I nodded. “Yes. Thank you. The soup smells amazing.”

He walked over, and my tummy fluttered. He made my entire body come to life. Putting a hand on my forehead, he mumbled about me not having a fever and asked me to sit down. He served me soup and plain crackers along with water with a hydration mix in it. Despite my previous nausea, I ate it all up and asked if there was more.

That’s when I realized I had only been sick in the mornings, really.

Morning.

Sickness.

No way.

“I think I need to rest again,” I said. The weight of my thoughts had suddenly made me feel like lead.

Zion helped me to bed and tucked me in.

“I’ll be back and bring you some dinner after I close my shop for the day. Call me if you need anything and I mean anything. Promise?” His sweet breath washed over me while I stared into those beckoning eyes.

“I promise.”

Chapter Ten

Cicek

This couldn’t be happening. No. The one thing I’d feared most was Derek putting one of his hoglets inside me.

After Zion left the first time, the thought occurred to me, and I kind of blew it off, but as the day drew on, I knew there was a chance, a good chance, that I might be pregnant.

I pulled open the calendar on my phone and tried to remember the last time I’d slept with Derek. He had been sexually demanding, often giving me the silent treatment for not wanting to have sex every day or sometimes twice a day if he was in the mood. He would wake me up at all hours of the night to satisfy his needs, no matter how tired I was.

I had quickly learned that doing as he wanted was faster and more painless than refusing his advances.

Looking back, I despised that part of myself, the one who gave him what he wanted, betraying myself in the process.

It would be a while before I could forgive myself.

I lay in bed the rest of the day, snacking on the crackers Zion had brought me, knowing that while it was possible I had a stomach flu, it was in addition to the little one growing in my stomach and all the symptoms that came with pregnancy.

If there was ever a sliver of a chance for Zion and I to be together, despite my own steel walls set against it, this would seal the deal. Alphas didn’t want an omega carrying another alpha’s baby. They wanted to put a babe of their own inside him.

I harped on the subject all afternoon and by the time early evening came, I’d decided it was time to face the music. I’d gotten up to talk myself into walking to the drugstore when a knock sounded at my door.

“Come in.” I already scented the loving bear on the other side of the door. He’d seen me at my worst. No use in hiding now.

Zion came in, wearing the same clothes from this morning. He had my keys in his hands and hung them on the hook by the door where I kept them. He paid attention to details like that.

“Better?” he asked, coming over and putting his palm against my forehead. I knew he was checking for fever, but I relished in the feeling of his skin against mine.

“A bit. Thank you. I didn’t get a call today,” I mentioned. “Malek must’ve done well.”

He nodded. “He’s good like that and he said it was almost too easy selling all of your beautiful arrangements. No problem at all.”

I sighed. “Thank you for taking care of that for me. You…your friendship means the world.”

He blushed. All I wanted was to cup his reddened cheeks and place my lips against his. There was never a point in entertaining such thoughts before but now, even if I did, he would never want me like this. “Anything for you, Cicek. I thought you might want something more substantial for dinner so I made a simple chicken and broccoli with orzo.”

“It smells really good. Thank you.”

I sat at the table, looking at the plates Zion had so lovingly prepared and let out a long sigh.