Page 48 of Alpha's Sunflower Smiles

Alder appeared by my side. “You realise it’ll cost you a fortune in pizza if you do that. Every member of that football team eats like four people.”

Pete shrugged. “They earned it by coming to help out.”

“It would have been cheaper to hire movers, at that rate. I bullied— I mean, Iaskedthem to come and help to save you money.”

He had a point.

I glanced at Pete, who shrugged again, looking totally unconcerned. “I can afford it. Besides, this way, we all get pizza too. And Wilfred gets his community round him all day. Win-win.”

Damn, Pete was so sweet. I practically melted with the sweetness of my boyfriend thinking about whether I’d have more fun with professional movers or a mish-mash of people my friends knew.

Alder, however, was not moved by Pete’s sweetness. He was eyeing the couch, which three people had had to tip onto its side to fit through the doorway.

“Why are we taking the couch? Don’t you have one already, Wilfred?”

“Yes, I do, but mine is old and the cushions sag.”

Alder put his hands on his hips and glared at Pete. “Has Pete told you that you have saggy cushions, Wilfred? Well perhapshiscushions aren’t as amazing as he thinks they are.”

I stepped in front of my boyfriend, defending him from Alder’s misplaced ire.

“No, Pete would never say anything nasty to me, even about my cushions.” Were we even still talking about cushions? Anyway, the point was, “IaskedPete if we could take the couch. It’s nicer than mine.”

Pete leaned down and murmured in my ear, “It’s bigger, too.”

I tried not to remember us lying together on that couch and kissing… It was very comfortable.

From the kitchen, someone shouted, “Is this box to go?”

I hurried out there to supervise and found two omegas, three alphas and a baby, who was sitting in an empty cardboard box and chewing one of Pete’s wooden spoons.

Alder had followed me out and he tutted. “Not the most efficient kitchen equipment, Wilfred.”

“That box isn’t ours,” I said.

One of the nearby alphas, a large man with a scar across his cheek, said, “That one’s mine. I, uh, might need to buy you a new spoon, though.”

I waved aside his concern. “Don’t worry about it. This little lady is enjoying it.”

A young omega man called from the other side of the kitchen. “I meantthisbox,” and pointed.

“Yes, that one is going in the van, thank you. Do you want me to—”

He was already lifting it and making his way out the door. People were everywhere, and I could hardly keep track of what had been done. I sort of hoped Ty had been right and Alder was on top of it. Theredidseem to be some kind of order, somehow.

Beside me, Alder suddenly twisted round. It was like he had a sixth sense or something, because he shouted, “Waggoner, where are you going with that?”

An older omega man looked down at what he was carrying. It was a mug. A single mug. And, from the way he was holding it, I’d say it was empty, too.

“Uh, I was taking it to the van,” he said.

Alder put his hands on his hips. “Are you trying to get me into trouble? Pregnant men don’t carry things. What’s your alpha going to do to me when he finds out about this?”

Waggoner pulled an amused face and I hid my smile behind my hand. We all knew that Alder could more than take care of himself where alphas were concerned. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that Waggoner’s alpha was scared of Alder. Most alphas were.

It seemed that either he’d been summoned by some mystical connection or he’d been keeping an eye on his omega, because a young man came over and slid his arm straight round Waggoner’s waist. His hand rested just where the swell of his stomach began, and he seemed at once to be holding his omega and the baby bump.

He plucked the mug from Waggoner’s hand.

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