“You okay?”

He kissed a spot on her forehead that wasn’t smeared with blood. “More than okay. I’m proud of you.” But I have no idea how to tell you I want to imprint on you without scaring you off.

“Good. Let’s go take a shower.”

Dante told himself, as he walked hand in hand with her back to the caves, that he would talk to her about it in their room. Unfortunately, the words didn’t come out. He wasn’t scared of the commitment that would come with it. As far as he was concerned, she was it for him whether they were bonded or not. But he was still worried that she would leave before she agreed to imprinting.

Losing her wasn’t something he could allow.

Still, he was resolute that they would talk about it. He’d been silent about it for long enough, and he wouldn’t last much longer before it burst out of him anyway. If she said she didn’t want it, he could simply agree that things remain as they were. Then, naturally, he’d do his best to wear her down over time.

He told himself that he’d bring it up when they were in the shower. Yeah, he’d f**k her with his tongue until she was on the verge of an orgasm, and then he’d stop and tell her. But that didn’t quite work out because, once again, he chickened out. He’d tell her before they left to go to lunch, he promised himself. Preferably while she was naked, because then she couldn’t run out on him.

However, not only did he become terribly distracted by her naked body and mischievous smile, but she chose that moment to get on her knees and suck him off. So, yeah, his wits were a little too scattered for him to have any kind of conversation right then.

After that, they’d been caught up with Beta stuff—that was the excuse he was sticking to anyway. Before he knew it, they were seated at the long dining table having their evening meal and he still hadn’t told her.

“Now you’re just being selfish,” Dominic said to Jaime, shaking his head. “You have that body for the rest of your life. I only want it for one night.” Not in the mood to hear his packmate making moves—no matter how playful—on the female he intended to claim, Dante growled. “Dominic, no. Not to Jaime.”

“But—”

“No.”

Dominic sighed in resignation. “Okay, fine.”

Noticing that Trey seemed to find the whole thing extremely amusing, Dante raised a brow at him. “It’s funny now that he’s not saying this shit to Taryn?” Trey smiled. “Of course.”

“I’ve always got some stored up for my gorgeous Alpha female,” said Dominic with an impish grin.

Instantly Trey’s smile fell from his face. “Dom, don’t do it.” Dominic held his hands up, pleading innocence. “I was just going to ask her if she went to Boy Scouts…because she has my heart all tied in knots.”

Taryn groaned and chuckled at the same time. But then she gasped loudly and everybody froze.

“I think my water just broke. Yep. My water just broke.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Watching Trey pace up and down anxiously outside the examination room, Jaime couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. Still, she wasn’t budging. She, Dante, and the enforcers had been charged with guarding the door and ensuring that Trey didn’t get through. After he’d lost his temper four times with Grace, as if it was solely her fault that the baby wasn’t yet out, Taryn had insisted that he wait outside until she was fully dilated. If the sounds she was making were anything to go by, she wasn’t far off.

“I should be in there with her.”

“She’s not alone,” said Jaime. “Shaya will help keep her calm. Grace and Lydia have delivered lots of babies, so they know what they’re doing.”

“That’s not the point. I’m her mate. I should be in there.”

“As soon as it’s looking like the baby’s ready to come out, Grace will come get you.” Dante patted his back once as he passed. “Don’t worry. Taryn would never let you miss this.”

“I can feel how much pain she’s in—well, I can feel a hint of it, which is bad enough, and I take back that I said getting kicked in the balls was worse than childbirth. She’s also feeling woozy.

Drunk.”

Jaime smiled. “That’ll be the gas and air.”

Suddenly he grimaced and paled. “The contractions are getting real strong. I hate that I can’t help.”

“Trey! ”

At the sound of Taryn’s screech, he struggled to pass Jaime, Dante, and the enforcers.

“Trey, you bastard! ”

Instantly the guy stilled.

Jaime gave him a pitying smile. “Yeah, you really don’t want to go in there yet.” She had been around shifters in labor before, and she knew exactly how colorful the air could become, and just how easily the females could turn on their mates.

He straightened, as if steeling himself, and knocked loudly on the door.

“Not yet, Trey,” Shaya called from inside the room.

“Let me in, Shaya. I want to be with her.”

“Yeah, let the bastard in so I can break his nose and shove it up his—”

“Okay, Taryn, I’ll let him in.” Shaya only opened the door a crack, and Trey pushed his way inside, shutting the door behind him. His mate slung a string of profanities at him that had everybody’s lips twitching. Jaime didn’t move from her place near the closed door, determined to be one of the first to see the baby when someone finally allowed them in. Dante and the enforcers must have been thinking the same thing, because none of them moved either.

Half an hour and a lot of cursing, growls, and cries later, they heard Taryn declare, “I can’t do this! Just leave her in there. She’ll be fine.”

“You’re doing really well,” Lydia assured her.

“No, I’m done! I’m tired, I’m sweaty, I’m in agony, and why do I feel like I need to shit?”

“It’s totally natural to feel that way,” said Grace in a placatory, calming voice. “Some women even have one during labor.”

“What?” The word dripped with horror. “Women can shit when they’re in labor? Tell me that won’t happen to me! Don’t you let me shit, Grace!” A loud, lengthy cry signaled that she was having another contraction.

Trey’s voice was soft and encouraging. “Just breathe, baby.”

“I am f**king breathing! And why does this gas and air make me sound like Darth Vader?”