Page 57 of Luna

The four of us laughed, and relief poured through me.

The moment crystallized, and I knew I would remember this for the rest of my life. The antiseptic scent of the doctor’s office, the scratch of the paper on the examination table, the thunderstorm-cotton-mint scent of my sort-of pack standing next to me: everything came into focus like it was brighter than life itself.

I stared at the little alien on the ultrasound. My baby. The baby inside me. I hadn’t felt any kicks yet. I knew I was pregnant, but it was hard to think about the future when I didn’t know what being a mom would be like, when I’d spent very little time around children. It had all felt very hypothetical at this point.

I tried to memorize the screen, the way the baby’s fingers curled on themselves like they were praying or plotting something.

“So that’s the little peanut.” Colton stared at the screen, like he was trying to memorize everything as well.

“At this stage, the baby doesn’t have enough fat and muscle to give them real facial features.” Quinn looked at me with a grin. “That’s why they look like an alien.”

“Dr. Carter is correct.” Dr. Lim smiled at me. “Baby is healthy. Here’s the brain and spinal cord.” She moved the wand to focus on the baby’s head. “You can see the hands and feet here, and it looks good so far.”

“Can you see if it’s a boy or girl?” I bit my lip. “I know the trendy thing is to wait, but I want to plan the nursery.”

I wanted to know. With so much else up in the air, I wanted to know the gender of the baby.

“Of course.” Doctor Lim moved the wand. “Baby is in a good position for gender. Looks like the pack is having a girl.”

My lungs squeezed and I blinked again. I wasn’t really hoping for a boy or a girl, but now that I knew it felt so much more real.

“Can I have a picture?” I whispered.

Dr. Lim typed something onto the little machine. “I’ll print you out several copies. I’ll also send you home with a video.”

I nodded, blinking my eyes. They were dry from staring, and I let myself relax. I was going to have a picture of the baby, and video of the ultrasound.

“When will I be able to feel her kicking?”

“Twenty to twenty-four weeks.” Dr. Lim and Quinn said at the same time.

I laughed. “Thank you.”

Quinn blushed a little. “Sorry. I’ve been reading.”

“That’s good.” Dr. Lim nodded at him. “Having your pack take a knowledgeable and active interest in the pregnancy is the best.”

“Quinn’s been a life saver. He looks stuff up, so I don’t have to avoid all the horror stories.”

There was one incident where I’d wanted to know why I was having heartbeat and stupidly did a quick Internet search.

An hour later, I was crying because looking symptoms up on the Internet basically guaranteed that someone would share a story about how that exact symptom meant you were having a miscarriage.

I hadn’t meant to get pregnant, but now that the Peanut was here, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing her.

I got cleaned up and went to pee, grateful to be able to get rid of the pressure on my bladder. After that, we decided to go out to eat.

I couldn’t make up my mind over what I was craving, so the guys put in a vote, and decided to go to a steakhouse down the beach. It had a wide menu, so we would all be able to get whatever we wanted.

The server took our order after congratulating us. None of the guys seemed bothered by the fact that everyone assumed we were a pack. A real pack. I pushed the hurt out of my mind. We were celebrating.

Halos handed me some fresh bread. “So now that we know the gender, are we allowed to start buying stuff?”

“He really wants to know if we can start giving you the stuff we’ve already bought,” Quinn said. “It was hard to not go crazy.”

“You’re telling me.” Colton looked at his phone and then sat it down. “We have nursery furniture to decide on, décor, baby items, renovations, and houses to look at.”

Quinn frowned. “Don’t be pushy. Luna might want to just go shopping with her sisters and cousins.”

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