The Omega Professor's Secret Baby

by Cora Crawford

  He leaned over to murmur, “It’ll be okay, Mac. These are things you can learn.”

  Mac looked over at his mate with worried eyes. The seedling of stress had already planted itself in his brain, and Wilson knew it wasn’t going away any time soon.

  Ashley cackled at her brother’s discomfort. “That’s what you should’ve been worried about the whole time.”

  “Ashley,” Mac’s father interrupted. “Leave your brother alone. He’s about to become a dad. He’s under enough pressure.”

  His words didn’t seem to ease Mac any.

  Chapter 18

  It happened when they least expected it.

  Wilson was supposed to have a few days left, and Mac hadn’t started getting too worried about his mate going into labor. They still had plenty of time in his mind.

  He was put even more at ease after dinner. It was the best family dinner he had ever been to. Normally the nights were spent either in awkward silence or tense conversation. This was the first night everyone seemed to want to get along with each other. Something about adding Wilson into the family had made everything so much better. Somehow he united them all without even trying.

  Maybe this baby was a better thing for this family—more than anyone realized. It was a magical thing.

  Once the meal had been finished and the table had been cleared, everyone went to the sitting room. Coffee and games were passed around. Wilson and Ashley quickly started a game of cards and intense conversation. That only left Mac and his father. He tentatively sat in the chair next to the thronelike accent chair his father was always in.

  The man briefly looked up when his son sat down. He cleared his throat before he said, “Are you ready?”

  Mac scoffed. “Not even a little, but isn’t that normal?”

  The corner of his father’s mouth lifted into a sort of grin. “Completely. I don’t think anyone is ever ready to have a baby. You just have to prepare the best you can and hold on for dear life.”

  “Sounds about right,” Mac said with a nod.

  “For the record,” his father went on, “I think you’re going to make an amazing dad, no matter how much you doubt yourself. So will Wilson. You guys are going to do great.”

  Mac tried not to get sentimental over the words, but he could feel his throat close up. Those were the kindest words his father had ever spoken to him. It meant more to him than the older man could ever imagine, especially considering he was rarely so encouraging.

  “Thank you, Dad. I appreciate it,” Mac said, his voice tight.

  “Mac!”

  The sound of his name being yelled across the room caused him to jump out of his chair and forget all about the conversation with his father. Ashley was standing too—she was the one who had yelled for him. She looked panicked. Mac’s gaze instantly snapped to Wilson. He was hunched over, holding his stomach.

  Mac didn’t consciously cross the room. One moment he was standing by his chair, and the next, he was standing in front of Wilson, grabbing his shoulders and looking over his mate’s body.

  “What’s wrong?” Mac asked urgently.

  Wilson lifted his head to look at Mac, his face contorted in pain. He gasped before he managed to choke out, “I think I’m in labor.”

  Panic immediately set in.

  “Oh shit.”

  Mac and his family wasted no time getting Wilson to the hospital. Mac hadn’t exactly expected that kind of support from his family, but he was more than grateful for it. He hadn’t been prepared for this, and he was thankful for them more than he ever had been in his life.

  Wilson was somehow staying relatively calm even though he was in a tremendous amount of pain and would soon be giving birth, but he had a death grip on his mate’s hand the whole way to the hospital. Mac tried to soothe him as best he could. His other hand was smoothing the sweat-soaked hair away from the omega’s forehead.

  “You got this, baby,” the alpha said as reassuringly as he could. “You’re so strong.”

  Wilson gave him a weak smile in return. “I feel like I’m not handling the pain very well.”

  Mac couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Are you kidding me? You’re doing a thousand times better than I ever could, that’s for damn sure.”

  Wilson’s tired smile quirked into a grin. “I guess you’re right.”

  Luckily, the hospital wasted no time getting Wilson into a room. Mac watched anxiously from the corner as medical staff hurried all around his mate, getting him ready for delivery. He hadn’t expected it to be this scary. He was terrified for Wilson, and his mind was torturing him with all the things that could possibly go wrong. His mate, on the other hand, seemed to be mostly collected. There were a few moments where it was obvious how much pain the man was really in, but he stayed calm somehow.

  A woman wearing scrubs decorated with cartoon cats walked up to Mac with a tentative smile on her face. “Hi. Are you the father?” she asked.

  Mac nodded, not stopping the anxious chewing of his fingernails to answer the lady with words.

  “It’s time to say goodbye before we take him to the operating room. We can’t allow alphas in the room with us. It’s always too hard for them,” she explained. “They’re too protective. It’s a wonderful quality, but not so much in a medical setting.”

  Mac felt panic clench around his heart. How was Wilson going to deliver without Mac there to help him? His eyes met his mate’s only to find Wilson didn’t seem as worried as Mac was. Instead, he gave Mac a soft smile.

  Mac walked across the room to where his mate was lying on the bed, hooked up to a million different machines. Mac hated to see him this way. He reached out and gently picked up the omega’s hand.

  “You are so strong and brave,” Mac whispered to his mate. “I can’t believe you’re about to give us a child.”

  Wilson gave him a soft look. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Just try to stay sane until this is all over.”

  Mac nodded, trying to keep the tears at bay. Trying to stay strong for his mate. “I will,” he assured Wilson.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  All too quickly, before Mac could say everything that was on his heart, he was pulled out of the room to wait.

  The time Mac spent waiting for Wilson’s C-section to be over felt like an eternity. He couldn’t relax like he knew Wilson wanted him to. All his mind could do was run in circles around traumatic what-if’s.

  As soon as Mac returned to the waiting room, he had called Wilson’s sister. They had talked about what they would do when Wilson went into labor, and Mac tried to follow the plan as best as possible. She wouldn’t get to the hospital until later that night to see them and the baby.

  His father and Ashley watched Mac pace and fret the whole time. No one said much. They didn’t know what to say, but there was probably nothing they could say that would help.

  Just when Mac thought he would go crazy from the stress, the same woman with the cat scrubs came into the waiting room.

  She looked at Mac and smiled warmly, filling him with relief. “It’s time for you to meet the newest addition to your family.”

  Mac could feel his heart trying to beat out of his chest. He didn’t think he would be so nervous to meet his own baby. He practically ran back to Wilson’s room. He breathed a sigh of relief when he could see that his mate was fine. More than fine—he was glowing.

  He was also holding a tiny bundle that squirmed in his arms.

  Mac could hear soft cooing sounds coming from beneath the blanket. He tentatively moved forward until he was right at Wilson’s bedside.

  Wilson gave him a weak but overjoyed smile. “Are you ready to meet our daughter?”

  Mac looked down at the angel Wilson was holding. His breath was instantly stolen. He hadn’t thought anyone could be as perfect as Wilson, but somehow their daughter was. She was precious and looked so much like both of them.

  Wilson held out their daughter and Mac carefully
tucked her into his arms. He had never held a baby before, and his nerves were through the roof, but he felt more excited than anything.

  “She’s so perfect,” he breathed.

  “I know. I can’t believe we did it.”

  “What are we naming her?”

  Neither of them said anything for a moment. The air was filled with soft sounds from their daughter and the rhythmic beeps from Wilson’s heart monitor.

  “What about Eliza?” Wilson asked.

  Mac smiled down at him. “I like the sound of that. Eliza Jane, maybe? Sounds like a superhero name.”

  “I think that sounds perfect.”

  Mac leaned down to place a soft kiss on his mate’s lips. The name they’d come up with on the spot—a name that seemed to fit the beautiful infant just right—wasn’t the only thing that was perfect. So was this moment, and every moment their little family would share from that point forward.

  The End.

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