Page 102 of Pucking the Enemy

I was more than okay with that.

We already had so many things Roman’s mother had bought for us, but I still had an itch to go get more. Omega instincts during pregnancy were brutal. All I wanted to do was buy more things, acquire more baby items and hoard them for when my child arrived.

“Hazelnut,” Seb’s voice called behind me.

“Hey.” I turned to greet him. He was wearing his favorite jeans and a pull-over hoodie.

“What are you doing out here? You should’ve waited inside. It would have been warmer in there.”

I grimaced. “There was no way in hell I could stay sitting in those plastic seats any longer. My entire body is aching, and Peanut won’t stop wriggling.” I sighed, rubbing my belly.

“They’re really getting active, aren’t they?” he said as he gently took my bag off me.

“Oh, yeah,” I agreed, grabbing his hand and placing it on my stomach. Even through the thick layer of knit sweater, Sebastian’s eyes lit up as he felt Peanut move.

“Fuck, I’ll never get used to that.” His voice was awestruck as he looked down at my bump.

There was no hiding my changing body anymore. It seemed like, in the space of a week, my bump had gone from small and easily concealable to gigantic. The guys found it adorable, but I was struggling because my center of gravity had changed, and I was now as stable as a baby deer on ice.

“You’ll never get used to it? I’m the one with a living creature rolling around inside me!” I laughed, wrapping my arms around his waist and hugging him, inhaling his cherry wine scent.

The effect was instantaneous. The scents of my pack mates could relax me and make my entire body feel at ease, even in the most uncomfortable situations. Next to a member of my pack, my back pain felt just a little less nasty.

“Home?” Seb asked, pulling away.

“I believe someone offered me ice cream?” I peered up at him. “Now let me tell you, if you back out on getting the ice cream, I will not be responsible for the downright violent things I will do to you.”

“Your threats are somewhat empty, considering you aren’t even five feet tall.”

“I may be small, but I can still cause damage. And if there aren’t any trees that I can push you out of, I can always make do with a window.” I leveled him with a glare.

He held his hands up in mock surrender, unable to contain his laughter. “In that case, I guess we’re going for ice cream! Do you want me to get the truck?”

I cocked my head for a moment, considering my options. Our usual ice cream place wasn’t far from campus. “I think a walk would do me good. The doctors tell me at every checkup that I need to be doing light exercise.”

“Okay. But if it’s too much, let me know.”

I nodded. I would happily enjoy some pain from walking in order to get my hands on triple chocolate ice cream.

We slowly started making our way down the street toward the ice cream parlor. Our pace was exceptionally slow because I was starting to waddle more than walk.

Seb turned to me. “Oh! Guess who called me today?”

“The Pope?”

“Unfortunately, no. Your mother.”

My footsteps faltered as I turned to look at him. “Why the hell would she be calling you? She hates you!”

“I know!” he cried, laughing. “I didn’t bother to answer, but I can imagine just how much pain dialing my number must have caused her. Is she still trying to call you?”

“Yep. I got two phone calls while I was studying and I rejected both. Thank god she doesn’t know where I live. I wouldn’t put it past her to turn up.”

“I could see her doing that. Maybe she would make a family occasion out of it and bring your fiancé?” He snorted.

The guys found it both hilarious and horrifying that, thanks to my mother, many people thought I was engaged to some greasy businessman’s son. While they continued to make jokes about it at my expense, they were all livid about the situation as well.

Collectively, they had decided that I would never be alone with my family again, which was fine by me, because I wasn’t exactly a fan of my parents, anyway. Such overbearing behavior would normally make my skin itch, but from them, I just felt comforted and protected.

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