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“Zach! Are you all right in there?” Tate kept knocking on the bathroom door, distracting Zach who was getting dressed for the Claiming.
“Fine!” He had thought he’d have plenty of room inside his huge white-and-gold top when he’d had it made for the Claiming, but now his belly barely fit in it, stretching the fine fabric to the point of breaking. “Just fine.”
“You don’t sound fine. Zach...”
“Said I’m fine. Be out in a minute.”
He smoothed his hands over his bump. He’d felt heavy and achy for days, the babies pressing low inside him, making walking difficult, but he still had another couple of weeks to go, according to the calendar.
The doc had said that the babies could be born at any time, since they’d dropped so low.
Not today, though, no way. Today he was getting Claimed by his alpha.
“Hear that, babies? You’re staying in today and it’s not a request.” He patted his belly and winced as a pain went down his back. “Damn.”
“Zach!”
“Coming! Sheesh...” Giving his top one last good tug over his belly, he opened the door and waddled out.
“God, you look so pretty!” Tate gushed, his eyes shining. “Look at you.”
“I have looked at me,” Zach grumbled, “and I look like a beached whale.”
“Pfft. Beached whales would kill to look like you.”
Zach snorted.
“Let me see...” Tate circled him, clucking his tongue, tugging the top here and there, lifting the elastic waistband of the loose white pants a little at the back. “Perfect.”
“You’d make a good vendor, you know. Or a diplomat.”
“Bah. I don’t have the patience for that,” Tate muttered, stepping away, fists on hips, giving Zach one last critical look. “I think you should wear your hair up.”
“Up?” Zach reached back and patted his braid. “It’s not traditional for Lotus Boys.”
“You’re not a Lotus Boy anymore. Well, not after today. Your new life is beginning! Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re scared. You should be excited!”
“I am,” Zach muttered. He didn’t want to confess to Tate that his back really hurt today and his lower belly was cramping from time to time, too. “Just nervous.”
The cramps were normal, right? He’d had cramps for weeks now, and the doc had told him it was normal. Add the nerves and stress of his Claiming day and it shouldn’t surprise him.
Only, man, these cramps really hurt today.
“Let me try a ponytail,” Tate said, clapping his hands, all smiles. “Sit! Let me work my magic.”
Sitting down was one of Zach’s favorite things right now, so he complied quickly, sinking with a groan into the seat by the window and hugging his aching belly. “Go on. Do your worst.”
“I’m actually quite good with hair, I’ll have you know,” Tate muttered, deftly undoing the braid and brushing Zach’s long hair out with his fingers. It was soothing. “Maybe I’d be a hairdresser in another life.”
“You’re good at lots of things,” Zach said, his eyes closing. “You could become a chef or a professional dancer. Or a musician. Or...” He had to stop, caught breathless by a strong cramp around his middle.
“Or?”
“Whatever you wanted,” Zach said faintly, rubbing his belly as far low as he could reach. “You know. Trapeze artist or whatever.”
It made Tate laugh.
Good.
The pull on his hair was distracting, which was also a good thing. Tate pulled Zach’s hair up, the strands tugging on his skull, up to the crown of Zach’s head, working on it until the ponytail was as tight as it could be. Then Tate produced an elastic hairband out of seemingly nowhere and snapped it on.
“Et voilà,” Tate said.
“Je t’aime,” Zach muttered.
“Oh lala,” Tate finished their little French class reenactment. “All ready to go. Oh, wait! Your pendant.”
“I’m keeping it on,” Zach said.
“But it clashes with the color of your clothes...”
Zach clutched at it. “It doesn’t matter. Val gave it to me.”
“Fine. Keep the old thing on. And... oh gosh, did you see the time?” Suddenly, Tate was a blur around the room, gathering stuff and checking his hair in the mirror. “We’re going to be late, let’s go!”
Right. Wouldn’t do, to arrive late at your own Claiming. Only when Zach tried to get up, a cramp tightened like a vise around his belly, making him groan.
“Need help getting up?” Tate chirped, and he grabbed Zach’s hand and pulled before Zach had any chance to reply.
On his feet, Zach swayed his hips a little and pulled his hand free. “Know what? Go ahead, I’ll catch up.”
“What? No way. Are you okay?”
“I’m okay, just... Ow.” He rubbed the sides of his belly.
“Are they kicking a lot?” Tate grinned. “Can I feel?”
“Sure.”
Anything to stop for a minute and wait for the pain to pass. Tate’s hand on his belly wasn’t really helping things, but what the heck.
“Your belly is really tight.” Tate moved his hand lower, frowning. “It’s hard as a rock. I thought the teacher said this happens only when you’re contracting.”
“Nah, it often feels like that.” The cramp was passing, finally, and Zach could breathe again. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Don’t want to be late!” Tate agreed, snatching back his hand though his eyes were still fixed on Zach’s huge belly. “Are you sure—?”
“You’re making us late, best man.” Zach winked at his friend, waddling as fast as he could toward the elevator.
“Wouldn’t want that.”
“Neither would I. So let’s hurry.”
***
The limo Val had hired to take them to the ceremony place was lush, the seats covered in white leather, facing each other, creating a cozy sitting area behind the driver’s division.
It also contained Valerian and his best man, Lucas, the latter making Tate go all flushed and stutter-y.
Which was funny, and would have Zach teasing him all the way if he hadn’t been so uncomfortable, his belly and back hurting so badly.
“Babe, are you feeling okay?” Val who was sitting across from him reached for his hand. “Luke move over, will you? I want to sit with my omega.”
“But I—” Luke began.
“No, I can—” Tate started.
Then Luke just grabbed Tate’s hands and hauled him over as Valerian slid into Tate’s emptied spot, so smoothly, and Val was sitting beside him.
Zach blinked at him. He kept spacing out, his body demanding more attention than he normally paid it. He had both hands on his belly, somewhere deep inside, his mind hoping that he could calm down the babies and stop the scary cramps.
“Babe?” Val was staring at him. “What is it?”
“He’s nervous,” Tate said from across them. He was sitting as far away from Luke as humanly possible—which wasn’t much, as they were inside a car, albeit a luxurious one. “We don’t get Claimed every day, you know.”
“Thank you for the input, Tate,” Zach hissed.
Ow, damn. His belly. Pressing his hands to the sides, he really hoped nobody noticed how he was clutching at it.
He really didn’t want to tell anyone he hurt, particularly not Valerian. He really didn’t want any chance of putting off the Claiming. He’d hoped for it for so long. He couldn’t stand the thought of waiting any longer.
He could stand a little pain. It was only a couple of hours, tops. He’d been through a lot in his life, through his childhood, and now he was so close to being Claimed by the alpha he loved that he wasn’t going to ruin it.
“Come here,” Val said, slinging an arm around Zach’s shoulders and tugging him closer, pressing a kiss to his temple. “Don’t be so nervous. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Yeah, it had to be. Leaning against his alpha, drawing strength from their connection, Zach tried to relax.
“And then I’ll take you running under the moon,” Valerian whispered in his ear. “Just the two of us.”
“That has to wait until he gives birth,” Luke pointed out.
Zach was having more and more the feeling that it wouldn’t take long before that happened, and... ow, ow.
Crap.
Thankfully, Tate chattered about Lotus academy, the classes, events, rehearsals, and troubles of the life there, keeping Lucas and Valerian entertained as they drove east, to Valerian’s estate.
That was exciting, too. Zach would get to see where his alpha had grown up, his family home.
Where he’d been abused and hurt. He’d asked Val if he’d do anything about his uncle, but Valerian had changed the topic, obviously not ready for it. If Zach saw that uncle in front of him, he’d punch him in the face.
Maybe punch him with his belly until he begged for mercy.
Oof... God, the pressure below was bad. Real bad. He’d felt he had a ball lodged inside his hole for days, but today it felt as if that ball was about to pop out.
A slight panic gripped him. Deep inside, he knew what it meant. Besides, he hadn’t followed all those pregnancy and birth classes for nothing. Some information had stuck, even when he’d thought it wouldn’t.
Are we still far? he whispered into a lull in the conversation, hoping the panic wasn’t noticeable in his voice.
“Almost there,” Val said, shooting him a warm small and squeezing his shoulders.
Good. Excellent. Best news ever.
Maybe he could still make it...
***
“Will you be okay if I leave you for a moment?” Val hadn’t let go of Zach’s hand at all as he’d led him through the mansion of a house he called home to the back where the Claiming ceremony would take place.
“Yes. Absolutely.”
And maybe Zach would get the chance to sit down and rest a little, moan quietly through the contractions that rocked him.
“Great. I just need to go tell the catering people and the shaman that we’re here and can get started.”
“Awesome.” The sooner they started, the sooner they could go home.
Or to the birth center.
Gah.
“Here. Sit.” Valerian led him to rows of chair forming a circle around a raised platform with an arch of white roses on top and helped him sit. “You sure you’re all right? You look a little pale.”
“Just tired,” Zach said, sucking in a breath as another cramp started. “Go, I’ll be fine.”
“Go, just go.” He couldn’t deal with the pain and the looks of worry Val kept shooting at him at the same time. “Go!”
“Okay.” Val lifted his hands in surrender, turned, and jogged away, waving at the arriving guests.
In fact, there were quite a lot of people already there, Zach realized, milling about, talking and sipping from fluted champagne glasses.
Where was Tate? And Luke? Getting out of the car, his whole attention had been split between putting one foot in front of the other without stumbling and riding the contractions.
Contractions.
The word really drove home the fact that he was in labor.
No, wait. They could be Braxton-hicks, right? False labor? Or very early labor. Maybe—
Ow...
Ow.
Crap.
He panted through the pain squeezing his middle, the world around him going kind of fuzzy. He chanted a mantra inside his head. “I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine.”
When a shadow fell over him, he jerked.
“Hi. Didn’t mean to startle you. Wow, Val sure forgot to mention one vital detail about you.”
“What?”
It was a tall, pretty omega with a wide, engaging smile. “That you’re pregnant. About to pop, in fact. Heh. Is that why he decided to Claim you?”
At another time, in the past, the question would have sent a splinter of doubt through Zach, but now he only shook his head and smiled. “Nah. He loves me.”
Most importantly, he believed it.
“Hm.” The omega cocked his head to the side. “I can see why.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re so pretty, and your smile is so sweet. You’re exactly what Valerian needs.”
“Someone pretty?”
“Someone sweet. I think he carries a lot of pain inside him. It makes him move jaggedly, like a broken-down engine. But you seem to set him right.”
“I’m sorry...” Zach whispered, confused. “Who are you?”
“I’m Jai, the omega your alpha almost Claimed. Tada!”
“What?” Zach rubbed at his huge, aching belly, and shivered. “What do you want?”
“Nothing.” Jai chuckled. “Okay, that’s a lie. I wanted to meet you.”
“Why?”
“To see who Valerian chose over me. And I didn’t think I’d like you. But I do.”
“That’s... good?” Zach asked.
“Very good. Now... are you ready to be Claimed?”
“You have no idea,” Zach grunted, shifting restlessly on the hard, plastic seat. “No frigging idea at all...”