Page 59 of The Pregnant Wolf Omega Next Door

“Good.” Zenith pulled off his shirt and used it to dry Emre’s cheeks. He made sure Abbie was settling down fine in the nest. Emre was slowly relaxing, running his hands over the different textures of the pillows. Zenith moved the snacks so they were within Emre’s reach. “I’m going to bring Buttwheel up; I left it out on the front steps. It’s probably missing you.”

“Sounds good—” Emre began. Then he gave a soft cry, hunching over his belly. “Fuck. I think my water broke.”

14

THEN THERE WERE FOUR

HE’S GOING INTO LABOR.

Zenith grewhot and cold all over. Alarms blared in his head. Fuck, why hadn’t he read up on wolf shifter labor? Why hadn’t he prepared more?

“What do I do?” he definitely did not squeak.

“Towels on floor,” Emre panted. “Put me on towels.”

Zenith laid down some towels in a large square, adding more layers to make them softer to lie on.

When he turned back to the nest, he found that Emre had shifted back into a wolf.

Ever so carefully, he scooped Emre into his arms and laid him on the towels. Emre was all smooth grey fur. Zenith ran his hand comfortingly down his back, then his round belly.

“Thanks,” Emre said.

“Would you like to have Abbie down here with you?” She was starting to howl in the nest, small and high-pitched, and completely adorable.

“For now, yes,” Emre said.

Zenith scooped up Abbie—so tiny in his hands—and set her next to her dad. She looked at Zenith and howled in his face.

“Gods, you’re wonderful,” Zenith said fervently. He threw his head back and howled along with her.

When he looked down, he found Emre staring at him, wide-eyed. Was his wolfy face darker than usual? Wolves didn’t blush, did they?

Before he could follow that train of thought, Abbie grew bored and squirmed away. She tried to climb all over Emre, over his face onto his shoulder. Then she tumbled off his back and trotted around to try scaling his face again. Emre huffed and closed his eyes, patiently letting her.

“Awww,” Zenith murmured.

Emre grinned. “Thanks for setting up everything. This is... really comfortable.”

“Really? It’s just some towels on the floor.” Not what Zenith would give an omegain labor.

“You’re letting me stay in your very safe mansion. I’ve been in different places, but none of them were locked behind a huge-ass gate. And enchantments.”

Zenith perked up, pleased. “You could sense that?”

“A little.” Emre nodded. “You have some really nice protections around your lair.”

“I have to keep it safe. Keep you safe too.”

Emre ducked his head. “Thanks for bringing us here.”

“Anytime, sweetheart.”

Maybe it was because the mansion was so quiet—he heard the skip in Emre’s heartbeat.

Was that from him calling Emre a sweetheart? It felt familiar, like it had happened before. In bed. Zenith scritched behind Emre’s ears, grinning when the wolf shivered.

Emre gasped and tensed, and Zenith panicked.