Chapter Fourteen

Alex

I bought a dozen red roses on my way home, since my date with West was for breakfast. I’d gotten in from the club at nearly midnight, which was early for me. I wanted a good night’s sleep, even though without my mate was restless. Mostly, I flopped around in my bed, fish-out-of-water style. But I managed to get a few hours of shut-eye in there.

He’d allowed a spanking for the first time the night before, and my palm tingled as I remembered him laid over my lap with those smooth buttocks perched at just the right angle for my perusal.

Sometimes, I spent the night with him and other nights, he stayed here but when we were apart, I felt it in my body and so did my wolf. He also woke me up at the crack of dawn to get ready.

After showering, I dressed in jeans and a light sweater. We were going to a new diner in the city. It was owned by one of my friends in the business and we wanted to support them as well as get some comforting food.

West hadn’t been eating a lot lately, which concerned me, but he dismissed my worry.

I grabbed the flowers and was headed out the door when my phone rang. My mate.

“Good morning,” I said, loving when he called me first. Giddy alpha, I’d become.

“Good morning. I can’t make the date today. I’m so damned sick to my stomach. I don’t think I could handle a single bite.”

“What can I do? Can I come over?” I asked.

“Sure. Your company might help.”

On the way to West’s house, I stopped at the market and picked up some things. Plain crackers. Ginger ale. Nausea medicine. Mints. Things that I knew would help with an upset stomach. I also picked up some other things, but those would stay in the car.

My wolf was suspicious, not of our omega but of these symptoms and nausea. West was touchy about all things commitment between he and I, so I had to tread lightly. Happy to do if it made him more comfortable, but I would have preferred to face the facts right then and there.

When I arrived and knocked on the door, West answered, looking worse for wear. His face was pale, his forehead shiny with sweat. He was still in his pajamas, completely out of character for him. When I’d spent the night, he showered and got dressed right out of bed.

“Come in,” he said, stepping aside.

I leaned in for a kiss but he shook his head. “I need to go brush my teeth. Two minutes.”

Shutting the door behind me, I watched as he climbed the stairs slowly. I walked into the kitchen. He hadn’t washed the dishes the night before, something he insisted on doing. He liked to put the kitchen to bed, as he called it.

“Omega, what’s going on?” I asked with my back turned. I heard him come down the stairs.

“I’ve been sick in the mornings lately. Sometimes right out of bed. Or while I’m brushing my teeth. Other times, it’s fine and then I get a whiff of food or coffee and my stomach turns. I probably have a bug.”

“What else have you been feeling?” I asked, unloading the bag. He sat down, watching every movement. He took some of the crackers and cautiously took a bite from the corner of one.

While he chewed, his head tilted to the side a bit. “I’ve been feeling run-down. Taking naps almost every afternoon. If I smell eggs or coffee, it’s over for me. And I know this might sound weird but, some nights, it feels as though there are a thousand butterflies fluttering around inside my belly. Those things might not be related.”

This omega. He just described all the symptoms of the flu but what he didn’t know, or probably didn’t know, was that his scent had changed. I hadn’t noticed it until this morning, but it was as apparent to me now as my love for him. “Come over here and sit with me,” I said, patting my lap.

“You love it when I sit in your lap.” He laughed but got up and came over.

“You don’t? If you don’t…” I started.

“No. I do. I feel safe in your arms.”

Precisely why I wanted to have him near me when I broached the subject. The subject of my mate being pregnant.

“Good. I always want you to feel safe with me. I think I know what’s causing you all these issues, West.”

“What is it?”

“We’ve been together for months. How many times have we made love?”

A blush crept up his neck and settled in his cheeks. “A couple of times.” He and I shared a laugh. We both knew it was many times.

“I think one of those times, we might’ve made a baby.”

If I thought he was pale before, now he had zero color. Even his blush from a few seconds ago had fled the scene. “You…do you really think so?” He looked down at his abdomen and then back to me. “We need to get a test. I have to know.”

“Give me two seconds. There’s one in my car. I bought it on the way.”

He reeled back. “Did you? What a thoughtful alpha.”

I winked at him and got the test from the car. He insisted that I go in his en suite with him while he took the test.

Then we waited.

And waited.

Waited some more.

The timer on my phone went off. West’s stare met mine and I could feel the tension flowing between his animal and mine.

Fear.

Stress.

Worry.

And a little splice of hope.

“Here goes nothing,” he said and walked toward our fate.