Chapter Twenty-Four

I tried to keep my hours at the office and with clients off premises as few as possible as our omega grew larger with our young, and we waited to find out what would happen. Since the building of the nest, our omega had begun his paternity leave. The midwife came weekly to the house to see him, but he was still a mystery to her in so many ways, and she wasn't able to confirm how many eggs yet. At this stage, if he'd been willing to go to the office, she felt a scan would give that information, but he did not want to go that far from his nest.

"Soon," he said. "They will be here soon."

And we had to trust that on some level, he could be sure of that, so nobody argued with him about that. At all. But he grew larger, his belly still hard with egg or eggs, and I wondered how the pouch baby was doing in there with hard shells taking up so much space. But I didn't want to bring up the issue because what could possibly be done about it? Rome's contact, the sugar glider with the flamingo mate, had not had that particular experience, and unfortunately could not help in that area, but he'd offered a whole lot of other information that was so helpful.

However, the midwife felt, and Clay was sure, that the pouch baby would be making their appearance first, and that would make it safer when the eggs had their turn. I did not pretend to understand, but I had to trust that would work.

All week, I'd been home before three, but on this day, I had a meeting with clients from out of the country that could not be avoided. It was vaguely reminiscent of the time I'd had the cartel client, but these East Asian monks were buying an old convent to convert into a monastery, and I felt confident they were not anything other than what they presented as. But their time was tightly scheduled, and I had no choice but to meet them for dinner at a local vegetarian restaurant.

The food was good, even if my carnivorous bear was puzzled by the whole concept. But my mind was very much at home with a pregnant sugar glider. Rome would be home before me, hopefully. There was no reason Clay couldn't be alone, but it made us happier to be with him. When I pulled into the driveway, I was relieved to see Rome's vehicle parked there already, next to Clay's, but something had my bear on edge, and I hurried to the front door, wanting to see for myself that everyone was all right.

It was quiet in the living room, too quiet, and anxiety crept up my spine. "Hello? Anyone home?" I winced at my inanity. Of course they were home. Both their cars were there, and it was unlikely they would have gone anywhere via any other form of transportation. But when I didn't get an immediate answer, sweat broke out on my forehead. "Rome? Clay?"

Rome appeared in the doorway of the nesting room aka our master bedroom. He held a finger to his lips. "Shh." Then he waved me inside.

I had a lot of questions, but if quiet was required, it wasn't the time to ask, so I tiptoed toward the room with my heart in my throat. Rome was calm, so I didn't think a crisis was happening. Maybe something adorable? We both loved to watch Clay sleep or eat or do just about anything. The sugar glider had adorable down pat, and it wouldn't be the first time we'd sat quietly while he rested and grew our babies.

But the sight that met my eyes was anything but a chilled-out, pregnant omega curled up on the bed. Instead, he was pacing back and forth, his eyes wide and lips twisted in distress.

"Alpha." He ran to me and wrapped his arms around my waist as far as he could reach with his belly between us. "Something's wrong. It hurts, but nothing is moving. I think I might be going to explode."

His comment brought me back to calm, ready to handle whatever came up. Our omega needed us to be strong for him now. Catching Rome's eyes, I sent him a meaningful look and watched him reach the same space I had.

"Okay, omega. We've got you," he said, joining our hug briefly. "But now we're going to get you settled wherever you would be most comfortable, then Rome will call the midwife."

"Good idea." I guided him toward the bed, thinking he'd want the nest for the egg or eggs. "Here or the nest?"

"Nest." He veered off and I helped him sit among the pillows and blankets and everything he'd built. When he took the weight off his legs, his eyes softened in relief. "Thank you, alpha." He sighed. "I needed to sit down."

"That's all right." I kissed the top of his head. "Rome, any luck with the midwife?"

"She's on her way, and said to tell you, Clay, that you are absolutely not going to explode. She promised."

He nodded. "Okay, but something weird is happening, and I—" He grabbed at his waistband. "Help me undress, please."

We both rushed over there and eased him back to his feet. I supported him while Rome assisted him to get out of his clothing. When he was undressed, we lowered him to the nest again just in time to see the birth of our pouch baby.

I couldn't breathe. The little one emerged from his body and climbed to a pouch in Clay's stomach that hadn't existed, so far as I knew, until that very moment. It sealed closed behind them. And they were born…kind of?

"Was it a boy or a girl?" Rome asked.

"I didn't notice. How did I not notice?" Wasn't that what everyone looked for? "Toes? Fingers? What did you all see?"

"It was very tiny," Rome whispered. "I thought I knew what to expect, and small did come up and I knew it was going to be heading for the pouch. I told you guys that, and I suspect Clay knew most of it."

Our heads swiveled toward the sugar glider, who nodded. "This part of the whole thing I expected. I hadn't been present at a birth, but the mechanics of a little marsupial, that, I had knowledge of. But, wow. She really could move."

She. Our daughter was safe in her omega daddy's pouch, finishing her growing until she was ready to join us in the outside world. Thank all the gods my business dinner didn't go another hour. I'd have missed this miracle.