<b>Chapter </b><b>92 </b>


    E


    The ultrasound appointment card was sitting on the breakfast table when Alexander walked into the kitchen three weekster, I’d set it down for two seconds while I grabbed my coffee, and he had spotted it immediately.


    “What’s this?” He picked up the small white card and inspected it.


    “My first ultrasound. It’s today.” I reached for the card, but he held it just out of my reach. “Can I have that back?”


    “Were you nning to go alone?”


    1 shrugged. “It’s just a routine checkup. Nothing exciting. We won’t know the gender for another couple of months.”


    Alexander’s eyebrows shot up. “E, this is our baby’s first ultrasound. Of course I’ming with you.”


    “You don’t have to-”


    “I want to.” He set the card back down on the table and fixed me with that familiar look of his that said the discussion was over. “I’ll clear my schedule.


    Despite myself, my chest warmed pleasantly at his insistence. I’d gotten so used to doing things on my own over the years, especially anything rtert my health, that I hadn’t even considered he might want to be there.


    “Okay,” I said quietly. “If you’re sure.”


    “I’m sure.” Green eyes flickered with something that I could have mistaken for the very same tenderness he showed me at the banquet three weeks as “Get dressed. We’ll head out soon.”


    I nodded, and once I finished my coffee and gobbled up a couple slices of toast with jam, I hurried upstairs to change. I threw on afortable sundress -summer had brought with it a hot and humid spell that was not doing any favors for my early pregnancy difort–and some sandals, then pulled my hair up into a simple bun and headed out.


    Alexander was waiting by the car when I found him. He opened my door for me like a perfect gentleman, and I tried to ignore the difort I felt when I saw Gabriel sitting in the driver’s seat.


    The Beta didn’t look at me, which I wasn’tining about. I didn’t want to look at him either after what he’d done.


    Throughout the entire drive, Alexander’s leg was bouncing in the seat beside me.


    “You seem more anxious than I am,” I pointed out with a smirk as we pulled into the parking lot of the clinic a little whileter.


    “I’m not anxious.”


    “Right. And I’m the Alpha King.”


    He shot me a look, but I caught the hint of a smile tugging at his lips. It had been moremontely, that damn smile. He thought I didn’t notice, but ! did.


    I knew it wasn’t because of me, necessarily, I knew he was just happy about the baby.


    But damn me if I didn’t find it utterly captivating. How many times had Alexander smiled throughout our marriage? I wasn’t even sure if I could count them on one hand. Not until now, when they were bing moremon than seeing him in a suit, which was every day.


    The appointment itself was everything I’d hoped it would be. Dr. Evelyn squirted cold gel on my slightly swollen belly and moved the ultrasound wand around until a grainy ck and white image appeared on the screen.


    “There’s your baby,” she said, pointing to a tiny blob that looked more like a bean than a little life. “Everything looks perfect so far.”


    13:29 Mon, 18 Aug D


    My eyes blurred with tears as I looked at the screen. That little blob was our child. Mine and Alexander’s.


    ts that the heartbeat?” Alexander asked, pointing


    tis. Strong and steady, exactly what we want to see.” Dr. Evelyn made some notes on her clipboard. “The pregnancy is progrensing beautikdily, . Your wolf’s strength is clearly providing excellent support for the baby’s development.”


    “And my condition…?”


    Evelyn beamed. “It’s remarkable, actually. Your wolf seems stronger than ever despite her dormancy. In fact, I dare say you’re on track to have the healthiest pregnancy I’ve ever seen.” She leaned forward and patted my hand. “You look fantastic, E. I’m so d to see you recovered.”


    Unbidden, my fingers fluttered toward the mark on my neck. It was a scar now<i>, </i>a raised patch of flesh in the shape of a crescent. Perhaps it wasn’t evidence of Alexander’s true love, but it was evidence that he’d cared enough for our child to mark me.


    And that was something, wasn’t it?


    We left the office with a strip of ultrasound photos and matching grins on our faces. I kept looking down at the pictures, trying to make sense of the tiny form that would be our son or daughter.


    “Home?” I asked as we got back in the car.


    “Nope.” Alexander directed Gabriel to drive toward the shopping district. When the Beta parked outside of the biggest baby supply store in the teritor turned to stare at Alexander.


    “Alexander, what are we doing here?”


    “Shopping for the baby.” He was already getting out of the car, and when he opened my door, he was in such a rush that I practically had to jog to cate up with him.


    “Isn’t it a little early for that? I’m barely three months along.”


    “It’s never too early to be prepared. I’m just being practical.” Right. Practical. As if I couldn’t see the excitement in his green eyes. “Besides, the good stuff


    takes time to order.”


    The store was massive, with different sections for furniture, clothes, toys, and feeding supplies. Everything was disyed in little mock nurseries that made my heart leap and my mind race with all kinds of ideas for our future baby’s room.


    “Alpha Alexander! Luna E!” A cheerful woman in her fifties approached us with a clipboard. “I’m so honored that you’re considering my humble shop for your little heir.”


    “Hardly humble,” Iughed, gesturing around at the massive space and making the woman blush.


    Alexander ced his arm around my shoulders, and now I was the one who was blushing. “We’re just looking for the essentials for now. Crib, changing table, that sort of thing. But I only want the best.”


    “Wonderful! Congrattions. When are you due?”


    “January,” I said.


    “Perfect timing for our holiday sales.” She gestured for us to follow her toward the furniture section. “Let me show you some of our most popr pieces.”


    For the next hour, we wandered through disys of cribs and dressers and rocking chairs. Alexander was surprisingly opinionated about everything, rejecting anything that looked “flimsy” or “impractical.”


    He spent twenty minutes examining the safety features on one crib before finally approving of the locking mechanism.


    “This one,” he said decisively, running his hand along the smooth wood of a beautiful cherry crib. “What do you think?<b>” </b>


    13.29 MON,


    E


    I had to admit it was gorgeous. ssic but not fussy, with clean lines and expert woodworking, “I love it.”


    “We’ll take it. And we’ll need the matching changing table,” Alexander told the sales associate without hesitation. “When can you deliver?<i>” </i>


    “For the full set? About six weeks.”


    “Perfect.”


    I was starting to understand why people said pregnant women nested. There was something deeply satisfying about picking out furniture for our baby, even if we wouldn’t need it for months.


    There was also something deeply satisfying about seeing Alexander in such a state of glee.


    We were debating the merits of different rocking chairs when I heard amotion near the front of the store. Voices, car doors mming, the sound of running feet.


    “Oh my Goddess, is that really them?”


    “I told you they were here!”


    “They’re buying baby stuff! This is so cute!”


    Alexander and I exchanged a look of horror as a group of about ten people burst through the store entrance, phones already out and recording.


    “Luna E! Alpha Alexander! Can you tell us about the baby?”


    “When are you due?”


    “What are you hoping for, a boy or a girl?”


    The sales associate looked panicked as the fans swarmed toward us, knocking over a disy of stuffed animals in their excitement.


    “Fuck,” Alexander muttered under his breath. He grabbed my hand and steered me toward the back of the store. “Is there another exit?” he whispered to the associate.


    “Service entrance,” the woman stammered. “Through the stockroom.”


    We hurried through a door marked “Employees Only” as the crowd/grew louder behind us. I could hear the store manager trying to restore order, but it wasn’t working.


    The service entrance led to an alley behind the building where Gabriel was already waiting with the car running.


    “How did they know we were here?” I asked as we climbed into the backseat.


    “Social media,” Gabriel said grimly, pulling out of the alley. “Someone posted about seeing you at the doctor’s office, and it spread from there.”


    “Goddess.” Alexander’s serene smile had been reced by a look of utter disappointment. “Can’t we buy baby furniture without it bing a spectacle?”


    “Apparently not.” Gabriel nced at us in the rearview mirror, eyes briefly meeting mine. “Maybe from now on <i>you </i>should just order everything <b>from </b><b>a </b>catalog.”