Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 137004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
“I should be in there with her.”
“She’s not alone,” said Jaime. “Shaya will help keep her calm. Grace and Lydia have delivered lots of babies, so they know what they’re doing.”
“That’s not the point. I’m her mate. I should be in there.”
“As soon as it’s looking like the baby’s ready to come out, Grace will come get you.” Dante patted his back once as he passed. “Don’t worry. Taryn would never let you miss this.”
“I can feel how much pain she’s in—well, I can feel a hint of it, which is bad enough, and I take back that I said getting kicked in the balls was worse than childbirth. She’s also feeling woozy.
Drunk.”
Jaime smiled. “That’ll be the gas and air.”
Suddenly he grimaced and paled. “The contractions are getting real strong. I hate that I can’t help.”
“Trey! ”
At the sound of Taryn’s screech, he struggled to pass Jaime, Dante, and the enforcers.
“Trey, you bastard! ”
Instantly the guy stilled.
Jaime gave him a pitying smile. “Yeah, you really don’t want to go in there yet.” She had been around shifters in labor before, and she knew exactly how colorful the air could become, and just how easily the females could turn on their mates.
He straightened, as if steeling himself, and knocked loudly on the door.
“Not yet, Trey,” Shaya called from inside the room.
“Let me in, Shaya. I want to be with her.”
“Yeah, let the bastard in so I can break his nose and shove it up his—”
“Okay, Taryn, I’ll let him in.” Shaya only opened the door a crack, and Trey pushed his way inside, shutting the door behind him. His mate slung a string of profanities at him that had everybody’s lips twitching. Jaime didn’t move from her place near the closed door, determined to be one of the first to see the baby when someone finally allowed them in. Dante and the enforcers must have been thinking the same thing, because none of them moved either.
Half an hour and a lot of cursing, growls, and cries later, they heard Taryn declare, “I can’t do this! Just leave her in there. She’ll be fine.”
“You’re doing really well,” Lydia assured her.
“No, I’m done! I’m tired, I’m sweaty, I’m in agony, and why do I feel like I need to shit?”
“It’s totally natural to feel that way,” said Grace in a placatory, calming voice. “Some women even have one during labor.”
“What?” The word dripped with horror. “Women can shit when they’re in labor? Tell me that won’t happen to me! Don’t you let me shit, Grace!” A loud, lengthy cry signaled that she was having another contraction.
Trey’s voice was soft and encouraging. “Just breathe, baby.”
“I am fucking breathing! And why does this gas and air make me sound like Darth Vader?”
“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 fucking growling! You need a fucking 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…