LOGINThe final stage starts at dawn and the only thing I know how to do is hold on to Liam’s hand hard enough to break bone.The private medical suite is bright and too quiet between contractions. Monitors track every shift. The clinic team moves around us with calm efficiency. Liam stays at my left side the entire time, one hand locked in mine, the other supporting my shoulders whenever the pain peaks.“Look at me,” he says when the next wave builds. “Do not disappear into it. Stay here.”“I am trying.”“You are doing it. Breathe with me. In. Out. Again.”I match his count because it is the only structure left. The contraction peaks and rolls through, longer than the ones before. When it eases I drop my head against his arm and drag in air.“How much longer?” I ask the lead doctor.“You are fully progressed. It will not be long now. Push with the next strong one when I tell you.”Liam’s thumb strokes over my knuckles. “You hear that. Close. We are close.”“I am scared.”“I know. I am righ
The first real contraction that is not practice wakes me at two in the morning and the fear arrives in the same breath as the pain.I sit up too fast and the room tilts. Liam is already awake, hand on my back, voice low and steady in the dark.“Talk to me.”“It is different. Longer. Deeper. I think this is the start.”He is on his feet and reaching for the monitor kit before I finish the sentence. The reading confirms what my body already knows. Early labor. Not active yet. Close enough that the clinic has to be notified and the final protocols activated.“Breathe,” he says while he sends the secure alert. “We have time. The pattern is still spaced.”“I know the theory. I do not feel the time.”He sets the tablet aside and sits on the edge of the bed facing me. Both of his hands find mine.“Tell me what is actually in your head right now.”I try to answer and the honesty comes out rougher than I expect.“I am terrified of becoming a parent while I am still learning how to be an Omega.
The doctor puts me on full restricted movement and the walls of the residence start closing in before she even finishes the sentence.I sit on the edge of the exam table in the private medical suite and stare at the floor while she lists the new limitations. No stairs without assistance. No standing longer than ten minutes. No stress triggers that can be avoided. Daily monitoring. Immediate report of any tightening that lasts longer than a minute.Liam stands beside me, silent, absorbing every word.“I understand,” I say when she finishes.“You say that, but your blood pressure is already elevated from the conversation itself,” she answers. “Rest is not optional anymore. The child is healthy. You will stay that way if you follow the restrictions.”She leaves us with a schedule and a warning look. The door closes.Liam helps me down from the table. “We go home. You sit. I handle everything else.”“I hate this.”“I know.”“I am not made for sitting still while other people move the piec
The rival Alpha walks into the neutral meeting room and tells me my child belongs with a stronger bloodline for the good of everyone involved.I sit at the head of the small table with Liam standing directly behind my chair. Two of our security detail frame the door. The man across from me is older, polished, and already smiling like the outcome is decided.“You understand why we are here,” he says. “The marker your child carries is not a private medical curiosity. It is a stabilizing factor that appears once in a generation. Leaving it inside a newly differentiated Omega household under recent internal crisis is a risk the wider community cannot ignore.”“The wider community does not get a vote,” I answer.“The wider community has an interest in viable, protected bloodlines. I am prepared to offer formal alliance, significant resources, and a guarantee of safety that your current structure cannot match. In exchange the child is raised under joint oversight with primary physical custo
I sign the final order that makes Liam my official consort and head of personal protection, and for the first time the empire’s paperwork matches the reality we have been living.The study is full of open files and half-empty coffee cups. Lucas stands on the opposite side of the desk with the revised board roster in his hands. Liam sits near the window, quiet, watching both of us the way he has since the heat cycle ended.“Read the last section again,” I tell Lucas.“Liam Cole is hereby appointed Consort to the Primary Heir and permanent Head of Personal Protection with full operational authority over all security matters relating to Aiden Grey and the unborn heir. The appointment is effective immediately and is not subject to board override without unanimous external counsel review.”“Good. File it. Circulate it to every remaining director before noon.”Lucas nods. “The board overhaul is nearly complete. Three of Henry’s last appointees submitted quiet resignations overnight once the
The heat arrives without warning in the middle of the night and for the first time since everything broke it feels clean instead of like a punishment.I wake already hard and aching, skin too hot, sheets stuck to my back. My scent fills the dark bedroom in a thick, sweet wave that no longer carries the sharp edge of panic or instability. It is simply there, steady and full. Liam is already sitting up beside me, eyes open, breathing carefully through his mouth like he has been awake for some time.“It is real this time,” I say.“I know. I can smell it. Stable. Complete. No crash underneath it.”“Stay.”“I was never going to leave. Not for this.”He reaches for the water glass on the nightstand and makes me drink first, slow swallows while his free hand rests against the side of my neck. Then he strips the damp sheet away and settles over me with the same careful strength he has used since the surgery. The first kiss is slow, almost questioning. The second is not. I open for him and pul







