Page 132 of Knot Her Beta

“I’m just going to get some water.” I slip out into the hall.

Behind me, Grady’s conversation continues from the guest bedroom, which had been his before we moved him upstairs. Warmth creeps into his conversation as he talks to his mother about the book offer, and I’m so damn proud of him that I can barely stand it.

The front room is warmer than the office, afternoon light spilling through the tall windows and catching the dust motes that swirl in the still air. Leif sits on the sofa with a cold compress draped across the back of his neck, his periwinkle eyes fixed on a paperback book he hasn’t opened. The glass of water on the side table beads with condensation.

His usual crisp button-up hangs untucked over the soft joggers he swapped for his neat trousers after weeks of resisting the concession for the round swell of his belly.

I cross to him and bend, one hand braced on the sofa arm, the other smoothing over the curve of his stomach. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine, Em.” Leif’s hand covers mine. “Just hot.”

“You need anything?”

“Hey, that’s my job.” Jared appears from the kitchen doorway.

He carries a small plate of apple slices arranged in a neat fan, a dollop of peanut butter in the center, and a prenatal vitamin set in a tiny ceramic dish.

He sets them on the side table next to Leif’s water before he turns to me. “You’re supposed to be taking it easy, too. I got this.”

“I’m just getting water.”

“You’re hovering. I’m supposed to be the hoverer.” Jared’s hands move to his hips with a rumble of discontent. “You’re not allowed to fuss again until after the pup comes.”

“Since when?” I demand.

“Since you got pregnant. It’s in our marriage contract.”

“We’re not married,” I remind him.

“Only because you two got knocked up, and I refuse to rush the ceremony. But the second the pups are here, we’re planning a wedding, and it will be beautiful.”

Leif picks up the vitamin, dry-swallows it, and reaches for an apple slice. “Just give it up, Em. Until these pups come, there’s no stopping him. I’ve tried. Grady’s tried. The man is immune to reason.”

Jared’s grin spreads across his face, unchecked and entirely pleased with itself. The sea-glass green of his irises catches the light, and for a moment, he’s the young Alpha I first encountered in the pawn shop, looking to earn some quick cash so he could bring his cousin a cup of coffee on his first day of work.

“If you have so much energy,” I tell him, stealing an apple slice from Leif’s plate, “you should finish building that pack-and-play before someone trips over the pieces.”

“I have reinforcements coming.” A knock sounds on the front door, and he hurries toward it. “There they are now.”

The front door swings open, and Blake strides in with a toolbox in hand. Nathaniel follows, his khakis crisp despite it being Saturday, a measuring tape clipped to his belt. Holden brings with him a covered dish that fills the entryway with cinnamon, his round cheeks flushed from the walk over from the Homestead. Dominic comes last, his hands empty and ready to work.

“Okay, where are we starting?” Blake asks, setting the toolbox on the floor with a metallic clatter.

“Pack-and-play in the office,” I say. “It’s half-built already. Jared started it this morning.”

Holden heads over to Leif and me and whips the napkin off his dish to reveal a stack of still steaming cookies. “I brought snickerdoodles.”

Leif chucks his healthy apple slice back onto the plate and reaches for it with grabby hands.

“Hey,” Jared protests. “The book says⁠—”

“We’re not finishing this for you, Jared,” Nathaniel calls back. “Get in here!”

With a last huff at us, he hurries to join the others.

Their voices carry back, Blake’s easy laugh, Nathaniel’s measured questions, and Dominic’s exclamations over something he’s found.

I remain in the doorway, one hand braced on the frame, the other resting on the curve of my stomach. The baby shifts, a slow roll that has me flattening my palm over the fabric of my shirt.