Page 22 of Knot Your Baby

“Leave it,” he orders. His voice is soft but has a firmness that makes me want to obey him. “You need it more than you think.” His eyes lower to my belly. “Your baby needs the oxygen too.”

There’s something about the way he says it that makes me agree without question.

His nostrils flare and his eyes close slightly.

I sigh, probably the smoke.

Or maybe it’s my scent.

Inside me, excitement flares like a lit match.

My heart pounds as I search his face for any hint of recognition—something that tells me he senses it, too. The omega in me perks up at the possibility I have finally, at twenty-fucking-eight years old and pregnant with another alpha’s baby, found my scented mate.

It was not my baby’s father.

How did I get it so wrong?

He does it again. Inhaling slowly, deliberately.

I catch my fingernail under the mask, the opposite side to where he stands, and lift it slightly.

I catch a whiff of smoke mixed with an underlying scent that sends warmth flooding through me. Tears sting my eyes, and it’s not smoke. It’s the knowledge that coming off scent blockers and this fire has brought him to me.

He must feel it.

“Put the mask back on,” he barks, reaching for my hand, snapping the mask onto my face again.

My stomach plummets as I wonder if he can smell me too, but he doesn’t like the look of me and he wants to pretend this isn’t happening.

I am about to drop another alpha’s baby, wearing pink pajamas and acting slightly deranged.

I sigh.Just my fucking luck.

But it is happening.

This is the first time an alpha has given me something more than a casual brush-off; this feels significant somehow.

I lift my hand to pull off the mask again—just one sniff! But before I can reach it, he catches my wrist gently.

“Keep it on,” he insists again as he rests on his haunches in front of me. There’s a hint of shyness covering his alpha tone, and that surprises me. “I don’t want you inhaling any more smoke than you already have. Do it for me.”

I smile. He cares.

I nod. My stomach flips. Then flips again, but not in a good way when his gaze drifts down to my belly. And I swear I see him sigh.

I want to scream that I’m a single omega looking for an alpha who I know just inhaled my perfume for a reason.

My eyes wander over his ear and down to his neck where I spot burn marks puckering his beautiful skin. A remnant of something darker—

I want to kiss it better.

He lifts his collar and turns slightly. While I hold back every urge bubbling within me to purr for him.

Fuck! No way.

Our eyes lock once more.

The fireman remains on his knees before me, his eyes steady on mine. He seems to have forgotten the chaos around us, but I can’t forget that I’m a walking disaster around alphas, so I try to act calm and sophisticated.

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