Page 24 of Luna

“Most people don’t think listening to me ramble about plants is fun.” I pretended I was really focused on getting back to the cottage.

“I work at a nursery.” Halos laughed. “I could talk about plants every day, all day.”

“Right.” I smiled, feeling a little more relaxed, as I opened the back door for him.

Halos came inside and started pulling groceries out of the canvas totes. Onions, garlic, canned tomato sauce, shakers of seasoning. He gestured at all the items on the counter. “I wasn’t sure which seasonings you had on hand, so I thought it would be safer to just bring it all.”

“Thank you.” I looked at him. “You don’t have to go to the trouble.”

“It’s no trouble.” He lifted a can of crushed tomatoes and then raised an eyebrow. “Slowly, I shall show the entire world it’s super easy to make your own sauce.” I laughed at his very bad Italian accent.

The kitchen filled with his vetiver and spearmint scent. I sat on a stool and watched him, lulled by the sound of his voice and his scent. When he took his hoodie off and laid it over an armchair, I almost snatched it so I could keep it for my nest, but I didn’t want to be so obvious.

He asked me about working at Cosmic Bonds, and what my plans for the fall flowerbeds were, and I relaxed more. Halos was here, in my kitchen, spending time with me.

In no time at all, he had the kitchen fragrant with garlic, onion, ground beef and bratwurst. I inhaled again, the aroma filling me up as though I was actually eating the spaghetti sauce

I really wanted to ask him why he wasn’t bonded yet, but I knew I couldn’t. That was too personal. I could talk about plants with him for hours, but we never went beyond what was considered polite.

He was here, and he was cooking for me. It would have to be enough. At the same time, though, it was on the tip of my tongue to ask him to go with me to the doctor’s appointment. I couldn’t put off making the appointment much longer and I was nervous about going on my own.

But that was way too personal. That was in ‘I love you and I want you to help me raise this baby’ territory.

My omega instincts didn’t care. Having him here, in my house, providing for me, felt so right.

He combined all the ingredients for the sauce together in the crockpot, to let it all simmer, and I sighed.

“That smells amazing. Thank you.”

“Any time. Normally, I let it simmer for a few hours, but we’ll let it sit while the pasta cooks and it will still taste good.” He smiled warmly at me, then turned his attention back to the next phase of the preparation, grabbing a pot to fill it with water to heat for the spaghetti noodles.

We ate dinner together, and the food and his presence made the experience pure bliss, again. Too soon, the meal was finished. It had already got dark while we were eating and, because his workdays always started early, he started clearing up to get ready to leave. We had a very brief argument about whether he was going to leave the leftover sauce for me or take it with him. He won, and put the food into containers for me, then we washed up the dishes together before he headed out the door.

When I walked back inside my house after waving him goodbye, I saw that he’d forgotten to take his hoodie with him. The omega part of me didn’t care. That hoodie was mine now, rightfully claimed. So, even before his taillights had disappeared, I had picked it up and was inhaling his scent, trying not to cry.

I told myself that I would have to give him back his hoodie. It wouldn’t make any sense to him if I pretended it wasn’t at my house. Feeling confused and miserable, I forced myself to put the hoodie back down and go off to get ready for bed. That night, no matter how many times I tossed and turned, I couldn’t fall asleep.

My stomach roiled, and everything felt wrong. Just like when I was going into heat, my skin felt too sensitive and, when I finally gave in and dragged myself into the kitchen, the lights were too bright.

Resigned, I grabbed Halos’s hoodie and climbed into my nest. Spearmint and vetiver filled the small space and I relaxed.

My nest was a small room off to the side of my bedroom, accessible only through a staircase. It was technically part of the attic loft, but I’d strung up twinkle lights, and had shelves put in. I had small potted plants sitting on a shelf, and a small circle of a window let in sunlight during the day. On a clear night, I could see the stars.

I wanted to grab the bag of my clothes from my Vegas weekend, but I couldn’t bring the scent of other men who had almost become my pack into the nest. I didn’t know what would happen when their scents faded. I had to conserve them.

At least, with Halos, I could see him at his job. Or pretend I needed help with a work project. I snuggled into his hoodie, letting his scent lull me into a restless sleep.

Chapter8

Luna

Doctor Lim looked at me, contemplatively. She was an older beta woman, with crow’s feet around her eyes and years of experience working with pregnant omegas.

I swallowed hard, nausea rolling through me. I’d asked for the lights to be dimmed when I’d first arrived, because I’d felt completely overwhelmed. There were too many antiseptic smells, the lights were too bright, even the paper covering the examination table that I was sitting on was too scratchy.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. I didn’t know what else to say.

The doctor frowned. “You have nothing to be sorry for. It’s just incredibly rare for an omega to get pregnant outside of a heat.”

---