Page 7 of His Unicorn Alpha
Because, and I might not have been clear about this, Micah Hawthorne was going to be living in the pack alpha’s home for an unknown amount of time.
I thought I would have much, much longer before facing him became an issue.
“Are you okay?” Ollie asked after Rex and Damon disappeared outside. Something was going on there, but I was too distracted to pay much attention. It took a moment to comprehend that he was talking to me.
I cleared my throat and nodded. “Of course. Why do you ask?”
Ollie also assisted us in the fertility lab, though he worked more closely with Eric on the research than he did with me in the lab proper. He cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. “You seem…off.”
“Off?” I repeated, playing dumb.
“Off,” he nodded decisively. “I can’t put my finger on it, but…you seem…distracted, maybe?”
Thinking quickly, I considered the conversation I was having with Damon before Lena walked in. “I’m just thinking about our research. Before you joined us, I was attempting to convince Damon to trial the omega birth control which we’ve developed.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” he laughed and settled back against the couch cushions, shaking his head. “That man is one and done. Cam’s a cutie,” he waved at the baby I was still bouncing on my knee, “but not even that chubby cheeked smile is going to convince Day to open up shop again.”
Glad to have overthrown his suspicion, I looked over at his twin two-year-olds who were currently wrestling with a stuffed wolf toy between them. “And you?”
“And me what?”
“Have you…shut up shop? Or would you be amenable to trialing our birth control? You’ve seen the science yourself. It worked for the ovum collection.”
Lena grinned wickedly at him and rubbed her gravid belly. “What’s the worst that could happen, Oliver?”
“You” —I pointed my finger at her— “are not helping.”
She cackled while Ollie snorted and shook his head. Then he looked back over at his kids wistfully and sighed. “Like I said, I’m not completely opposed to having more,” my spirits lifted until he continued, “but I promised Beck no more unplanned pregnancies in our lifetime. Birth control failing counts as unplanned in my books.”
“Amen,” Lena agreed emphatically.
I snorted. “I told you, keeping up with your implant was your responsibility.”
She poked her tongue out at me, then winced and poked at her stomach. “Behave in there.”
“That doesn’t work,” Ollie told her wisely. “It doesn’t work on the outside, either.” He proved his point by looking at his still brawling children and saying, “Hey, you two. Behave!” They ignored him. “See?”
“Yes, you put a lot of effort into managing their behavior just now,” Lena sassed back.
“Having two at once is exhausting,” he complained. “Thank god I’ve got Beck and Sandy living here with me. I don’t even think I could handle one on my own.”
I looked down at Cam and smiled. “You’re not that difficult, are you?”
He responded with an assortment of babbled sounds that warmed my heart. Hormones going wild, I had to blink back tears at how cute he was. I couldn’t wait to hold my own and get the same sweet, gurgled replies.
“You get to hand that one back to his parents,” Ollie told me, seemingly oblivious to the unwelcomed emotional moment I was experiencing. “Be thankful you haven’t had an oops moment with an alpha, is all I’m saying.”
“Hey, the results of your oops moment are adorable,” Lena argued.
Rory chose that moment to let out an ear-piercing yowl and fling herself bodily at her brother, who burst into tears.
Ollie winced and pushed to his feet. “Yes,” he replied, deadpan, “so adorable.” Then he turned to his kids and swept one up under each arm. “Come on, monsters. It’s about time we get you ready for bed, anyway.”
Their cries only got louder at his declaration. He turned to Lena. “You sure you’re ready for this?”
With her nose scrunched up against the sound, Lena looked at her belly. “Nope.”
I bit my lip and worried it.
