Page 66 of Luna

Her cottage was beautiful, but she complained about the space: not enough room in the dining room for a highchair, where would all the baby stuff go? what about the nursery? and so on. She had started circling inside the cottage, having conversations with herself about what would go where.

We’d offered to do online ordering, in-store shopping, or some hybrid. One of the clients at Cosmic Bonds had told her about this expo and she’d decided this was what we were doing. We’d be able to check out different brands in person, and she could obsess over what sort of stroller she wanted to her heart’s content.

We started by wandering around. I gave her information about each brand, safety statistics, price point features, and considerations.

For the second time since meeting Colton, I didn’t think someone was humoring me. Luna looked to me for my ideas and that was priceless. It didn’t matter I couldn’t bond her, because we would form our own bond, forged in intellect and trust.

Halos brushed his hand on my shoulder and gestured ahead. “Furniture is that way, if you think we should hit the big stuff first.”

Luna looked at me, and suddenly the pack was waiting for my opinion. I cleared my throat. “It does stand to reason we should cover the major pieces first.”

I looked at Luna. She was glowing with health, her belly massive, although her face was pale. “This way we can get that sorted, take a break and eat something, and then in the afternoon do the smaller stuff like blankets and diapers.”

Luna linked her arm with mine, and we wandered through the furniture section. Clever vendors had set the pieces up to look like a nursery, tugging on heartstrings to encourage prospective parents to make the purchase.

If they were smarter, they would have dimmed the lights and employed scent cancelers at the same time. Luna stopped to look at a massive crib set, but she didn’t seem interested.

No omega was going to jump at the chance for their baby’s furniture to smell like the entire world.

“What do you think?” Colton put his hand on the rail. “The rail comes down, and when Peanut gets older it converts into a toddler bed.”

The salesman, a beta wearing a suit and an easy smile, came over. “That’s a nice choice you’ve made.”

“We haven’t chosen yet,” I smiled at him. “I’m a little concerned that the Danikon safety ratings are only ninety-eight percent.”

“We have the best ratings for over a decade in our furniture.” The salesman walked around and demonstrated the distance between the bars, too small for the kid to stick their head through, and the stability of the matching changing table.

I wasn’t convinced, and Luna didn’t seem to fall in love with it.

“Wonderful pack you have, my dear.” The salesman winked at her. Her face paled, and I knew it was a sore spot. If she would just let us all be bonded in, she would feel the love pouring out of Colton. The love I saw on Halos’s face every day, and Dante’s quiet adoration.

“Thanks,” she whispered. She started to move away, but the salesman moved in front of her. “Look at this white model, it’s just beautiful.”

Colton growled, and Halos shot the man a death glare. Dante smiled. “Friendly advice. Don’t use hard sales tactics on omegas surrounded by their pack.”

Luna shook her head. “No thank you.”

The man stepped back with his hands raised. “No harm meant, just wanted to show her our other models.”

I wished I had more time to observe Luna before she was pregnant. According to my Internet research as well as inquiries, people were more receptive to omegas in public. But around Luna, everyone acted like they were going to wrap her up in a nest and keep her there forever.

Once she was bonded, maybe some of the protective urges would calm down.

“Come on Luna, there’s a set up here that should be promising.”

She took my arm and snuggled against me. I never thought an omega would act like I was just as vital to her well-being as an alpha. I kissed her forehead and brought her over to some more furniture sets.

The plan was to buy it as a matching set. We could do various shades of dark to light wood, white, blue, and other paints, but they were all sets that came with a crib, rocking chair, changing table, side table, dresser, and sometimes another small table.

We went through four more sets, all of them decorated with different themes. Peanut was a girl, but Luna didn’t like most of the girl themed stuff. It was all pink and white frills with tons of lace, and I was privately glad she didn’t care for that.

If Luna wanted the nursery in head-to-toe pink we would make that happen, but I didn’t think it brough much to the room.

“What about a plant theme?” I suggested again. We had tossed ideas around for a while, and we kept coming back to plants, or something celestial, but so far there were no sets that matched it.

Luna shrugged. Three more salesman congratulated Luna on her beautiful pack, and she got more and more tense.

“You want to go home? Take a break?” Halos leaned in and cupped her face.

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