Page 77 of Omega Hunted

The room was dark, and my cat was awake and still, ears up, waiting. I lay there, listening to the quiet, felt the warmth of the wolf against me, and thought about nothing. The nightmare blurred and lost its edges, the way they always did when I was pressed to all that warm dark fur.

Cassian’s wolf turned his head.

Then the pain hit.

This was a fist closing around my entire lower body, hard and relentless and enormous, and it didn’t release. It built. I made a sound that I didn’t recognize and gripped the sheets and curled forward around Asha. The wolf was already moving, scrambling off the bed, shifting so fast I heard his bones crack. He grabbed the sweats I’d stolen from him two days ago and pulled them on and crossed back to me in two strides. He put both hands on my face.

“Soren. Look at me.”

The pain had crested, and then very slowly it began to ease.

“My water broke… a contraction,” I said. My voice came out steadier than I felt. “A real one.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “You’ve got this.”

He sat with me on the edge of the bed and timed the contractions—twelve minutes, then nine—and by the fourth contraction he’d already called Brec and had the phone on speaker between us on the mattress.

“Soren, hi,” Brec said calmly. “How far apart?”

“Eight minutes,” Cassian answered for me as he scribbled the latest time down even as I was arching with agony. He’d turned on the small lamp next to the bed, and I could see the concentration on his face. I focused hard on him and tried to breathe through the pain.

“How long are they lasting?”

“About forty-three seconds. They were shorter before. They’re getting longer.”

“Okay. That’s good information. Cassian, the most important thing right now is that Soren stays warm and hydrated, and that you keep timing. When they hit three minutes, I need you to call me back.” Another pause. “Soren. You’re doing well.”

“I’m not doing anything,” I gasped. “It’s just happening to me!”

“Yes,” Brec said. “Exactly right. Let it happen. You’re not in charge of this part.”

The call ended, and Cassian filled the water glass on the nightstand, brought a second one from the bathroom, then stood in the middle of the room and stared at me for a long moment. Something crossed his face that I couldn’t read.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said. He sounded lost, and the words came out as if he hadn’t meant to say it out loud. This was the man who’d carried me through a blizzard and taken care of a stranger, and he was terrified. “I don’t want to get it wrong.”

“You could sit here with me,” I said. “Right here. That would be okay.”

He sat and offered me water, but the next contraction hit before I’d finished half the glass of water. I bent forward and breathed through it, my fingers twisted in the blankets while Cassian stayed beside me with one hand braced to the mattress, close enough that I could feel his heat. When it eased, I sagged back to the headboard, exhausted already. The room suddenly felt too bright and too small, and another contraction was building deep inside me, gathering strength before the last one had faded.

“Hey.” Cassian touched my shoulder. “Stay with me.”

I saw the concern in his eyes and the determination on his face as he tried to be what I needed. But when the pain started to build again, it wasn’t the man I reached for.

It was the wolf.

“Wolf,” I whispered.

Cassian blinked. “What?”

“Wolf. Please.”

For a second, he stared at me, then understanding crossed his face. “Okay.”

He stood and crossed the room, shedding clothes. The shift came fast, the familiar crack of bone and stretch of muscle, and a heartbeat later, the huge black wolf stood beside me.

The next contraction hit as wolf-Cassian climbed carefully onto the bed beside me. I buried both hands in thick dark fur and pressed my face to his neck. The pain didn’t lessen, but the panic did. He stretched out alongside me, enormous and warm, careful not to put any weight against my belly, and I curled toward him automatically. Pine and clean air filled my lungs. The familiar scent wrapped around me, grounding me in a way nothing else could.

By the time the contraction finally broke, I was shaking. The wolf huffed softly and nudged my shoulder with his nose.