Page 10 of The Pregnant Wolf Omega Next Door

Emre was twenty-three, and he thoughthewas plenty old. It felt crazy to imagine himself living five times as long. What would he be like at that age? Still a dad, just with two very old babies.

“My species is long-lived. Compared to my brothers, I’m terribly young.” Zenith smiled crookedly, his gaze sliding to Emre’s belly. “I would like to have a baby, though.”

Emre gulped. He had pups from two different alphas. Why would Zenith want him to carry his?

Or did the pups prove to Zenith that Emre was fertile?

“Why don’t you have a baby yet?” Emre asked. “I’m sure there are several omegas willing to give you one.”

“Like you?” Zenith’s smile grew.

Emre blushed so hot, he felt dizzy. “I-I’m not special.”

“Oh, you are.”

The alpha leaned in, sheer heat wafting off his body. He pressed his nose to the sensitive spot behind Emre’s ear and inhaled deeply. Then he rumbled and pulled away. “The reason I haven’t found a mate yet, is because my hoard isn’t big enough to courtanyone. Hell, my butler is part-time; I can’t afford him full-time yet.”

“You have a butler?!” Emre’s jaw dropped. Then the rest of Zenith’s words sank in, and Emre grew indignant on his behalf. “If someone truly wanted you for who you are, they wouldn’t care how big your hoard is.”

“I seem to remember you sizing up my... dimensions,” Zenith said with a pointed look between his own legs.

Emre wanted the mattress to swallow him up. “It wasright there!It was looking me in the eye! I just looked back!”

He couldn’t help it. The pregnancy wreaked havoc on his hormones. Most days, Emre dreamed about being stuffed full, except he didn’t trust many alphas after Ronald.

And it didn’t help that Zenith’s clothes kept showing off that thick length between his legs.

Zenith gave him a long look. “You have a point. I just... I need to be sure that I can provide for my mate.”

“My parents didn’t have much, but they were happy,” Emre said quietly. “They were deeply in love. We lived in a small dump of a house, on the outskirts of town, and our roof always leaked. There was always a draft coming in through the windows. But my Ma and Pa were always smiling around each other; they kept touching like they couldn’t stand to be apart. I want what they had.”

Zenith’s gaze softened. “I would’ve loved to meet them.”

Emre sagged. “I miss them so much sometimes, it really hurts.”

Zenith reached over then, wrapping his arm around Emre’s shoulders. “What happened?”

“There was a fire,” Emre said quietly. “Someone set the forest ablaze, and my pack was trapped inside. I was the only one who didn’t burn because I left the pack territory that day, on an errand for my parents.”

Zenith swore and set his plate down, pulling Emre into his lap. “Fuck. Who started that fire?”

“Some human psychopath.” Emre buried his face in Zenith’s shoulder, glass shards in his chest. “I don’t want to talk about it. But she’s in jail now, locked away for life.”

Zenith growled, hugging Emre tightly. “I wish I could’ve done something.”

“There’s not much you can do now,” Emre said heavily.

Zenith ran his large hands up and down Emre’s back, until the ache faded and Emre could breathe more easily. Zenith continued to rub his back, then his arms too, leaving layers upon layers of his scent on Emre’s skin.

Their entwined scents smelled... really good. As the minutes slipped by, Emre slowly became aware that he was pressed against Zenith’s strong, bare chest. It was just as solid as it looked.

Zenith felt really safe. Safer than Emre had been in years.

Before Ronald, ever since the fire had happened.

After a while, Zenith shifted against him. “I don’t mean to pry. Just... You mentioned a huge fire. Are you still... Did that attack give you a fear of open flame?”

Emre shuddered. “Kind of, yeah.”