Page 3 of The Pregnant Wolf Omega Next Door

But from the way the man’s gaze darkened, maybe he knew the effect he had on Emre anyway.

“Here.” The man pressed the bread and warm mug into Emre’s hands. Their fingers brushed, andsomethingsparked between them.

Emre inhaled sharply, looking up. The alpha stared at him, then shook his head as though he thought he’d imagined the same thing.

“It’s not too hot for you, right?” the man said with a slight furrow to his brow. “I made sure not to fill it up too full.”

He had filled the mug almost to the brim with stew, just far enough from the edge that it wouldn’t spill.

Emre gasped. “That’s a lot of stew. Won’t you—Do you have enough left for your mate?”

Something flickered through Hot Neighbor’s face. “I don’t have a mate.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Emre wanted to ask if he had a boyfriend or girlfriend, but maybe he had already asked too many questions.

Only then did Hot Neighbor remove his hands from Emre’s, now that they were both sure he wouldn’t drop the mug. Emre’s hands felt cold without his touch.

“Will your alpha be mad that you asked someone else for food?” Hot Neighbor glanced at Emre’s belly.

“I don’t have anyone,” Emre blurted. Then he cringed. “I-I mean, I have a baby. And a shopping cart.”

The man’s gaze sharpened. He had taken a step back, but now he leaned closer, looking as though he was holding himself back from Emre. “If you ever need anything else... You can ask me. I’ll help.”

Emre couldn’t believe his good luck. He took a reluctant step back, discreetly sniffing at Hot Neighbor again. “Okay.”

“Wait.”

Emre paused, his foot frozen halfway off the floor.

“What’s your name?” Hot Neighbor asked, his expression intense.

“Emre.”

“Emre.” His name shouldn’t sound so good, rolling off a stranger’s tongue. Hot Neighbor wet his lips. “My name is Zenith.”

“Zenith.” It was a good name.

Zenith rumbled low in his chest, like he was pleased. Emre’s slick began to soak through his pants.

“I-I should get going,” he squeaked. “Thank you for the food!”

He hurried down the grubby hallway back to his own apartment, feeling Zenith’s attention on him the whole time.

When he had locked the door and carefully set his treasure on the kitchen counter, Emre tore off a chunk of warm, soft bread, dipping it into the stew. The flavors burst across his tongue. He moaned and swallowed the bread whole, before popping more stew-soaked bread into his mouth and moaning again.

He was expecting most of the mug to be broth instead of vegetables or even beef, but he’d barely made any headway into the stew before he found generous chunks of meat.

“His meat is so big,” Emre whispered to himself. “I don’t know if I can swallow it all.”

“I’ll assume that you’re talking about the beef,” Zenith said from two doors down, his voice quiet but stillthereamidst all the sounds from their neighbors. “You should know that I don’t recommend choking on any kind of meat.”

Emre froze.He can hear me?

Gods, it hadn’t occurred to him that maybe Zenith’s hearing was almost as good as his own.

Emre clutched his face in horror, resolving never to bump into his neighbor ever again.

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