I had been watching Netflix in my room while Kit baked us chocolate cookies when the knock came on the door. I froze, and Kit dropped something in the kitchen, swearing and fumbling about. "Just a minute," she whisper-yelled. "I'll get it. Stick to the plan."

I was surprised it had taken a whole week for someone from her family to come around. My parents had come over that afternoon, probably leaving the family event early, which was shocking enough. They listened silently, and then my mother had quietly and calmly asked when I was intending on getting mated. Then, the wailing and gnashing of teeth came when I told her I had no intention of doing that. Kit had kicked them out and held me while I cried, and we'd been left in relative peace since then. I was still getting daily texts about how I was ruining my future and the future of my child by not getting mated before the baby was born, but as long as they kept it to texts, I could manage.

I was waiting in frozen anticipation, the show still playing, though it held none of my attention. Who would it be? Her father? Her mother? Her sister Ingrid? I was prepared but completely confused when Kit came in my room, muttering, "Oh shit, oh shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. He's here."

"It's your dad?"

"No, it's the dad. The hot one. The boom boom guy. The him and you." She was speaking in rushed whispers.

"Kit, what the hell are you talking about?"

She pressed her hand urgently to my stomach. "The dude who stuck this baby in you is right outside our door!"

My eyes widened in dawning realization. "Oh shit. Shit shit shit."

She nodded emphatically. "That's what I said!"

I scrambled out of bed and ran two steps to my door. "No—no, I need to make sure—" I ran to the bathroom to check how I looked. "I'm a mess!" I moaned. "I need to change, I need—"

Kit grabbed me by the shoulders and ushered me out of the bathroom. "There's no time for that. I slammed the door in his face.'

"What? Why would you do that?"

"I panicked, okay? I didn't know what to do! I saw his face, and—"

"Shut up. Just shut up." I shook loose of her grip. "I've got this."

"Go get 'em, foxy."

Why was Dallas here? Had he somehow heard about the pregnancy? That was ridiculous. How would he? Kit and I were the only ones who knew what he looked like, and we only had a name. That we'd already researched. And found nothing. I took a deep breath. I could do this. This was good, right? He deserved to know. I opened the door.

Empty. 

Panicked, I ran onto the landing, and there he was, paused halfway down the stairs. "Dallas!"

He whipped around and looked up at me. Damn, he was just as good looking as I remembered. His eyes burned with that fierce, suppressed fire as he took his first step up the stairs. And then another. And another. Any minute now. I waited for him to scent me, to realize. Any minute. I had imagined this moment a thousand times, but I'd never been able to imagine his reaction. Would he be pleased? Angry? 

His eyes finally widened in surprise. Yes, that was it. What would his face reveal now? I'd be able to see it in his eyes. His eyes were so expressive. Until they were nothing. It was as if a shadow swept across Dallas's face. The man I'd fantasized about for three months had dimmed, a wall descending between us. Any hope I'd had—whether just that he'd accept this child, or that he'd carry me off into the sunset and we'd live happily ever after—died. 

"It seems we need to talk," he said, his voice as flat as his eyes. 

I straightened my shoulders. I wouldn't be cowed by my parents, I certainly wouldn't be cowed by this man who I'd only spent one night with. Regardless of the consequences of that night. "That would be good." I turned in to the safety of my home just in time to see Kit's expectations fade at the sight of my face. I took a seat on the couch and she hurried to join me as Dallas entered. He shut the door softly behind him and stood across from us, arms crossed.

Dallas's eyes darted between Kit and me. "Perhaps it would be better for us to speak in private."

Kit placed a protective hand on my arm. "Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of my cousin."

Dallas nodded as if I'd answered a question he hadn't actually asked, his shoulders relaxing slightly. "Are you... mated?"

I blinked in surprise. "No." Why would he ask me that? Did he really think I was the kind of guy to go from single to mated in less than the three months since I'd last seen him? When his shoulders relaxed, a piece clicked into place. "The baby is yours," I blurted.

I shocked the shadow away. The fire in his eyes flickered, and I felt an unholy joy at its return. His steps were slow and measured as he approached me. "Come again?"

"The child is yours."

He came to a stop only a couple feet away, and I had to crane my neck up at him. Kit's hand trembled on my arm. "You're certain?"

I blushed. "I've never gone without a condom before, for any reason."

The flames nearly consumed his eyes and my body flushed with an entirely different emotion than the apprehension I'd been feeling until now. He knelt on one knee in front of me, and placed one head behind my neck and I vaguely felt Kit's touch disappear, heard her gasp in fear. 

"I'm going to kiss you know, little omega."

HI didn't give me a chance to respond before claiming my mouth in a blistering kiss that made everything else fade away into nothingness.