Chapter Twenty

Clay

I'd gone into labor, my body not caring that I was in a cave near a dead body, having just been kidnapped. Rude.

Jeremy's face was blank mixed with a tinge of panic. I wanted to calm him, to let him know it was fine, but it wasn't fine. None of this was.

"We can't have our baby here. Not here, not with…not with…" He glanced at the lifeless body of the person who had kidnapped me and tried to sell both our baby and myself.

I agreed with him. We couldn't have our baby next to a dead body in a smelly cave. It made sense and was what most people would say. It hit me hard though. Seeing him so panicked, so quickly, when he'd been so strong, told me it was time for me to finally do what I knew I needed to do all along—to be the one to take care of us and not always rely on him. I could do this. I had to.

"Help me to the van and get me home. Babies don't come instantaneously," I said, though the intensity of my contractions made me question that. It shouldn't be happening this quickly, but then again, tonight hadn't been normal in any other way, so why would this be the average experience. If anything, all the stress from the day had to be making it worse.

"But what if we don't make it in time?" Jeremy asked, fear creeping into his voice.

"Then he delivers the baby, just like I did," Jack jumped in, taking my hand. "Trust me, having a baby in a van getting away from all the chaos—that's not the worst way to have one." He would know.

Jeremy nodded, and the two of them helped me get to the van. My leg was now dripping wet. "Great, my water broke."

I half wondered if earlier, when I had to pee so badly, it was a contraction that messed with my bladder and not the baby. Not that it mattered now—but anything to distract me from the pain as I climbed into the van was worth thinking about.

We drove down the bumpy road, and the non-bumpy road, not that it made a difference. Even the concrete pavement felt like I was being jostled around. Every little movement hurt. I tried to hold back my screams, not wanting to startle anyone as they were driving or riding along. I did a fairly good job, but not a great one.

I needed to get home. I needed to get showered and get the stench of that night off of me. Then, then I could have my baby. Not before. They deserved better.

"Goddess, I know you already hooked me up tonight, but maybe do it again," I muttered under my breath.

"What?" Jeremy gave my hand a squeeze. "I didn't catch all that."

"Nothing," I lied. It wasn't time for the conversation about me hearing him in my head. It was baby time. "I just saw it on a paternity group." Worst lie ever, but somehow it settled him. Either that or my next contraction barreling through me did. In any case, we moved on.

I wasn't sure if it was five minutes or five years before because every single second of the ride sucked and felt like an eternity, but we finally made it back to the warehouse. There was such relief walking in the door and stepping away from the chaos outside. Even more relief washed over me as we entered our room.

It was our room now—my mate and his friends had surprised me with my belongings from my apartment shortly after I became pregnant. I hadn't realized how much having those material things mattered, but they did. It turned it from my mate's room to our room. And now I was waddling as fast as I could toward the bathroom.

"Slow down," Jack pleaded. "You're having a baby." As if I didn't know that.

"Not until I shower." It was nonnegotiable.

"I've got this," Jeremy said. He was vague about what he needed to do, but I didn't care. As long as I washed the stench of the night off me before our sweet baby arrived, all would be well.

My mate didn't argue and came to my side, helping me wash, holding me up when the pain got bad, scrubbing my hair and face, paying very careful attention to the cut on my side.

Had I not been pregnant, it probably would have healed already—especially if I had shifted—but that wasn't going to happen, not today.

A few more contractions in the shower had me worried, but I'd rather deliver there, without the stench of evil on me, than back in the cave. And the warm water did help the ache. I didn't realize how much until I was being dried off and another contraction slammed into me. I nearly fell to the floor, but my mate caught me up and carried me to our bedroom.

Best. Mate. Ever.

"I was gonna walk. I was gonna walk. That was the plan." Meaning, my birth plan and not my what to do after the shower plan.

I'd worked so diligently on a birth plan. I was going to walk and walk and walk. Why? Because someone in my paternity group said it made the delivery easier. Did science back that up? I didn't know, and I didn't care. As long as I had something to focus on, all would be good.

Only now that labor was here, the contractions were too powerful to allow any form of exercise to happen.

Jack was already back, a full milk crate of items in his arms. "Yeah, well, babies don't seem to care about our plans."

Jeremy set me down on the bed. "You can walk if you want to. You were just having a hard time standing, and it was wet."

"You take such good care of me."

"I try." He didn't just try. He did.

"Do you know what position you want to have the baby in?" Jack asked, dead serious. Like I could make a decision now. Thankfully, my mate jumped in after I gave him my help-me look.

"In his birth plan, he thought he would squat, and I'd hold him up, but I think it's time for plan C," Jeremy said, but he cringed, and I realized it was because he thought I'd be upset. As if I could be mad at my mate taking care of me when I couldn't.

"Wasn't that"—I gasped, grabbing my side—"wing it?" I spoke through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, wing it." He kissed my brow.

"Wing it, it is." Jack handed me a squeezy ball and told me to hold it as tight as I needed.

Wing it we did.

I was on my hands and knees as the burning built, realizing quickly that my arms weren't ready for that. I didn't even attempt to squat. My strength was depleted with the pushing. I gave birth on my side, with my knees pulled up, pushing with everything I had. My mate assisted me, holding my legs, brushing the hair from my brow, telling me how wonderfully I was doing.

And then, within two hours of being rescued in a cave, our beautiful baby boy was born.

We were dads.