Even though I was excited as hell to be going to the baby doctor with Kaden, I still felt a chill run down my spine when they walked us into the exam room and asked him to get undressed.

“Are you okay?” Kaden placed the back of his hand on my forehead as if taking my temperature. “You look a little pale.”

I squared my shoulders and leaned forward to kiss him. “I’m great. I just don’t like doctors.”

Kaden frowned as he started to take off his clothes. “Why not?”

I took a deep breath and tried to find the words to explain my stupid anxiety for needles. As an alpha, I hated showing any kind of weakness, but having any kind of needles shoved into me was always a sore subject. It was the only reason I didn’t have any tattoos. “I just don’t like needles…”

“Don’t worry, Mitch. I won’t let anyone near you with a needle.” Kaden smiled and reached for my hand, obviously holding back his amusement. “I think I’m the one they’re gonna be poking for the next several months.”

I could feel my eyebrows furrowing as I gave his hand a squeeze. “I don’t really like that either.”

Kaden actually chuckled. “Fortunately, needles don’t bother me at all, so baby and I will be fine.”

It was still weird to hear Kaden refer to the baby growing inside him. My baby. The baby I put there that he’s growing for us. It was silly, but every time I thought about it, my heart swelled with emotion and love that I’d never felt before in my life.

The doctor walked in before I could respond and started reviewing the answers Kaden filled out on the medical questionnaire. When questions about Kaden’s past sexual history and the level of our fidelity came up, we both felt awkward. But when Kaden confirmed that he hadn’t had any partners in the six months prior to meeting me and that he was totally committed to a monogamous relationship with me, a weight I didn’t even realize what sitting on my shoulders immediately lifted.

As soon as the doctor turned away to put on gloves, Kaden’s eyes locked with mine and I could see he was one hundred percent sincere. He was as lost to me as I was to him. I winked then mouthed, “Me too,” when the doctor wasn’t looking.

Kaden smiled back and a slight blush colored his cheeks as he watched the doctor prepare for the ultrasound.

“Okay, Kaden.” The doctor pulled two metal foot stirrups out from the end of the table Kaden was sitting on. “Go ahead and lie back with your bottom at the edge of the table and your feet resting in the stirrups.”

As a person who didn’t like needles, my head swirled a bit when I saw a huge wand being lubed up and wrapped in a condom. “Um, what’s that for?”

The doctor was pushing buttons on his computer as he waved the wand toward Kaden’s ass. “Just gonna go inside and see how everything looks.”

Kaden’s eyes went as wide as mine but he shook his head to stop me before I could tell the man to stay the fuck away from my omega’s ass with that freaky dildo. Instead, he tried to ward off my concern with a question of his own. “Does it hurt?”

The doctor shook his head. “It’s not terrible. A little cold at first, but this is the best way for us to see how far along you are and to make sure the baby is where we expect it to be.”

As much as I wanted to protect Kaden from everything painful, or even uncomfortable in life, I knew there were some things that came with pregnancy that needed to be done. And ultrasounds were one of those necessary evils.

Before I could ask any more questions, the doctor slid the sheathed tool right inside my omega.

Kaden grimaced in discomfort a few times, but as soon as the doctor pointed out the tiny flash on the computer screen as our baby’s heart, we were both too stunned to worry about anything in the world beyond keeping that baby healthy.

I wanted to stare at the screen forever, but the doctor made a little noise and started typing furiously into his computer with one hand. “Is everything okay?” I asked, needing the reassurance as much as Kaden.

“Probably nothing to worry about.” The doctor snapped several still shots of the image and made little marks on the screen that didn’t make any sense to us. “Just a few notes to watch some things.”

“What things?” Kaden leaned up on one elbow, trying to get closer to the screen to see what was happening. “Is our baby okay?”

I stood closer to Kaden’s side so I could get a better look at the monitor and hold him up at a more comfortable angle. “Doctor, what’s wrong?”

The older man shook his head. “Truly, there’s nothing to worry about. Some of the measurements seem a little small, but that happens sometimes. You’re measuring at around six weeks, but based on the information you gave, I expected you to be around ten or eleven weeks.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Kaden’s voice was soft, and I hated that there wasn’t anything I could do to make things easier.

If I could make everything perfect, I would do it. But carrying our baby was the part of becoming a family I was completely useless for. “Be honest with us, Doc. Is the baby okay?”

The doctor removed the wand and took a second to clean up before looking Kaden straight in the eye. “In my opinion, you have a ninety percent chance of having a perfectly healthy baby. There are a few things that didn’t look exactly right, but I’m not worried yet. It could just be that our timing is off. For right now, don’t worry. You’ll be back here in four weeks and we’ll do another ultrasound. I’m sure everything will normalize by then. This happens all the time and is rarely anything to be concerned over.”

Neither Kaden nor I were completely convinced by what the doctor had to say. But at least we had confirmation that there was a baby inside Kaden and his due date was probably around mid to late June, depending on what the next ultrasound showed.

The doctor printed some photos of our little peanut on glossy paper and gave Kaden a handful of pamphlets on prenatal vitamins, nutrition, and exercise. By the time we finally got back in the car, we were both emotionally drained from the mixture of fear and excitement we’d been experiencing for the previous few hours.

Before starting the engine, I reached across the console for Kaden’s hand. “I’m sure your brother will understand if we reschedule.”

Kaden shook his head and pulled in a deep breath. “No, I’m fine. I’d like to get this part over with.”

I pulled back and turned to face Kaden fully. “What do you mean by that?”

Kaden smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I just mean, it’s time for you to get to know Ike. He’s going through a lot of shit right now and knowing I’m with someone who cares about me will be a huge burden off his back.”

I wrapped my hand around the back of Kaden’s neck and pulled him close enough to kiss him. It was slow and gentle but still got my cock twitching in excitement. When we came up for air, I rested my forehead on his for a long moment before pulling back just enough to look into his beautiful hazel eyes. “I don’t just care about you, Kaden Foster. I love you. No matter what happens or what anyone else thinks of us, I love you.”

Kaden’s breath hitched and his eyes took on a glassy sheen as he gave me a small nod. “I love you too, Mitch. I really do.”

Ike was already waiting for us at the restaurant when we arrived. I’d met him a few times about beer-related topics, but this was the first time he was meeting me as his baby brother’s alpha. And as an alpha myself, I knew how hard this had to be for him.

We made small talk while we waited for our food to arrive, but after just a few minutes of idle conversation, Ike was on to us.

“So, what’s this really about?” Ike leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “I know you have something say, so just say it.”

Kaden sighed heavily. “You don’t need to be a jerk, Ike. We just wanted to tell you that… Well…” He turned to me for help, so I jumped right in, glad to have a way of saving Kaden from at least one uncomfortable situation today.

“We’re in love…and we’re having a baby.”

Kaden’s breath hitched even as his hand squeezed mine even tighter and we both watched Ike for his reaction. He just shook his head, flaring his nostrils as he stared me down like I was his mortal enemy. “How fucking dare you!”

“What?” I wasn’t sure how he’d react but being pissed off wasn’t really on my radar. “What’s your problem with me?”

“You think I’m stupid?” He just shook his head. “You own a fucking omega bar. You think I’m stupid enough to believe you can be faithful to my brother?” He turned to Kaden, just as pissed at him as he was at me. “Why would you let him do that to you, K? You’re smarter than that.”

“Ike, you don’t understand. I love Mitch, and he loves me. We’re going to raise this baby together and be a family.”

Ike actually laughed a deep belly laugh although there was nothing amusing about the hatred in his eyes. “Is that so?” He turned back to me. “So, what? You’re gonna marry my brother and be there for his kid for the next eighteen years?”

“Yes!” I said at the same time Kaden said, “No.”

I turned to Kaden, hurt and confused by his response. “No?”

Kaden’s eyes went wide and he shook his head frantically. “Well, yes. I mean, yes, I want that… But, no, you don’t have to marry me and take care of me and the baby if you don’t want to.”

I turned in my seat and reached for both of his hands. “Of course I want that. I told you, sweetheart, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Yes, I want to marry you. Yes, I will support you and our children for the rest of my days...and yes, that means I want you to move in with me immediately. No more wasting time.”

Ike watched us in stunned silence as his eyes shifted between me and Kaden. “So this is real?” He tilted his head as he looked at his brother for answers. “This is really what you want?”

Kaden leaned against my side and kissed my shoulder before resting his head there. “Yes, Ike. Mitch is exactly what I want.”

The server put our food down so that gave us each a few minutes to gather our thoughts and consider how to move forward from here. Just when I was about to tell Kaden we should probably go home because the pain of watching him suffer without his brother’s approval wasn’t worth it, Ike cleared his throat to get our attention.

“Okay, I’m sorry.” He looked first and Kaden and then at me. “I was projecting my own shit and that wasn’t fair.”

Kaden opened his mouth to speak, but Ike held up a hand to silence him.

“One second, K.” He faced me with a completely different expression from what I saw earlier. “If you can really be faithful and honest with my brother, then you have my blessing.”

I swallowed hard and held out my hand to him. “I promise I will. Always.”

“What shit are you projecting, Ike?” Kaden didn’t waste any time jumping in. “Are you finally gonna tell me what’s going on with you?”

Ike gave us a high-level story about the paternity lawsuit he’d been served by an ex in Florida, but he wasn’t very forthcoming with any details. Apparently, those golf trips were to hit more than balls. But he explained that just because he didn’t trust people right now, it wasn’t fair for him to not trust me. And he knew Kaden was a good judge of character, so by the time the check came, Ike beat me to it and paid for our meal as a gesture of goodwill.

And because family was so important to me, I wanted to make sure Ike and Kaden always had a good relationship. So I made a mental note to talk to Justin about adding Tapped as part of our permanent offerings, not just for the year they won in the contest.

Since I had everything I’d ever hoped for right at my fingertips, I wanted to spread the love by helping out Kaden’s brother if I could. I hoped he accepted my gesture of goodwill as easily.