Page 20 of Blooming for His Omega

“Don’t have to,” Zion answered, opening my door and crouching next to me. He held up his phone. “I recorded the entire thing.” Unlike human rules, shifters did not need to ask permission to record for it to be valid in a shifter hearing, should one ever happen.

I grabbed his face and pulled him in for a kiss. Today and the rocking horse and everything else he did. He taught me what mating was supposed to be.

An exchange in love.

Loving, caring, supporting, always being there for each other.

Filling the other one up, not tearing them down.

“I have something else to tell you, and I’m worried about what you will think,” he said.

“Let’s get out of here and then tell me.”

Whatever Zion had done had come from his heart. He had healed me in so many ways. He might not ever realize how he’d mended me, but he had. His love had changed me forever.

“I put an offer on a house. There’s not a lot of houses in Oliver Creek that come up for sale, and I had to act quickly. My brother called me to tell me. I had planned on showing it to you after all this was over. If you don’t like it, we can always rent it out or resell it.”

I sighed and looked over at him. He was driving but kept glancing over to gauge my reaction. My alpha’s generosity didn’t come in flashy gifts or expensive things. It came in the form of food and concern and buying things that would build our future.

How in the world could I be anything but grateful.

“I can’t wait to see it.”

Chapter Nineteen

Zion

There was more to be said before we could move forward with our life together, but since we left Derek’s place, something had changed in this omega. He had been tied up in the connection with his former alpha and feared any other would want to control him as well, but I hoped I’d put those concerns to rest.

“How are you doing, omega?” I asked as we drove down the highway toward Oliver Creek. “You okay?”

“Yes.” He sounded surprised. “I am very fine. Amazing, isn’t it? I was so worried about seeing Derek and what he might say or do. I mean, he put this baby in me, and it was the one thing he said he really wanted from me. Hoglets. Dozens of them. But when I show up and tell him this baby is his, he isn’t interested anymore.”

“Interesting, huh? I gather from the fact the omega is closer to delivery than you that he’d been fooling around while you were still together?”

“Must have been. Shouldn’t that bother me at least a little?”

I shrugged, changing to the fast lane. “I don’t think there’s a ‘should’ about emotions. You feel what you feel, but I am interested to hear what happened that a person as sensitive and caring as you are not bothered. You must have been pushed far.”

“Would you mind if we drove past the house you put the offer on? I need to see something happy before I delve into the biggest mistake of my life.”

“Absolutely.” I hated hearing the sadness in his voice. “And I don’t think you need to think of your time with Derek that way. It sounds as if you learned what you wanted and what you didn’t, even if it did take you a little bit of time to realize what you wanted was me.”

He snorted. “That’s true.”

“And in all seriousness, that baby inside you is the good part of that time. Especially since he has given up his rights. I can’t wait to be a daddy, did you know that?”

He nodded. “You’re going to be so good at it. I only hope I don’t totally screw up.”

“You are going to rock it.”

A buzz came from Cicek’s pocket, and he pulled out his phone and groaned. “We have to go by the healer’s instead of the house. He had a cancellation and asked if we could come a day early.”

“Sure.” I flipped on my signal to change lanes. “That will be a happy thing, too. We get to hear the baby’s heart, don’t we?”

He brightened. “That’s right.” He patted his bump. “You hear that, baby? We’re going to listen to you, so get ready to thump your best.”

I chuckled, partly at his cuteness but also because he’d gone from sad to cheerful so quickly. “Quinn might even be willing to do an ultrasound if we ask nicely.”

---