Page 146 of The Other Omega

“But they’re only babies.”

“Yes. Their wellbeing must come before anyone else’s interest in them.”

“You’re frightening me.”

“I’m sorry, Elowen. I know this is a great deal to hear. I want you and your mates to have time to prepare, so that these requests don’t take you by surprise.”

“Okay.” I rubbed my thumb over the fabric covering my stomach. “I’ll tell them.”

“Good. There is also some support I would recommend for you.”

I looked up at him again, wondering how there could possibly still be more.

“Omega children can be particularly responsive to maternal hormonal changes during development. We already take that into account during routine pregnancy care. Given everything you’ve been through, I’d like you to have someone to speak with who specialises in mental health during pregnancy, preferably with experience caring for Omegas and supporting people after trauma.”

“So you think I’m going to struggle?”

“I think you’ve been taken from everything you knew. Your body has changed in ways we’re still trying to understand, you’ve mated five men who were strangers to you, and you’re adjusting to a new culture. Now you’ve learned that you’re expecting twins.”

I looked down at my hands while he continued, his voice gentler now.

“I think you should be allowed to struggle if you need to. You shouldn’t have to manage it alone.”

That was much easier to hear than another warning about something going wrong. Half the time, I didn’t even know how to explain what I was feeling to the people who wanted to help me, so having someone whose entire job was to listen didn’t sound nearly as frightening as I might once have thought.

“All right. Add someone to the army.”

“I will.”

“I’m afraid to ask, but is there anything else I should know?”

“Tell your mates soon. We have arrangements to make for your care, and they’ll need to be involved.”

“I’ll tell them today.”

“Very well.” He closed one of the smaller cases. “I’ll also prepare some guidance for your meals until a nutrition specialist has completed an assessment.”

I nodded as he reached for the scanner, but then his hand stopped beside it.

“I’ll leave the diagnostic equipment here. It holds the complete record of today’s examination.”

“We can place it in the vault,” Eira said. “It will be secure there.”

We have a vault?

I looked at her, but she was already discussing the equipment with Thaddeus as though a vault were a perfectly ordinary thing everyone knew about. Fine. I could add that to the growing list of things I still needed to learn about my own home.

“That will be suitable,” he said. “Until you’ve spoken with your Pack, I won’t contact any prospective members of the medical team.”

“Thank you. Before you go, could I have copies of the babies’ pictures?”

“Of course. They’re stored on the device. I can transfer them⁠—”

“I’ll arrange it,” Eira said. “Elowen’s pad has the highest level of encryption available.”

“Very well.”

I picked it up from beside me, already eager to have something I could look at whenever I wanted.