Page 56 of The Pregnant Wolf Omega Next Door

“Yeah. You need to get comfortable, right? Somewhere nice and cozy before the birth?”

Emre rubbed his swollen belly—gods, it was so round. “That would be nice,” he mumbled. Then his gaze snapped to Zenith. “But you don’t have to. You’ve already done so much today—”

On impulse, Zenith leaned in, dropping a kiss on Emre’s forehead. Then he blushed, speaking quickly to cover it up. “I’m okay. Do you have a preference for the nest? Indoors? Outdoors? Close to the kitchen? Water source?”

Emre frowned at his belly. “The water source is starting to sound good. Maybe we should figure out what other species this pup is. In case there’s a difference between seawater and freshwater.”

“Fuck,” Zenith said, belatedly looking down at the dragonet in his arm. “I mean, fudge.” He hurriedly handed her over, then froze. Emre was naked right now, unprotected against any accidental flames. “Let me set Abbie on the floor for a sec.”

He placed her next to the bed, so no accidental fireballs could reach Emre. Then he hurried into his walk-in closet and found a hoodie. “Here, this is fireproofed. She can’t burn you through this.”

Emre beamed when Zenith helped him into the hoodie. Only then did Zenith scoop Abbie off the floor and hand her over.

She shifted back into a wolf pup.

“Of course,” Emre said dryly. “Only after we’ve done everything we could to move her here safely.”

“At least her paws aren’t as likely to scratch you in this shape,” Zenith said. “But she can still cough out a fireball.”

Emre sighed, but he gave Abbie such a fond look that Zenith’s heart swelled.

He was such an amazing dad.

Zenith swallowed, tearing his gaze away from Emre so he could remember what he needed to do next.The bubbles.

He whipped out his phone and called Griff.

“Yello?” Griff crowed down the line. “Lil baby bro! How are you?”

“Hey, Griff,” Zenith said, growing tense now that the urgency of their situation was sinking back in. “I need some help. I have a pregnant omega with an unborn pup—the pup has two species,and we don’t know what the second species is. But we think your mate might have an idea.”

“Oooh,” Griff said excitedly. “You have an omega? Do you need a mating song? I can write you one.”

On the bed, Emre’s eyebrows jumped. He could hear Griff’s voice just as clearly.

Zenith blushed. “Not right now. But this is urgent. Emre’s going into labor soon and we need to know what to prepare for the birth. We think the pup could be a merchild.”

Griff sucked in a sharp breath. “Be right back.”

In the background, he bellowed, “Fireheart! We have an emergency!”

His mate Quinlan yelled back, “A love song emergency, or an actual emergency?”

“An actual emergency! A baby-popping emergency. Here.”

Seconds later, Quinlan’s voice sounded much closer. “Hi?”

“Hey, Quinlan. This is Zenith.” Zenith met Emre’s eyes and received an encouraging smile. His heart stuttered. Emre’s gaze promptly dropped to his chest.Oh gods, he heard that.“Um, I wasn’t sure who to ask on such short notice, but I have a pregnant omega who’s been burping bubbles. Is that a merchild pregnancy thing? Emre’s a wolf shifter, so we know nothing.”

“Huh,” Quinlan said, his voice so quiet after Griff’s brashness. There was a rustle on his end. “I can’t say I know many non-mer omegas carrying merchildren, but blowing bubbles is a thing we do when we’re out of the water. It happens early in the pregnancy, lasting all the way until birth.”

“Hmm. Emre doesn’t have many symptoms at all, even for a dragon pregnancy. It’s why we didn’t realize his pups have a secondary species,” Zenith said. “So if we’re right and he’s carrying a merchild, how do we prepare for the birth? Is there anything we urgently need?”

“When is he due?”

“His contractions began today,” Zenith said. “This is his second pup, and he just began hiccupping bubbles a few hours ago. We’re in a bit of a panic.”

“You said he’s a shifter.”