Page 21 of His Prodigal Alpha

He frowned. “Even if I did, I’d argue that bein’ here for my son is more important. That bein’ here foryouis more important.”

My stupid, evil, traitorous heart squeezed again.

“Besides,” he continued, ignorant of my internal battle with my hormones and daydreams, “I came here looking for answers on the whole shifter thing. I’d already planned to settle in if the…pack…would have me.”

His hesitation over the word ‘pack’ was also ridiculouslyendearing. I cocked my head. “So, you’re staying here, then?”

Staring at me with obvious caution, he nodded. “Yeah. Beck and Eric are gonna show me the ropes, teach me to shift—”

“You still haven’t shifted?!” My voice pitched high with incredulity. “It’s been six months!”

“And I had no intention of gettin’ stuck as an animal, thanks.” It was his turn to tilt his head to the side, observing me. “Can you shift while you’re…uh…”

“Pregnant?” I offered again, and he winced.

“Yeah. That.”

Unlike before, this time I could only find his discomfort with the word kind of cute.

I was going to kill whoever invented hormones.

Chuckling, I nodded. “I can, yeah. The last time was really draining, though. I only ran with the others for a little bit before I went back up to the main house to curl up and sleep. I also felt super ungainly, which is weird because animals are built to have litters, not just a single cub. But,” I shrugged, “shifters aren’t really animals, I guess. And we’re not really human. Eric said Ollie had the same complaints, so I’m guessing the baby doesn’t shift with me or something.”

Although how that logic would work with a smaller animal, like a hedgehog or a bunny, I had no idea. There was some sort of magic at play, I supposed. That was the only way we could shift between forms at all, really. I didn’t think there was a scientific explanation for it, after all.

Rex’s expression twisted, his nose scrunching adorably. “That’s just plain weird.”

“I don’t make the rules.”

He snorted. “I know, kitten. But I’m still havin’ some trouble gettin’ my head around all of this stuff. Men having babies,me being able to turn into some kind of animal…it’s gonna take a little gettin’ used to.”

“A puma.”

“What?”

“You should be able to turn into a puma. A mountain lion.” I clarified. “That’s, um, that’s what you scent like now. Back when we met, you scented human. But now…now it’s puma and alpha.”

Rex got up and paced the length of my apartment, rubbing the back of his neck. “I remember you sayin’ I smelled human at the time. And, hey,” he stopped mid-pacing, his eyes wide. “You said you were a puma. It made callin’ you kitten even more appropriate.”

I thought back to that day and smiled to myself. Even if it had completely upended our lives, being with Rex had been a revelation.

Most men before him hadn’t shown me half the respect or even affection that he had. But Rex had been kind. He had seemed to care about my feelings. He hadn’t been rough with me (until I had begged him to) and he had respected my boundaries. Before him, the guys I’d slept with had seen me as little more than a willing hole, especially the beta shifters who had looked down on me for being an omega. But, even if I’d only been a quick one-night stand to Rex, he’d been sweet about it.

In addition to that was the way he’d made me feel. I had never been as horny and desperate to be fucked as when I’d been with Rex. It was like my body had known how compatible we were, and it had begged to be filled and sated.

Ollie described feeling something similar when he’d met Beck, but he had been able to deny those feelings during theirfirst meeting. Then he said that when they met again two weeks later, it triggered a super intense weekend fuck-fest (his words, not mine) that he and Eric hypothesized was a full-blown mating heat.

I wondered if my short but intense desperation to be fucked stupid by the big, gorgeous cowboy had been something similar. I’d needed him to fill me, to knot me, tobreed me…and he had. But the desperate urge hadn’t returned after he’d driven away. To hear Ollie tell it, his heat had come in waves over the weekend he had mated and bonded with Beck.

But Rex hadn’t bonded with me, either. It was entirely possible that bonding during that first heat might make things more intense. I would never know, not unless another alpha and omega pair turned up in town.

My thoughts had veered wildly off track. What had Rex been saying? Oh, yeah. I was a puma.

I nodded. “I am, yeah. It makes sense that you are, too, if you buy into Eric and Ollie’s fated —or, at least, compatible— mates propaganda.”

“Do you?”

“What? Buy into the theory?” I shrugged. “It makes about as much sense as anything, I guess. I mean, Beck and Ollie are both wolves, and you and I are both pumas, so the logic tracks.”

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