Page 32 of His Pretty Omega
Taking a fortifying breath, he said, “Actually, I–” he glanced at me, and I gave him an encouraging smile and a nod. “We have an announcement. The reason my scrub pants are working double time, as you put it so kindly, Gilly–” he stared his sister down,his voice sharp.
Gilly jumped in before he could finish his sentence. “I have an announcement first! Me first!”
I stared at the woman, not quite believing that she had just cut Seth off the way she had. Jumping in with a what, an announcement of her own? She might as well have been waving her hands in the air as she childishly yelled “Me first!”.
Was this normal behavior for her? It seemed to be. If my siblings and I had ever acted like that as adults, mymadrewould have–well, we just knew better than to ever act like that.
“Babe,” Regina whispered quietly, “Seth had some news first.”
Gilly waved her fork in the air. “But ours is more important!”
My jaw clenched so tight I thought I might actually crack a tooth, and I had heard enough from her. I would be damned if I let anyone, blood relative or not, treat my mate like this.
Seth stood up, pushing away from the table, which had the effect of all eyes turning to him, and some semblance of quiet taking over the table.
“No, Gilly,” he shook his head, giving her a disgusted look. “Not this time. This time I’m going first. So, kindly, shut the fu–”
Toby loudly cleared his throat, his eyes darting to the girls.
Seth gave his brother-in-law a small, tight smile. “Sorry, Tobs. Gillian, for once in your life, kindly shut up. You would think me bringing home an alpha to meet you all would be your first clue that maybe something huge was going on in my life. Not like I’m parading alphas in and out of here, every other week.”
“Just your bed,” Gilly whispered under her breath, and Nate growled a warning at his daughter. The entire table turned shocked eyes onto their father, and Nate nodded at Seth.
“Go on, son,” he urged quietly.
Seth narrowed his eyes at his sister, then tilted his head, a gleam lighting up his blue eyes that I was becoming very familiar with. “Jealousy doesn’t look good on you, baby sister.”
“I’m not jealous of you, Seth,” she denied, but there was something in her tone that told me my mate might be onto something.
“Now, where was I?” He rubbed his hands together, then tapped his lower lip lightly with a finger, as if trying to remember where he left off. Hiding my smile behind my napkin, I decided I would take my lead from him.
“Ah, yes! Talking about me. My favorite subject. Please, hold your questions until I’m finished with my drama. This hunky alpha and I are moving in together. I know, I’m shocked too. Imagine me living with someone. Cray cray! But I’m told that’s what fated mates do.”
He looked down at me, a sweet smile curving his lips, and put a hand on my shoulder. My own hand came up to cover his, giving him a little squeeze of encouragement.
“Nope, your ears did not deceive you, you heard correctly. Fated mates. Like Bennett and Shay, and well…a whole shit ton of people I know now. Must be something in the Sweet Alps water, and I caught it. And Dad, I love your steak, I really do. But I can’t eat it right now. This baby,” he put his other hand on his tiny belly, “is not into red meat. At all. Like nada, not happening, no go. That’s it. That’s all we got to tell you.”
He waved a hand towards Gilly, like he was walking the runway at a beauty pageant. “Your turn. And while you tell everyone your news, that just couldn’t wait for me to finish speaking, I’m gonna go throw up now.”
Chapter Thirteen
Alex
Pushing my chair back, I stood, uncomfortable with the shocked silence that had fallen over the room. Hell, even the girls were quiet, though it was probably more of a reaction to all the adults' energy than understanding what had just happened.
“I’m gonna go check on Seth,” I told the group, only to be stopped by Nate standing up so quickly his chair nearly fell over.
“Seth is pregnant?” he demanded, frowning.
“He doesn’t even like kids,” Gilly hissed, shaking her head.
“He very much does like kids,” I turned to address her. “You are aware he’s a pediatric nurse? He deals with kids every day. Nursing is a highly skilled, hard occupation. Doyou honestly think he would choose to work with children if he didn’t like them? I believe you are mistaking liking them and not wanting to have any as the same thing. They are vastly different.”
“And, Seth wants this baby?” Rachel asked, her eyes troubled. “I wouldn’t want someone to push him into having a child he doesn’t want.”
“Since we’ve just met, I’m going to try to not be offended by that implication,” I gripped the back of the chair in front of me so tightly I was afraid my knuckles might crack. “I would never ask him to do that. I can assure you he very much wants this baby, and it was completely his decision to have it.”
“I’m sorry, Alex,” Rachel told me, her blue eyes glistening suspiciously. “I just had to ask.”
