Page 19 of Elusive Alpha
“Of course. Now, I’m starving but…no coffee, you said.” I pouted my bottom lip for effect.
“Maybe one today and then no more. I can’t resist your pout. A little one.”
Speaking of little ones. I stood back up and put my hands to my belly again. Rook covered my hands with his. “Are you sure you’re happy?” he asked.
“I am. With you. With us. With this little one.”
Rook bit his bottom lip. I’d never seen him do that before. “You know how you were going to tell me you were going to forgive me today?”
I nodded.
“I was going to ask you to move in with me. I hate sleeping without you.”
Goddess, what a day. “Really? Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. There’s nothing I want more.”
Chapter Nineteen
Rook
Once we confirmed that my omega was pregnant, things moved fast in some ways but not in others. The baby was growing inside him, but he still lived in town and was not here nearly enough to suit me.
When I brought up the subject, he had one excuse after another. His rent was paid up; he was close to work. He wanted to sort through his things, so he didn’t bring a lot that he would rather just get rid of. I’d held out so far, not wanting to push him to do something he wasn’t ready for, but when I spoke with him on the phone and he was feeling sick or was trying to get up the energy to make himself some soup, my cat had fits. We should be taking care of him. His excuses were just that, and I couldn’t figure him out.
I had answers for all of those things, and on the day of a very important healer visit, I was determined to pin him down. Our healer, Jingie, was not a shifter, but certainly not human. They were something special, for sure, and each time we visited, their presence created a calm that lasted for the rest of the day.
“Well,” they asked when we were settled in the ultrasound room, “how much information would you like from me today?”
“What?” Startled, I tightened my grip in Idris’ hand, releasing and patting it when he squeaked. “Information?”
“Yes. I am confident you would like to know the health status of the pregnancy, but do you want to know gender? Number of babies? Animals?”
“You can tell which of our beasts they have inherited?” Intrigued, I studied the machine rolled up next to the table. “Just from an ultrasound?”
“No.” They chuckled. “I have that from the blood test.”
“We have discussed the gender issue,” Idris said. “And we have decided to wait and learn that at the birth, but we definitely want to know how many little ones are swimming in there. We have to have enough beds.”
“And diapers,” I put in.
“Oh, you can never have enough diapers.” Our healer picked up a bottle and held it over Idris’ rounded belly. “Okay, no gender reveal for you, but about the animals?”
We looked at one another and I shrugged. “Up to you, omega.”
“I think I’d like to wait on that as well, if you’re sure you’re all right doing that, alpha.” Resting his free hand on his tummy, he gave an affectionate caress. “Let them reveal when they are ready.”
“Might be a while,” Jingie warned. “Not all babies shift very young.”
“We’ll wait.” I kissed my omega on the cheek. “It’s just one aspect of their personality, and there will be many.”
“I like that.” Idris lay back and turned his face toward the screen. “Can you show us the baby or babies without revealing gender? If that’s even possible because I do want to see them.”
“Yes.” But the healer turned the machine slightly. “I’ll make sure of it.”
He squeezed the bottle and covered my omega’s bump with gel then moved the transducer—if I got the name right—around and then turned the screen back to us. “There you go. Your twins are modest. No bits showing at all.”
“Did you get a look, Healer?” I asked. “Before they got shy?”
