Revolting

Shane moved into my little room, and for me at least, life settled into a sweet routine. It didn't matter that I was as big as a house and I could no longer see my feet. I was like a mother hen, happy and content with my brood. William was dating the waiter, Gabe and Daisy were planning a wedding, and we had unanimously voted to make Shane the Alpha over our little pack. Shane was reluctant at first, complaining that he had just dodged that responsibility at Gold Mountain. But I protested that a Luna could not lead the pack alone. I needed a partner. And anyway, leading a pack of five wasn't the same as leading a pack of hundreds. "No pack started out in the hundreds," he reminded me with a sweet kiss. "Once upon a time, they all started like us... an Alpha and a Luna and their family." He straightened up, "Hey, does our pack have a name?"

Daisy perked up. "We are Revolting."

I shook my head. "Daisy... to be revolting is to be... repulsive... disgusting... unwanted." Ironically I thought, hadn't we all been considered "revolting" at some point? Daisy had been looked down upon as an omega, William had been rejected because of his sexuality, I was an unwanted bride. Gabe was an orphan alone in the world. Only Shane was the golden child who was loved and wanted and accepted by the whole pack.

Her brow wrinkled up cutely. "Then what do you call it when people revolt? Like to rise up and rebel against oppression?"

Well she had a point there... but I still didn't think "revolting" was the right word. "I think you mean a revolution?"

Gabe shuffled his feet. "Perhaps we should call ourselves the Rebel Moon Pack."

"Oooh, I like that." Daisy grabbed him and squeezed him affectionately. "What do you think Luna? Doesn't that have a nice ring to it?"

I looked to Shane, and he nodded slowly. "Yes... yes I think its good."

Shane found a job working as a personal trainer at a gym. I often wondered if he was really happy with us. I couldn't imagine going from a top dog at one of the strongest packs in the region... to being Alpha over our little family of misfits. But he never complained. He took over our training from William (much to William's relief), but I was banned from participating as I was getting too close to my due date. All I could do was pull up a chair and watch... but what's not to love about that? Watching the man I love work out, his muscles flex, sweat dripping between his pecks, watching the perfect dance between strength, agility, stamina and grace. He was so perfect, I often wondered how he had ended up mated to a girl like me. I was so completely ordinary.

I was never left alone in the house. In the mornings, William was home, even if he was sleeping, and the others came home before William had to leave for the club in the evening. So it was on a Tuesday morning that I started to feel the first pangs of a contraction. It wasn't much really, not much worse than a period cramp. I wasn't even 100% sure it was a real contraction, or if it was another one of the braxton-hicks things I had read about. I shrugged it off, and did not bother telling anyone, because I figured even if it WAS the start of real labor, I had hours and hours to go. Everything I had read said that labor tended to be long with first babies, and things would progress slowly.

I carried a cup of herbal tea into the bedroom and decided to get prepared, just in case. I put the plastic sheets over the bed to protect my new mattress, and put some old sheets over top of the plastic to make it more comfortable. I set out the birthing kit on the bedside table. I had to shuffle back to the bathroom several times, and began to suspect that I wasn't in labor after all... maybe I had eaten something that disagreed with me.

I was shuffling back to my bed with my phone, when another contraction hit me. There was no mistaking this one, as it knocked the breath out of me, and I found myself leaning over the bed and trying not to whimper. It didn't hurt, exactly, it was just really, really intense pressure. I felt the first stab of alarm, and thought to myself, oh God, am I going to have to endure this for hours?

I crawled up on the bed, but I couldn't get comfortable. I ended up sitting on my knees as I texted Daisy. "Hey... can you come home early today?" I hit send just as another powerful contraction forced me forward onto my hands and knees. Wait? Were they supposed to come so close together? Weren't they supposed to start far apart and then gradually increase in frequency and strength? I gasped for breath and wondered if I should call for William. I knew he was sleeping, and I hated to wake him up. I was sure I was just being a paranoid first time mom. I tried to tell myself, nothing was wrong. My phone beeped, and I quickly read the message that Daisy would be back home within an hour. "Try to relax." She had typed.

Right. Relax. I started to undress myself. Maybe I could get off the bed and go run a bath? I had barely had time to process that thought, when the next contraction hit, and this one felt different. I felt the pressure had moved from my girth down into the floor of my pelvis... and I felt an urge to push. "This can't be right," I growled through the urge. You weren't supposed to push in the beginning. You had to go through all the stages of labor, and then when you were fully dilated, you pushed. Of course I had no idea if I was dilated or not. But it didn't matter what the books said, or what my brain thought about what "should" be happening, my body took over. With the next contraction I found myself bearing down involuntarily. I was on my hands and knees on the bed, but it didn't feel right. I sat myself up more, so I was back on my knees, with my knees spread as far apart as they would go.

When the next contraction hit, I just relaxed and went with it. My body wanted to push, so I pushed, and I felt it... I felt her head clear my cervix. When I reached between my legs, I could feel her crowning there. It was like I was lost in this world that was only me, my body, and the baby. I was aware of nothing else. It was like we were our own universe. Almost immediately another wave came, and I arched my back upwards like a cat as I pushed. I think I might have made a noise, something primal and guttural as my baby slid out of my body and onto the sheets between my legs.

My water had never broken. She was still inside the amniotic sac. I broke the membrane and the fluid gushed out, and I cleared the bag away from her face. We were alone in the world, me and this tiny creature that was my daughter. She never cried. When the fluid was cleared from her little nose, she took her first breath, and looked at me calmly with soft grey-blue eyes.Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.

I felt no pain. There was no blood. It was nothing at all like what you see in the movies, or what I had read about in every book, magazine, and online article. But I wasn't thinking about that... I was totally, completely absorbed in my little daughter. I cleared away the the rest of the amniotic sac, and cleaned her up. I cuddled her up against my naked breast, and just stared and stared and stared. Time seemed to have stopped. She was so perfect. She had a little mop of brown curls. She had the clearest grey blue eyes, that looked up at me with absolute serenity. All of her little fingers and toes were perfect. The umbilical cord still trailed from her navel back into my body. She rooted around a bit and latched on to my nipple, just like that. Just a few minutes old, and already nursing.

The stimulation of her sucking at my breast caused another contraction. On the second one, my body expelled the placenta. Again, it was nothing at all like I had read about. It felt perfectly normal and natural. I found the little clamp in Daisy's birthing kit, and the sterile scissors, and I cut the umbilical cord myself. I didn't feel tired, or even that sore, to tell the truth. I wrapped my little baby in a blanket and then stripped off the plastic sheets. I rolled them all up, placenta and all, and put them in a garbage bag. And then I laid back against the headboard and continued to ogle this baby.

I didn't think I could love her. This whole pregnancy I'd felt ambivalent about this child. I had thought I really had no natural maternal instinct, because how could I not love my unborn baby? But that all changed the moment I locked eyes with her. I remember my grandmother once saying that a baby born with the caul over her face would have special powers. I thought it was just an old superstition... but now as I was so completely mesmerized by my baby, I had to wonder. She was so calm. She never cried. She just gazed at me sweetly, yawned, and then closed her eyes to sleep.

I picked up my phone, and dialed William. It was time to wake him up to meet his niece. I smiled as I heard him fall off the bed on the floor above me, and come pounding down the stairs. He skidded around the corner and gaped at me, his eyes bugging out of his head as he looked from me, to the bundle in my arms, and back again. "Holy shit, Nina, you did it by yourself? Why the hell didn't you call me?"

I shook my head and smiled. "There wasn't time William, it all happened so fast."

He eased down on the bed beside me, as though I were suddenly very fragile. "Are you okay? Is she okay? Is it really a girl?"

"We're fine." I was loath to let go of her, but I passed him the sleeping bundle. "Meet your niece, William."

"Oh.." he seemed afraid to breath as he cuddled the tiny baby. "Oh wow." His eyes welled up with tears. "She's so beautiful."

The front door slammed, and there was the sound of more footsteps pounding across the hardwood floor. Daisy and Shane had arrived together. Daisy looked crestfallen when she saw that William was already holding the baby. "I missed it! Oh man, I can't believe I missed it. Why didn't you call me sooner?"

If you're loving the book, nel5s.org is where the adventure continues. Join us for the complete experience-all for free. The next chapter is eagerly waiting for you! Shane came around the otherside of the bed and eased in next to me. He kissed my head. "Are you okay, love?"

I smiled up at him. "I'm perfect."

I took the baby from William, who was reluctant to let her go, and passed her over to Shane. He had promised that this was our child, and that he would raise Nolan's daughter as his own. If I had any doubts, the look of absolute love and wonder that glowed on his face as cradled our daughter put all my fears to rest. "What will you name her?" He asked quietly.

We had tossed around names many times, without coming to a decision, but at that moment, I knew her name exactly. "Her name is Raine Marie... after my mother." Little Raine opened her eyes, seeming to know that we were calling her name. "Her eyes..." Shane said in wonder.

"Just like Nolan's" William filled in.

"Hey I want a turn!" Daisy demanded, also crawling onto my bed, and reaching for the baby.

Shane slipped his arm around me and pulled me close to his side. He leaned down and kissed me gently. "Do you have any idea how incredible you are?" He smoothed the hair away from my face, and I was glad there were no mirrors in my room, because I was pretty sure I looked a mess. But Shane never seemed to see the mess. I leaned into him and relaxed against his warm, solid strength.

This was my little pack, my little family. Everyone except Gabe, who was unable to leave work early was piled on my bed. Raine was surrounded by adoring adults, and I felt warmth pouring out of my heart, for them, and for her. No matter what happened, she would never be alone in this world.