The latter half of February and the first week of March, I spent in LA, trying to get ready for the big move. Most of my things I was going to sell or otherwise get rid of, taking only what I could fit into my suitcases. Sorting through everything took time, though. I couldn't get out of my lease before May either, but that didn't matter.

The second week of March, I quit my job and returned to Oceanport. Five weeks was about as long as I could go without seeing Zander.

This time, because I'd told him I was coming, he collected me from the airport like a proper alpha gentleman. I fell into his arms and for long minutes, we didn't separate.

I won't lie, part of me wanted to drag him to the nearest restroom and get it on. I was fairly sure I could have convinced him to play along too, but then I decided to be a good omega for his sake. He'd already given me a blowjob in his bookstore after all. I didn't need to push him further. I'd waited five weeks, I could wait the couple hours it would take us to get home from the airport.

I had no illusions that it was going to be easy, but I would manage.

When we arrived in Oceanport, though, it seemed my mate had other plans for us. “I have a surprise for you,” he said, parking the car in front of the bookstore.

“A surprise?”

Zander grinned as if we were playing Monopoly and I'd just landed on his hotel. “You surprised me last time, now it's my turn.”

“Oookay. Well, whatever you got, bring it.”

“It's inside.” Zander climbed out of the car and I followed him to the front door. The bookstore was closed, but I thought I heard sounds coming from the apartment upstairs as we ascended the stairs.

Was that Betty?

“Go ahead and open the door,” Zander said, passing me the key.

“All right then.” With a tinge of apprehension, I unlocked the apartment and turned the door handle.

“Surprise!” several someones shouted in my ear as the door swung open. I nearly flinched before I took in the group of people gathered in the apartment's living room.

There were Dean and Griff and Kade and Shane and even my big sisters Lara and Carole. What were they doing here? Both of them grinned at me with identical smiles as if they could read the question on my face.

They probably could. I wasn't trying to hide my confusion.

Trying to figure out what was going on, I let my gaze sweep across the living room. Someone had decorated it with pink and blue balloons and there was a bunch of neatly wrapped presents sitting on the couch table. Was this...?

“Oh God, are you throwing me a baby shower?” I asked.

“Yes, we are!” Zander couldn't have sounded more pleased. “I figured your family would be a little more supportive than mine.”

“A little? Pah.” Griff grabbed my arm and led me over to the kitchen where a huge cake sat on the counter. “You brother spent all day yesterday preparing that thing, and he wouldn't even let me have a taste! I'm pregnant too! I should get cake!” he shouted in the direction of the living room.

I eyed Griff from the side. I wasn't sure exactly when he was due, but his belly was pretty prominent by now.

“You get nauseous when you have sweets!” I heard Dean shout back.

Griff rolled his eyes. “That was one time,” he said to me. “I promise I won't get sick at your party. I don't know why my babies never like sweets. It's a tragedy.”

“Yeah, that sucks.” I patted his back. “Thank you for the cake, Dean!” I yelled in the direction of the living room before turning back to the cake. It was awesome. And not only because it had a picture of the Midnight Ranger on the top. It also looked delicious. Like it was sure to put me into sugar-induced hyper-activity once I had a slice of it. Idly, I wondered if Vinists had baby showers too. Would Rhys get a cake if he got pregnant? Not that I wanted him to get pregnant in his situation.

“Do you think we should eat?” Griff asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. He looked like he was about to plead if I said no.

“Let me greet the other guests first. I can't believe you guys got Lara and Carole to come in.”

“Are you crazy? We'd never have missed this.”

I turned my head to see Lara stand in the door to the kitchen.

“I can't believe my little brother's pregnant,” she said with some amount of glee. “You have to take your coat off so I can check if you're showing yet.”

“Do you also have a list of baby names to suggest?”

“No, but Carole does.”

“Don't you guys do everything together?”

“Meh, we split the work sometimes,” she waved me off.

“Well, I'm glad you're not both harassing me at the same time, but tell Carole she has to get in line behind Kade if she wants to rattle baby names at me. Currently he wants me to call the child Kaden or Kayla.”

Lara made a face.

“Yeah,” was all I said in response. “If I had to name this child after anyone it would be Clark or Peter or something. A name fitting a super hero.” I grinned, resting one hand on my belly.

“Aw, you're the real super hero here, little brother.” Lara reached out to ruffle my hair. Feeling generous, I let her. “Have you heard from Mom and Dad yet? They sent some gifts.”

“Oh, no, I haven't. I'll call later.” And then, just as I said that, pain flared up in my side. It wasn't super bad, but so sudden that it made my legs buckle anyway.

“Nick?” Both Griff and Lara were at my side in a second. “What's wrong?” Griff asked. “Is it the baby?”

“I don't know.” I straightened. “It's passed.” But something was wrong. Horribly wrong.

I couldn't shake that feeling. Cold dread took hold of me.

“Maybe you should sit down,” Lara said. “You just went super pale.”

“What's going on?” Zander's voice made me look up and rush over to him. He seemed a little bit confused when I threw myself at him, but rolled with it. “Hey. Everything all right?”

No. Nothing was all right, but I couldn't explain what was wrong either.

“Nick?”

I shook my head. “I'm sorry. Give me a moment.” I needed to clear my head. Take a deep breath. I was fine. The baby was fine. Whatever that weird pain had been, it was gone now.

Shake yourself out of this, Nick.

“Okay,” I said, looking up at Zander. “Okay. I'm fine. Let's go back to the living room.” Maybe the presence of my friends and family and whatever they had planned for me could distract me from that nagging feeling at the back of my mind that something was still terribly wrong.

I managed to grit my teeth through about an hour of 'partying' before my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number, but answered anyway, a bad feeling that I already knew what was coming in the pit of my stomach.

“Hello, my name is Julia Sholz, I'm calling from Lawrence General Hospital. Am I talking to Nicholas Kramer?”

“Yes.” Why was this lady calling me? I'd never even heard of the hospital she'd mentioned.

“You're listed as emergency contact for Rhys Johnson.”

My blood ran cold when she mentioned my brother, and not only because he'd changed his name to that of the asshole he'd married. I couldn't speak. Suddenly I knew what had been so terribly wrong all this time.

Rhys...

“What happened to my brother?”