Page 13 of Pack Plus Three

Jeremy looked away from what he was working on to me, his face breaking out in a smile. “Hey, you look more relaxed now. I told you the water pressure was amazing. I’m just installing a deadbolt.”

“A deadbolt?” His answer did nothing to rid me of my confusion.

“Your security is frankly tragic, Daisy. This door would be exceptionally easy to break down. I couldn’t, in good conscience, leave it like this, especially when I had a spare deadbolt from when I started the remodel.”

“Oh, thank you—I’ve been asking the apartment manager for a deadbolt since I moved in.”

“And how long have you lived here?” he asked, turning to pet Gilbert. “Hello, boy. How did I know you wouldn’t be able to resist following the pretty omega around?”

He was talking to his dog, but that didn’t change that fact he had called me pretty, and my chest was bursting with pride at the alpha’s compliment.

“I’ve lived here for about eight weeks. My parents kicked me out when I told them about...well, this.” I gestured down to my gigantic belly.

“Sounds like pretty shitty parents, if you ask me,” Jeremy growled, getting up and shaking the dust off his sweatpants. He hadn’t put a shirt on, so I had the gargantuan task of trying to avoid ogling his chest.

“I won’t disagree with you there. The idea of their daughter pregnant out of wedlock horrified them. Then again, I guess most parents wouldn’t like that.”

Jeremy snorted. “If one of my sisters got pregnant with no father in sight, my parents would throw a party. My mother would love the excuse to have a daughter and a grandbaby in her house. Decorating the nursery and all that shit.”

I moaned wistfully. “She sounds lovely.”

“She’s a force of nature, but we all love her. My eldest sister, Della, got pregnant at a time when her pack was super busy with work commitments they couldn’t escape, so she just went ahead and turned up on my parents’ doorstep one day with her bags and didn’t leave for several months until they were all settled and comfortable.”

“Can I borrow your mother?” I laughed.

“Take her! It’ll get her off my back about giving her a litter of grandbabies.” He laughed, but he clearly didn’t mean it. “You need to sit your butt down. You look exhausted.”

I did as I was told and plopped down on the sofa, making a pleased sound when Gilbert followed my lead by jumping on the cushion next to me and resting his head on my bump.

“Do you want kids?” I asked, absentmindedly petting Gilbert as Jeremy packed up his tools from the doorway.

“Oh, for sure.” He grinned, his whole face lighting up. “I want a whole football team one day. I love kids. I’ve considered kidnapping my niece and nephew a few times, but I think my sister would get violent, and she’s a vicious little creature when she wants to be.”

“That’s nice.” I hummed. “I thought most guys were scared of kids—I know that my dating life is pretty much dead in the water. No man wants to raise a child that isn’t his.”

Jeremy walked to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water and handing it to me. “Packs do it all the time. Most of the time, they have no idea whose kid is whose. What difference does it make if a kid was born beforehand? Legally, all children become part of the pack, don’t they?”

I nodded. He was right, and it was something I had considered. “It would be nice to give this parasite a pack, in theory. Only, most of the packs interested in a single mother omega are very...”

“Predatory? Creepy?” Jeremy helpfully suggested.

“You hit the nail on the head! I talked to a pack or two when I first learned I was pregnant. They made it clear I would basically be their house maid and bedroom slave just because I had the audacity to keep my child. That isn’t exactly a good environment to raise a baby in.”

“Who were these packs?” Jeremy growled.

“No one of importance,” I insisted.

“Still, I think they need someone to screw their heads on straight.”

“And you’re going to be the one to do that?” I laughed, but his face was dead serious.

“Don’t doubt what I would do for you, Daisy. You deserve a fuck ton better than the hand the world has dealt you.”

He needed to stop talking, immediately, otherwise I was going to start blubbering. Where had this alpha come from? He cooked, wanted children, looked after me, and asked me for nothing.

“Are you a hallucination?” I blurted out.

“A hallucination?” Jeremy asked with a laugh, running his hands through his hair.

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