“Here, how about I move it out the way for—”
“Don’t you touch it,” she growled at him. “It’s mine. Understand? Mine.”
“Okay, okay, you keep it, it’s yours.”
“Wanna try it?”
“No thanks, baby.” His smile could be heard in his voice. The only time his tone ever softened that way was when he was talking about, or talking to, his mate. It was a tone totally reserved for her.
A loud groan. “God, here comes another one.”
“You’re doing so well, Taryn,” praised Shaya. “I think you’ve only broken one of my fingers.”
“I think I’ve had a shit, Shaya.” The poor woman sounded distressed and mortified. “Have I, Grace? Don’t lie to me.”
“No, you haven’t.”
“I have, you’re lying. Is she lying, Lydia?”
“No,” Lydia quickly said, “you haven’t, I promise.”
“Shaya, why does it feel like the bed’s floating?” Taryn asked in a very loud whisper, though Jaime was sure that Taryn thought she was being quiet.
“Maybe we should take the gas and air from her,” suggested Trey.
“Fucking try it.”
“Stop growling at me,” he whined.
“I’m not f**king growling! You need a f**king hearing aid!” More cries of pain as another contraction hit. “Grace…I think I can feel the head.”
“It is the head, Taryn,” confirmed Grace. “On the next contraction, I need you to push for me, okay.” A long pause. “Ready? Go.”
“Push,” encouraged Trey.
“ I am pushing, doofus.” A few moments later, there was a sob. “Why isn’t anything happening?”
“I know you’re tired, baby, but—”
“Don’t you touch me, Flintstone, this is your fault! Don’t think we’re playing Hiding Pedro ever again!”
Shaya sounded stern yet amused. “Now, Taryn, that wasn’t nice.”
“Cut it out of me!” Presumably Taryn was totally ignored, because she growled, “Fine. Give me a knife, I’ll do it!”
“One more, Taryn, and it’ll all be over, I promise. I need you to push really, really hard this time.”
“What do you think I’ve been doing all along? ”
It was doubtless that Grace paid no heed to the string of insults that Taryn called her. Not long later, Grace said, “Here we go again. Ready? One, two, three.” Jaime was pretty sure the entire pack flinched at the sound of Taryn’s high-pitched scream. As it faded, the sound of a baby crying filled everyone’s ears. Outside the room, everybody’s face instantly lit up, but no one made a sound, eager to hear what Grace would announce to Taryn and Trey. Ten seconds later…
“Congratulations, you have a baby boy!”
“I always said it was a boy. Didn’t I say it was a boy, Trey?”
“Yes, baby, you did,” he said with a choked cry.
At that point, everyone outside the room started jumping up and down and making loud celebratory noises. Jaime just knew that this kid was going to get spoiled rotten by the entire pack.
Her old pack hadn’t been like this one. Although everybody had looked out for each other, they hadn’t been so close and tight-knit. Baby Coleman would want for absolutely nothing.
It wasn’t until twenty minutes later that the door opened and Trey stepped out holding a tiny little bundle wrapped in a blue blanket, pride and awe written all over his face. “Everyone, this is Kye River Coleman.” Tao immediately tried to take him, but Trey shook his head. “Later. I only brought him out so you could all see him for a second.”
Jaime leaned over and lightly ran her fingers over his head of soft blond streaks. “Aw, he is too cute.”
“Trey, he looks just like you when you were a baby,” Greta told him. “Except for the blond hair. But we can cut that off, it’s fine.”
“You go near my son’s hair, you senile old witch, and I’ll finally shave that lip of yours!” called Taryn from inside the room.
Greta’s mouth twitched into a self-satisfied smile that had Trey sighing and shaking his head.
“You couldn’t wait until later before trying to irritate my mate?” Greta just shrugged unapologetically and went to take the baby. “You can all hold him later.”
“Please, just one little tiny hold!” pleaded Jaime.
He thought about it for a second and exhaled heavily. “Just a few of you. And quickly. You want his head in the crook of your elbow and then wrap your other arm around him,” he told her stiffly, as if repeating what he himself had been told.
Carefully, Jaime took the baby from Trey and smiled, marveling over just how gorgeous he was. Even all wrinkled and scrunched-up, he was too cute for words. Best of all was his smell. She had never smelled anything like it before. There was truly nothing to compare it to. It was just a sweet, earthy, divine, addictive scent that made her melt. It called to her on a primal level and made her consider things she hadn’t before, making her feel slightly off-center and exposed in a way she couldn’t explain. Instead of making her want to hand Kye over to someone else, it made her want to keep him right there where he was. Her wolf, too, had an urge to keep Kye close—an urge Jaime didn’t understand but didn’t question.
Dante watched Jaime holding Kye with a smile of pure delight on her face and felt a twinge in his chest. Suddenly and unexpectedly, he imagined her holding their baby. The picture was so clear in his mind that a lump actually appeared in his throat. Maybe it was the wonder of the moment, he wasn’t sure, but suddenly every wall he had fell away. Every fear and doubt was pushed to the back of his brain, and he felt stripped bare.
Going by the way Jaime was swallowing hard and biting on her lower lip even as she was still smiling down at Kye, Dante guessed that the same thing was happening to her. And then she looked up at him, flashing him a smile, but as their gazes met, a knowing so primitive and absolute hit him with a force that almost hurt. As her eyes widened, he knew the same knowing had hit her, and he was sure that the wonder, shock, confusion, and recognition in her eyes would be reflected in his own.
“She’s hogging him. Move out of the way so I can get to my great-grandson,” Greta complained as she tugged on the back of his T-shirt. Feeling in some kind of daze, he stepped aside.
As Jaime awkwardly handed Kye to Greta, he saw she was in that same daze. As she looked back at him, he saw another emotion on her face. Sheer panic.