Page 23 of The Pregnant Wolf Omega Next Door

“No. I thought I’d wait for the pup to be born before I pick the right name.”

“Sounds good to me.” Zenith continued to pet Emre’s belly.

There came a slow movement from within, the pup pushing against the confines of Emre’s belly. Emre took Zenith’s hand and placed it over that spot; Zenith’s eyes grew round.

“Is that—?”

“That’s the pup,” Emre said proudly.

Zenith stared, his hand frozen on Emre’s belly as the pup nudged and pushed. “Holy fuck. I can feel your baby,” the alpha whispered, meeting Emre’s eyes. “There’s really a baby in there. Fuck, what am I saying? Of course there’s a baby. Itmoved.”

How was it that Zenith had lived a whole century without knowing what that felt like? Maybe he had never thought to ask an omega before.

“They don’t start moving only after they’re born,” Emre said dryly. “Not like a robot you power on and off.”

“I knew that. In theory. I’ve heard about the kicks,” Zenith said sheepishly. “But this... This makes it feel real.”

He stared at Emre’s belly, at a loss for words.

Actually, Zenith was kind of cute like that, caught off-guard, his amazement open on his face.

“It felt real when I was being kicked in the stomach,” Emre said. “Second trimester kicks arevicious.”

Zenith scrunched up his face. “I can’t even... I’ve been kicked from the outside before, but... Being kicked from the inside? That doesn’t sound pleasant either.”

He hunched closer to the moving shape in Emre’s belly, tapping it lightly. “Hey,” Zenith said. “Kid. Pup. Little one. Be good in there, okay? Don’t kick your dad in the kidney, that hurts!”

Emre huffed. “It’s not as though the pup knows where my kidneys are. Or my stomach. It’ll be a while before they understand that their actions could hurt me. Hell, Abbie doesn’t even understand it yet.”

Zenith sighed. “You have the patience of a saint.” He looked Emre over. “Does anything hurt today? Do you need another rub?”

“Not yet,” Emre said, refusing to decline because it was only a matter of time until something hurt. His chest grew warm, though. “In the meantime, you could make more cookies?”

Zenith straightened, remembering. “That’s right. I was going to make cookies.”

He turned to the ingredients on the kitchen counter, measuring out butter and sugar into a mixing bowl. “More chocolate chip cookies?”

“I won’t say no to a second batch,” Emre said with a moan. “They taste so good.”

“I do like making you moan,” Zenith said, and froze.

Emre’s ears burned. “Um. Thanks. For making me moan. Over the cookies, I mean. And your... your gifts yesterday. Not the ones last night. Wait. There was more than one thing last night. The dinner was very good. I’m not talking about anything else.”

He hid his face in his hands and tried very hard not to whimper.

Zenith coughed lightly and turned on the electric mixer, which was too loud for them to have a proper conversation. That was good; it prevented Emre from swallowing the foot in his mouth.

Emre ducked his head and focused on transferring the cookies into the plastic box. When he was done, he realized that Zenith had turned off the mixer, and he was cracking eggs into the creamed butter and sugar. Zenith turned on the mixer again, adding a splash of vanilla.

“Have a seat,” Zenith said over the noise. “I don’t want your feet to hurt because you were standing around too much.”

Emre dragged over a chair and sat, watching as Abbie tumbled over her toys in Buttwheel’s cargo basket. Zenith measured out the dry ingredients and added them to his mixing bowl.

Before long, the cookie dough was portioned out on the baking tray, and it went into the oven.

“It’s like magic,” Emre said. “You make it look easy.”

Zenith gave a lopsided grin. “Any requests for a third batch of cookies? I’m thinking about making some oatmeal raisin.”