Phoenix Chosen #3 (The Phoenix Guardians #3)

3. Tyler

3

TYLER

I , in fact, did not love this.

A fucking egg?!

In hindsight, it should’ve been obvious, but just the idea of being pregnant had already been more than enough for me to chew on. Though, weirdly, pushing out an egg is somehow easier to wrap my head around than popping out a live, wriggling baby.

But still.

A fucking egg?!

Zona and the walking, talking cat sibling helpers have cobbled together a nest of grass and straw in the center of the room, and I’m now perched precariously over it on a low bench in the shape of a half circle. Like the chair from earlier, it has handles that I’m gripping onto with all of my might. I’m too deep in the thick of it to be embarrassed about how exposed I am. Kona is kneeling right in front of me, calmly guiding me through the contractions. She has a full view of my junk and everything else, and Xanthe and Xanthos are still doing some bizarre ritualistic shit with incense, flowers and a pillar of translucent marble that looks suspiciously like one of those gemstone dildos you’d find on Etsy, but I’m honestly just thankful to have all of them. It really would’ve been a nightmare had this happened deep in some forest or, God forbid, in the middle of some filthy Athenosian back alley.

Maybe it’s only been a few hours, maybe even less, but it feels like I’ve been struggling for days. The room is thick with incense smoke. Maybe it’s helping. Or maybe I’m just at that level where all the endorphins have kicked in and gotten me high off my ass. Everything is a blur of white-hot pain.

Zona tells me to push. I push as hard as I can. I’m struggling. I feel like I’m fighting a battle against a concrete wall—just battering myself against it, bloodying myself while making only the tiniest, most useless scratches into the stone.

When I look up, I see her talking quietly to Kalistratos and the twins. Kalistratos nods at whatever she’s saying, and the twins quietly exit the room.

Zona returns to me. “Tyler, we will try a different approach. One that I believe will help with your tension.”

I grin exhaustedly at her. “Tense? Who’s tense?”

She and Kalistratos help me down from the bench and sit me down in the nest. She brings a tray with a small bowl filled with fragrant oil and sets it down beside me.

“Kalistratos will attend to you,” she tells me with a smile, and leaves the room.

“All you need to do is breathe,” Kalistratos says, kneeling behind me. “I know it hurts. Can you breathe with me?”

I nod. “I’m sorry I shouted at you earlier. I know you’re trying to help me.”

“Yes, and if you need to shout, then shout. Trust me, I can handle that. May I rub your shoulders?”

Earlier, the thought of being touched would probably set me off. There was just so much happening, I couldn’t fucking deal with it. Now that it’s just us, the dim, hazy room with its pagan ritual candles and incense actually feels somewhat calming. Maybe even a little sensual. I take a deep breath. I let it out.

“Yeah,” I whisper. “I think so. Just, gently, okay?”

He rests his palms against my bare shoulders, and I can feel they’re coated in a warming oil. He rubs the oil into my skin and massages down to my lower back, where he slowly draws his thumbs down the sides of my spine to the base of my hips. Inhale, exhale.

“Can you do that again?” I say.

He returns to the top and rolls his fingers back down along my back. I recline against him, easing into the pressure of his touch, and immediately there’s a sense of relief. The pain is still there, but I’m relaxing some, and as my breaths synchronize with his, I feel as though our minds are joining the same space. Suddenly, the need to have his lips on mine overwhelms me. I tell him so, and he gathers up the soft thatch grass into a pillow for me to lie against. He kneels by my side and brushes the matted hair out away from my forehead.

“Come on and kiss me already, dammit,” I say.

His lips are a respite from the chaos and stress, and the familiar, comforting scent of his musk fills my lungs on my next inhale. I can still smell the pollen on his skin from the field of wildflowers we’d romped around in on our return to Circeana. Jesus, that was just a few hours ago, wasn’t it?

Kalistratos rubs the oil across my chest and holds his palm in the center of my pecs, pacing my breath by lifting his hand as I breathe in and gently pushing down as I exhale. I watch his eyes and try to focus on him. I feel my nipples stiffen as the warming tingle of the oil soaks into my skin. A pained whimper barely leaves my lips before he kisses me again. So many sensations. Everything is heightened, and the feeling of his fingers playing against my nipples is just as strong as the contractions rippling through my body. It’s an intense mixture of pain and arousal, and I suddenly realize I’m getting hard. Holy shit.

“Continue?” Kalistratos asks me.

I can’t make words right now, so I just nod furiously.

He traces circles around my nipples, creating little shivers of pleasure that put goosebumps on my sweat-shined skin. God, they’re sensitive right now. And when he leans in and flicks his tongue against them, I let out a little moan. Score another win for the pleasure side.

Maybe I’ll…

I slip my hand past my swollen belly and grasp my cock, slowly rocking my hand up and down its length. I’m so incredibly hard, and the next contraction makes my dick throb so strongly it feels like I could smash a brick in half with it. It hurts, but it feels so good. My head is swimming right now. It’s like I’ve just snorted a line of pure endorphins.

Warmth spreads across my cock as Kalistratos slowly pours the oil over it, coating my hand and my shaft. My fist glides easily from base to tip, and I arc my palm around the firm pink knob of my cockhead. Another trembling surge moves through me, and I moan as Kalistratos caresses my nipple with his lips, flicking his tongue back and forth against the tender bud.

Oh shit.

I keep my rhythm steady, three strokes per breath, taking care to milk my full length. I can feel my body’s motions now. The blurred chaos from earlier has now fallen into focus, like twisting the dial on a radio to just the right station. I feel the contractions coming. The pleasure of Kalistratos’s tongue and the pump of my hand on my cock greets the pain. I’m loopy as fuck but I’m actually enjoying this. I’ve never felt so in tune with my own body. No, it’s more than just my body. It feels like I’m in tune with my being .

With this little break in the storm, I’m suddenly able to appreciate what I’m going through. It’s incredible. I’m a man getting to experience the miracle of giving birth. Sure, it’s normal here, but I’m the only Earth guy to ever know what it’s like.

My strokes roll faster, and like he can read my mind, Kalistratos comes up to kiss me again. I meet his tongue with mine, groaning as my aching cock tightens in my grasp with the clench of my coming orgasm.

It seizes me like a fist, smashing together with a massive contraction that has me screaming. What an insane feeling. It’s like I’m being wrung out like a wet towel. My cock is throbbing fast, spurting out what feels like the entire contents of my balls, and I can feel the baby—no, the egg —moving through me.

The good orgasm vibes quickly get overtaken, and I’m in stupid pain again, crying out and clutching Kalistratos’s arm as wave after wave of contractions crashes through me.

“Steady breaths,” Kalistratos tells me before turning and shouting to the doorway. “ZONA!”

She and the twins are back. They help me back up onto the bench. I grasp the handles and fucking push with everything I have.

It’s different this time. I can feel it coming like an obstacle has been removed and the brakes have been released.

Oh my God .

It’s not magical at all, it just feels like the biggest shit in the universe is making its way out of my asshole and I’m just sorry that everyone here needs to bear witness to it.

I can’t see anything, but Kalistratos is staring with eyes as big as baseballs, and his face has gone a little pale.

“Keep going, you’re doing it, Tyler,” he says. “You’re almost there.”

“That’s it,” Zona urges. “Very good, very good!”

I’m being drawn and quartered. Ripped in two. Atomic fission.

Kalistratos and Zona are both yelling at me to push. I see Xanthos and Xanthe rush forward with a large wicker basket piled high with straw.

And then, finally, relief.