I woke up, Sylvia nestled against me, rooting for her breakfast. The plan of making her a bed was one she was having no part in and we found her nestled between us within five minutes. I’d never been one for co-sleeping, always worried she would fall off the bed or get smothered, but somehow, the night before had just felt so utterly perfect with her nestled between her father and me.

Not that things were perfect. They were far from it. I was still a professor, only now he was a student at my place of employment. I needed to find a new position as soon as possible because there was no way I’d let go of Coop for a job. But I still needed to work thanks to the lovely part of life called bills.

When Coop had asked me to move in with him, part of me shouted to slow down and be responsible. Of course, the other half of me practically jumped him, needing his scent, his touch, his knot more than anything. But now, by light of almost morning, I needed to be more pragmatic.

I brought Sylvia to my chest, hoping to buy a few extra minutes in bed before she needed her diaper changed and we’d all need to face reality.

“Does she always wake up and go right to breakfast?” Coop asked, his eyes locked on our daughter. His smile was bright though his eyes were less so after the late night we’d had.

“Usually. They kind of have three activities. Eat. Sleep. Poop. Although she’s outgrowing that stage and adding lots of giggling, grabbing, and paying attention to all things in the mix.”

“So if she wakes up, I can’t take over and help?” he asked, sounding deflated. My heart began to flutter with the sweetness of his distress. “My brother’s mate said letting Killian take over night duty was the best thing he ever did.”

“If that is something you want to do, I’m sure I could pump an extra bottle a day for you to feed her. I pump for daycare anyway.” It sucked not being able to feed her all day, but for now, that was the best scenario. Once the center at work had a spot for Sylvia, I could stop by to feed her between classes. Except that wouldn’t be until the semester changed, and it was looking less and less likely I’d be around that long.

“I would like that.” His hand rested on Sylvia's back. In all the scenarios I’d created in my mind for if I ever ran into him again, Coop instantly loving our daughter never made an appearance. Probably because I was too scared of how he’d react. I knew in my gut he’d be responsible and not one of those dead-beat alphas. There was something about him that wouldn’t allow him to be anything but. Beyond that, I had no idea.

“I can work on that then.”

His hand left Sylvia before it found its way to rest on my hip. “I was thinking about—pretty much everything after you fell asleep last night. Both of you.”

Sylvia became squirmy, an indication she wanted to switch sides, which I did while waiting for Coop to continue. Whatever he wanted to say was important to him if the way he was so focused was an indicator. The least I could do was listen.

“So, this place… Well, isn't the best. I know this. But it’s all I have right now, and I want us to share it. Killian will help me fix it up better. But if you say yes and agree to make our family a real family, one that lives together and grows together, then I promise you this will only be temporary. I have a standing job offer from my internships with a salary that could easily provide for us, complete with benefits. And if you don’t want to go back there, I’m sure I could get similar offers thanks to the experience they gave me.”

He was talking a mile a minute, and I just let him get it all out. Unlike me, who slept like the dead, it looked like Coop had been up too much of the night thinking. And while there were some faults to his logic, there was also quite a bit of sense.

“I still haven’t wrapped my head around you being a student and what that will mean for us.” I knew what I wanted, which was to say fuck it, Coop is mine and the father of my baby and anyone who doesn’t like it could pound salt, but that wasn’t how life worked.

My last position ended with a confidentiality clause. I doubted the same would be true at a public facility. They wouldn’t care about hiding secrets away. There was also a chance they wouldn’t care about my relationship, whatever that was going to turn out to be in the end. Technically, we had our baby before I worked at the school he attended, but that didn’t make the situation one they wouldn’t frown upon.

“Graduate student,” he stressed before sitting up. “And it means we need to plan differently. Nothing more.”

For all his youth, he was so much the alpha that so many alphas my age stove to be. He put his family first, even if it was a family he just found out about. And what did I go and do? Hurt him with my ill thought-out words.

“I agree.” I pulled myself up, Sylvia stretching out between us, half in a milk stupor.

“You do?”

I nodded, putting my hand on his thigh.

“I was afraid—”

“Look at me.” I waited until he met my eyes. This was important. “When I said you being a student was an issue, I meant for us to work through together because society is what it is, not that it was a problem for me personally. I need you to understand that—to believe that.” I wanted more than anything to lean over and kiss him until he swore he understood, but there would be time for that later.

“I do. I just… Not being the alpha you need already is killing me. My instincts tell me I need to take care of you both, provide for you both. Hell, my upbringing tells me the same thing and yet, I can’t. I’m barely making rent because my summer money went to school bills.”

Hearing his confession hurt my heart. He thought he wasn’t enough because of the same stupid societal standards that told me being pregnant and unmated made me unworthy and somehow a disgrace. Weren’t we the pair.

“And yet I make enough.” I hated to put it out there like that, not when his income was evidently such a concern for him, but he needed to know. “ And I have savings.”

His chin dropped, and he stared at our daughter as she played with her hands, watching them as if they were the most fascinating wonder on the planet. For her, they probably were. She was so flipping adorable.

“But I should take care of you.” He was speaking to me but with a singsong voice for Sylvia to hear while he held her little foot.

“What do I teach?” I asked, pulling him from his thoughts, his eyes snapping to me like I was crazy, or worse yet, that I was giving him a pop quiz.

“Omega studies.”

“Uh huh. And what do you think that says about how I feel about the roles an omega should and shouldn’t take on?” It said I thought the way the alpha - omega hierarchy in our society was set up was bullshit, but I wanted to know what he thought it meant.

“Oh, look. Sylvia needs a new diaper.” He took his pillow and laid it on the other side of her, I presumed to prevent her from falling, before getting up and saying over his shoulder, “I’ll take care of that.”

Before I could respond, he was out of the room.

He came back with towel, diaper, and wipes in hand. Spreading the towel on the bed, he made quick work of her diaper change, complete with tummy raspberries.

“You’re good at that.”

“I’m an uncle. I’ve had practice.” He beamed at the word uncle. I knew Killian had a pregnant omega and child at home from comments he made in class, but now they were more than that. They were uncles and cousins for my sweet baby girl.

“How many nieces and nephews do you have?” I cringed at not knowing how many siblings Coop even had. In some ways, I felt like I’d known him forever, and in other ways, it was abundantly clear I knew him not at all.

“Just Ez. Uh, Ezekiel Everest Daye. He’s just over a year old and Marcus, my brother in law, is pregnant again. He is all about having babies.” Coop tickled Sylvia as he said babies and my stomach fell. If Coop wanted lots of babies, he needed to know I wasn’t the omega for him—as much as it hurt to admit as much.

“You should know that Sylvia is probably going to be it for us. I’m no spring chicken. Advanced paternal age was my stupid diagnostic code. Chances of me getting pregnant the first time were incredible.” There was also the nasty emergency C-section turned cluster fuck, bit that I’d mention later. Some stories could wait, and he hadn’t noticed the scar thanks to the hair that covered it.

“Sylvia is perfect, and if she’s all we’re given, I’m happy.” Coop picked her up, snuggling her close and tapping her nose. “She’s absolutely perfect.” He put her back down as his face turned serious. “Is that why you didn’t freak out when I knotted you bare last night? Because, in hindsight, we should have talked about that.”

Truth be told, I had no fucking clue why I let him knot me bare. At the time, it crossed my mind to mention condoms, but then something greater took over.

Need.

“In hindsight, yes, we should have, but I wouldn’t change it. I needed to feel you—all of you. It was selfish, given we hadn’t had the conversations that needed to be had, but I wouldn’t take it back.”

I held my breath, waiting for Coop to reply. His answer came in seconds and not the hours it felt like. Condoms weren’t a minor thing.

“Me neither.” He smiled, embarrassed. “With the needing, I mean.”

“You were my first knot.” It slipped out before I could process how those words might change things. Being a first knot, especially being over forty was a big deal. It meant I was waiting for something. And truth be told, I had been. I just hadn’t known it at the time.

“You were a virgin?” he asked, not understanding my meaning.

“Hardly, but you were my first alpha.”

His eyes darkened. Oh, he didn’t like my use of the word hardly. Good man.

“Only?” He all but growled the question that was more of a statement.

“Only alpha,” I vowed, the demand of his proclamation doing far more to me than it should. “I knew even then that you were worth breaking my rules for.”

“Rules?” His sexy smirk was back. I wanted to nip at it, but then Sylvia’s cooing brought me back to the present.

Darn pheromones.

“Not to tie myself to an alpha.” I shrugged, rolling my eyes at how silly my rule sounded when said out loud.

“You totally sucked at that rule.” Coop laughed.

“And I’m very grateful for it.” I reached forward, grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze.

Coop squeezed back then raised an eyebrow. “Breakfast?”

As if on cue, my stomach responded for me with a gurgle.

“You cook?” Because cooking was sexy. Not that I’d admit that before knowing if he did.

“I was thinking the diner around the corner, but yes, I can cook.” He might as well have ended that sentence with a duh given his tone.

So he could cook. Super double bonus points from the professor.

“Impressive. I vote we eat here so we can hash some things out and then go from there.” And by some things, I meant all things.

“Sounds like a plan.” He leaned in, kissing my cheek before whispering in my ear, “Be warned, I’m going to woo you with my cooking until you have no choice but to move in.”

“Consider me warned.”