Page 12 of Blooming for His Omega

Still, we’d wait for the sticks.

“How much longer?” he asked.

“I didn’t notice what time you brought them out, did you?”

“Yes.” He groaned. “But I’ve forgotten.”

“It’s okay, we needed three minutes, right? Gonna say we’re pretty close to that time, now. I’ll give it one more minute then check.”

“Please tell me they’re negative.” He flung his head back. “I don’t want to have his hoglet.”

Ah. The ex. This was why he was so negative about the baby and probably about having another alpha. “I’ll tell you the truth, okay?”

“I’d prefer you lie if it’s not the answer I want.”

“Omega, it’s time.”

His eyes popped open. “I have to look.”

“How about we check them together?”

“Deal.” Poor guy. It was one thing for a couple to plan for a baby or even for a single, but when there was a parent out of the picture, it was bound to lead to difficulties. He bent over the sticks, as did I, and then we looked at each other. “What should we be seeing?”

“I’ve never done this before,” I pointed out. “Let’s get the inserts.”

Of course, when we consulted them, they confirmed what I expected. But I let him say it first. “They’re both positive.” His face had such strain, I reached out for him. I couldn’t do anything else. He ducked away. “I left him because I didn’t want him to have control over my life. All he wanted to was to ‘put hoglets in me,’ and I didn’t want to be a stay-at-home omega with him ‘putting’ babies in me every year. I don’t want him in my life in any way, shape, or form, but this baby gives him the right to step right on in and try to run me again.

“I don’t want him around my child. He’ll be the worst possible influence, but he knows where I am, and if he shows up and sees me pregnant, he’ll…oh my gods. What did I do?”

“You didn’t do anything but be in a relationship that resulted in a pregnancy,” I soothed, reaching for him again, but he shrugged my hand away.

“I should have left long before this happened. I’m not a child. I know what causes pregnancy. He didn’t want to use protection, and I went along with it. Even when I was sure I did not want a family with him.

“When I got here, I thought I was free, but I am not free at all. He can show up and want equal time with our child, try to make me come back to him. He’ll try to prove that I’m an incompetent parent. He’ll get full custody.” His hands flattened on his belly. “He’s never taking my baby away from me. I will raise them alone, and he can never, ever find out. Maybe I’ll sell the shop and go as far as I can. Canada? Mexico? England? Anywhere he won’t be able to find us.” His voice rose higher and higher until it broke and he flung himself on the bed. “What have I done?” Shoulders shaking with sobs, he moaned it again and again, and, finally, he allowed me to hold him while he cried.

He’d be glad for the baby when he calmed down, and we’d figure out the ex thing later. But, for now, I just patted his back and told him it would be okay.

Chapter Twelve

Cicek

I clung to Zion’s shoulders as he reached one arm underneath my legs and another around my torso and picked me up, propping my weight against his chest. Though Zion was adorably fluffy, his strength didn’t surprise me. I’d watched him once in a while, helping vendors and suppliers carry inventory into the back of his shop, not even breaking a sweat.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered when the aftershocks from sobbing ceased.

“There is no reason for you to be sorry, Cicek. I don’t know who hurt you so badly but my bear wants to put my claws through him. No alpha should make his omega feel like he’s some kind of baby-making factory because a person, an omega, a mate, is so much more than that one facet.”

He put me down on the sofa and sat next to me, reaching for the box of tissues. Instead of handing them to me, he wiped away my tears himself and then pulled me into his lap, wrapping me up in his delicious scent and arms that wound perfectly around my form.

“You always say the right things. You make me feel like I matter.”

His body stiffened. Moving a bit, he stroked his hand down my cheek. “Cicek, you do matter. You are everything to me.”

Those blue eyes bored into me, dissolving all my shields. My lips parted, needing to tell him to let me go, but that was the last thing I or my hedgehog wanted.

“Cicek, can I kiss you?”

I didn’t answer. Instead, I lifted myself up and with my hand on the back of his head, brought his lips to mine. A moan poured from his mouth and into the kiss. This was what I had been missing. This connection. His large hands grasped my waist and repositioned me so that my legs straddled his hips and brought me closer, face-to-face with this gorgeous alpha.

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