Chapter 41

CHAPTER 41

M ax and Bram are basically stalking the front counter, trying to get Sloane in quicker as I sit in the waiting area and hold her hand.

“What was the plan there, sweetheart? Hoping to get them in post-nut bliss and tell them about the baby?” I ask.

She smacks my chest but laughs a little, which is a relief.

“Maybe. I thought it would work.”

“I mean, it worked, but I don’t think how you wanted it to.”

She rubs her neck with Max’s bond mark and sighs. “I feel like I just ruined my and Max’s bonding experience all because I was scared to tell them the truth.”

“I’m just glad it’s all out in the open now. I got you something,” I tell her.

Sloane acts like she doesn’t love getting gifts as much as she does, but I know my girl. I don’t have to be bonded to her to know these things, but I’m hoping I’ll be bonded to her both by Max and Bram, so it will almost be like a complete bond.

Just because I’m not an Alpha doesn’t mean I shouldn’t get to experience that part of pack life.

“It’s nothing big,” I tell her to not get her hopes up. But when I give her the gold engraved keychain, she smiles brightly.

Future Baby Mama is engraved in script, and she starts really laughing.

“I love you, Ethan Heart,” she says.

“I love you too. So do those two big dumbasses. Everything with the baby is going to be fine. We’re going to be fine.”

“Bram seems so upset,” she says as she adds the keychain to her house keys.

“Bram isn’t good at change or not knowing shit. Especially when you’ve been sitting at home with him the last month. If anything, he’s more upset that you didn’t tell him and that Max bonded with you without knowing this information. You can’t blame him for being shocked or a little upset.”

“I know. But my stupid hormones don’t seem to get the memo.”

“It’s been a month. It’s not like you withheld until you’re delivering him.”

“Him, huh?” she asks.

“I think it’s your misfortune to be surrounded by difficult men your entire life.”

She laughs and leans against me.

“I was just really horny after seeing Bram and Max kiss. It wasn’t my initial plan to get everyone riled up. I wanted to come home and talk about the baby, but well, that clearly isn’t what happened.”

“I can’t really complain. This whole celibacy thing has not been my favorite.”

She rolls her eyes at me.

Max walks over and holds out his hand. “They’re taking you back now,” he says, and she takes his hand.

Bram is still being standoffish, so I hold back and let Max and Sloane walk ahead of us.

“You’ve got to pull it together,” I whisper to Bram.

“She’s been keeping a massive fucking secret for a month. A secret that might not even matter considering we didn’t know and Max fucking bonded with her. She put her health at risk, all because she thought what? That we wouldn’t handle it well?”

“I mean, you aren’t handling it well.”

“Of course I’m not. I’m fucking scared,” he says plainly.

I grab his hand and interlace my fingers with his. “We’re all scared, but you signed up to be pack Alpha, which means right now I need you to pull it together. The stress isn’t good for Sloane or the baby, and right now she’s consumed with guilt.”

Bram sighs and scrubs his hand down his face. “No wonder she asked me to spank her.”

I tilt my head.

“We can come back to that later. But she found out when she didn’t know if you were alive or dead. She said she didn’t want to upset the balance between you and Max, but I honestly think she is having a harder time with the accident than she’s letting on. She needs you. We all need you.”

He takes a deep breath and nods as we catch up our pace to Sloane and Max and enter the exam room.

Sloane takes the bed, Bram stands next to her, and Max and I take our seats as the doctor comes into the room.

She’s flicking through a tablet and greets us with a smile. “I’m Dr. Mann. I’ll be your provider today, so what seems to be going on?”

Sloane goes to open her mouth, but Bram speaks instead.

“She’s pregnant, and he bonded with her not knowing about that, and we need to check on her and the baby,” he says.

Dr. Mann glances at Bram, pushing her wide frames up her nose, making a humming noise.

“Do you know how far along you are?” she asks Sloane.

“No,” Bram asks.

“I was asking the pregnant woman,” the doctor says, and Bram huffs, crossing his arms.

“I think about ten or eleven weeks.”

“How have you been feeling?”

“Some morning sickness and some fatigue, but other than that, not so bad. I think some of my stress has been self-induced.”

“You think?” Bram asks, and Sloane sighs.

“You’re allowed to request confidentiality with your medical professional if you would like to be seen alone,” Dr. Mann says. Bram looks completely affronted.

Sloane sighs and shakes her head. “No, I want them here.”

The doctor gives Bram a pointed look, and the large Alpha seems to shut his mouth and listen.

“We’re going to do a blood panel to check your levels, and I’ll send the tech in to do your ultrasound. As far as bonding during pregnancy, there have been no studies done that say it’s harmful in any way. If anything, it can help bring the Omega mother comfort during her pregnancy. Being unbonded can cause a lot of unwanted stress, and it helps the expectant father, or fathers, help with the mother’s emotions. But since you’re here, we can check in and make sure everything is alright. Have you been taking a prenatal vitamin?”

“Yes,” she responds, and Bram and Max both look at her, wondering where she’s hiding them.

That would be in my nightstand. But they don’t need to know that I’m her prenatal gummy dealer. We can keep that secret ours.

“Thank you,” Sloane says.

“I’ll be back, Nurse Sardea will get your blood sample, and I’ll be back later to discuss the results.”

She nods and leaves the room. The nurse takes Sloane’s blood while Bram hovers over the poor woman like he’s going to break her neck if she leaves a bruise. As soon as she leaves, Bram starts his inquisition.

“Why? Why did you keep this a secret for so long? Max and I have been worried sick wondering what we could do to make things better since that day. Don’t you think we deserved to know?”

I stand up, and Sloane waves a hand at me.

“I can explain myself, Ethan. It’s okay.”

I sit back in my seat as Bram gives me a stern glare.

“I found out at the hospital when I didn’t know if you were going to be okay or not. Ethan and I didn’t know what was going on, and we were both so scared. Fuck, I’m still scared,” Sloane says, wrapping her arms around herself. “Then you were recovering. You and Max were getting along, becoming friends. I didn’t want to bring this up and have you two at each other’s throats again.”

“Why would we be at each other’s throats?” Bram asks.

“Over who the biological father is,” Sloane says plainly. Bram shakes his head, and she glares at him. “Don’t give me that. You used to hate him, Bram. You two got in a physical fight during my heat. We were going to pack therapy to figure out how to make this all work when our life got flipped upside down. I’ve never been more scared in my life than I was that day. I thought I lost you. I thought I’d never get to bond with you. I wanted to make sure that you recovered and that the moment I told you we wouldn’t be back to square one.”

“You think I’m that petty?” Bram says.

We all give him a look, and he sighs and places his hand on the back of her bed.

“I thought about telling you when we were watching Scent Your Match ,” she whispers.

Bram furrows his brows like he’s deep in thought as it dawns on him.

“Fuck, Sloane,” he says, grabbing the seat and grabbing her hand. “In an ideal world, we would have had time to be a pack before having kids. But I’m happy. I mean, I’m fucking terrified, but I’m happy.”

“You are?”

“We all are,” I add in because I’m the helpful Beta of the pack.

“Oh, don’t think you’re off the hook, you sneaky fucking secret keeper.” Bram points at me.

“Omega trumps Alpha. I don’t know what you want from me,” I say, and Sloane points at me like I have a point.

Max rubs his jaw.

“What about me?” he asks softly, and Sloane swallows.

“I didn’t want you to feel trapped,” she whispers.

Max looks like she just slapped him across the face.

“Trapped? This pack is the best thing to happen to me, and now we’re having a baby. You never trapped me, Sloane. You gave me purpose.”

“I’m not even pregnant, and I feel like I’m going to cry,” I say as the ultrasound tech comes in.

“Can I have you push your shirt up?” she asks Sloane who nods her head.

I think she’s more than happy that this time it won’t be the wand inside of her.

Max and I go to stand next to Bram as the tech slathers some cold lube-looking gunk on Sloane’s flat stomach. Well, maybe there’s the littlest pouch on her lower abdomen, but that could easily be from eating too many snacks.

The tech slathers the sticky goo all over her lower stomach as she rolls the machine over her skin. We all watch the screen in awe as she finds the baby, and a much stronger thudding noise fills the room than last time.

Sloane lets out a breath of relief.

Max and Bram look at the monitor in complete fascination as they see our baby for the first time.

“I’d put you right between eleven or twelve weeks,” she says. “But it’s still too early to determine the sex. The heartbeat is in perfect range. Everything is looking great.”

The amount of tension that leaves the room is palpable.

The tech prints off multiple copies of the ultrasound and hands them to Sloane.

“Dr. Mann will be back in, and we can get your discharge papers ready.”

She hands the scans to Bram and Max who look over them like they’ve never seen anything so magnificent.

“Holy shit,” Max whispers.

“We’re having a baby,” Bram says.

“Does this mean I’m forgiven?”

“Forgiven, yes. But now your health is in my hands,” Bram says easily.

“I agree,” Max says.

Sloane slumps into the mattress and mouths to me. “What the fuck?” Then her phone vibrates, and I already know what it is.

“And she’s getting notifications for anytime we’re brought up online,” I blurt out.

I just shrug at her, and she looks at me like I’m a traitor.

“Oh God, Sloane. All those articles are fucking horrible. I blocked all that stuff on my phone, but you’ve been reading all of it?” Max asks, and her cheeks turn red.

“Give me the phone,” Bram says, holding out his hand. She gives it to him, glaring at me the whole time.

Bram reads the article and looks back at Sloane.

“You’ve been reading all of these?” he asks, and tears fill her eyes. “No more reading this shit. It’s not good for you, and it’s all fake. This one says you’re also fucking Ahonen. What the fuck?” Bram complains.

“I’ve been in the press enough to know that looking at this bullshit can put you in a bad headspace. Why are you doing this to yourself?” Max asks Sloane.

“I don’t know. It was just right there. It all started with that stupid thread about where Finnegan the Fox was. I was proud that I had gotten Ethan enough attention that people were interested, and then it spiraled out of control. Maybe they got to me a little,” she says softly.

“Yeah, of course they did. I’ve been dodging this for years, it will tear you apart on the inside.”

The whole time, Bram has been messing with her phone, likely blocking all mentions of us in the media so she can’t see it anymore.

“No more secrets. No more suffering in silence anymore. You need to be having regular appointments, and we’re going to get you eating better,” Bram says.

Sloane glances back at me for help, and I grimace.

“Listen, sweetheart. I’m ride or die, but the baby can’t survive off Cape Cod chips and Heluva Good French dip,” I say, and the Alphas nod in agreement.

“I can’t control what the baby wants.”

“I can,” Bram says. “Just like I’m going to control what notifications you get on your laptop too. No more of this shit, it’s disgusting.” Bram hands her back her phone, and he gives me a shitty look.

So I need to be better about what secrets Sloane and I share because I’m not a huge fan of getting in trouble.

“This is my penance for keeping this secret,” she whispers more to herself.

“It is,” Bram agrees, and Sloane sighs as Dr. Mann comes back into the room.

“Everything looks great, minus your sodium. I’d love to see that go down a bit,” she says, and Bram gives Sloane a hard stare. “You’ll need to get set up with a primary OBGYN for your care throughout your pregnancy. But beyond that, I have no concerns.”

“So bonding, it’s safe?” Bram confirms again.

“Yes, it’s completely safe,” she replies.

“Knotting?” Max whispers, and the doctor smiles and nods her head.

“Knotting is safe, and may be something that she actively seeks out, especially after the first trimester is through.”

“Is there anything sexually that is off the table?” Bram asks.

“Something in particular you wanted to ask about?” she asks, looking at everyone in the pack.

“Spanking in particular,” Bram says easily like he’s talking about the fucking weather.

Sloane’s eyes go wide, and she looks mortified.

“As long as it’s not too hard and she isn’t put in a compromising position where it’s hard to breathe or too much pressure is put on her stomach, I don’t see why not,” Dr. Mann says with the utmost professionalism. “Do you need a list of clinics with openings?”

“No, I already have one, thank you,” Sloane says, her cheeks red with embarrassment.

The doctor hands her a few pamphlets. “These are all reliable, medically-backed sites you can use as resources. You’re all doing a good job. Just keep taking care of yourself, and I imagine it will be a happy and healthy pregnancy.”

“Thank you again,” Sloane says.

“Of course, I think you’ve all got this covered. Here are some resources for new dads,” she says, handing us a bunch more information.

“Thank you,” Max says as she heads out the room, and we prepare to take Sloane home.

“Did you have to ask about the spanking?” Sloane asks, her cheeks heating all over again.

“Oh, I definitely had to ask,” he says.

Poor Sloane, but also I think I might want to watch.

“Can we please go home and get some sleep now?” I ask.

God, tonight’s been long for everyone.

“First thing in the morning, we’re setting up your appointments,” Bram says.

“Okay.”

“Can I tell my dad now?” I ask, hating that I’ve been holding this all in for a whole month. It’s felt like the secret has been wanting to explode out of me this whole time.

“I guess we’re going to have to tell my parents too,” Sloane says with a wince.

Both of the Alphas look like that wasn’t even on their radar and they’d rather stay at the hospital, but they both give Sloane a curt nod as we head home and try to go back to normal.