Page 26 of Packed in the Fire house

“Can I hold you for a while, little man, so Mama can keep doing what she's doing?”

My son immediately stopped fussing and snuggled into the alpha, nuzzling his head into the crook of his neck.

“You calmed him down incredibly fast,” I said, playfully glowering at the giant. “Usually he’s a wriggly monster if he’s not tired.”

“Nah, I’m just new and exciting,” Rune insisted, slowly bobbing up and down as Luka relaxed in his arms.

“If you keep doing that, he's going to fall asleep on you.” I grimaced. “I can take him off you if you want.”

“I am more than happy to keep this little one in my arms. We're friends now, he and I. We have an understanding that Mama must be allowed to make cookies. That is, if you don’t mind?” He directed the last question at me. “If you're not comfortable with me holding him, I can totally put him back.”

“No, you can hold him.” In fact, the sight of him holding my son was downright adorable. “I just don't want you to feel like you have to. Babies aren't exactly common occurrences in a firehouse, are they?”

Rune shook his head. “They're not, which is why I'm quite enjoying this. I want to hold him, like you want to bake cookies.”

I snorted. He had me there. Without another word, I picked up the cookie scoop and continued portioning. As I did so, Rune walked around the kitchen, slowly rocking my son. It was almost sleep time, so sure enough, within a few minutes, Luka was drifting off.

Doing my best to focus on the task at hand, I put one tray in the oven and started cleaning up. I was doing everything in my power to avoid looking at the large, beautiful alpha who was treating my son so wonderfully. I could never imagine Luka's father holding him like that.

The asshole who had contributed the DNA that created Luka felt that child-rearing was an omega's job and wanted no part in it.

I had seen plenty of packs in my life, and I knew that was bullshit. My brother and his pack constantly supported their omega and their babies. The last time I had a video call with my twin brother, he had been sitting up in the middle of the night, his daughter splayed out on his chest because she had an ear infection and was fussy.

What I would do for that support.

“Do you want kids one day?” I asked as I washed one of the mixing bowls.

Rune smiled down at the sleeping baby in his arms. “Yeah, I would have a whole football team if I could, but that’s not up to me.”

I frowned. “What do you mean, it's not up to you?”

“Well, I can want as many babies as I want, but I'm only going to have as many babies as my omega is willing to have.”

“Most alphas don't seem to think that way,” I said.

“Well, they are idiots who really need to learn better. It doesn't matter if I want a football team. It comes down to what the woman who is building the children with her own body wants. What about you? Do you want more?”

“Maybe? I've been so busy with Luka, I haven't really thought about it.”

“What about if you had more support?”

“In that case, I probably would,” I said as I dried the dishes absentmindedly. “I'm actually trying to train to become a teacher because I love kids. Were my situation is different, I would probably also want a football team.”

“The idea of having little ones running around is exciting.”

“Exciting and exhausting. This one went through a phase where, for three weeks straight, he woke up every half an hour, no matter what, and screamed nonstop.”

Rune grimaced. “That sounds brutal. And you did it all on your own?”

“I had no choice. My brother helped out whenever he could, but he had his own life, and my parents… Let's just say, they weren’t exactly decent parents to me, so I doubted they’d be any good with my son.”

“Why weren’t your folks decent?” he asked, still rocking and bobbing Luka.

I sighed. “They had good intentions, but they are very free-spirited people. They thought teaching us to read and write would be oppressive and mean. If they had their way, we never would have gone to school in the first place. When Storm and I were fifteen, they declared we were old enough to take care of ourselves and decided to buy a van and start traveling around the country. Since then, I've only seen them a handful of times. I did call them when I found out I was pregnant, but they weren’t enthusiastic.”

Their abandonment had hurt, but it hadn't made much of a difference in our lives. We had been taking care of ourselves for a long time. The moment I found out I was pregnant, I knew I'd be getting no help from them. A baby would damage their carefree lifestyle. Also, they liked to pretend that they werestill young, free-spirited teenagers themselves, so a grandchild would probably just make them feel old.

“Well, they sound like real winners.” Rune chuckled.

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