33
Amy combs my wet hair behind me as I settle my nerves, cradling my stomach.
“How are you feeling now, babe? Any better after your shower?” Amy asks.
“Yes, besides some bloating.”
“Really? Do you feel any pressure or fullness like your ligaments are changing yet?”
My teeth chatter with nerves about tonight, and Amy stops brushing my hair to softly rub my shoulders.
“Is talking about pregnancy too much right now? Sorry.”
“No, it”s not. I”ve always wanted to tell you how it felt to be pregnant. I”m just... nervous. About tonight, and the possible-baby.”
Amy sighs, gazing at the ceiling. “Girl, I seriously can”t believe this still. You”ve wanted to carry a baby for as long as I can remember. I can’t let my mascara run already.” We laugh, and Amy returns to my hair. “But how did everything go with the Pack Doctor? You said everything was fine, but you didn”t update me with details.”
“I know, and I”m sorry I keep freaking out. But the Pack Doctor thinks I had implantation bleeding too... Which is a good sign.”
“Oh, my God! So the doctor still thinks you’re really pregnant?!”
My smile fades. “My hormone test results from the other day were still too low to be confirmed. She just told me an hour ago, and I couldn’t stop crying.”
Amy nods, stifling her excitement for me with shaky breaths. “Don’t give up hope yet, babe. But I’ll stop asking in the meantime. You’ll let me know when I’m going to be an aunt, though?”
My heart tugs with her words, threatening to make me bawl again. Amy shoots me an apologetic glance.
But I huff out a watery laugh. “Yes, A. I promise. And we don’t have to stop talking about it. Jenny and I agreed that whether I’m pregnant or not, avoiding the truth will only give power to my OCD. I really want to enjoy it, even if I’m tempted to stay cautious.”
Amy hugs me from behind, squishing her cheek against mine and smiling at me in the mirror above Noah”s dresser. “Alright, then, I have plenty more questions. How’s Noah with all this?”
Memories flood in of his hands on me this morning. I bite my lip, watching my cheeks flush in the reflection. “He’s... excited.”
Amy’s eyebrows raise. “Girl, I can smell your horniness from here. Pregnancy hormones must be something else. How many times did you have sex last night? You hardly replied to my texts.”
I giggle. “Well, I won’t lie... We literally can’t stop. I’ve never been this affectionate or lusty with anyone in my life.”
Amy and I laugh, but a sinking suspicion tells me we’re being watched. Glancing across the room, Amy yelps in surprise, and I jump in my seat at her reaction.
She grasps her heart. “Holy shit— Alpha Noah?! You’re not supposed to be in here, especially not with those feral eyes on your bride! Human superstitions are serious business, you know!”
Noah’s eyes are green, just like they were last night when I woke up with sex on the brain and jumped him. “I can’t help it. I can smell my mate needing me from the kitchen.”
As Noah barges in, Amy scurries out of the way, knowing better than to block an Alpha on the day of the full moon.
She waves her arms frantically to capture my attention. “You’re not going to tell him to leave or close his eyes? I thought you wanted to follow more human wedding traditions.”
My eyelids flutter as Noah’s fingertips brush my neck, sliding lower and lower until they stop at my bloated belly. I grip his pressed ceremonial shirt, crumpling it with my desperation.
I give Amy a guilty smile. “I can’t. I want him here. Just don’t let him see the dress.”
Amy cackles. “Why did I even try? I’m closing the door, then. Let me know when you want to get dressed.”
I can hardly mumble a thank you before Noah presses one knee into the chair beside my hip, hovering over me. Hot lips clash against mine, just as feverish to feel my touch with a gripping palm on my lower back.
But Noah pulls back, interrupting our makeout. “Omega, you’re shaking. What do you need?”
His eyes shift to yellow.
I bite back a smile at my doting Alpha. “I don”t know. I”m a bit nervous.”
“And I”ve still got you. I”ll be by your side all night.” He runs the cold tip of his nose down my cheek, grazing my neck until he gives my mark a delicate bite.
I jolt, knocking off my wrapped towel with a squeeze of my thighs.
Biting my lip, I peek up at Noah. “Oops...”
With a hard swallow, Noah only spends half a second gazing at my bare breasts before stroking my sore nipples. I flinch, gripping my breasts.
“Oh! Don’t—”
“Fuck, sorry. Did that hurt? Oh, Goddess, you’re so pregnant.”
I burst into laughter, shaking his arm. “Noah...”
He growls at me, and I laugh even harder. But Noah is determined to tease me, his fingertips gliding up my inner thighs until a shiver runs through me. Lapping over my mark, Noah takes it a step further, circling his fingers over my oversensitive clit.
At the sound of my longing whimper, Noah’s jaw clenches. “Fuck. No, we need to wait. I want everyone to hear that beautiful voice.”
I shiver. Any and all nerves evaporate in an instant.
Noah’s jaw tenses like he wants to pounce on me. I want him to look at me like this all night—in front of everyone. And I’m going to make sure of it.
I lean back, allowing him to get a good look at my swollen, ever-growing breasts. “Maybe I should help you now, so that it takes you longer to knot tonight. Get you warmed up and ready.”
Noah purrs, his chest heaving as I slide off the chair. As I kneel in front of him, he groans. “Feisty isn’t a strong enough word for you, Omega. You’re going to kill me.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
Dropping to his knees, he scoops me into his lap through a heavy kiss. As he grinds into me until I let out a soft moan, Noah grins. “No. Don’t stop. You’re right; I want to take my time with you later. Maybe enough to get my cute little Alpha to come out to play too.”
My heart flips, but my wolf rolls over in our bond, enthralled by Noah’s challenge. Noah’s rough growl loses its playfulness, unleashing a wave of heat through my chest. I settle my open lips against his, breathing in his every exhale as I free his shaft from his ceremonial slacks. Noah sucks in a sharp gasp at my touch. The soft, desirous sound squeezes my core.
Taking his length into both hands, I shudder as he huffs into my mouth, gripping my bare hips for more. I work him from base to tip, giving the dripping head extra attention until Noah whimpers into my throat.
As his hand slips between our bodies, skating far past my lower abdomen, he purrs through my kiss at what he finds.
“You’re dying for some love down here, aren’t you?” He toys with the wetness between my legs, already lubricated enough to make slick sounds throughout the room. “Even after I mated you into the headboard all night?”
His golden eyes shine so bright that I fawn for him, exposing my neck.
As his fingers softly pulse against my dripping core, his tongue on my mark brings me to the edge.
But Noah isn’t satisfied with this, leaning over me until my bare back meets the icy wooden floor. His burning tongue keeps me flushed and writhing as his fingertips stimulate my inner wall, curling over and over again until my hips squirm against the wood.
“Noah—” I gasp, struggling to contain my breath. “You feel so good, no matter how many times we do this—”
When my back arches, squeezing his fingers inside me, Noah lets out a helpless whimper.
“Fuck. My gorgeous— Oh, shit—” Thrusting deeper into my palm, Noah”s muscles ripple above me until he comes across my chest. With shaking breaths, Noah”s full focus turns on me. “Omega, look what you do to my body.”
His piercing stare warms my cheeks as I writhe on the edge, his fingers beating faster and faster.
He”s staring deep into my eyes. And soon, everyone will be staring at us.
“Ah!” I drop my head back, allowing the sensation of my mate inside me to overcome me. Noah pounds his palm against my clit as he thrusts his fingers inside me, massaging out a heavy orgasm while my legs squirm beyond my control.
As I continue to moan through every breath, shivers run up and down my body. But my groin aches for more as Noah eats me alive with his gaze.
Even as he delicately cleans my chest with my dropped towel, his yellow eyes tell me he feels the same.
“Good thing that was just a warm-up,” I mutter.
Noah chuckles as he drags his nose up and down my neck, squeezing our chests together until I hum in delight.
But then he breathes a deep lungful of my neck to analyze my odd scent—just like he’s been doing all week. I give up on reassuring him before I even try, allowing him to do his thing as I catch my breath beneath him.
Except this time is different.
Noah’s muscles flex taut beneath my hands until his wolf has me effectively pinned.
“Oh—” He sniffs me again, digging his nose into my neck as he breathes faster and faster. “Oh!”
I flinch at his ticklish attack, unable to keep from laughing. “Noah, you big puppy! What’s going on?!”
“No, Omega, I’m serious—”
I laugh even harder as his wolf smashes his head into mine in our bond, his happy tail zipping every direction like it wants to fly off his butt.
But Noah’s wolf eyes regain my focus, his eager hands tightening by the second. “Aliya, I promised to stop saying this until it was true, but you’re pregnant. You really are.”
My head spins so hard that I have to grip Noah’s shoulder, my nails digging in on their own. “Noah, I’m tired of repeating myself—”
“No, really!” He looks deep into my eyes, unable to catch his breath. Then he breaks into a gushing smile. “Your hormones hit another level. Like, way more than enough to make a test positive. You have to believe me.”
Before I can speak, Noah digs into his pocket with shaking fingers, pulling out a crumpled pregnancy test box, smushed like it’s been stepped on a couple times.
I burst into hearty giggles. “Oh, my God, what did you do to that thing?”
My racing heart makes me lightheaded as Noah pulls me to my feet.
But I don’t have to worry about falling on my way to the bathroom; Noah hoists me into his arms, making me shriek in laughter as he dashes through the living room.
Amy’s jaw drops as Noah carries me down the hallway—butt-naked and laughing too hard to speak. “I’m not going to ask!”
By the time we reach the toilet, my heavy laughter threatens to empty my bladder without my permission.
I wave frantically at Noah. “Oh, no, oh, God! Give me the test before I pee!”
“Shit—” Noah scrambles to open the pregnancy test box, yanking on the top so forcefully that he accidentally ejects the stick across the room. It comes to a spinning stop against the bathtub.
I gasp, dancing with my knees pinched together. “Noah!”
He scrambles on all fours after the test, thrusting it into my hands with the sharpest athleticism I’ve ever seen.
I pee on the stick just in time. For a solid few seconds, Noah and I stare at each other, our brains still catching up with the rapid succession of chaos.
But as my sudden, bellowing laughter disrupts my peeing, we have to lean on each other as we laugh so hard that we fall silent.
Although, I get the feeling Noah’s eyes are watering from something else. He bounces on his heels in a squat, hardly able to wait for me to finish the test, let alone for the results to show. My heart aches with love for him. He really wants this baby.
I groan. “You are so damn cute! Your baby might kill me if they’re even a fraction as adorable as you.”
This warps Noah’s eyebrows even further, sending him into full tears. “Omega, t-that”s so sweet to think about—”
“Oh, my love...”
As we huddle in for a kiss, our lips wobble against each other as our tears combine against our cheeks.
Burrowing my fingers into his hair, I kiss him between deep scratches over his scalp. Tell me what’s going through your mind.
Noah shakes his head, breaking our kiss to rub his eyes with a shy laugh. “I-I’m just— I’m so happy for us. Happy doesn’t describe it. After all we’ve been through— After what you’ve been through... Goddess, Aliya, this is just—”
I can feel my face warp into the heaviest ugly cry. We erupt into laughter again.
Noah whines at my contorted face in his palms. “My sweet Omega. I love you so damn much.”
“I love you too, my shy Alpha. I really do.” I lean over the toilet, throwing my arms around him and squeezing as hard as I can.
With a fresh towel around me and Noah’s mussed clothes reorganized, Noah and I fall into a silent, rocking trance, holding each other in the frigid bathroom as we wait for the test to reveal itself. He drags his fingers through my damp hair from root to tip, each strand cascading down my back like gentle raindrops. My eyes flutter shut.
Noah kisses the top of my head. His deep whisper rumbles against my cheek. “No matter what happens, I’m so grateful we’re here together.”
I have to breathe deeper to keep up with my throbbing heartbeat, especially as my instincts scream louder than ever.
Gazing up at Noah, I whimper through fresh tears. “I think I really am pregnant, Noah. I’ve been too scared to admit it because I want it to be true so badly, but I think you were right. Deep down, I felt it too: a little drop of something different in our bond. It’s been there since my last day of school—the second you mated me.”
He stares at me for a long minute, cradling my head in one palm as his heart races faster and faster against my ear.
Noah releases me in a rush. “Fuck, I don’t care if it’s too early. I’m looking at the damn test.”
I bite my thumb as Noah snatches the test from the countertop, drawing it only a few inches from his face. He doesn’t speak for a long time, green irises flickering between the result and the test key.
I clutch fistfuls of my towel, afraid to move. “What does it say?”
I can hardly breathe as I wait for Noah’s response, his eyes still darting like he’s struggling to grasp what he sees. I genuinely can’t tell if that’s good or bad, and I’m too scared to ask.
Finally, Noah mutters, “I-it’s really faint, but—”
Noah bites his lip, shaking his head.
I tug on his wrist until he shows me the results.
It’s faint, but it’s clear enough to me: there’s no way a negative test would have two lines.
I choke out a heavy sob as I meet Noah’s eyes, but I’m not the only one; his palm covers his lips as his shoulders shake through tears.
Noah bends to wrap his arms around my waist, rubbing his wet cheek against my chest.
But then he drops to his knees, steadying my hips in his hands. As he kisses my belly through my towel, I suck in a sharp, sobbing breath.
Cradling his head to my stomach, I’m stunned as I meet my eyes in the mirror. They’re a hot, irritated red and my nose is swollen, but I look so in love.
Dropping to my knees with Noah, I smash my salty lips to his, inhaling his hot breath.
As he holds me, I can’t stop smiling, knowing tonight will only get better. “The best days of my life have all been with you, Noah.”
His smile breaks our kiss. We rub our foreheads together as we hold each other.
By the time we can stop crying, Noah and I have done our best to splash our faces with water and untangle my frazzled hair. When we finally make our reappearance in the living room, Amy’s eyes widen when she sees my irresistible grin.
“You two look like you’ve been through hell. But happy hell?”
Bursting into laughter, I reveal my positive test to Amy’s eager hands. “You’re going to be an aunt, A.”
Amy screams, sending Kira and Yasmine rushing into the room.
“What’s wrong?!” Kira asks.
Amy blubbers over Kira, gripping her arms. “I’m going to be an aunt, babe! So are you!”
Within seconds, Yasmine is playfully slapping Noah’s arm as he covers his bright red cheeks, Amy and Kira have me in a hug sandwich, and Rainn is sobbing happy tears in her mom’s arms.
I brush my fingertips along my aching abdomen, my cheeks hurting from smiling.
I love absolutely everyone here, even this little speck of our baby beneath my fingertips.