19. Eli
Chapter 19
Eli
K ennedy's breathing rapidly increased as panic started to overtake her. “Oh, shit,” she murmured, tears filling her eyes that I quickly wiped away.
“Hey, it's okay,” I soothed. “I know this is scary, and fast, but I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Another baby. Like, how the hell am I going to look after another baby when I can barely look after myself and Charlotte? This apartment is tiny!”
“We’ll get a bigger place. We can get one together, or maybe even move you and Charlotte into the pack house. I think it's definitely overdue that you meet my pack now.”
Kennedy’s eyes widened. “I'm pregnant with an alpha whose pack I haven't even fully met yet. Oh my God, how could I have been so stupid? Am I just ridiculously fertile or something?”
I had to hold back my smile at her rambling. She was stressed. That was understandable. When it had dawned on me that she needed a pregnancy test, I hadn't been stressed in the least. I probably should have been more concerned than I was, but in fact, I was excited. The idea of being tied to Kennedy forever was oddly pleasing to my alpha.
Because now, no matter what happened, Kennedy and I would be in each other's lives forever.
We were going to have a baby.
There was no way in hell I was going to let Kennedy struggle, like she had with Charlotte. I was going to be by her side the entire time.
“Kennedy, I promise you, we will make this work.”
“Babies are expensive!” Kennedy growled, running her hand through her hair. “I struggled so much…”
“I'm in the last few months of my PhD. I'll be working a good job soon, and I will be able to help. This isn't going to be like your pregnancy with Char. I'm going to be here every step of the way and, more importantly, my family will. My entire pack is my family. Between the lot of us, we have mothers, we have sisters, we have brothers, we have cousins. You have a village.”
Kennedy sniffed. “I want to trust you…”
“All you can do is give me time to prove myself, and I fully plan to. Now, I haven't been through pregnancy before, so what are the first steps? I'm assuming we need to talk to your doctor. We need to figure out your schedule…”
Kennedy’s eyes started to fill with tears again. “I'm in the final year of my master’s. I'm so close to finishing.”
I nodded. “And we will do everything we can to make sure you do finish.”
She turned to look at me in surprise. “You don't expect me to stop studying for the baby?”
A disbelieving laugh escaped my chest. “Kennedy, I know how important your studies are to you. I would never dream of telling you to stop. If any alpha tells you to stop, grab a kitchen knife and stick him in the gut.”
Kennedy chuckled, the sound music to my ears.
I had been so singularly driven when it came to my goals of completing my PhD to get a good job to then court an omega. Since meeting Kennedy, my priorities had started to shift, but now they were in complete disarray. Nothing was more important than our future now. We were going to have a child. I was going to be a father .
I was going to do absolutely everything to make sure that Kennedy and the baby and Charlotte were comfortable and taken care of.
My family was the opposite of what I wanted to model my future family on. I was the result of a couple who wanted nothing more than to focus on their careers. Both my parents were betas, and when they realized I was an alpha, they had discouraged me from trying to find a pack.
Being in a pack was inherently selfless. You cared for another, looked out for one another. My parents only looked out for themselves.
“I have a little over five months left of my degree,” Kennedy said as I lightly rubbed her back in a soothing gesture. “By month six with Charlotte, I wasn’t able to do anything. I was so exhausted from working part-time, I had to put my classwork to the side. I'll be nearly eight months along by the time I’m supposed to be graduating.”
“Well, you're not going to have to work this time around,” I said.
“But I have Char to look after,” she pointed out.
I chuckled. “I don't think you have to worry about that. Regardless of whether you want to date my pack, they are family. Micha’s mother is feral at the idea of grandbabies and would relish helping you with Charlotte. That is, if you’re comfortable with that.”
I had no doubt in my mind that, if she was comfortable with my pack, then she would have no issues when it came to childcare or helping hands. Sure, my pack could be a bit immature at times, but they were all good alphas at heart.
Kennedy sighed, leaning in to my touch. “I guess I'm going to have to meet them soon, aren't I? When are you going to tell them? I still don't really believe it myself,” she admitted, looking down at the test again. “Maybe it's a false positive?”
“Considering how sick you've been, I don't think it is. As far as my pack mates go, I'm going to tell them as soon as possible, if that's okay with you.”
Kennedy nodded. “Like you said, they’re family. They should know. God, I'm turning their lives upside down, aren't I? They didn't ask for this. They’ve never had sex with me, so having a baby added to the pack against their choice is just cruel. Two babies, in fact!”
She was starting to ramble again, so I interrupted her. “Hey, don’t worry. They're not like that. Before we go making any concrete plans, we should just have a meal together. Maybe you could come to the pack house, and we’ll just get to know each other a bit. We've got a few months.”
Taking a deep breath, Kennedy nodded. “Okay, that sounds like a plan.” She yawned loudly.
“You need to go get some more rest while I prepare dinner and get Little Miss her favorite smashed bananas to eat when she gets home.”
“You’re too good for me.” Kennedy sighed, kissing my cheek.
“Nope, it’s the other way around. I'm going to spend the rest of our days proving that to you.”
Twenty minutes later, Kennedy was fast asleep, and I was in the kitchen, prepping some vegetables for dinner.
Picking up my phone, I looked at the time. My pack mates would all be home now, so I took a deep breath, steeling myself before dialing.
“Well, if it isn’t our illustrious pack mate!” Charlie crowed as he answered the phone. “We thought you had gotten lost in the omega and forgotten about us.”
“Hey, Eli, ignore dumbass,” Micha said. Naturally, Micha had put me on speaker. “How’s Kennedy and the tiny terror?”
“Good. Uh, I need to speak to you guys. It’s serious. Where’s Storm?”
My pack went quiet for a moment before Micha spoke. “What’s up? Storm isn’t home, god knows where he is.”
I sighed. I would have to talk to Storm later.
“Kennedy is pregnant.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment until Charlie asked, “With your baby?”
“No, the fucking Virgin Mary's baby. Yes, of course, it's my child.”
“Dude…that’s awesome!” Micha shouted. “Guys, you won't believe how cute Kennedy’s daughter is. This baby is going to be so freaking adorable!”
My eyebrows rose as I absorbed his response. He was taking it shockingly well.
“I would have told you guys in person, but I need to stay here right now because she's not doing too well.”
“Can we do anything to help?” Charlie asked.
“I can bring groceries again,” Micha chipped in.
“No, I picked up groceries earlier. I just wanted to let you guys know. Given the situation, I think it's best that she meets the rest of the pack sooner rather than later.”
I hadn't admitted it to Kennedy, but I wanted her to like the pack more than anything. I could see her getting along with them easily.
“Is she okay, or is it just normal pregnancy stuff she's going through?” Charlie asked.
“She's told me about her pregnancy with Charlotte, and it sounds like that was pretty brutal, so it seems normal for her. I’m thinking I could bring her to the pack house for lunch tomorrow? Will everyone be there?”
“We’ll both be here. I'm not too sure about Storm. I think he's got a lot going on at the moment. I'll give him a call and tell him he needs to get his ass here,” Charlie said.
“I know this is going to be stressful. It's a huge change for all of us.”
Charlie hummed. “It is and it isn't. Everything I've heard about this Kennedy is good. It's not like she's some random puck bunny that Storm knocked up. If that happened, I would freak out.”
I nodded, even though they couldn't see it. It was actually surprising that Storm’s manwhore ways hadn't caught up with him yet.
“I'll order some decent food,” Charlie said. “Let's not subject the poor pregnant woman to our cooking on the first day here. Is there anything she likes in particular?”
“From what she's told me in the past, her cravings were apples and steak, and she absolutely loves Italian food,” I informed him.
“Okay, that gives us plenty of options. I will be able to come up with some food. Eli, man. I'm excited for you.”
“For us,” I said.