35. Hazel
Chapter 35
Hazel
C hewing on my pile of rabbit food, I glared at my notes.
It was midterms, and I had so many tests and papers due.
It didn’t help that I was in constant discomfort. My sweet little peanut was squishing all my organs, giving me back pain, and making my nipples throb with pain.
To add insult to injury, the guys had made it their mission to feed me a variety of garden clippings. A prime example—they had me eating a kale salad while studying.
What I really wanted was donuts.
And fries.
And anything deep fried and covered with sugar.
Not kale salad.
Salad was amazing… in moderation.
The sad salad had been lovingly packed by one of the guys for my study session at the library. I had insisted on getting out of the house, thinking a change of scenery would do me good.
Only, I had forgotten just how uncomfortable the plastic library chairs were. I had been spoiled by the luxurious, over-stuffed furniture at the pack house.
My phone pinged, and I reached for it in my handbag on the floor. Leaving it down there had been a mistake, since the movement made my back scream in pain.
It was my mother. Again.
Groaning, I rejected the call. She had been relentless in her attempts to call me over the last few days. Her anger wasn’t something I particularly wanted to endure when I was tired, cranky, and sore.
My father hadn’t even bothered to try contacting me, but that wasn’t exactly abnormal behavior for him. Instead of answering my mother, I texted Seb.
Hazel:
Can you pick me up after your next class? I can’t spend another minute studying.
Seb:
Sure thing, my class is done in twenty. Ice cream?
Hazel:
Why are you so perfect?
Seb:
It’s my cross to bear.
I snorted lightly to myself before throwing my phone back into my bag, slamming the textbook closed and grabbing my things.
Wandering out of the library, I headed to the small kiosk outside, grabbing a decaf tea to warm my hands in the frigid February air. Sitting on a bench, I let my mind wander, slowly sipping my tea while I waited for Seb.
Despite the physical discomfort, I had never been happier. The baby turned, and my hand rested lightly on my bump. It was like my early days of pregnancy had flown by in the blink of an eye. In a few months, I would be a mother.
I had even started a list of items I wanted for the nursery. It hadn’t taken long for the wonderful world of themes to absorb me. There were so many options, and my inner omega was having a party trying to decide what to do.
For the first few months, the baby would be living with me in my nest, with its cloud themes. After that, I was considering some sort of fruit or nature theme for the nursery.
The guys had decided that, after finals, we could do a little shopping trip to figure out exactly what I wanted.
Luckily, having so many pack mates had its uses. There was no way in hell they were going to allow me to assemble a single piece of furniture.
I was more than okay with that.
We already had so many things Roman’s mother had bought for us, but I still had an itch to go get more. Omega instincts during pregnancy were brutal. All I wanted to do was buy more things, acquire more baby items and hoard them for when my child arrived.
“Hazelnut,” Seb’s voice called behind me.
“Hey.” I turned to greet him. He was wearing his favorite jeans and a pull-over hoodie.
“What are you doing out here? You should’ve waited inside. It would have been warmer in there.”
I grimaced. “There was no way in hell I could stay sitting in those plastic seats any longer. My entire body is aching, and Peanut won’t stop wriggling.” I sighed, rubbing my belly.
“They’re really getting active, aren’t they?” he said as he gently took my bag off me.
“Oh, yeah,” I agreed, grabbing his hand and placing it on my stomach. Even through the thick layer of knit sweater, Sebastian’s eyes lit up as he felt Peanut move.
“Fuck, I’ll never get used to that.” His voice was awestruck as he looked down at my bump.
There was no hiding my changing body anymore. It seemed like, in the space of a week, my bump had gone from small and easily concealable to gigantic. The guys found it adorable, but I was struggling because my center of gravity had changed, and I was now as stable as a baby deer on ice.
“ You’ll never get used to it? I’m the one with a living creature rolling around inside me!” I laughed, wrapping my arms around his waist and hugging him, inhaling his cherry wine scent.
The effect was instantaneous. The scents of my pack mates could relax me and make my entire body feel at ease, even in the most uncomfortable situations. Next to a member of my pack, my back pain felt just a little less nasty.
“Home?” Seb asked, pulling away.
“I believe someone offered me ice cream?” I peered up at him. “Now let me tell you, if you back out on getting the ice cream, I will not be responsible for the downright violent things I will do to you.”
“Your threats are somewhat empty, considering you aren’t even five feet tall.”
“I may be small, but I can still cause damage. And if there aren’t any trees that I can push you out of, I can always make do with a window.” I leveled him with a glare.
He held his hands up in mock surrender, unable to contain his laughter. “In that case, I guess we’re going for ice cream! Do you want me to get the truck?”
I cocked my head for a moment, considering my options. Our usual ice cream place wasn’t far from campus. “I think a walk would do me good. The doctors tell me at every checkup that I need to be doing light exercise.”
“Okay. But if it’s too much, let me know.”
I nodded. I would happily enjoy some pain from walking in order to get my hands on triple chocolate ice cream.
We slowly started making our way down the street toward the ice cream parlor. Our pace was exceptionally slow because I was starting to waddle more than walk.
Seb turned to me. “Oh! Guess who called me today?”
“The Pope?”
“Unfortunately, no. Your mother.”
My footsteps faltered as I turned to look at him. “Why the hell would she be calling you? She hates you!”
“I know!” he cried, laughing. “I didn’t bother to answer, but I can imagine just how much pain dialing my number must have caused her. Is she still trying to call you?”
“Yep. I got two phone calls while I was studying and I rejected both. Thank god she doesn’t know where I live. I wouldn’t put it past her to turn up.”
“I could see her doing that. Maybe she would make a family occasion out of it and bring your fiancé?” He snorted.
The guys found it both hilarious and horrifying that, thanks to my mother, many people thought I was engaged to some greasy businessman’s son. While they continued to make jokes about it at my expense, they were all livid about the situation as well.
Collectively, they had decided that I would never be alone with my family again, which was fine by me, because I wasn’t exactly a fan of my parents, anyway. Such overbearing behavior would normally make my skin itch, but from them, I just felt comforted and protected.
Omega hormones were powerful things.
Speaking of hormones, as soon as I realized I was pregnant, I’d stopped taking my suppressants. I had naively believed that all my omega instincts had come out during my heat, and there was nothing new to experience.
Boy was I wrong.
I had thought I was particular about my nest before. Now, I was downright obsessive over it. If a single blanket was out of place, I couldn’t sit still. I had spent hours rearranging one pillow until it was angled at just the right position. One. Pillow.
It was part of the reason I’d delayed working on the nursery, because I knew I was going to be a complete demon when it came to it. We hadn’t opted to find out the gender of the baby, so I was looking at neutral colors, probably green or yellow, but I was having trouble finding the exact correct shade to paint the walls that wouldn’t make me furious every time I looked at it.
“Hey, are you okay?” Seb asked as we walked. “You’ve gone quiet.”
“I’m sorry. I was thinking about the nursery and got lost in my thoughts again.”
“That’s understandable. There are a lot of decisions to be made. Only, you nearly walked past our stop.”
I glanced to the side, and sure enough, we were outside of our favorite ice cream shop.
“I can’t allow myself to be distracted from ice cream!” I declared in mock horror.
After telling Seb what I wanted, he went and ordered for us while I sat down in a booth. Standing on my feet for too long was becoming unbearable, and I still had months to go.
“There were two kinds of triple chocolate, so I got you both,” Seb said as he placed two cups in front of me. “One is a white chocolate ice cream with add-ins, and the other is milk chocolate.”
I looked at the two cups hungrily, unsure which to go for first. Seb laughed at my conundrum as he took his seat opposite me with his mint chocolate chip cone.
“You chose right.” I nodded sagely, scooping a spoonful of each and happily demolishing them.
“So… I have something to tell you,” Sebastian said in between licks of ice cream.
The use of his tongue would have been overtly sexual if I were paying attention, but I was far more concerned with consuming the chocolatey goodness in front of me.
“You’re secretly a prince, and you’re going to whisk me away to your palace in a foreign country?” I asked.
Seb gave me a deadpan look. “We have enough royals in this pack with Kingswood, thank you.”
“Damn. Oh well, a girl can dream. Sorry, what were you saying?” He kept his eye on his frozen treat, and I knew him well enough to tell the boy was nervous. I lightly kicked him under the table. “Spill, Coombs.”
“How would you feel if I transferred universities?” he blurted out.
I froze.
Transferred universities? To where?
How far away would he be going?
Was he leaving me?
My chest started to burn with panic as I gaped at him, my heart stuttering. “W-where?”
“Avalon,” he admitted.
My breathing eased. “That’s just down the road!”
“…yes?” he replied, clearly confused. Tears welled up in my eyes, and a look of panic crossed his face. “I don’t have to go, Hazelnut! Don’t cry!”
“I thought you were going to move hours away,” I admitted in a watery voice. Stupid pregnancy hormones.
“What—Hazelnut, no! I would never, oh gosh, please stop crying!”
“I’m trying!” I sobbed. The floodgates had opened, and now I was a weepy, blubbering omega.
Several of the people at nearby tables turned to look at us with concerned expressions on their faces.
One woman, who was having ice cream with her two young children, looked like she was about to say something, so before she could, I blurted out, “Pregnancy hormones!”
She closed her mouth with a nod, as if to say she completely understood.
I turned back to Seb. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you apologize! I should have worded that better. You need to get one thing through your skull, Hazelnut. I am not going anywhere. I would never , in a million years, leave you or our child.”
I sniffled. “So, you’re thinking of transferring to Avalon? What about hockey?”
“Roman talked to his coach. He knows I’m a good player and will make a special request to the university to help me get transferred mid semester.. I still have to get accepted to the university itself, but if I could get into Hawking, I can definitely get into Avalon. If I switch, then I won’t be playing against my pack mates.”
My tears dried up as I thought about what that would mean. These alphas had been enemies on the ice for years, and now they would be playing together.
Because they loved me .
And because we were a family and a pack.
It was a strange revelation.
“I like it... Should I transfer too? I don’t really want to be all alone at Hawking. If I was at Avalon, we would all be together!” My face scrunched up as I considered. “My parents have too much sway at Hawking, anyway, so I’d rather be somewhere else. Though I want to take time off after the baby and planned to sit out for a semester. What do you think I should do?”
His face broke out into a grin. “You know what, Hazelnut? I think that you transferring just might be doable!”
“When do you transfer?”
“In a week or so. I’ll be home for the guys’ away game in a few days, then I’ll start practicing with them.”
With a squeak of joy, I jumped out of my seat, hugging Seb as hard as I could, Peanut doing somersaults in my stomach as I did so.
His grip was strong and reassuring. I would have stayed in his arms longer if my back wasn’t already throbbing.
“Do you want to grab some extra ice cream to go?” Seb asked as I returned to my seat. “I bet we can get a few tubs into the freezer.”
“I swear, you say the sexiest things, Sebastian Coombs.”