I Was The Only Omega In The Beast World-Chapter 172: CP: Are You Ready?

Next Day:

Alex woke before dawn, his body already protesting the day ahead. His lower back throbbed with the particular ache that had become his constant companion over the past weeks, and his breasts were tender enough that even the soft linen of his sleeping shirt felt abrasive. The swell of his belly had grown noticeably even since yesterday—or maybe that was his imagination, the way pregnancy made every change seem sudden and dramatic.

He lay still for a moment, cataloging the small lives inside him. Three distinct heartbeats, maybe four. They were quiet now, still sleeping, their gentle flutters a soft counterpoint to the ache in his joints.

Naga’s coils were wrapped around him, as they had been every night since the pregnancy was confirmed. The serpent lord’s warmth seeped into Alex’s aching muscles, easing some of the tension that had settled there overnight. Lucas was pressed against his back, one large hand splayed possessively over the swell. Leo’s wing covered them both, the feathers soft and warm. Zale’s sphere floated in the shallow basin nearby, the mer-prince’s face visible through the water, peaceful in sleep.

Alex didn’t want to move.

But the valley was waiting. The shadow was waiting. And the stones—the stones had been warm all night, pressed against his hip in their pouch, and he needed to know what that meant.

He shifted, trying to sit up without waking anyone, and immediately regretted it. His abdominal muscles pulled, and a sharp twinge shot through his lower belly—not pain, exactly, but awareness. The small lives stirred in response, a flutter of tiny limbs against his insides.

"Stay," Naga murmured, his voice still thick with sleep. The coil around Alex’s waist tightened gently. "It’s not dawn yet."

"The stones—"

"Will still be there when the sun is up." Lucas’s arm pulled him closer, the wolf lord’s nose pressing against the back of his neck. "You need rest. You were up twice last night with nausea."

"I was not—"

"You were. You thought I didn’t wake, but I always wake when you move. Your scent changes when you’re sick." A pause. "You smell like you’re going to be sick again this morning, actually. Stay still and breathe." 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Alex wanted to plead, but his stomach chose that moment to roll, and he found himself following Lucas’s advice—lying still, breathing slowly, waiting for the nausea to pass. Leo’s hand settled heavier over him, a warm weight that felt almost like a blanket. Zale’s pulled his tail closer, cool sensation easing the flush on Alex’s cheeks.

"The valley," Alex said, when he could speak again. "We said we’d go today."

"We said we’d consider going today," Naga corrected. "The decision depends on how you’re feeling."

"I’m feeling pregnant. That’s not going to change."

"No," Naga agreed. "But there’s a difference between ’pregnant and functional’ and ’pregnant and pushing too hard.’ Yesterday you could barely walk back from the ridge."

"I walked fine—"

"You limped," Leo said flatly. "Your hips were bothering you and your ankles were swollen. We all noticed. Sally had the compresses ready before we even reached the courtyard."

Alex closed his eyes. The nausea was receding, leaving behind a general sense of exhaustion that had nothing to do with how much sleep he’d gotten. The small lives inside him were waking properly now, their morning movements making the swell of his belly shift visibly beneath the blanket.

"Today," he said. "We go today. I’ll rest in the morning. We’ll go after midday, when the sun is highest and the shadow is weakest. But we go."

The silence that followed was heavy with unspoken arguments.

Then Lucas sighed. "After midday. You stay on the ridge until we’ve scouted the valley floor. You don’t enter until we’ve confirmed it’s safe."

"The stones need me—"

"The stones need you alive," Zale said quietly. "If the shadow is there, we need to know before you’re in range of it. Let us be the first line."

Alex wanted to argue. The words were right there—I’m the Bearer, the stones respond to me, the babies are connected to all of this—but they died in his throat because Naga’s coil had tightened again, and Leo’s wing had pressed down, and Lucas’s hand was warm on his belly, and Zale’s mist was cool on his face.

They weren’t going to let him win this one.

"After midday," he conceded. "I stay on the ridge until you’ve scouted. But I’m not waiting all day."

Naga’s tongue flicked against his temple. "Compromise accepted."

---

The morning passed slowly.

Alex spent it in the courtyard, surrounded by snakelings. Ripple had wrapped himself around Alex’s torso, his small head pressed against the swell of his belly as if listening to his future siblings. River was wound around his wrist, quiet and watchful. The others were scattered around him, close enough to touch.

Sally sat nearby, her notebook open on her lap, but she wasn’t writing. She was watching Alex with the expression she wore when she was trying very hard not to say something.

"Just say it," Alex said.

Sally’s mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.

"I don’t think you should go."

"You’ve made that clear."

"I mean it, Alex. You’re pregnant. You’re already having symptoms. What if something happens in the valley? What if the shadow—"

"What if," Alex interrupted, "we don’t go, and the shadow comes to us? What if it’s been waiting for us to come to it, and when it realizes we’re not going to, it decides to come here? To the sanctuary? To the children?"

Sally’s face went pale.

"I’m not going to fight it," Alex said. "I’m not going to confront it. I’m going to sit on the ridge with the stones and see if they wake up when we’re close to where the shadow lives. That’s all."

"And if they do wake up? What then?"

Alex pressed his hand to his belly. The small lives inside him stirred, responding to his touch. "Then we figure out what the threshold is. And we figure out what the shadow actually wants. And we deal with it before the babies come."

Sally was quiet for a long moment. Then: "You’re going to be a parent again. To more children. In the middle of all of this."

"I know."

"Are you ready?"

"I don’t know," he said honestly. "But I’m going to try."