Page 30 of Destined Bear

He gave me some serious side-eye.

“Well, do you want to know I can’t stop burping?” It was so annoying and had been pretty constant all day.

“I already do.”

“Fine. Whatever.” I rolled my eyes. “But anyway, I do think our child will be here sooner rather than later.”

His eyes went wide. “How soon? Do I need to call Rissa?”

Called that one.

“I’ll text them.” I assumed they would tell me to wait it out a bit longer. I was wrong. “They think we should walk over to the clinic.”

Patrick took a deep breath, clearly working to keep himself from panicking.

“Okay.” He was such a sweet alpha, trying to not freak out and to give me calm. There was nothing calm flowing through our bond, but A+ for effort.

I got to my feet and pulled him up. “Come on, let’s go meet our little one.”

“Just like that?”

“Yeah,” I said, grinning. “Just like that.” At least that was my hope. I’d never actually done this before, and on human television shows it was never “just like that,” but also we were not humans. I was staying optimistic.

“This feels very… odd. And calm. I expected more excitement and maybe some screaming.” He studied my face carefully.

“Oh, there’ll be screaming, just you wait.”

Twenty minutes later, as we were settled in our room at the clinic, Patrick got to experience just how much screaming there was. Rissa had given me a tonic when I arrived, and it put everything into high gear. They also said that if I’d come a little earlier, they could’ve given me something for my pain. Lesson learned there.

I gripped his hand and bore down, sitting up on my knees so I wasn’t flat on my back. It was a more natural position—and perhaps also more painful, because I was in agony.

“Is… is this normal?” Patrick asked through clenched teeth. He wanted to fix it, to take all the pain away. It was sweet, but also, unrealistic.

“Yes, everything’s fine,” Rissa reassured him.

They had me settle back down to examine me, and when they did, they told me it was game on.

“You’re going to feel some burning soon, and when you do, I need you to push.”

I wanted to ask exactly what they meant by burning, but they barely got the words out when my body showed me firsthand.

“Push, Finn. You can do this.”

I wanted to believe Rissa, really I did, but I was afraid that I didn’t got it.

Patrick gave me an arm to grip, encouragement, and praise each and every time Rissa told me to push. And then, there was a change. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but suddenly, I knew this was it. It was time.

“One more big push.” Rissa held onto my foot, not as a restraint, but as a connection for my bear. He was getting too close to the surface for my liking.

“I can’t,” I gasped. “I can’t.”

“You can,” Patrick said, wiping my brow with a warm towel. He kissed my forehead. “You can, love—you can.”

I wanted to be done. But with one last growl, I managed to push enough that our baby arrived, screaming. What a glorious sound their sweet cries were.

“Hear that.” I picked my head up, trying to get a good look at our baby as Rissa gave them a quick exam.

“She’s beautiful,” Patrick whispered.