by J. L. Wilder
She put her arms around his neck. “It’s perfect,” she said and kissed him deeply.
He maneuvered her slowly onto her side. Over the past several weeks, they had learned together which positions were uncomfortable for her pregnant body. She couldn’t lie on her back, but if he put his arm beneath her head as a pillow, she could be very comfortable like this.
He ran the palm of his hand from her shoulder across her back and down to her thigh. “Our house,” he said. “My omega.”
“Are you sure Alex and Heather won’t be back any time soon?” she asked, already beginning to feel the heat his touch always awoke in her. Her desire for him had grown stronger by the day as her pregnancy had gone on. Nowadays, he didn’t have to do much more than touch her to make her wild.
“They know better than to come back right away,” Jonah said, and Grace heard the smirk in his voice.
“You told them we’d be—?”
“Alex is no fool,” Jonah said. His fingers crept down her thigh, found the hem of her skirt, and hitched it up over her hips.
She gasped as another breeze blew, tingling over her bare skin. She closed her eyes. “Don’t torture me,” she said.
“Hmm?” He peeled away her panties, rubbed his palm against her gently, then slipped a finger inside her. “Who’s torturing you?”
“Jonah—”
“You need it?”
“You know I do.”
“Yeah, I know.” He pressed his lips to her shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he said, speaking right against her skin. “I’ll always take care of you. You’re such a good omega, carrying my litter for me all these months. You get whatever you need, baby.”
And for once, he didn’t make her wait at all.
He entered her with a quick, satisfying thrust that made her gasp and then sigh in pleasure and relief. Just having him felt like enough at first. It was as if she had been starving all day and had finally been given something to eat. She relaxed, her head falling back against his shoulder, his hands moving to cradle her belly as he established a rhythm.
But her satisfaction quickly gave way to a growing hunger. She felt desperate, aching for more of him and more of him, certain that she would never get enough.
“I may need you to do this all night,” she warned, her voice breaking slightly on the final word.
“As long as you need me,” he promised, his breath hot in her ear.
It was as if she had found a new form to shift into, a form that now included Jonah as well as herself. She was incomplete without him. Now that they were together, she was finally herself.
She forgot everything. There were rooms in the house that she hadn’t yet seen, but those rooms were just going to have to wait. She couldn’t have torn herself apart from Jonah for all the money in the world. Every time he withdrew from her, she felt a sense of loss. Every time he thrust back in, she felt such overpowering relief that she wanted to cry.
She reached behind herself, grabbing him, pulling him closer. Deeper.
He chuckled, but she felt him throb inside her, his own need growing alongside hers. His hands moved to grip her swollen breasts, thumbs playing gently with her engorged nipples. “God,” he murmured. “You really can’t get enough, can you? You’re so hot like this. I wish I really could fuck you forever.”
“Do,” she challenged.
They held each other for the next several hours. Sometimes they moved at a frenetic pace, their bodies coming together desperately. Sometimes they stopped and lay very still for stretches of time, feeling the way they were joined, breathing as if they were a single being.
By the time Grace’s orgasm hit her—by the time Jonah finally let it happen—she was exhausted and on the verge of sleep. It was sweet and warm and incredibly fulfilling. She shuddered happily in his arms, feeling herself beginning to slip off into unconsciousness, feeling as satisfied as she ever had in her life.
“Grace,” Jonah said quietly.
“Hmm?” She was too tired to give him a proper answer.
“I love you,” he said. “You changed my life. I want you to know that. You did more than that, even—you changed who I am. I was a shallow person who didn’t know how to see all the good in the people around me until I met you.”
She wanted to answer him, to tell him how much he had given her, but sleep was stealing over her now, and she couldn’t find the words. But somehow, she was sure he already knew.
Chapter Twenty
JONAH
Jonah dozed on a chair he had dragged into the bedroom from the kitchen, leaning back so that the chair balanced on two legs, his back resting against the wall.
He’d been awake for almost nineteen hours. He hadn’t wanted to sleep now either, but Grace, Alex, and Heather had combined to persuade him that it was the right thing to do.
Still, he hovered at the edge of consciousness, occasionally opening one eye just enough to see that Grace hadn’t yet begun to deliver.
A voice seemed to speak to him in his head as he slept. It’s okay that it’s taking this long. If anything was wrong, they would wake you up. If she needed you, someone would tell you.
“You have to sleep now,” Grace had told him. She’d been panting, sweaty, completely worn out from the long hours of labor, and yet Jonah had thought she’d never looked more beautiful in her life. “I’m going to need you once they’re born. I don’t know when we’ll have time to sleep after that.”
He had consented, only because he had known that she would be exhausted after she delivered, and he certainly didn’t want to leave her feeling like she couldn’t go to sleep at that point.
But he couldn’t relax and let himself go.
He felt as if he had been asleep for hours. He kept startling awake, only to find that Alex and Heather were still having the same conversation they’d been having the last time he’d taken notice of them.
He felt like he was floating through a fog.
And then, suddenly, the world came into sharp focus.
The tone of Heather’s voice had changed, or maybe it was the pace of Grace’s breathing. Something was different, perceptibly so. He leaned forward in his chair, the front legs landing hard on the floor. “What’s going on?” he demanded.
“The babies are coming,” Heather said. She looked over at him and grinned. “Don’t look so worried, Jonah. That’s what’s supposed to happen.”
“Is he okay?” Grace panted.
“Am I okay?” Jonah shook away the last of his exhaustion and hurried to her side. “You’re the one giving birth. Why are you asking about me?”
“I worry about you,” she said. Her face was screwed up in pain.
Jonah glanced at Heather. “She’s hurting,” he said, hearing the accusatory tone in his voice but helpless to restrain it.
“Childbirth hurts,” Heather said.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” he asked her.
“You know she knows what she’s doing,” Alex said. “Every girl at Shifter U took birthing classes.”
“It’s all right, Alex,” Heather said. “It’s tough for him too.” She didn’t look away from what she was doing, but she addressed Jonah. “We had a plan, remember?” she told him. “We all planned what we would be doing today when the babies came. You’re doing your part. I’m doing mine. And Grace is doing hers. Everything that’s happening is what’s supposed to be happening. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
“It’s okay,” Grace breathed. “It’s okay, Jonah. I’m okay.” She reached out and took his hand.
He looked into her eyes and was amazed at the strength he saw there.
The fact that anyone had ever looked at this woman and seen her as someone who could be written off, someone who didn’t need to be considered—he didn’t think he would ever understand it.
“You’re the strongest person I know,” he said quietly, leaning in so that his face was only a few inches from hers. He locked eyes with her. “Focus on me. Just ignore every
thing else. It will all be over soon, and the babies will be here with us. Focus on me until then.”
She nodded and leaned into him, pressing her forehead against his. He felt the tension of her muscles as she pushed, the set of her jaw as she gritted her teeth.
“You can do this,” he said. “You’re so strong, Grace. I’m so proud of you. I’m so proud you’re my omega.”
A fierce cry split the air. Grace’s body relaxed slightly, and she let out a gasp.
“You’ve got about a minute,” Heather said. “Then we’re going to need to go again.”
“The baby—”
“The baby’s fine,” Heather said. “Alex is getting him cleaned up for you.”
“Him?”
Jonah looked over and saw Heather smile. “It’s a boy. Congratulations. You’re parents.”
A boy. Jonah had imagined what it might be like to have a son. He had talked about it more and more as the pregnancy wore on, on quiet afternoons with Grace. Now that son was here, and the thing he had imagined was coming true.
He was a father.
“I want to see him,” Grace begged. “Please—”
“Hold him up, Alex,” Heather instructed.
Alex did as he’d been bidden, moving into their line of sight so that Grace and Jonah could get a look at their newborn child. The baby was kicking and squalling in Alex’s arms, looking positively furious about the fact that he had just been born.
Jonah couldn’t help smiling. “He has a temper,” he said.
“Like his dad,” Grace said.
“Hey!”
“Let me hold him,” she said.
Heather shook her head. “We don’t have time,” she said. “You’re going to deliver the next one now. There’ll be plenty of time when this is over.”
Grace looked momentarily disheartened, but then the next wave of pain wracked her body and drove away her expression of disappointment. She let out a cry and turned toward Jonah, burying her face in his neck.
He held her, feeling helpless, overcome with admiration for what she was doing. “You’re doing so well,” he said. “You’re a goddamn hero, Grace.”
A little over an hour later, the seventh and last baby was born. After making sure that Grace was all right, Heather joined Alex in cleaning up the babies. Jonah arranged clean bedding for Grace and propped her up on the many pillows he had bought when he’d originally set up the cabin.
It took Heather, Alex, and Jonah multiple trips to bring all of the babies over to the bed, but Grace insisted upon having them all there. “I need to see them,” she said. “I’m their mother. I need to see them all.”
“You need to sleep,” Jonah said, his hand brushing her cheek. “You’ve been awake for over twenty-four hours.” She was pale with exhaustion, but her eyes were alert, and he knew even as he said it that there was very little chance of her listening to him.
Sure enough, she ignored his advice. “I have to see all the babies before I sleep,” she insisted. “We have to bond. It’s important.”
“She’s right,” Heather said. “Newborns bond with their mothers in the first minutes of their life. She should spend a little time with them right away.”
Jonah resisted the urge to scowl at Heather. He didn’t like the fact that she was advising Grace to do something other than take care of herself. She wasn’t usually so outspoken, and he wasn’t accustomed to it.
Then again, this was her role in the pack. Beta women had to be skilled at aiding in childbirth because it was a task they were so frequently called upon to perform. No doubt Heather had spent a lot of time at school preparing for exactly this situation. She knew what was necessary here better than Jonah did.
And he was grateful for that, even if it did mean that certain things were out of his control.
They arranged the babies carefully on the bed in the order they had been born. Grace looked down at them adoringly for a few moments, just taking them in.
Then, suddenly startled, she looked up. “How are we supposed to tell them apart?” she asked, sounding highly alarmed.
“Their toes,” Heather said.
“What?” Grace asked.
“Look at their big toes,” Heather said. “One of my professors told us a story about someone she knew who had done this, and I thought it sounded like a good idea. I bought non-toxic nail polish, see? I didn’t know how many babies you’d be having, so I only bought six colors—but it’s all right. Baby number seven here can be unpainted until we find her her own color. We can still tell her apart that way.”
Grace reached over and picked up the firstborn boy, who had a bright red toenail. “That’s brilliant,” she said. “We should buy them other accessories in their colors as well, until we learn how to tell them apart by sight.”
“Hats,” Jonah mused. “Hats would be cute.”
“I’ll knit them some,” Heather promised. “And Skye will probably want to make some too when we tell her you’ve delivered. She’s probably going to be stuck in bed for the last month of her pregnancy. She’ll need something to do.”
Grace picked up another baby, carefully holding one in each arm. “I might be able to feed them both at once,” she mused.
Moments later, she had a baby held to each breast and they were suckling contentedly. “I suppose a real wolf would be able to feed all seven at once,” she murmured, her eyelids drooping, and Jonah realized she was no longer fully conscious.
“You can sleep,” he told her. “We’ll make sure they all get a chance to eat.”
“I want to stay awake,” she insisted hazily. “At least until they’re all fed. I can do that.”
He took the babies she was feeding when they’d had enough, passing them to Alex and Heather so they could prepare them to be put down, and handed two more to Grace. “Are you okay?” he asked her. “If you need to take a break, if this is painful, you should say so. You’re not required to always feed all seven of them at the same time. They can go in shifts.”
“No, they’re hungry now,” she said. “Besides, I feel like I could do this all day.”
“Really?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “It’s like...it’s like my body was made to do it.”
“It was,” Heather spoke up. “Omegas have extra strength in the first weeks after giving birth. You’ll find yourself able to stay awake longer than you ordinarily could, feeling capable of things you didn’t know you could do...but you need to be careful not to overdo it. Just because you can push things to extremes doesn’t mean that you should. Your body will also be trying to recover from pregnancy, and you need to make sure you use this time to take care of yourself.”
“Hmm,” Grace acknowledged, but Jonah could see she hadn’t taken very much of that in. She was too tired, too out of it.
He swapped out the babies again so that numbers five and six could take their turn at the breast. They were going to have to come up with names soon, but that could definitely wait until she’d had some sleep. Maybe he would start making a list once she was resting.
Then again, he thought as a yawn overtook him, maybe he would get some sleep too. It had been a long night for him as well.
Alex registered the expression on his alpha’s face. “It’s okay if you want to crash,” he said. “Heather and I will watch the babies.”
“Are you sure?” Jonah said. “I hate to leave you with babysitting first thing. Doesn’t seem like a very auspicious start to parenting.”
“Don’t be silly,” Heather said. “We’re a pack. We do what we need to do for each other. You and Grace are obviously completely exhausted, so you need to get your rest. Besides, once the babies are fed, they’re probably just going to be sleeping too.”
Jonah nodded and made the last switch, placing the seventh baby in Grace’s arms. She was nodding lightly over the child’s head now, clearly drifting off. “You’re right,” he said. “That’s probably for the best.”
When the last of the babies had been f
ed, Jonah climbed into the bed beside Grace. He pulled her into his arms, carefully, gently, taking care not to move her too abruptly after the ordeal she had just been through.
She sighed a little and mumbled something in her sleep, snuggling closer to him.
Jonah stroked her hair gently, gazing down at her, marveling at his good fortune.
He had done nothing to deserve the life he had. He had almost missed the chance to have it. He had been so short-sighted, so narrowly focused on the things he’d thought he needed to make him happy, that he had almost missed out on everything he had now.
He had spent so long believing that rank and reputation were the most important things anyone had to offer.
But as he looked down at Grace, he saw her true beauty and worth.
I could have gone my whole life and never understood what it really meant to be in love, he thought. If I hadn’t met Grace by the river that day, I might never have known.
He held her close and let himself drift off to sleep, thanking his lucky stars as he did.
More Books by J.L. Wilder
DRAGON TRIPLETS: TRIPLET Harem Series
In New York City’s Shifter society, a human omega is the ultimate prize.
Dragon Triplets:
We’ve been waiting for her.
The one who can create the next generation of triplet alphas.
We’ll do what it takes to charm her.
We’ll do what it takes to protect her.
And we will claim her. One by one.
Even if it starts a war.
A human omega, is the only one that can satisfy our desires.
The Human Omega:
My life is officially insane.
First, I can hear people’s thoughts.
Second my ex-boyfriend pulled me into his dark world of crime.
Then I escaped to New York City, where a very powerful shifter kidnaps me.
