Page 7 of Alpha Talk

“Good to know but keep the kink on the table to a minimum. Moaning, like laughing, makes it hard to get a clear image of the baby,” Clyde chuckled, flipping through the papers on his clipboard. “Any changes since we last spoke, Cody?”

“No. Well, unless you count the positive test and how hungry I’ve been.”

“Anything else?” Clyde asked, scribbling his blue-capped pen across the clipboard.

“Nothing I can think of. Am I missing something?” Cody blinked at him and his scent started turning nervous.

“Not all at. I find that patients often forget stuff and sometimes if I ask enough times they’ll remember it. Not because of pregnancy but because most patients don’t trust us.”

“Do you blame them?” I laughed because I couldn’t help myself and Cody slapped my chest playfully with the back of his hand. I caught it and kissed it.

“Any sickness?” Clyde asked, setting aside his clipboard so that he could scrub his hands at the little sink in the corner of the room.

“Not yet. Mostly starving. Always starving. If you don’t find a baby you might want to look around for a tapeworm,” Cody laughed.

A few seconds later, both of our eyes were glued to the monitor attached to Clyde’s little machine. The damn thing wasn’t much bigger than my cellphone. Regardless of its size, the whooshing thing did its job. There on the screen, mounted to the bright, brick wall was our jellybean. A wolf. Our wolf pup. Our perfect little wolf pup. Just one. My wolf shifted my eyes to his to confirm that. Just one puppy. I swallowed a sigh of relief. Though plenty of people would disagree on my methods, I kept a lot of my worries about Cody’s pregnancy to myself after our initial conversation. My worries would only drive his on and he wanted this baby. I wanted another baby too but would’venever brought it up. Mine wasn’t the body who would have to go through the metamorphosis to bring life into the world. I would’ve supported him for the rest of our lives if he decided he never wanted to be pregnant again.

“One pup will be easier,”my wolf whispered into my thoughts before he started licking his paws inside his inner sanctum.

I kissed Cody’s forehead while Clyde talked about measurements and possible due dates. He was almost three weeks along which meant his pregnancy was almost to its second trimester already.

“About two months,”my wolf said between licks.

Two months wasn’t any time at all. Two months would pass us by in a heartbeat. We’d already prepared the nursery and baby proofed the house. We started a college fund and trust fund that would be easy enough to add our unborn pup’s name to when the time came. We did all the tasks that kept us busy while we waited for biology to do its job.

“He’s our only job for the next two months,”my wolf said, pausing in his grooming.“He can say what he likes. We’ll go in and talk to the numbskulls, but he’s our focus. Maybe we keep it a secret, though.”

Xander and Jonah both hit me with congratulations before we ever left the office. My phone vibrated like a rocket ship about to launch out of my hand. Nothing stayed secret long when you were on two different pack links but this was something to celebrate. Maybe this time Cody could even have a proper shower. Maybe I’d host a feast and give out gifts or…

“Alpha, don’t get carried away,” Cody laughed and squeezed my hand. “I love the idea of a feast but let’s see how I feel next week before we start planning what you have in mind. The images I’m picking up look more like a fair or a carnival than feast.”

“Yes!” I mock howled the word. “Let’s have a carnival to celebrate. I’ll rent a merry-go-round and a ferris wheel and one of those teacup rides. We’ll have a dunking tank and make Kodiak sit up there and….”

“Uh…. How about we donate those to kids in need or something,” Cody laughed.

“Frost above me,” I shook my head. “All the kids in the pack can come! We’ll hire one of those funnel cake guys and the cotton candy dudes and….” I shut up because Cody’s stomach growled. “Just a thought, but do you want to go hunting?”

A second later, Cody was furry and darting down the streets of Old New York – rebuilt shiny and new – on his way to the woods. I followed behind him still in human form, jumping from foot-to-foot trying to take off my new sneakers because shoes didn’t always survive the shift. Eventually, I got them off and stashed them in a tree before shifting and racing off to catch up with him.

Chapter Five

Cody

We arrived home full-bellied, bloodied, and ready for a nap. If the very human part of my brain wasn’t worried about the carpet, I might’ve not bothered to undress outside the front door. Nudity wasn’t that big of a deal to shifters, but I preferred to be nude inside my house and not outside of it when I could help it. In this fleshy form, being nude made me feel too vulnerable. Clothes wouldn’t protect me against an attack but fighting naked wouldn’t be fun.

Micah stood in front of me, trapping me between his broad shoulders and the door. Sometimes the position left me claustrophobic but not this time. He blocked me from the view of any passersby while I stripped out of my clothes. They weren’t the bloodiest post-hunt clothes we’d ever brought home but we tried to keep the house clean. Once I was down to my underwear, I slipped off my socks and stepped inside. At least my underwear survived the blood bath.

Micah stripped naked as if he wasn’t a wolf man who had a huge following and the occasional stalker photographer who’d love to get a photo of him in the buff. As soon as he was clothes-free enough, I pulled him inside and shut the door behind us. I locked it up tight and bunched up all our clothes under my arms and headed toward the laundry room. Micah started in the other direction, prompting me to call his name. I didn’t want to be alone.

“Starting the shower, love,” he called back.

“Oh, thanks,” I laughed.

Yep. My hormones were going into full swing. The safest place to be was alone with Micah. The safest place to be washome with our alpha behind a locked door. Maybe we’d den under the bed, or we’d hide in the closet or the pantry. I started the laundry and glanced around the room. We could technically den down in here.

“We have to go to work tomorrow,” I said aloud to my inner beast but wasn’t sure the furry guy was listening.

I glanced around the laundry room again. My wolf shifted my eyes to his and started taking his own measurements. He was almost positive the futon sofa from the office would fit up against the far wall under the shelf if we were careful. I shook the thought away as Micah appeared in the doorway.

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