Page 1 of The Pregnant Wolf Omega Next Door

1

THE MOST EMBARRASSING MEET CUTE

Emre’s stomach rumbled,but nothing in his apartment smelled good.

He rubbed his round belly and stared miserably into his empty fridge. Abbie needed to feed soon; he needed to scrounge upsomefood so his body could produce milk for her, since it couldn’t just conjure milk from nothing.

He was running out of money, though. There wasn’t any left for fancy stuff. He barely had enough for the basics.

Damn you, past self,he thought. If he were the only one in this situation, he could starve a little, no problem.

But there were three of them: him, Abbie, and the unborn pup in his belly.

If only he hadn’t continued to stay with Ronald, even after all the beatings. If only Emre still had a pack to return to.

He shook off the what-ifs. They weren’t going to help him now. Maybe if he peeked into the dumpsters behind the grocery store, there would be some food he could salvage...?

It would be difficult to reach in there, with his belly as round as it was.

The unborn pup kicked, and Emre strengthened his resolve.

He was about to check the clock to see if it was late enough to dumpster-dive, when the most heavenly scent wafted into his nose.

Emre froze. He sniffed again. It wasn’t his imagination.

The wonderful aroma came from a hearty meat stew, like one of Gramma’s recipes that he vaguely remembered from his childhood. Beef, lots of it, cooked tender and accompanied by carrots, tomatoes, and potatoes.

His mouth watered.

The pup kicked again. Emre grunted.

“No, we can’t have that. It’s not ours,” he told his child sadly.

He kept sniffing, though. His windows were shut tight because it was the middle of winter, so the scent had to have come from under his front door. From one of the tenants in this building.

He stretched out his hearing. The sound of chopping and stirring came from the apartment two doors down, the one that had been empty for ages. A new neighbor had moved in recently.

Maybe it was a kindly grandmother who lived there now. Maybe... Emre could ask for half a cup of stew? It would help him finish his stale loaf of bread.

He made sure Abbie was still sleeping in Buttwheel—his shopping cart friend who thankfully did not need any food.

“I’m going next door for just a minute,” he whispered to the cart.

There was magic in metals. As ores were purified, the magic in them accumulated. When these metals were shaped into objects and the metal parts moved, their magic interacted, turning the objects sentient. It was how locks could smile, and shopping carts could frolic.

Buttwheel flipped its crooked wheels obligingly, rocking unsteadily back and forth to keep Abbie comfortable.

“Thank you.” Emre patted Buttwheel’s side. He checked to make sure his shirt was mostly clean. Then he stepped into his shoes and left his door unlocked. With each waddling step, he sniffed, pretending that the hearty stew was filling his belly. Two doors down, he stopped. The wonderful smell was the strongest here. He clutched his mug to his hammering heart.

At worst, his neighbor would just say no.

He raised his fist timidly and knocked, feeling as though he was interrupting something.

The chopping sounds stopped. So he knocked again, holding his breath.

Heavy footsteps approached from behind the door.

His neighbor was big. An alpha, Emre realized with a jolt of unease. Worse, he couldn’t run. Not with how heavily pregnant he was, starving and clumsy on his feet.