The Jaguar’s Arranged Mate

The nurse lifted onto her toes and whispered, “Normally, the closer a woman gets to her delivery date, the more time the body has to prepare for labor and delivery. She’s not very dilated yet, and that’s not helping things any. With her water being broken, the baby has to come, one way or the other.”

So a C-section was a possibility. He sure doubted Miera would want that.

The nurse must have read his face because she added, “Last resort.”

Beric turned back to Miera. “You’re going to be fine. Everything will be fine.” He tried to kiss her forehead, but at that moment, she moved away so his lips landed in her hair.

“It hurts,” she murmured, the first clear words she had said in a long while.

“Of course it does.” Lisa stood at her other side, holding her other hand. “You’re being so strong.”

“I’m not.” Miera closed her eyes.

“You are.”

“I’m… I’m terrified.” She more or less mouthed the words.

“I’ve been terrified every day since I’ve been alpha,” Beric cut in. He didn’t stop to consider whether or not admitting that in a room full of Blood Roses was a good idea. They didn’t matter. Miera did.

Although his thinking like that definitely wasn’t going to help bring the two packs together.

A doctor was fiddling between Miera’s legs. No way was Beric going down toward that end of the bed. He didn’t need to see what was going on.

“Three centimeters,” the doctor said.

Lisa’s face fell.

Beric grimaced. “What?”

“She needs—”

“Ten,” Miera said. “Ten before the baby comes. And it’s been really slow, and I’m going to need a C—Ow!”

“Not necessarily,” Beric said desperately. Damn, her grip was strong. His hand was killing him from her squeezing it so hard.

Lisa bit her lower lip.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” he asked hopefully.

“Not really.” The doctor stood.

“Can I walk a little?” Miera asked.

“You’re feeling up to it?”

She nodded.

“Only if you lean on me,” Beric demanded. He was not going to have her fall again. Honestly, he wanted her to stay in bed so there was zero chance of her falling, but if she wanted a natural birth, if possible, and this was the only way to try and help ensure that, then yes, he would walk with her.

Lisa cleared out the nonessential people so only the doctor, a nurse, and herself were still in the room with Beric and Miera. He slowly helped her move her legs to the side and then eased an arm around her waist to help her stand. She leaned so much on him, Beric instantly grew even more worried. She felt so small despite her swollen belly, and she seemed so weak and frail, and what if she didn’t survive? She had to. She has to.

Words burned in his throat, about what he hoped for the future, but he couldn’t voice them. Not now. She needed to have her mind distracted, and he didn’t want to dump on her anything she might not be able to handle at the moment. Something to preoccupy her, that was what she needed, so he babbled about when he had been a kid, about the first time he had killed an animal while in jaguar form and then while in human form. He told her about how he had never really thought about what being an alpha meant and that he was worse at the job than he could have imagined. “Although, if I didn’t have to worry about the Brutal Claws, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe my biggest worry would be about the sewage system.”

She hadn’t said much of anything as they made tiny semicircles around the bed, but now she glanced at him. “Sewage?”

“Yeah. It’s what I had to worry about before all of this. Before the Brutal Claws.”

“You would rather…” She winced. “Deal with sh*t than with…”

“Sh*t or death. Yeah, I’m going with sh*t.”

Miera gasped with laughter, giggling so hard they had to stop walking. He was laughing too, crying even.

“All right, you two.” The doctor was smiling, though. “Do you mind getting back in bed so I can see how far along you are now?”

Miera had been laughing so hard she was crying too, but when the laughter stopped, she was still crying. Beric helped her ease back onto the bed, but he couldn’t help feeling worried and anxious again.

The doctor did his thing and stood. “Six. Things are moving faster now. That’s good.”

“As far as…” Miera winced.

“I know the contractions hurt, but they’re dilating you. They’re helping to get your body ready and move the baby into position.” The nurse smiled and patted Miera’s knee. “Are you sure you don’t want any medicine?”

“I’m… I’m fine,” Miera said through gritted teeth. “The baby…”

“Is fine.” The doctor’s smile seemed a little forced.

“He or she is too small, though.”

“Let’s not worry about that right now. Let’s just concentrating on birthing the baby.”

Beric and Miera walked for another hour to get her up to eight centimeters, and then the doctor said he would prefer her to remain in bed. Beric tried to tell her stories, but she didn’t seem to hear him. At times, he wasn’t even certain she knew he was there.

Eventually, the time for pushing came, and if Beric had thought she’d squeezed his hand hard before, he had been mistaken. His fingers were turning blue and purple. The doctor had him count to ten to try to get Miera to push longer. With his slow counts, she pushed and grunted and groaned and pushed and pushed some more and then there was crying.

Not on Beric’s part. Or Miera’s.

On the baby’s.

The doctor held up the tiny, tiny baby. “Congratulations. It’s a boy.”

Miera flopped back onto the bed and closed her eyes. “A boy,” she murmured.

“Do you want to hold him?” the doctor asked.

There was something in his tone that told Beric he wanted her to answer in the negative.

Miera shook her head, eyes still closed.

The doctor rushed out of the room with the baby.