Kade brushes the hair out of his face, dabbing the sweat off his forehead with a towel. “Sorry.”
“You better be,” Felix mutters, his skin damp with sweat. “Didn’t think it would hurt this much.”
Kade winces. He didn’t mean to put Felix through this. “Sorry. Does that mean we’re having just the one child?”
“Maybe. Quite possibly. We’ll see if I’ve murdered you by the end of this.”
Kade chuckles. “Right.”
Felix tips his head back into the pillow, his eyes fluttering shut. “Gods, I’m so done with the pregnancy.”
“Ready to meet the baby?” Kade leans in, smiling when Felix curls his fingers into his palm.
“Yes! I’m sure she’ll be lovable.” Felix smiles.
“She? We don’t even know that yet.”
“It’s just a feeling I’ve been getting lately,” Felix says, pulling Kade closer. “I still love you, by the way. I’m not killing you.”
Kade smiles, relieved. “That works,” he says. “If you love me but kill me, at least I found out first.”
Felix laughs, punching his arm.
At fourteen hours, Felix pants on the bed, his hair damp with sweat, and the midwife slides her fingers out of Felix’s hole. Kade bites down a low growl. If she were anything but omega, he’d be itching to yank her away. Felix is his to touch.
“Almost fully dilated,” the midwife says, washing her hands before bustling around the room
“You look like you’re about to murder something,” Felix pants, tapping on Kade’s wrist.
“Want to bring you home,” Kade says, possessiveness clawing up his throat. “You and the baby. Then you’re all mine.” Enough of strangers putting their hands on you.
Felix laughs weakly, and Kade wipes his forehead down with a damp towel. “That works. I’d love that.”
But they’re still waiting, and as the seconds tick by and nothing else changes, Kade sighs. He rubs their wrists together, then trails his scent all over Felix. “Mine,” he says again, scenting his bondmate.
Felix looks up at him, smiling. “All yours.”
“Push,” the midwife says. Kade echoes after her.
“C’mon, push,” he says, stroking Felix’s hair off his face. “Just a bit more. Squeeze.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Felix snarls, arching off the bed, his teeth bared. Sweat beads across his forehead. Kade holds his hand tight, wishing he could take all of that pain away. “Argh!”
“Almost there,” the midwife says. “You’ve got the head out now. And the shoulders. Just a little more!”
“Keep pushing,” Kade says, kissing his forehead. Felix’s grip squeezes like a vice around his fingers, and he pants, his pupils constricted, his eyes shadowy green in the dimmed lights.
“I told you, Kade,” Felix hisses through gritted teeth. “So help me, but if you tell me to push one more time, I’m going to fucking murder you.”
“Push,” Kade says, a tendril of adrenaline shooting up his spine. He knows his omega, knows Felix’s boundaries, and this will rile Felix up just enough...
Felix growls, his eyes flashing, his teeth bared. He heaves again, his entire body shaking with the effort, and Kade knows his omega will kill him in another life, if they were ever on opposite sides of a fight. But that life isn’t theirs, and Felix is his bondmate, his love.
“It’s a girl,” the midwife says. Kade turns, staring at the mess of red and wet and baby. “She’s beautiful.”
Felix drops back onto the pillows with a whine, gulping deep breaths, his eyelids slipping half-shut. “Oh, gods, that was difficult.”
But he smiles, his cheeks flushed. As the midwife wipes the baby down and hands her over to Felix, Kade leans in. He wants to memorize this: Felix with his golden hair damp, his eyes bright as he gazes down upon their child. The baby is tiny in his arms, her skin flushed, her eyes still shut, a dusting of hair on her head.
“You did great,” Kade says, his throat suddenly tight. Felix looks up at him, tears in his eyes. So he leans in, kissing Felix softly on his forehead. “Proud of you.”
“You did great too,” Felix murmurs, sagging into the pillows, their baby cradled safely against his chest. “I’m exhausted.”
“Rest,” Kade says. He reaches down carefully, touching their daughter’s tiny curled fingers. She wraps them around his own. As though she knows who he is, and she’s saying, Hi, Dad.
Five years ago, Kade wouldn’t have dreamed of this. Felix had left, and Kade had thought he’d lost his bondmate for good. But Felix is back. They’ve marked each other again. They have a home together, and a beautiful daughter that Kade will protect. And they will get married soon, when Felix is ready.
“Love you,” he murmurs in Felix’s ear, kissing his temple.
“Love you too,” Felix whispers, his eyelids fluttering shut.
Kade cradles his family close, thankful for everything in his life.
Epilogue Felix, 3 months later
Felix looks up at the mansion looming above them, drawing a deep breath. This visit is long overdue, and he’s been putting it off for... what, almost a year now? Perhaps that has added to his growing dread, but he can no longer put this off.
“You’re sure about this?” Kade asks, parking the car at the end of the driveway, by the circular stone fountain. He reaches over for Felix’s hand, cradling it in his own. He smooths his warm, callused thumb over Felix’s ring. “I’ll talk to him alone if you want.”
Felix shakes his head, smiling fondly. “It’s about time I did things myself, isn’t it? Grow a spine and all that. Besides, you can be the backup muscle.”
Kade mulls over it, narrowing his eyes. “Fine.”
They step out of the car. Felix unstraps Bethy from the car seat, smiling when she grins toothlessly at him. “We’re going to meet your grandpa,” Felix says, kissing her on the nose. “And hopefully we’ll all come away intact.”
“I’ll punch him if he disses you.” Kade locks the car doors, stepping close to slip
