Page 23 of His Prodigal Alpha

He was silent for a long moment. My throat tightened and my heart thumped hard and fast inside my ribcage.

“Can I help with that?”

I jolted at the cautious, quiet question, my eyes flying open. I turned my head to peer over my shoulder at him, knowing that I must look completely blindsided. “What?”

Rex’s blue eyes were darker now, the irises inside them blown wider with lust. But his tone was steady when he repeated, “Can I help you with that? With your…discomfort?”

I almost whimpered as I felt slick trickling out of me at the mere suggestion. Swallowing roughly, I tried to remain rational. “You don’t have to.” My cheeks felt like they were on fire and I averted my gaze. “I’m not…I mean, my body’s not the same, and—”

“You think I find you less sexy like this?” He sounded incredulous as he swept his hand over my distended belly again. “You think takin’ care of you, of your body’s needs, will be a chore for me?” His tone told me that those assumptions, should I be making them (which I was) were wrong. “Kitten, I might still be freaking the fuck out over havin’ a baby, but you’re just as hot to me as the day we met. I want you just as badly now as I did then, but I don’t wanna push you. I wanna reconnect at your pace.”

My heart, which I had already established was a traitorous asshole, squeezed at how earnest he sounded. “We…” I started, then paused to try and calm my jumbled thoughts, wading through the mantra of ‘fuck me, fuck me, fuck me’which had started to drum on in the background of my mind, “we need to talk properly. To…to…take things slow. Having a baby isn’t a reason to jump into a relationship.”

“I agree,” he soothed, still rubbing big, arching circles overmy abdomen. “But I also want to help make this as easy for you as possible. If your hormones are drivin’ you nuts, let me take the edge off. We can take things slow and have sex on the side. Friends with benefits style.”

I was tempted to argue that we weren’t even friends yet, but my body was screaming at me to just say yes.

“It…it wouldn’t mean that we’re together,” I told him, though some part of me wished I could have the fairytale happily ever after that I saw Ollie living. “It’s just sex. Sex because you put a baby in me and now my body is demanding your knot again.”

That urge terrified me, though. It was one thing to have a quick fuck in a bar bathroom, not thinking I’d ever see the guy again. It was a whole new issue to want to sleep with the man who had put a baby in me and who was talking about sticking around.

As horny as my hormones were making me, I knew I’d regret giving in to those urges so soon.

“Whatever you need, baby.” Oblivious to my inner turmoil, Rex’s voice was low and full of promise. “Just tell me what to do.”

“I want…” I swallowed roughly. “Fuck, I want your knot. But…I can’t. I’m sorry. I can’t.” I was on the verge of tears, frustrated by my body’s demands and my brain’s corresponding opposition.

“Hey,” he soothed, “I’m sorry, kitten. I wasn’t pushing. I just want to help you, and you said your hormones…”

“Hormones are the worst,” I all but sobbed, still torn between giving in and getting some sort of relief and holding off until our relationship was in a more stable position. “I’m sorry. Mood swings and epic horniness must make me seem unhinged.”

Ifeltunhinged.

“Just tell me what you need. Anything, Damon. I want to help.” He was so earnest that it brought a lump to my throat. “If you want me to leave—”

“No,” without realizing it, I grabbed at his wrist as I protested, “I don’t want that.”

I didn’t. Even if letting him fuck me again was a bad idea, it didn’t mean I wanted him to leave, either.

“I’m sorry,” I sighed, feeling guilty for the mixed signals I was sending. “You didn’t ask for this.”

Splaying his hand over my belly, Rex’s voice rumbled at my back, low and gentle, “You didn’t ask for this, either.”

“We’re going around in circles now,” I told him. “Besides, I’m kind of happy about him. I mean, I freaked out when I realized I was pregnant, but that was more because I grew up thinking I couldn’t have kids of my own, and I knew that being a pregnant omega in my old-school pack was dangerous. Especially with no alpha to show for my condition, y’know? They’d know that I snuck out. That I broke the rules. That I didn’t drag you back to the pack the second I realized what you were.”

“I—”

“Don’t. It wasn’t like either of us knew you were really an alpha. And, I guess, even if I had known it, my body was so determined to have you, I probably still would have forgotten that you could knock me up. All that biological imperative or whatever the hell Eric chirps on about.”

He was quiet for a moment. “But now that I’m here, we’re gonna do this together, right? Raise this kid together?”

I’d been completely prepared to be a single dad, but I wasn’t ever going to be the kind of guy who kept a kid away fromhis other parent, not when that other parent wanted to be involved. “Yeah,” I answered softly. “But once you’re in, you’re in. There’s no coming in and out of his life.”

Rex didn’t even hesitate. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

We continued to lie there in my bed, fully clothed, my arousal fading out again, even though a low thrum of my ever-present horniness remained. It should have felt awkward, but it didn’t. It felt…nice. Outside of a few short relationships in college, I had very little experience with this kind of contact, snuggling in comfortable silence. Being an omega in one of the Moonmusic-based packs was a lonely existence.

Cuddling was nice, I decided, even though we hadn’t really broachedhowwe’d go forward from that point. We’d taken a step in the right direction, at least.

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