Page 72 of Talk About… Trouble

“I do,” I admitted. I’d made peace with my past these last weeks and I was happy here. We may not be bonded yet, but it was only a matter of time. Devon was only a few months from his heat and I had a feeling that would be when we officially became a pack.

My phone’s timer went off and my hands shook as I reached for it. Panic rose and it wasn’t until Devon’s hand found my thigh that I was able to turn it.

The two pink lines were dark already.

I was pregnant.

“Oh my god, sweetheart!” Nash whooped, pulling me into a hug before Shepherd was there. They were celebrating and passing me around until I was laughing with them and drowning happily in their acceptance and excitement.

“How do you feel?” Braxton whispered to me as he rested his forehead against mine, giving me a moment to breathe.

“Terrified,” I laughed. “But so happy.”

Wren

“You would think they’d make these rooms bigger if they’re expecting omegas to come in with their packs,” I said as I looked around at my pack.

We were all smashed into one single room, waiting for the doctor to come in.

A beta doctor walked in a few minutes later, a single knock on the door announcing her before she pushed it open. Her smile was genuine, and she seemed kind, which was a relief because I was nervous enough to set my pack on edge.

“All right, pack,” she looked down at the paperwork. “Harding, welcome in.”

I heard Shepherd’s breath catch at the name. We hadn’t discussed it, and I was panicking during the paperwork and just put it down. His made the most sense because the farm was tied to it.

Nobody complained as they waited for her to continue, though I saw Devon smile. He liked the idea, too. Neither oneof us wanted to be associated with our family. Braxton wouldn’t either, and honestly, there were enough pack Whitakers around town.

“So, I’ve got all your information here, and we’re looking at being just over eight weeks, correct?” she asked as she looked up from my chart.

I nodded, and she went back to studying it, flipping through the pages.

“I just have a few routine questions, and these are things that I ask early so you have time to talk about them amongst yourselves. We do offer paternity tests upon birth if you want to know.”

“Absolutely not,” Shepherd and Nash said together.

Honestly, I was relieved. I didn’t want to know. If there was nothing medically pertinent, then there was no reason to. We were a pack, and they would all be this baby’s father.

“Noted,” she said, jotting that down. “Do you want to know the gender when it’s time?”

“Yes,” I said.

I was a planner through and through, and knowing would help me set things up, work on names, and come to terms with it before it was time.

“Will you be delivering at a birthing center, the clinic, or a hospital?”

“A birthing center would be a good idea,” Devon suggested.

“We can look into it,” Nash said, not even batting an eye. Whatever I wanted, they seemed to want to give me. It was still hard to get used to, but I appreciated it more than they could ever know.

“I’ll jot it down. If you change your mind, you tell me,” she said, as simple as that.

She went through another few pages of random questions, getting our preferences and letting us know what we could expect from the next several months.

Thankfully, my morning sickness hadn’t reared its ugly head in the last few days while I waited for my appointment, though she did warn me it could come back anytime.

“Actually, I did have one more question,” I said before she could leave to go get the ultrasound tech.

She turned to face me expectantly, and my cheeks flushed. “Will us bonding affect the baby, or do we have to wait till after for bites?”

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