided us into my room. I should’ve been the one doing that. It was my house, after all, but I was pretty useless at that moment.

“Sit, get comfy,” Charles said with a warm smile.

I sat on the edge of the bed, and Bauer pulled out a chair for Charles. He set his bag down, moved the chair to face me, and sat.

“So, you’re pregnant,” he said, his voice calm, almost soothing.

I nodded and blew out a shaky breath. “It seems that way.”

He smiled. “Taken by surprise, huh?”

“Definitely.” Surprise was an understatement.

“Not unheard of. Rare, but not unheard of.”

“Really?” I asked because I had never heard about a pregnant alpha ever before in my life.

“I did some research.”

“Does this make me an omega?” I put my hand on my stomach.

“I’d say you’re both. Judging from what I see here, you definitely have the size and stature of an alpha, and when I do my exam, we can assess it a bit more. Just because you’re pregnant doesn’t make you stop being an alpha.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

“I’m going to ask some questions, take a bit of blood if that’s okay, and then do a pelvic and internal exam.”

“Blood?” That sounded like a non-discreet direction I didn’t want to go.

“We want to make sure you don’t have any infections.”

That didn’t sound good. “Infections?”

“They can be passed on to the baby.”

“Okay. I don’t want people to know, though.”

“Medical records are confidential.”

I nodded, and he began the question portion of the appointment. He asked about us mating, when I more than likely conceived, and any symptoms I had. He then took my blood pressure and my blood. I stared at the vial of it in his hand.

“Now, I would like to do a physical exam. If that’s all right.”

Bauer squeezed my hand.

“Okay.”

“Would you like me to step out of the room so you can take off your clothes?”

I spun my finger, and he turned around.

“I have a paper gown if you would like.”

“Um, you have to see all my parts, right?”

“Correct. I would also like to examine your breasts.” My breasts because I had them. I kept telling myself it was just fat, man boobs, but the way they were shaped, that’s what they were.

“So, I guess a gown would be pointless.”

“All right then.”

Bauer helped me pull off my clothes because my hands were shaking.

Charles turned back around. “Just lay on back. I’m going to start by checking you over.”

I exhaled and lay down. He scanned me with his eyes and then climbed onto the bed. He touched and rubbed my shoulders, neck, under my jaw, and moved down to my chest.

“Breast development has begun. Are they sore?” he asked.

I glanced down at them. “Very much.”

“Especially if you start out with none. It’s almost like you go through the breast development phase of puberty, and then they’re working on getting ready for the baby, so they’ll be tender.” He smashed his fingertips around on them and then pinched my nipple between his fingers.

I hissed as some guy I had never met fondled my newly grown chest. It was all so bizarre.

“They’re looking great.” He moved on to my stomach. He pressed in his palms and smooshed it around some. “I’m feeling that baby.”

“You can feel my baby? My actual baby?” My heart sped up because it was all becoming more real to me.

He grinned from ear to ear. “Sure can. Now I’m going to continue the physical exam. I’m going to touch your genitals. Okay?”

I gulped and nodded.

“Your penis would be considered normal for being an alpha.”

“Normal, thanks.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.” He then groped my balls. “And one testicle.”

“I was told the other one was undescended.” My dad claimed he didn’t want me to go through the pain of a surgery when I was younger to bring it down.

“Was an ultrasound done to determine that?” Charles asked.

“I haven’t the faintest idea. That’s just what my doctor and dad told me.” It was weird having a conversation with my junk in someone’s hand.

“I suspect you don’t have another one.”

“Because then I wouldn’t have been able to get pregnant.”

“Correct. Now I would like to do a pelvic exam.”

“What’s that?”

“I will take some samples and then do an internal exam to essentially make sure everything’s in proper working order,” he said so matter-of-factly.

“Down there?” I asked, even though I already knew where he meant. The exam already felt so invasive, and now he wanted to check inside me.

He nodded. “Correct.”

“Oh, God,” I said, my chest heaving. Bauer put his hand on my shoulder, helping calm me some.

“I’m a trained professional. We’re trained to do care that reaches beyond babies to the ones having them, too.”

“I know. It’s just ….”

“It’s all a bit overwhelming.”

I nodded.