Chapter Eighteen

Kian

Jenna, Mika, and Katie all stare at me as if I just grew two heads. I'm sitting at the end of Jenna's bed while the other two stand since they arrived later than me. I can see understanding slowly hit Jenna and Katie as their faces soften and Katie slowly nods as her lips quirk up. Mika looks confused, which is expected, but before I can offer any more information he says,

"You can't be an alpha!" He shakes his head, his face scrunching up in disapproval. "There's no way that would work."

"He's not trying to be an alpha, Mika," Jenna says softly, "he literally said that."

"Yeah, Mika, it's like–" I try to think of a better way to explain it, "I won't be an alpha, okay? But it'll be us – just us – for a little bit and Katie's mate of course and then we'll have more people – more omegas – and I will be the head of it all."

Katie nods, rubbing his shoulders. "He's just gonna be leading the pack, he's not gonna be an alpha."

Mika still looks confused. I try re-explaining to him and eventually, he gets it. Before I can finish, Jenna gasps. I flinch as she jumps up and leans forward, her hand coming up to hold her big belly. Mika jumps forward, arms out as if Jenna was about to fall out of her bed. Katie's eyes widen as I quickly get off Jenna's bed to stand beside her.

"Jen?" I ask, "what happened? What's wrong?"

"I'm getting an iota!" Katie says quickly as she runs out of the room.

"My Goddess!" Jenna moans as she grabs onto my hand. "She just kicked, but Goddess that hurt really bad."

Jenna laughs and I laugh nervously with her but both of our laughs are cut short when we notice a huge wet spot forming on her blanket. Silence follows before I ask,

"Are you peeing?"

"Are you stupid?!" Jenna says, her face flushing pink as she reaches up to hit me. "My water broke, Goddess, Kian! Ugh!"

I use my hand to cover up my smile but then her words really set in and my eyes go wide. Her water broke?! She seems even more shocked than me as she gasps and looks up at me.

"My water broke!" she says again.

"What does that mean," Mika is more confused than ever as he corners himself.

I barely register his question though as I quickly help Jenna out of her bed so she doesn't have to sit in soaked bedding. Even as I try to focus on the task, my head is spinning with crazy emotions. I thought she had less than a month left to go before the baby came?! Then again, her doctor did say that she's due any day between her second to last and last month, but I was hoping she'd be able to hold enough to her last month.

Bridger and I are still training and I haven't even managed to shift yet. I'm still very nervous about everything that's happening and now with Jenna going into labour, things are speeding up incredibly fast. He told me that once Jenna has her baby, we will begin moving to Alpha Corzo's land.

But aside from all that, I just don't want to leave this pack yet. I'm excited and terrified for my new path, but everyone here has been so kind to us; they've shown us that not all packs are terrible. Especially Bridger. He's shown me that and so much more and I...I don't know if I want to leave him quite yet either. We've gotten closer and now I find myself staying in his cozy cabin every day and night, eating his homecooked meals, and reading as many books together as possible. We've hugged more, too, and have slept beside each other often...if I'm counting correctly, we've slept side by side for almost a straight week now.

Not to mention, sometimes I wake up hugging him now. At first, I was terrified of that. Peyton's words ran circles around my head and I was almost disgusted by my own actions. I felt that I was reacting in such ways to Bridger because I'm an omega and all omegas are attracted to bigger wolves.

But Bridger...he's different. He lets me talk to him and we talk together. All the time. And he's calming, he's never reactive. He never makes me feel dumb or useless; he makes me feel safe...like I'll never have to fear anymore.

"I'm going to put your hair up," I say as an iota runs in. I pull my hand out of her right grasp and take her hair tie off of her wrist. Quickly, I gather her long brown hair, making sure it's not in her face, and take it through the black loop two times before wrapping the ponytail into a bun.

"We're going to move you to a birthing room," the iota says as she helps Jenna into the wheelchair, "we like to keep a visitor-free zone in the birthing unit. You can wait out here."

I give Jenna's hand a tight squeeze and let her go. I glance over to Mika who looks terrified. His tan face is pale and his hands are glued to the wall behind him as he practically merges himself with the wall. I'm reminded that while Mika had just recently birthed his first pup, he was pitied by a theta and was given medication to sleep before he went into labor.

"She's okay," I say to Mika as I grab his hand. "She'll give birth and then they'll wheel her back into this room so she can be comfortable while they check on the pup."

"That pup broke her water?" he asks as I lead him to the couch in Jenna's room. "How strong is she?!"

"She was ready to come out," I laugh, "she must have felt cramped in there and couldn't wait any longer. It's what happens sometimes when they're ready."

Mika nods. "Jenna hasn't even thought of a name yet."

"Well, she doesn't have time to do it now so when she's done, maybe you can help her think of a name."

Mika nods as he leans against me before allowing his body to flop over my lap. I sit back in the chair and watch as Katie walks in with her mate. I was shocked when Katie first told us about her mate so many weeks ago. I hadn't expected that to happen, but I can't be any more happy for her than I am now.

Katie has never liked men and she expressed her disgust towards the idea of being mated to one several times. Unfortunately, a lot of the men in our hardly female-populated pack were attracted to her and made their advances and because the rules say we're not allowed to fight back, Katie had to swallow down her disgust.

But now she's mated to a very pretty woman and seeing Katie this happy makes me even more happy. Her mate's name is Charlise and she's just three years older than Katie. While Katie is fully Korean but doesn't speak it, Charlise told us that her father is Korean and she is fluent in it. Since then, Katie has spent most of her time trying to learn Korean and has been trying to teach us. I barely know English, so I don't know how that will work.

"Kian," Charlise says from across the room where she and Katie sit on the floor. "Katie told me about yours and Bridger's plan."

I nod. "It's kind of crazy, but I'm excited for it."

Charlise nods with a smile. "I'm in full support of it. I'm grateful you're allowing me to follow you guys too."

"It would be cruel to separate mates," I say, "Katie's happiness is important to me."

Katie smiles up at me as she rests her head on Charlise's shoulder. Charlise's smile grows as she looks down at Katie and hugs her closer. I look down at Mika, expecting him to be asleep since he hasn't stirred at all. He's not. His eyes are wide open but he seems lost in thought so I don't bother to talk to him.

"Are you and Beta Bridger mates?" he suddenly asks, taking me by surprise.

Confused, I say, "no?"

"You two really like each other," he says. Charlise and Katie laugh.

"He's not lying," Charlise says, "I've seen you and Bridger together. Y'all don't look like mates but I can tell you two have something for each other."

"That's not true," I say without thinking, "Bridger is my mentor."

"Kian likes his mentor!" Katie sings. I want to throw something at her but the only thing I can throw is Mika. I pretend like I'm about to throw him and he squeals, fighting my hands away. Everyone laughs at my expense and I can feel my face aggressively heating up.

I sit back and cross my arms. I glare at everyone in the room.

"If it makes you feel any better, Bridger clearly likes you," Charlise says, "I know that Arron is supposed to be your mate, but I'm sure Goddess would forgive you if you pursue someone else. She prefers us to be happy than to be compliant."

I don't respond. I don't want to tell them that I've abandoned Goddess just like how she abandoned me. So I don't care what she thinks about me or if she approves of my actions. Sometimes, I wish I could speak of her so confidently the way others do, but I can't.

I stare at the shoes given to me by this pack, wondering if I should admit my feelings to keep sucking them up. They're just terrifying. When Jason told me he was my mate so long ago, I thought my life was over. Back then, I had no idea that someone could reject their mate and I remember sobbing to Peyton that I'd never survive being mated to someone so evil as Jason. Before I stopped worshipping Goddess, I started hating her and the idea that she destined me to be with someone like Jason had convinced me that She truly hated me. Then his real mate came along but the damage was done and I allowed everyone to convince me that I didn't have a mate because that thought was far more comforting than the idea of Goddess pairing to someone worse than Jason.

And now I know that I have a mate but there's comfort in knowing that he, too, doesn't want me. It defies Goddess if she's real and gives me control over my life. But am I really in control if omegas are supposed to be attracted to wolves like Bridger? Do I really enjoy being around Bridger or is it just some stupid primal instinct?

"I heard Jenna is in labor?"

I feel my soul leave my body as Bridger's deep voice breaks through the silence in the room. I look up and see him standing in the doorway. He's already looking at me when I look at him.

"She's in the delivery room," Charlise says. "It hasn't been long."

Bridger nods as he sits down on the floor beside the couch. He rests his back against the couch, his body very close to my legs. Mika has curled up on his side of the couch but his body still presses against mine so I can't really move to give Bridger room. Not that I want to move.

"It looks like things are going to happen faster than expected," Bridger says as he turns to look at me. "But wherever I lacked in training, I'm sure Corzo can pick up."

"How long do we have now?"

Bridger shrugs. "Arron is adamant on moving you guys. Not long. The end of the week perhaps, two weeks if I push Arron enough."

I take a deep breath and nod. I knew our time here after Jenna's birth would be very short. I just wasn't expecting it to be that short.

"I'll push for two weeks," Bridger says.

His hand finds my knee and I move my eyes from his face to his hand. Something happens in my stomach but he moves his hand away and rests it back into his lap. The weird yet familiar sensation in my stomach stays. I've felt it before: when we're hugging, when he's asleep next to me, sometimes it just happens when I see him. The feeling isn't bad, it's just not the most comfortable feeling either.

We don't talk after that. Bridger has his phone out but I can't tell what he's doing on it. I take my phone out as well and go to the Red App to watch more cat videos. They help me not worry about all the big changes. I really want a cat, especially the big fluffy ones the humans call Ragdolls.

I don't know how many cat videos I watched or how many hours passed, but almost everyone is asleep by the time the iota from earlier walks into the room. I quickly turn my phone off and everyone stares at her until she finally says,

"Jenna and the pup are doing excellent. We will bring Jenna back in here shortly."

A few minutes later, Jenna is being wheeled into the room. They help her transfer into her bed which has fresh sheets and blankets. The bun I had put her hair in earlier flops on her shoulder as she sighs and rests her head against the pillows.

I'm by her side in a flash.

"How are you feeling?" I ask. "How was the birth? How's the pup?"

Bridger laughs at me. I can't help but be both worried and excited for Jenna. She gets to keep her pup and raise her as her own! I know she is beyond excited for this and she knows that I'm beyond excited for her.

"I'm okay," Jenna says with a smile, "just tired. As for the birth, I'm so glad it's over. It took so long, Goddess, it was terrible. And my pup is okay, I feel bad, though. I don't have a name for her yet."

"Mika wanted to help you pick one out," I say, "he's asleep now. You still have time to pick out a name so don't worry too much."

When they wheel her pup in, I can't help but squeal when I see the pink baby in the bed. She has a lot of hair which is surprising and she wears a scowl as we all crowd around her. Even with her angry look, she looks precious. Katie coos when Jenna lifts her tiny body out of the bed and shows her to everyone.

"She's so cute," Bridger says. "Congratulations."

Jenna smiles as she leans down to kiss her angry baby on the forehead. That only makes her angrier and I think if she scowls any harder, her little face will break. I laugh and glance up at Bridger who is smiling down at the baby. His smile is warm and I find myself staring until he looks at me. I quickly look away and back to the baby whose scowl has softened just a bit.

"We should leave you two now," Bridger says, "so you can have privacy with your new baby."

Everyone agrees and Katie, Charlise, and Mika are the first to leave. I take one more good look at Jenna's daughter before heading towards the door with Bridger right behind me.

"Wait," Jenna says just as we get to the door. "Bridger...I– I want to thank you. For doing this for us. Having my baby and being able to hold her...knowing she's not going anywhere without me, it means so much. More than you can understand."

I swallow as I try to hold back tears when Jenna's voice cracks. She smiles lovingly at her baby and somehow, I become even more happy for her. The only reason Jenna escaped with us was because she was pregnant. She desperately wanted to be a mother, not just a birther. I feel the same and as we leave the room, I take another final peek to see the two of them. It makes me hopeful.

"Ready?" Bridger asks. "We're not heading home just yet."

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Word Count: 2745