Under The Alpha's Protection

Chapter 10: The Omega Giving Birth (Pt. 1)

Two days passed by rather slowly.

Laia and Blue had gone on more walks, all heading to and within the forest. The alpha had told Blue that once she was better, the Pack Council wanted to speak with her. It's only because of Lucian's orders that the members of their Council hadn't gone to the isolation room and demanded answers from Blue themselves.

Blue hadn't known whether that was something she should thank the Head Alpha for.

By now, Blue was pretty sure everyone in the Pack knew there was a human staying in isolation room A. It was hard to ignore the clusters of Pack members who'd be standing near the forest edge whenever Blue and Laia would go on a walk, and Blue would still feel their gazes on her even after they were hidden by the trees.

Being almost guarded by the sister of the Head Alpha was probably the only reason nobody dared to directly approach Blue during those moments. Laia would simply spare the onlookers a cool glance, but even just that sent a clear message: don't.

Mentally, Blue was doing better than she'd hoped she'd be. Although there past two nights had been difficult. She nearly had a panic attack after dreaming of getting dragged into that alleyway again, being beaten by those Southern Pack werewolves—except in her nightmare, there were more than two.

Blue didn't tell Laia, or Arlo.

It didn't matter, anyway. She would be allowed to go home now. Arlo had been checking her condition every morning before he'd tend to his patients in the medical den. Today, the puncture wounds have nearly healed all the way through, and the pain and bruises had minimized enough that Blue already expected the Pack physician to announce that she was officially in the clear.

He smiled warmly at Blue as he told her the good news: She was free to go home.

Blue had been excited at the prospect of finally returning to her apartment, until Laia had dropped by an hour later.

"You can't just leave."

Blue was tugging on her sneakers. She was still wearing Laia's clothes, this time a tank top with black loose jeans. "I can't stay. Doctor Oswin is already convinced I'm hiding something from him–" Which Blue was. "–and I don't want to burden you anymore, or cause more trouble by being here. Your Pack sees me like I'm an intruder, not to mention your brother–"

Laia huffed. "Oh, screw Lucian. I can't just let you go back to Bracket Town all alone."

Blue resisted the urge to tell Laia that she's learned to be alone for a long while now. "Laia, I'm fine. Arlo said so himself! I just need to meet with your Council members, apologize for this whole thing, then I'll be out of your hair." Tilting her head, Blue considered, "I'll be out of your fur?"

The alpha all but stomped across the room, her ankle boots heavy against the wood. She stopped right in front of Blue, towering over her. "What if those Southern werewolves come after you again?"

Blue had already thought long and hard about that.

While she's aware of what her presence was doing to the Northern Pack, Blue had to admit that in here, she had felt safe knowing that Head Alpha Niall Ryder would not be able to enter the Northern Territory.

That wouldn't be the case once Blue returned to Neutral Territory.

But Blue had been living alone for years now. She knew her options during a situation like this. "I know who attacked me. I'll go to the police, file a report, and they'll be on the look-out for Niall Ryder."

The pull at Laia's lips told Blue that the alpha highly doubted it'd be that easy. "You're not... scared?"

Truthfully? Blue was terrified.

But if she told Laia that, the alpha might actually cuff her to this room to keep her from leaving. Feigning confidence, Blue shrugged. "I've been scared before. But life goes on anyway." She worried at her bottom lip. "I might start bringing some self-defense tools though."

"You haven't been doing that since the beginning?!" Laia threw her hands up in disbelief. "Seriously, Blue–"

Before the alpha could say more, Blue wrapped her arms around her torso.

Standing, the top of Blue's head only reached Laia's chin, so Blue's cheek squished against the alpha's collarbone as she tightened the hug.

She felt Laia stiffen in surprise, before she wrapped her arms around Blue in return.

"I can't thank you enough for saving me," Blue murmured. "And for arriving when you did."

Laia Steele had quite literally saved her life. The thought hadn't stopped being overwhelming.

She felt Laia inhale deeply. "I'm just glad I got there in time."

When they separated, it seemed as if Laia had come to terms that Blue was really going home now. Neither of them were sure about what would happen as soon as Blue returned, but it would only stir more controversy if Blue continued to hide here.

Laia squeezed at Blue's shoulders. "Are you ready to meet the Council?"

The answer no was at the tip of Blue's tongue. But if it meant she could finally start moving on from this whole thing, she'd grit her teeth and accept whatever was to come.

Just as they're about to step outside, the door to the isolation room flung open so aggressively that the whole room seemed to shake with it.

"Carmine?" Laia recognized the woman who was panting, one side of her loose orange dress hanging off her shoulder, the large curls of her jet black hair escaping from a hair tie.

"Laia!" The woman gasped out in relief. "It's Florence. Her water just broke."

-----

As it turned out, Florence was the pregnant omega friend Laia had mentioned several times to Blue.

Blue had expected to be led to where majority of the housings were. Instead, she and Laia followed Carmine just two doors down. The woman told Laia that Florence had moved to one of the isolation rooms just now, and that's when her contractions began.

There were two people already outside the door where Carmine led them. Blue wasn't that surprised that Lucian Steele was there; he was Head Alpha after all, and Laia seemed real close to Florence so Lucian might be as well.

His wasn't a face Blue was particularly thrilled to see, and it seemed like the feeling was mutual. The Head Alpha's piercing blue eyes assessed Blue from head-to-toe, probably noting how she was now moving with zero issues. He didn't address Blue, speaking to his sister, "Arlo and Jones are inside. Florence refused to have one of the Pack's midwives help out."

"I expected more people to be snooping out here," Laia said, trying to get a glimpse through the window of the isolation room herself, but the blinds were drawn shut from the inside.

"There were," the man next to Lucian piped up. "But Florence nearly lost it when she saw the small crowd waiting for her to give birth. Seems like she's more sensitive now that the triplets are going to be born any minute. Lucian sent the non-family members away."

Laia turned around and, without warning, said, "Oh. By the way, Blue, this is Carmine, she's Florence's older sister. This is Roderick, the youngest of the siblings."

Roderick's eyes gleamed with curiosity as he looked at Blue. "So she's the human girlfriend you've been protecting this whole time, Laia?"

Blue pressed her lips together to stop her laugh from escaping when she saw Laia's exasperated eye-roll. "Guys, this is Blue Emmetson."

"How do you do, darling?" Carmine smiled warmly. "Are you feeling better now? We heard you got hurt."

The woman's brown eyes held genuine concern, and Blue felt herself ease a bit at that. Honestly, she had expected to be sent away immediately (not that she put it past Lucian to do so in the next few minutes). "I feel better now, thanks to Arlo and Laia."

-----

They waited for about an hour, with Blue listening to Laia and Florence's siblings kill time by talking about multiple topics. What Blue had gathered was the Carmine and Roderick were both alphas, Florence being the only omega of their family. Carmine was mated to a beta werewolf in the Pack, and had taken the beta's last name—Seagrave. Roderick was closer to Blue's age, and he had gagged when Carmine mentioned her mate, making Roderick seem very much like the youngest sibling who lived to tease his older sisters.

Their conversations halted when Arlo walked out of the isolation room, the sounds of pained groans following until he shut the door behind him, then it was silent again. That's how soundproof the isolation rooms were.

There was a collective gasp when they saw the long gash on his forearm, a towel pressed where the blood was leaking, slowly staining the white with red.

"Arlo, what happened?!” Carmine gasped, hand on the physician's shoulder and gaping at the wound.

"Florence is okay," the Physican assured them first before answering the question, "Her sense of smell has heightened incredibly and all scents besides Jones' are bothering her. Her contractions are about seven minutes apart, lasting about thirty seconds. The pain is making her panic. When I tried to take her blood pressure, I think she didn't know she had her claws out."

There were murmurs and curses of worry under breaths, Blue's own eyes feeling like they were as wide as saucers. Her respect for Arlo only increased when she realized that he held no grudge for how he was hurt, instead defending Florence for why she had injured the physician who was tending to her.

"Should I have a midwife come?" Carmine asked. "Does Florence want us to be inside?"

Arlo shook his head. "I already asked if she’d feel better if you and Roderick were with her instead. Florence said the scents of alphas felt like they were suffocating her. Jones couldn't even calm her down, no matter how much soothing pheromones he released."

"She can't just give birth on her own!" Roderick exclaimed. He blinked, then turned to the rest of the group. "Can she?"

For someone who had their blood dripping to the ground from an open wound, Arlo Daggersap spoke in a highly collected and professional manner, "The pain from the contractions is making her this way. I was supposed to take her blood pressure so I could administer an epidural. The anesthesia would get rid of the pain on the lower part of her body."

"What do we do now?" Laia asked, looking like she was also a few seconds away from panicking like Florence's siblings.

"We could try to ask an omega midwife to help, like what Carmine was suggesting earlier?" Roderick suggested. "I know Florence refused it, but she could hurt herself and the triplets if she keeps panicking during labor."

Arlo shook his head. "The midwives in our Pack aren't trained to administer the epidural, and even if I tell them how and where to inject, it'll be harder to get it right given the state Florence is in. If they inject in the wrong place, it'll cause more problems that could harm both Florence and her children." Arlo’s words were followed by a sudden silence.

"I could do it."

The words were out of Blue's mouth before she could talk herself out of saying them.

All heads turned to her. It was Roderick who broke the silence first. "What?"

The sudden intense attention made Blue swallow, but she'd already said it and she wasn't backing down until they told her a clear no. "I... I could administer the epidural," she swallowed. "The anesthesia needs to be injected into the epidural space of her spine, right? It'll numb the spinal nerves and block the pain signals."

"No." That defiant answer came from Lucian (surprise, surprise). "Absolutely not."

Laia was suddenly at Blue's side. "No, Lucian, you don't get it!" She squeezed at Blue's arm. "Blue works at a Community Clinic in Bracket Town—the one that was built specifically for werewolves."

Arlo's mouth dropped softly. Carmine and Roderick made similar sounds of inquiry.

"But..." Roderick hesitated. "But she's a human?"

The physician took a step closer to Blue, staring as if he was seeing Blue in a new light. "Blue, is what Laia said true?"

Blue and Laia made eye-contact before Blue nodded at Arlo. "I don't have a medical degree, but I've been mentored by Doctor Oswin Holloway for years. I've read nearly all the medical books he used in medical school. He taught me basic clinical skills specific to werewolves."

Arlo incined his head slightly. "What kinds of skills?" It seemed like a test.

Blue answered from off the top of her head, "Like how much is the right dose of sedative for werewolves who need to be calmed down from a pheromone-induced frenzy, where to inject vaccines or draw blood from shifted werewolves, how to prescribe scent blockers based on the werewolf's age and size, how to stitch deep cuts on werewolves, both in wolf form and human form." That didn't cover a lot of it, but the more Blue spoke, the less tense Florence's siblings looked behind Arlo.

The physician nodded, hand still holding the towel to his gash. "Have you injected anesthesia on an omega having active contractions before?"

"No," Blue replied. "But a beta had given birth in the clinic before, a week before her due date. I've assisted in the emergency birth. Doctor Oswin had administered the epidural, he showed me how to do it." Blue hadn't told Laia this before.

It was Carmine who asked, "Was the beta and her baby okay?"

Blue smiled. "She sent the clinic pictures from her son's first birthday party about four months ago."

There was another tense silence wherein the rest of the group waited for either Lucian or Arlo to make a decision.

"Normally, I would be against this," The physician began to say slowly, "But... because Ms. Emmetson is a human, her scent might not be as invasive." Arlo turned to the rest of the group. "As of now, we're not sure that any other werewolf can get close enough to Florence without risking injuries. If Jones tries to forcefully hold her down, Florence’s werewolf side might misinterpret the action and worsen the situation. The panic making Florence's heart rate speed up, plus her very low pain tolerance, means that she's at high risk of passing out before she could give birth without the anesthesia to help."

Now that Arlo had said all that, it seemed like Carmine, Roderick, and even Laia became more confident to try out the idea.

"May I have a word with Ms. Emmetson for a moment?"

Again, it was Lucian who voiced out his opposition.

Laia's grip on Blue's arm tightened for only about a second, and when Blue looked at her friend's face, it held a glare directed at her older brother.

Blue patted Laia's hand, wordlessly saying it was alright. Of course Lucian would have worries about this. He was Head Alpha after all, it was his job to worry.

Lucian walked away from the group, Blue following his trail towards another one of the isolation rooms. Behind her, Blue heard the rest of their group fussing with Arlo's injury, Roderick saying he'd run down to get another first aid kit from the medical den.

The Head Alpha hadn't stopped walking until there was quite some distance between them and everyone else there for Florence. Werewolves had enhanced hearing compared to humans. Lucian was not risking being eavesdropped by the others, most especially his sister.

Once Lucian and Blue were staring at each other again, Blue felt that same tension settling over her shoulder like an actual, tangible thing.

"An omega is at their most vulnerable when they're giving birth," Lucian said.

Blue just barely held back a snort. "Every woman is at their most vulnerable during childbirth."

Lucian's brow raised at Blue's tone, but didn't call her out on it. "I'm familiar with Doctor Oswin Holloway. How long have you been working as his apprentice?"

The conversation Blue had with Laia about Lucian Steele and his troubles as Head Alpha of the Northern Pack replayed in her brain. With a fast sweep of her eyes, she noted the coldness in Lucian's blue eyes, the hard line of his mouth and the crease on his forehead.

"I started when I was eighteen. So, four years now."

Lucian's whole tough-expression faded long enough to blink at Blue in slight surprise. "You're twenty-two?"

Blue inhaled deeply through her nose. They didn't have time for this. "Head Alpha, with all due respect, if you pulled me here to forbid me me from helping a woman who's about to give birth to triplets, then I'm sorry to say but even your Pack physician knows this is worth a try. I am qualified to do this, so can we just skip to the part where you threaten to hurt me once you suspect I have any ulterior motives?"

The Head Alpha's stare at Blue was unreadable after that.

Blue didn't look away from such a probing gaze. There were a few werewolves back in the clinic—alphas—who had tried to see if they could make Blue uneasy, or flustered by using their alpha gaze.

Even though they were always taller and much bigger than Blue (like Lucian), they had never succeeded. She held the Head Alpha's gaze, despite their large height difference.

"Once you get in, you open the blinds. All of them," Were Lucian's next words. "The rest of us will be watching your every move, very closely. The second Florence starts to freak out because a stranger is in her space, you get out. We might not be able to get to you in an instant, but Jones would never let anything happen to Florence. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Lucian was warning Blue: Jones will kill you if you try to hurt his mate.

Blue didn't doubt that Jones was one of the werewolves in the Northern Pack who'd been training to fight since he was a child.

"I do," Blue nodded. Now that their conversation reached a conclusion, she faced away from Lucian and jogged back to the others.