10. Zenith Takes Care Of Emre
ZENITH TAKES CARE OF EMRE
Emre gasped, curling his limbs closer to his belly.
Zenith’s gaze sharpened. “What just happened?”
“Felt like a contraction.”
Zenith’s spine went ramrod straight, his eyes almost bugging out of his head. He yelped, “Are you going into labor?!”
“I... don’t think so?” Emre tried to paw at his belly, but Abbie was in the way, happily suckling.
Zenith looked around wildly. “Should I call someone?”
He shot to his feet the next moment, racing into the bedroom. Then he raced back out, looking panicked. “I can’t find my phone!”
“You brought it to the kitchen with you,” Emre said, puzzled. “Did you leave it on the table?”
“Did I—Oh.” Zenith grabbed his phone off the table, clutching it tightly. His face was adorably scrunched up. “Is there a wolf doctor I should call?”
“No, don’t panic.” Emre huffed. “I think this might be one of the early contractions. We get them up to a week in advance.”
“Oh.” Zenith stared at Emre. Then he took several measured breaths, and sat down next to Emre and Abbie. “Sorry about that. I’ve just... never done this before.”
Emre nosed at his thigh. “I have. This is fine.”
“You’ll tell me if something’s not okay?”
Emre nodded. “I will.”
Zenith blew out a breath, the lines of his shoulders sagging. “Thank you.”
“Thank you for caring,” Emre said, humbled.
Zenith ducked his head and blushed. In a quiet mumble, “I just want to help.”
“You can rub me,” Emre said hopefully. “I’m sore all over.”
“From last night?” Pink dusted Zenith’s cheeks.
Emre laughed. “No, it’s not just my ass. It’s my whole body. I think it’s part of the labor thing.”
Zenith drew himself up. “Which part hurts?”
“All of it.”
The alpha reached over, slowly rubbing Emre’s furry belly. It felt good. Emre relaxed, stretching out his hind legs.
“Rub my back too. It’s aching worse this week.”
Zenith carefully ran his hand down Emre’s back. “Tell me if I should go harder. I’ve never tried to massage a wolf before.”
“I would say this is like me popping your massage cherry, except that sounds really weird.” Emre groaned, covering his eyes with his paws.
Abbie looked over at him. Then she, too, covered her eyes with her paws.
Zenith laughed so hard, he had to wipe his eyes. “That—That’s just precious. Fu-Fudge. Abbie, you’re hilarious.”
Abbie unlatched and went sniffing around Buttwheel. The burned pieces of blanket puffed up around her snout, and she sneezed.
“That pup,” Emre sighed, grinning helplessly.
“Let me clean that up first,” Zenith said, scrambling to his feet. He hurried to a supply closet and grabbed a broom and dustpan, nudging Abbie away with his foot. “It’s going to be dusty around here, pup. You’ll sneeze.”
Abbie didn’t understand, so Zenith scooped her up and deposited her between Emre’s paws. Emre caught her scruff with his teeth so she wouldn’t run off again.
Zenith stuffed all the burned things into a trash bag. He wiped Buttwheel down with a damp rag, then rolled the cart into the living room. The rest of the debris, he swept up with a broom and dustpan. Both Emre and Abbie sneezed.
“Sorry!” Zenith hurriedly emptied the dustpan into the trash bag and tied it off. He left it on the counter instead of the floor. “This isn’t a plaything for pups,” he said to Abbie’s curious face. “You can gnaw on my furniture, but not the trash.”
Emre coughed, suddenly embarrassed. “My parents had a story about me as a pup.”
“Yeah?” Zenith perked up.
“It’s a terrible story!”
“But they told you anyway.” Zenith washed his hands and came back to sit with Emre, his eyes bright. “Tell you what. If you tell me your story, I’ll let my butler tell you one about me. He has some that are so bad, they’ll burn my ears off.”
“Deal,” Emre said before he could think about it.
Zenith huffed, shaking his head ruefully. “So, your story. Was it about furniture, or trash bags?”
“Trash bags.” Emre winced. But he relaxed when Zenith began rubbing his back.
“I was maybe two years old, always getting into things I shouldn’t be getting into.
Anyway, my parents were doing some spring cleaning.
They had a habit of not throwing away things that could be useful, and they accepted lots of junk from the pack.
“So there were all these trash bags around the house. I was sniffing at them happily, pawing at the ones that made sounds when I shook them. Then there was this one bag.”
Zenith eyed him. “Uh oh.”
Emre groaned. “I guess it must’ve really smelled like my parents, because I was pawing at it a lot. The bags all looked the same; Mom and Dad were busy bagging other stuff to throw away, so they weren’t paying attention to me.
“The bags weren’t for pups with little wolf teeth. I bit into the bag that smelled like my parents and ripped it open.”
“I’m almost afraid to hear what happened next,” Zenith said.
Emre sighed heavily. “It was a trash bag full of their old sex toys. Apparently I thought the hugest dildo was a stick and brought it to them so they could play Fetch with me. It was awful. They were horrified.”
Zenith looked horrified too. “And they told you that story?”
“I was older when they got drunk one night and told me,” Emre whined. “Then I wished I’d never heard it.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Zenith’s face was a mix of humor and sympathy. “I feel bad for you, but I’m also trying not to laugh.”
“You’re going to put it in a book, aren’t you?”
Zenith’s eyes grew wide. “If I have your permission.”
“You may as well. So I’m not the only one suffering.”
Zenith huffed, running his hands up and down Emre’s body. He hadn’t stopped with the gentle massage this whole time; Emre felt a little better.
When Emre tried to stand, blinding pain shot through his hind leg.
He cried out and lost his balance.
Before he could hit the floor, strong arms caught him.
“Emre?” Zenith asked in concern. “What happened?”
“Cramp,” Emre whimpered, twitching his leg. “Help.”
“Fuck.” Zenith laid him back on the floor and carefully grasped his cramping leg. Carefully, he kneaded the hurting muscle, working it loose and stretching it out. Emre shuddered. But the pain faded, and the discomfort finally turned bearable.
“Thanks,” Emre panted, sagging against the floor.
“Let me work your other legs too, just in case.”
“Sure. It’s not like I can go anywhere.”
“I could always carry you around,” Zenith said lightly.
“But you have a book to write!”
Zenith began to work on Emre’s other hind leg, fingers digging into deep muscle. Emre whimpered.
“I can brainstorm while I carry you around,” Zenith said. “Or, you could travel with Buttwheel. Think about it: You’ll be the first cart-surfing wolf omega in the world. You’ll look like a badass.”
“You mean, I’d use Buttwheel as my chariot?” Actually, that mental image was amazing.
“With Abbie by your side,” Zenith added.
“That sounds like a really cool scene in a book.”
Zenith grinned. “How about this? As soon as I wrap up this manuscript, I’ll write a book about a wolf and a cart.”
“With two pups?”
“Of course.”
Emre shivered. “No one’s written a book about me before.”
“I’ll make sure you get a happy ending.”
At that, Emre squinted. “You mean the kind that’s not in a massage parlor?”
“I literally just gave you a massage.”
“Well, it didn’t come with a happy ending. I feel cheated.”
Zenith snorted. “Well, I’m not giving you one right at this moment. Let’s make it a reward.”
Emre perked up. “For getting through today?”
“In my case, it would be for getting a few pages written,” Zenith said dryly. “This book isn’t going to write itself.”
“What a travesty,” Emre sighed. “Don’t you wish you could just beam your brain into the book?”
“It’ll end up with all manner of inappropriate thoughts between the paragraphs.” Zenith laughed. “Maybe even a few pickup lines.”
“Pickup lines are good, right?”
Zenith went still. “Have you not... heard about the pickup lines?”
Something about the way Zenith was holding himself... It meant something about the pickup lines.
Emre frowned. “Should I have heard about them? I’ve been living under a rock.”
“Oh dear,” Zenith murmured.
“Oh yes,” someone shouted from faraway.
Emre turned in the direction of that voice, his senses prickling. “Should I be alarmed?”
“Yes,” Zenith said severely. “You should be very alarmed.”
The front door burst open.