Page 22 of A Kitten for Alpha Kenny

With all the excitement of the last few months, it was a real pleasure to settle into our home and get ready to become a family of four. Our house had enough room for Madeline to have her own room and, eventually, the baby. At first, of course, our new addition would sleep in our room because even a baby monitor wasn’t going to be enough to reassure me that all was well.

Mulder laughed at me, worrying before the baby even came, but he’d already been through this once before, and I had not. Besides, I couldn’t imagine a more peaceful way to sleep than lying on my side with my mate tucked into my embrace and our baby sleeping peacefully just a few feet away.

Madeline had so much fun setting up her space. It had a canopy bed but instead of a standard ruffly top, the canopy made up a hanging space for her extensive tutu collection. It was a sparkly rainbow overhead, and somehow Grandpa Swale had set it up so that she could lower them with some kind of remote control and access whichever one she wanted.

Considering how young she was, we’d both been impressed that she could operate it, but Grandpa was a good teacher, and Madeline was a motivated learner. She had a desk, a doll house, a play kitchen, and all the sparkle a girl like her needed for happiness. A true fairy room.

Once we got past the first trimester, Mulder’s stomach settled down, he seemed less tired, and we were all about getting ready for our new addition. Madeline had a lot of ideas about what the baby would need, some good, some—like real wings that flap so she can fly—impractical since neither of her dads were bird shifters.

And I had an office again, along with the sedan of my dreams. Wolfe Enterprises embraced my skills, but unlike my previous job, which I’d also loved, this one was eight hours a day and no more. Back when, I didn’t care how many hours I worked. Back then, I was not a family alpha.

Speaking of which, my family should be arriving soon. Mulder had gone to pick up Madeline for a trip to the baby furniture store to buy something we all thought would be very important. Since we’d all lived under one roof, every Saturday, if Mulder felt well enough, we went on adventures. At first, there were hikes and trips that involved a lot of steps, but as my mate grew larger and more uncomfortable, we went more places with less athleticism like the movies or a play. Sometimes we just wandered to the playground and watched Madeline have fun with her friends on the swings and slides and teeter totter.

So, with that in mind, we set out to purchase the best, the “fanciest” stroller in the whole city. There were several stores on our list to explore, and nothing in the first three seemed to meet our needs. It had to be sleek enough to fit almost anywhere but also convertible, safe, and structurally sound. We had a long list of things we wanted from this one item, and the baby’s big sister really felt that some level of sparkle was right at the top of that list.

Poor Mulder waddled into each store and found a chair then sat uncomfortably while the store staff and Madeline and I brought him strollers that met as many of our criteria as possible. I almost thought we had one that would be a win once, but it didn’t have the sparkles. I felt for the salespeople who had to deal with the three of us. Not that we weren’t nice or anything. But we put them through so much work and not one of the strollers was right.

Finally, we gave up for the afternoon and went to get something to eat. Madeline was drooping in her car seat whenwe arrived at the diner, but she perked up at the thought of having a unicorn shake with her dinner. We all had them, along with burgers and fries. It had been too hard a day to worry about calories or sugar.

“What are we going to do about a stroller?” my mate asked when we got home. Madeline had drifted off for good this time, and I was carrying her up the stairs, followed, slowly, by Mulder. “I was so sure we’d find something we liked. It’s not like our requirements are so difficult.”

“We will try again. Maybe we need to go over the list and see if we’re being too picky.” I cringed as I said it, hoping it wouldn’t hurt Mulder’s feelings. He was extra sensitive lately.

But to my surprise, he laughed. “I was just thinking the same thing. I only hope we can find one that meets Madeline’s choices. I really don’t know what we’ll do—” The doorbell rang, and I looked down the stairs, my arms laden with our little girl.

“I’ll get it,” my mate said, but he was almost to the top of the stairs and out of breath.

“No, just let me set Madeline down and I’ll take care of it.”

“I’ll get her in her pajamas, then.”

Downstairs, I opened the door to find nobody there. Just a stroller with a big bow on it. No note. I searched it for any hint as to who had given us this wonderful gift. And it was…

“It’s perfect.” Mulder waddled down the last of the stairs and came out onto the porch. “Why did you put us through this if you already had ordered the one we wanted? Was it a joke because I’m too pregnant for jokes.”

“I didn’t order this but I have a feeling I know who did.”

Mulder groaned. “Grandpa is spoiling this baby before it’s even born.”

My life was so different than the one I’d dreamed of. I hadn’t had the imagination to picture the happiness of even the littlethings in this pack and with my omega. One child growing like a weed and another on the way.

Chapter Sixteen

Mulder

“Whoa.” Jayne quickly covered his mouth.

Whoa had not been the reaction I’d hoped for when I walked into the office after lunch, but my coworker was right. Whoa, indeed.

Just like with Madeline—one day, I didn’t look very pregnant, and then poof—I looked like I was ready to pop. And since he’d just taken a week off for vacation, the contrast was even sharper for him. And really, I was a lot larger than I had been with Madeline, although at the time, I’d have sworn that would be impossible. I felt the size of a house with her. And maybe I had been, but if that was true, I was the size of an entire condo complex now and I still had a few months to go.

“I know. I didn’t look like I was pregnant when you went on your cruise.” I rested my hands on my middle.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, you absolutely should’ve. You weren’t being cruel. Don’t worry about it.”

I started to leave and he stopped me, saying, “Alpha Aspen’s here for your meeting in Conference Room C.”

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