Page 12 of Surprise Mother Pucker

I rolled my eyes.You and I both know that the dating pool for single mothers is exceedingly small, and I currently have no interest in dipping my toes into those waters.

You need to get out there, eventually.

Do I need to have another conversation with you about Joey’s dad?

Joey was the name of the adorable child she had been teaching how to skate. Her father was the devilishly handsome single dad she had been pining over for more than a year.

There is nothing between me and Joey's father!

Yet…

Go study!

Yes, ma’am!

Laughing, I stowed my phone away and turned to Charlotte. She was smiling up at me, waving the little toy dinosaur in the air that now had a considerable amount of drool on it.

“Lola is going to be looking after you tonight, my sweet little nugget.” I hummed as I sat down next to her, pulling her into my lap. She kept chewing on the dinosaur as she snuggled into me. She was probably going to start teething soon.

I made a mental note to order some of those teething toys, the kind that went in the freezer and would help soothe her gums.

Charlotte was a snuggly baby; she always had been. Despite her young age, I was convinced she was going to be an omega like me, because even though she wasn’t yet a year old, her world revolved around snuggles, soft toys, and blankets. Sure, a lot ofthat was normal for any child, but my mother’s intuition insisted she was the same designation as me.

I was going to protect her, guide her. My daughter would go through life loved.

More importantly, I was going to ensure she knew everything she possibly could about birth control. Including what medications reacted with them and made them useless.

My daughter was going to have the world.

Chapter 6

Eli

Ihad too many papers due.

Who knew doing a PhD in statistics would lead to so many essays?

With such a killer workload, I had to buckle down and get some work done. As much as I adored my pack mates, I needed some peace and quiet to study. So, I had packed some snacks and taken a late-night drive to the library.

Micha and Charlie had been in the middle of a very enthusiastic Mario Kart tournament, and those two were loud when they played video games. There was shouting, throwing of popcorn, and it usually devolved into a wrestling match or two. They would have calmed down if I asked, but I didn’t want to spoil their fun when we lived close to campus, and it was an easy drive. Had it not been for the mountain of work I had to do, I probably would have joined them.

Our fourth pack mate, Storm, was god knows where, probably partying. He had yet to grow out of his wild-child phase, but I had a feeling reality would catch up to him soon. He was in the final year of his bachelor’s, after retaking two years and changing his major, and it was time for him to sink or swim.

Even if he sank, we would be there for him.

Pack was family, after all.

The library was deserted when I got there, so I wandered through the space for a few minutes, getting the lay of the land. I knew to avoid the loud party girls on the ground floor. They weren't studying—they were simply gossiping loudly—and I knew their incessant chatter while I was trying to work would infuriate me.

When I stepped onto the second floor, my entire body relaxed. I couldn’t explain it, but the tension left my shoulders, and I was breathing deeper.

Something about that floor just felt right.

Picking one of the large tables that was free, I put my bag down before going to find a few textbooks that would be useful. One of the books I wanted was up on the fourth floor. With a huff, I made my way toward the stairs.

The moment my feet hit the stairs, a weird sense of unease hit me, tension returning. Shrugging to myself, I continued up the stairs. Chalking up my weird behavior to alpha instincts, I hurried and grabbed the book, practically sprinting back down the stairs to the second floor.

There were a few students at the tables near me, but I didn’t take note of them as I pulled out textbooks and dove into my research. I put in my earbuds and turned on some classical music—it was my music of choice while I studied.

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