Page 103 of Pucking the Enemy

Omega hormones were powerful things.

Speaking of hormones, as soon as I realized I was pregnant, I’d stopped taking my suppressants. I had naively believed that all my omega instincts had come out during my heat, and there was nothing new to experience.

Boy was I wrong.

I had thought I was particular about my nest before. Now, I was downright obsessive over it. If a single blanket was out of place, I couldn’t sit still. I had spent hours rearranging one pillow until it was angled at just the right position. One. Pillow.

It was part of the reason I’d delayed working on the nursery, because I knew I was going to be a complete demon when it came to it. We hadn’t opted to find out the gender of the baby, so I was looking at neutral colors, probably green or yellow, but I was having trouble finding the exact correct shade to paint the walls that wouldn’t make me furious every time I looked at it.

“Hey, are you okay?” Seb asked as we walked. “You’ve gone quiet.”

“I’m sorry. I was thinking about the nursery and got lost in my thoughts again.”

“That’s understandable. There are a lot of decisions to be made. Only, you nearly walked past our stop.”

I glanced to the side, and sure enough, we were outside of our favorite ice cream shop.

“I can’t allow myself to be distracted from ice cream!” I declared in mock horror.

After telling Seb what I wanted, he went and ordered for us while I sat down in a booth. Standing on my feet for too long was becoming unbearable, and I still had months to go.

“There were two kinds of triple chocolate, so I got you both,” Seb said as he placed two cups in front of me. “One is a white chocolate ice cream with add-ins, and the other is milk chocolate.”

I looked at the two cups hungrily, unsure which to go for first. Seb laughed at my conundrum as he took his seat opposite me with his mint chocolate chip cone.

“You chose right.” I nodded sagely, scooping a spoonful of each and happily demolishing them.

“So… I have something to tell you,” Sebastian said in between licks of ice cream.

The use of his tongue would have been overtly sexual if I were paying attention, but I was far more concerned with consuming the chocolatey goodness in front of me.

“You’re secretly a prince, and you’re going to whisk me away to your palace in a foreign country?” I asked.

Seb gave me a deadpan look. “We have enough royals in this pack with Kingswood, thank you.”

“Damn. Oh well, a girl can dream. Sorry, what were you saying?” He kept his eye on his frozen treat, and I knew him well enough to tell the boy was nervous. I lightly kicked him under the table. “Spill, Coombs.”

“How would you feel if I transferred universities?” he blurted out.

I froze.

Transferred universities? To where?

How far away would he be going?

Was he leaving me?

My chest started to burn with panic as I gaped at him, my heart stuttering. “W-where?”

“Avalon,” he admitted.

My breathing eased. “That’s just down the road!”

“…yes?” he replied, clearly confused. Tears welled up in my eyes, and a look of panic crossed his face. “I don’t have to go, Hazelnut! Don’t cry!”

“I thought you were going to move hours away,” I admitted in a watery voice. Stupid pregnancy hormones.

“What—Hazelnut, no! I would never, oh gosh, please stop crying!”

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