Page 24 of The Pregnant Wolf Omega Next Door

Emre wrinkled his nose. “You can have those.”

“Why? Not a fan of raisins?” Zenith looked amused.

“Raisins areevil.They’re like mean little bugs watching you and waiting to attack.”

Zenith laughed. “Got it. No raisins for you. What about oats and honey?”

“Mmm. Those sound good.”

“Those’ll be my fourth batch.” Zenith whipped up a third batch of cookie dough, easy as anything. When the timer rang, he pulled out the chocolate chip cookies and let Emre move them onto the cooling rack. Then he took the empty tray and portioned out more cookie dough, before popping them into the oven.

When the oatmeal raisin cookies were done and the oat and honey cookies were baking, Zenith began to wash up. Emre would feel bad about not helping, except he couldn’t do anything easily, with his belly as big as it was.

“Tea?” Zenith said. “I would offer coffee, but... I don’t have decaf.” He glanced at Emre’s belly.

Emre blushed. “What kind of tea do you have?”

Zenith opened a cabinet. “English breakfast, earl grey, peppermint, and chamomile. It’s not much of a selection, sorry.”

“English breakfast,” Emre said. “I grew up with that. My mom always stashed the teabags in a tall glass jar. It’s best with a ton of milk and sugar.”

“Yeah?” Zenith brightened and popped a mug of water into the microwave.

“No kettle?” Emre grinned.

“I’m a heathen. No kettle for me.”

“You’ve just made four batches of cookies. I think you can be forgiven.”

“Good.” Zenith puffed up his chest. When the microwave beeped, he retrieved the mug and set it in front of Emre, handing him a teabag. “Want some condensed milk?”

Emre perked up. “You have that?”

“Condensed milk is the very best kind of sin,” Zenith said. He grabbed a can from his pantry and opened it, pouring it into a glass jar.

“I want the can,” Emre blurted.

“My brothers and I used to fight over the empty can when we were at our dads’,” Zenith said, rolling his eyes. “Even though they’re hundreds of years older than me.”

“Hundreds of years?” Emre squeaked. “Are you a shapeshifter?”

“Nah. My butler is one, though.” Zenith slid the empty can across the table; Emre grabbed it and peered in, rumbling at its milk-coated sides, a thick layer of sweetened milk still at the bottom.

Emre got his tea steeping. He accepted a teaspoon from Zenith and began scooping out the leftover condensed milk, sucking it off his spoon. “Do you want some?”

Zenith huffed and dipped a tablespoon into the glass jar of condensed milk, popping it into his mouth. “I’m good, thanks. When these cookies are done, I’m going to fix Buttwheel. Keep Abbie away while I do that?”

Emre nodded. “Thanks.”

He poured some of his steeped tea into the empty can to dissolve the last of the condensed milk, then poured it back into his mug, stirring it all together. The resulting tea was sweet and milky, the way he used to make it when he was still living with his parents. It was delicious.

“It’s that good, huh?” Zenith said.

“Want a taste?”

“Sure.” The alpha accepted Emre’s mug, sipping from it. “Yeah, that’s good.”

“I wouldn’t have thought alphas had a sweet tooth,” Emre said, swallowing the ache that came with the memories. “But my dad did.”