Chapter 35 Mable
Mable
“You can’t complain!” I laughed as I placed the box on the counter.
My pack trailed behind me, Jasper bounding ahead. Devin was glaring at me, but I wasn’t worried in the slightest, even if it was him I was directing my words at.
My surly, sweet, overprotective alpha.
“It’s a lot of sugar. I thought you were supposed to be careful with that. We could eat them…” He trailed off, looking torn.
My hands rested on my hips as I glared right back at him, tilting my head. “I know you’re not suggesting I don’t eat my own gender reveal cupcakes.”
“Dev, pick your battles.” Jasper laughed as he grabbed a few bottles of water and placed them on the kitchen island next to the cupcakes, which was, admittedly, a good idea.
“She grew the baby, don’t complain about some cupcakes. Otherwise, she will go feral on your ass,” Saint reasoned.
“Hear! Hear!” Percy laughed, rubbing my lower back lightly.
Devin threw his hands up in the air. “Well, shit, it looks like I’m outnumbered!”
I cackled with laughter, opening the box. “Yes, you are, and this pack is a democracy.”
“Dictatorship is looking awfully appealing right now,” he muttered, though a smile played on his lips.
I pursed my lips, narrowing my eyes at him. “Your dictatorship would fail as soon as you tried to keep me away from sour gummy candy. We’d mutiny.”
His brows rose. “That’s what will incite the riots, will it? In that case, I think it’s called a coup.”
My nod was overdramatic, but it got the point across. “Whatever it’s called, nothing comes between a pregnant omega and her sweets. So don’t even try it, alpha.”
“I once suggested we have a sandwich before cake, and I swear she nearly castrated me.” Saint laughed, handing out napkins.
My face flushed. “I was craving it, and you were delaying my satisfaction!”
He leaned in close, his strawberry jam scent almost overwhelming. “But sometimes delayed satisfaction is the best.”
Cheeks heating enough to bake a cake, I ducked my chin, rolling my lips between my teeth. I was pregnant and craving all sorts of things these days, and Saint was not helping me focus on the cupcakes. When I looked back up at him, he wagged his eyebrows at me. I couldn’t help but giggle.
“Oh, really?” I asked. “So, I guess you’d be happy with a little more delayed… satisfaction on your end, then?”
Saint’s face dropped, and he held up his hands, shaking his head. “Now, now. I didn’t say that!” He quickly backtracked as the rest of our pack mates howled with laughter.
The comfort of the kitchen and the scent of cupcakes were enough to have us all feeling a little goofy, and then I looked down at the treats waiting for us, my stomach going all wonky on me.
“Hey, you okay? You look a little green.” Devin was right beside me, taking my elbow.
I nodded, sitting down in the chair next to the island. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just…I was thinking about how real this makes it. We’ll have a genuine idea of who’s cooking in here.”
Looking down at my belly, I placed a hand on it, feeling subtle movements beneath, like a hello.
The guys surrounded me, and I could sense their gazes on my belly, all the attention focused on me. Saint and Jasper smiled, placing their hands on mine, and Jasper was the first to break the silence. Of course.
“I think it would be awesome to have a little dude to play hockey with, but a girl could be cool, too, because we’d have an excuse for more stuffies. Not gonna lie, I love a good cuddle with one.”
“We all know that, dude.” Devin rolled his eyes, playfully shoving at Jasper.
“You know a girl can play hockey with you, too, Jasper.” I eyed him, and his eyes went wide with sincere realization. The smile that came next was adorable.
“Ooh, right. Awesome. Stuffies and time on the ice. This is great.”
“We don’t know yet, Jasper.” Percy knocked him in the shoulder. “And I’m pretty sure stuffies are a given with any kid. Hell, I’ll just be happy that they’re healthy. Ten fingers, ten toes.”
“Of course, that’s what we all want,” Saint added. “But I’ll admit that the idea of keeping a girl safe from asshole alphas does sound like a lot of stress.”
I’d been thinking about that too. There was no way to know if she’d be an omega if we did have a daughter, but it didn’t alleviate the worry about boys being horrible to her.
“Yes, very true. But boys kick the crap out of each other sometimes. Hell, do you remember when you were young? How much of a handful you were?” Devin eyed Saint, then went around the circle, getting looks of understanding. “Yeah, exactly.”
“Percy has a valid point.” I squeezed Devin’s hand. “I just want a healthy baby. I’ll be there for whoever they are, regardless, but health issues? That’s so much on such a little person.”
“Agreed.” All the guys spoke at the same time, and I smiled.
“All right, we’ve stalled long enough. Time for cupcakes.”
With a sigh, Devin picked up one for me first, then passed the rest out to the guys surrounding me.
We were all in this little huddle, and I peeled back the wrapper, my fingers shaking a little.
I was nervous, excited, and seriously hungry for something sweet.
My alphas did the same, and Devin counted us down.
“Three, two, one.”
We all took a bite of the cake, and it tasted so good, I nearly forgot about the point of all this.
My eyes were even closed. But when I opened them, I looked up at Devin, knowing that aside from me, his nerves were the worst. There was the tiniest dot of pink frosting on his lip.
I reached out and wiped it off, showing him with a grin.
“It’s pink.” His brows rose right to his hairline as the others all began to gasp, then hoot and holler. “That means…”
“A girl.” I looked down at my cupcake, seeing the whipped pink filling inside it. “It’s a girl.”
For a few seconds, all I did was stare down at the damn thing with a stupid grin on my face, but the excitement and joy built up until I was fighting back tears. “We have a little girl!”
I was surrounded by alphas in seconds, squeezing and squishing me with hugs.
“Hell yeah, we do!” Jasper called out.
“A baby girl. So cool.” Saint patted Jasper on the back, looking from him to Percy, who smiled at me with glassy eyes.
“Mable, it’s a girl. There’s a baby girl in there.” Percy’s voice shook slightly, and then we were both laughing through happy tears.
Devin stared down at my stomach, his expression a little grim as he said, “Thank fuck we have a security team.”
I laughed, but he was certainly not surprising anyone with how protective he was feeling. If he was overbearing with me, I could only imagine how bad he’d be with a little girl.
I patted his shoulder, hoping to offer some comfort. “She’ll be in good hands. I’m sure of it. Just don’t go doing that thing where you never let her out of the house. It’s the 21st century. We need to let her be her own person.”
“She can be anyone she wants,” Devin agreed. “But I’m going to teach her self-defense. Just in case.”
The room erupted with laughter, though it wasn’t a half-bad idea, and I sat back in my chair, happily munching on my cupcake—sugar and spice and everything nice. We have a baby girl coming soon, and I couldn’t wait.