Page 320 of Labor of Love

“Um, hi,” I said slowly, craning my head back to meet scowling hazel eyes. And I mean, all the way back. The Alpha had to be six and a half feet tall and as wide as the doorway. He was… a little scary-looking too, his brow pronounced, nose a little too big and crooked like he’d been punched a time or two, and thin lips twisted in what I was sure was annoyance at being disturbed.

Holy cannoli.

Cocking his head, the Alpha studied me for a long moment, his gaze lingering on my midsection and bare legs under my maternity shorts.

“Hello.”

A shiver worked down my spine, rolling through my arms and making my fingers tingle. His voice was subterranean, rumbling out of his big chest at a decibel that had me worried for the integrity of the building. Thick, dark blond brows furrowed further, and I cleared my throat, trying to dislodge the lump that had appeared.

“Um.” Now that I was standing face-to-chest with my new Alpha neighbor, my crazy request was stuck inside me, and my face grew warm the longer the silence stretched.

“Did you… need something?” the Alpha asked, peering past me down the empty hall.

“So…” I took a deep breath and smoothed my hands over my belly nervously. “Here’s the thing. Whatever you’ve been cooking in there has been driving me crazy. Now I’m having a terrible craving for it.”

The Alpha stared at me again. He didn’t say anything for a long moment, and then understanding dawned on his face. “You want some ofmyfood?”

Embarrassed but too hungry to let it stop me, I rubbed at my swollen belly once more and nodded.Wantwas too simple a word, but as long as it got me some of whatever goodness he was creating in there, I’d take it. “Yes, please.”

He took a jerky half step back, wary and uncertain, like he wasn’t used to pushy, pregnant Omegas showing up on his doorstep demanding to be fed. Which… fair.

His eyes went past me again, toward my apartment. “Will your—anyone else be joining us?”

He said it so stiffly and awkwardly I didn’t get what he was asking at first. Scrunching my nose, I shook my head. “Um, no? Why would—oh!” My face was on fire, and I let my gaze drop, scuffing at the worn, gross carpet with the toe of my threadbare sneaker. “No, no one else will be joining us,” I mumbled.

No, I didn’t have an Alpha.

No, I didn’t have anyone to protect me.

No, I shouldn’t go inside with you.

Neither of us moved or said anything, my soft words simmering between us. Then, the Alpha stepped out of the doorway. I took a step forward, eyes downcast, but jerked to a stop as an enormous hand appeared in front of me, palm facing out. I jerked my gaze up, and the Alpha’s serious face was firmly back in place, all hesitation wiped away.

“I’ll get it and bring it to you. You’re in 4C, right?”

I told myself it wasn’t weird that he knew that, that he probably just knew it was the only empty place on this floor. “Yeah, that’s me, but I can wait?—”

The Alpha shook his head, that furrow between his brows returning as though he was offended at the idea of me waiting athis door for the food I basically accosted him to get. “I’ll bring it to you,” he repeated, his voice firm.

Lightning raced down my spine at that clear, commanding tone, startling me with the intensity. It wasn’t a reaction I was expecting, considering I had sworn off Alphas around the time I showed a positive pregnancy test to my sort-of boyfriend, and he ran for the hills. It didn’t mean anything, either, I reminded myself. It was just my overly hormonal body responding instinctively to what biology had made us.

“Okay,” I said, my voice a lot softer than I intended. Submissive. Clearing my throat, I adopted a new “I don’t need an Alpha” tone. Because I didn’t. All they’d ever done was cause me trouble. “I appreciate that. I’ll go see if I can find some silverware.”

I forced a smile, nodded, and spun around, waddling back to my place and pretending I couldn’t feel the weight of his gaze on me. It was okay if he found me strange. Being stared at was already becoming a part of my life, and that wasn’t going to go away. As soon as strangers realized I was pregnant but they couldn’t scent an Alpha or Beta on me or see a mating bite, they tended to get super offended. Sometimes they even felt the need to loudly share their antiquated opinions with me. Like I’d asked for their thoughts about my life while I was standing in the grocery store doing mental math to figure out if I could afford the bag of rice in my hands.

It had bothered me at first, but I’d done my best to change my mindset and grow thicker skin. Little Bean would be here before I knew it and deserved a parent who wasn’t ashamed of them or how they were coming into the world.

Inside my apartment, I stood next to the three boxes I had brought up before badgering my neighbor. They were the only things in the place so far, and I knew, even without looking at the words I had scrawled on the tops, that none of them had forks.Or plates. Or a chair to sit on while I scarfed down the delicious-smelling food.

There was a box of assorted plastic cutlery in a box still in my car, but I couldn’t easily get to it. Why had I told the Alpha I had silverware? Where was my head at?

I glanced down at my huge belly. The magnitude of the moment began to swell inside me, closing around my lungs and pushing tears to my eyes.

“It’s okay,” I said, cradling Little Bean and taking a deep breath. I’d said it to myself a lot the last week as I’d scrambled to find a new place to live after my skeevy landlord had shut off my water, even after telling me he’d give me time to make up for the rent I’d missed. I shouldn’t have let myself get behind, but Little Bean was going to need things, and things cost money. So much money.

I cleared the lump out of my throat. This wasn’t the hardest thing I’d gotten through, and I would get through it. Just like when I’d gotten kicked out of my favorite foster home after their Alpha son tried to touch me and I’d punched him. I’d ended up in an awful group home after that, since I was no longer adesirableplacement with myviolentbackground.

Assholes.

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