Page 31 of His Prodigal Alpha

I lost the battle and drifted off into dreamland before we even left the property.

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“Mmm,” I moaned groggily as my nose twitched to life, scenting bacon in the air. My mouth watered and my eyes fluttered open. “Bacon?” I asked, struggling to push myself into an upright position on my bed.

Rex’s answering chuckle came from the direction of my tiny kitchenette, and I swung my legs over the side of the mattress and padded across the room to investigate. “Uh-huh,” he answered my query cheerfully, poking at something sizzling in the frying pan. “You said you were craving it the other day. I took a gamble and hoped you still were.”

“God, yes,” I said as my stomach growled loudly. I could feel myself blushing as Rex turned to grin at me. With his enhanced hearing, there was no way he didn’t hear my digestive system demanding sustenance.

“Good. I’m makin’ homemade burgers and fries, with some extra crispy bacon on the side just for you.”

My stomach growled again, and I smiled sheepishly. “That sounds amazing,” I told him, then looked around curiously. “Uh, how’d you get us in here?”

It was Rex’s turn to flush pink. “I went fishin’ in your pockets for your keys. No funny business, though, I swear.” With his hands held up in surrender, spatula and all, I couldn’t be mad at him. In fact, I thought he was adorable as hell.

“You’re cooking for me,” I said, gesturing for him to drop his arms and go back to doing exactly that, “and you let me nap for…” I glanced at the clock on the microwave and almost choked on air, “twohours?!”

“Google says that growin’ a baby takes a lot of energy,” Rex shrugged. “You needed the rest.”

“I promised you a date.”

“And we’re havin’ one.”

I frowned. “Oh, sure, because me sleeping while you slave away in the kitchen issuperromantic.”

“Our situation’s a little different, kitten. For one,” he turned around to poke at buttons on an air fryer; an appliance I most certainly hadn’t owned when I left for work that morning, “we’ve already been intimate.”

Unable to hide my amusement, I teased, “Oh, that’s a pretty word for fucking in a bar’s bathroom.”

“For another thing,” Rex continued, ignoring my snark, “you’re six months pregnant.”

“No!” I looked down at my giant belly with widened eyes. “Am I?!”

Rex chuckled again, the sound warm and rich and sexy. “So our version of dating just needs to be adjusted accordingly. You’re too exhausted to go out? We’ll stay in. You’re craving pickles instead of whatever restaurant we were going to? I’ll buy you pickles and you can eat ’em straight out of the jar. Your back can’t handle those uncomfortable seats in a movie theater? We’ll find a drive-in or watch movies at home. As long as I’m spending time with you, I’m happy with whatever we do.”

The playful mood I’d been indulging in melted away under the assault of his genuine sweetness. It was obvious he was genuinely trying to make things work. He was being thoughtful and considerate of my needs above anything else, and that made my omega very happy. My instincts demanded that I bare my neck and beg him to claim me, but I was thankfully able to ignore those urges.

The other urges, though? The ones I was sure were eighty percent hormonal? Those were harder to ignore.

Slick threatened to pool in my underwear while my hearthammered wildly in my chest. It was ridiculous how easily I was able to go from neutral to horny-as-fuck. You’d think that being the size of a small house would make me feel less attractive, but nope: my libido knew no bounds.

My silence must have read completely differently, though, because Rex turned off the burners on the stove and guided me over to the lumpy old couch, gently pushing me to sit down. Then he dropped to his haunches in front of me and placed his hand on my knee, asking, “Did I cross a line?”

God, even that was stupidly endearing.

Shaking my head, I knew I had to be honest with him, as uncomfortable as sharing my feelings made me. “No. You’ve been perfect.” With a sigh, I added, “That’s the problem.”

“I don’t follow.”

“I just…I guess I wasn’t expecting you to follow through when you said all those things the other night. I figured you’d leave, then freak out over everything, then…” I trailed off.

“Run again?” Rex didn’t sound offended. If anything, he sounded as though he understood exactly why I’d assumed the worst. Nevertheless, I ducked my head and nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Well, I did panic. I’ve been panicking. I mean, we’re havin’ a baby in a couple of months and that’s terrifying. Especially when it’ll be a shifter kid and I can’t shift.”

I practically gave myself whiplash with how fast I snapped my head back up to look at him. I was surprised by his honesty, though I didn’t know why. He hadn’t given me any reason to think he’d ever lie to me. Not even during that first evening together in the bar.

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