Was there anything better than waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee? Sniffing the air, I blinked my eyes open to spot Zander carrying a tray with food and coffee into the bedroom.

“How much sugar do you take?” he asked, setting the tray down next to me.

“All of it.” I rubbed my eyes and pushed my hair out of my face. “How long have you been up?”

“A little while. I had to open the store.”

“Who's taking care of your store now?”

“No one. I'm taking an early lunch break.”

“Lunch?” I grabbed my phone from the bedside table to check the time. 10 a.m. “You could have woken me.”

Zander shrugged. “We went to sleep pretty late so I figured I'd let you be when you didn't even hear my alarm clock.”

“Thank you.” We had been up for quite a while. When I moved, I could detect some slight twinges in my butt, too. Nothing super bad, though. All just proof of a night well spent. Stretching, I glanced at the food on the tray in front of me. My love had brought me toast and bacon and eggs and it all smelled amazing.

“Dig in,” Zander said, noticing my hungry look.

I didn't have to be told twice. “This is awesome,” I said, swallowing a piece of crunchy bacon. I loved bacon.

“I'm glad you like it. I wasn't sure what you eat in the mornings. I also didn't know if you had any more food allergies I needed to know about or... What are you smiling about?”

I didn't notice until Zander asked, but I really was grinning like the Cheshire cat. “I don't know. I'm just thinking about how we're going to learn all these little things about each other and I'm looking forward to that.”

Zander's face fell. The expression lasted only a moment, but I still saw.

“What's wrong?” I asked.

“You're leaving tomorrow,” was all he said, but it was enough. He was right. How could we learn all these little things about each other when he was here and I was in LA?

Suddenly, cold dread wound itself around my heart like a snake.

I wanted to promise Zander that I would call every chance I got, that we could have hour-long video chat sessions every day. But I didn't trust myself. We both knew how good I was at keeping in touch.

No, I had to make an effort. Zander was worth it. Reaching across the breakfast tray, I took his hand, looking him in the eyes. “I'll be back and maybe you can come visit me too. Whatever it takes, we'll make it work. We're not... I'm not twelve anymore. I promise I'm not going to leave you hanging in a phone box again.”

“Okay.” Zander stroked the back of my hand with his thumb. “I suppose you're right. I'm still going to miss you, though.”

“I'll miss you too.” I leaned over to kiss him a quick kiss that tasted of eggs and bacon and coffee. “Think of me when you write your porn.”

That got him laughing. Good. “It's not porn, it's—”

“Romance. I know.” I tapped his nose. “Just teasing. Think of me anyway.”

“I always do,” he said with a level of sincerity that took me aback.

“Good to know,” I replied, and I meant it. “I wish I could stay here all day, but I do have to pop by my brother's before I leave or I'll never hear the end of it.”

“All right. I need to reopen the store too.” Zander paused, as if he was on the verge of asking something but wasn't quite sure that he should.

I raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

“Will you come back here after visiting your brother?” he asked finally.

“Of course I will, silly.”

After all, who knew when I was going to see him again after this?

* * *

I got to Dean's place shortly after noon. Zander had had to go back to work, but luckily, my brother was off duty today and his mate was working from home so I could drop in while my boyfriend was occupied.

My boyfriend.

It still felt weird to think that. Weird, but good too, because it was Zander.

Dean looked tired when he opened the door and I wondered if he’d only just gotten off a shift at the fire station. “I'm sorry,” I said. “Is this a bad time?”

“No, come in. You're leaving tomorrow, aren't you?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, following my big brother into the house. “But I might be back soon.”

“Really? Are you starting to miss Oceanport? Even when you're surrounded by the glamor of LA?” Dean led me into the kitchen where he poured himself a cup of coffee as I sat at the table. “You want some too?”

“No, thanks, I'm fine.” Most days I only had one cup a day—right after waking up. “I'm starting to think LA isn't all I'd hoped it would be, you know?”

“I never quite understood what drove you there anyway, to be honest.” Dean sat at the table across from me, both of his hands around the cup.

I shrugged. “A thirst for adventure? Tam made it sound fun. And you know I never even considered college, not really. I thought in LA I could... I don't know... escape from everything it meant to be omega in a small town.”

As if on cue, Dean's son came running into the kitchen just as I said that. I'd seen him before of course, but the little one had grown since last year. Now the two-year-old stared at me, question marks all over his adorable face and a plastic cup in his hands. “Who that?”

“That's your uncle Nick,” Dean's mate Griffin said, showing up in the door to the kitchen shortly after his son. “Say hi to your uncle Nick.”

Bastian did no such thing. Instead, he climbed straight up on my lap. “Hey, there,” I said.

Instead of responding, my nephew emptied his cup of water over my pants, shrieking with laughter before he ran away again. Little bastard. Clearly, he knew he wasn't supposed to be doing that.

“I'm sorry!” Griff threw some tissue at me before chasing after Bastian.

“We've been trying to get him off sippy cups,” Dean said. “Now this is his new hobby.”

“I see,” I said wiping at the stains on my pants that made me look like I was the toddler. “Awesome. And you have another on the way, don't you? Bet you're looking forward to that!” Putting the tissue away, I grinned at my brother.

“Actually, yeah, I am.” My brother's smile was so sincere that it made me smile too. I glanced in the direction of the door where Griff and Bastian had vanished. “How far along is he?”

“Just about three months now. All done with the morning sickness, thank God.”

“I guess that's good.” I licked my lips. “Rhys told me he wants to have children too.”

“You spoke to him? Oh, that's right. Shane mentioned you were going to visit him in his community.”

“I did. I needed to see how he lives, you know? I still can't stand his husband.” Under the table my hands balled to fists. “He speaks to Rhys like he's some second-class citizen! And now Rhys wants to have children with the asshole. Can you believe it?”

Dean's forehead creased. Well, good. He should be worried. Rhys was his brother too. “Love makes you do the stupidest things,” he said on a sigh. “I'm just glad I fell for someone who doesn't abuse me aside from demanding an ungodly number of cupcakes every Sunday.”

“I just wish we could help him somehow.”

“I'm afraid Rhys is old enough to make his own decisions. I hope he knows he can come to us when he decides to get out.”

“I think he knows, but I'm scared he'll have a child by the time he changes his mind. He'll never regain his freedom then.”

Dean took a sip of his coffee. He wore a thoughtful expression on his face, but it didn't seem like he had any solutions, either. Of course not. He was right; we couldn't force Rhys to do anything.

“I just don't get why he wants a child so badly,” I said, venting my frustration. “Am I the only omega who doesn't?”

“I'm sure you're not the only one, brother. Having a child can be a fantastic experience, though. It's—”

I held up a hand. “Spare me the lecture. I'm omega, how often do you think I've heard that?” And I still didn't understand why people were breeding left and right. There was a reason I insisted on condoms with Zander last night.

Unlike that first time when I went into heat and lost all reason.

I felt the color drain from my face just thinking about that. That had been stupid.

But surely, I wasn't gonna get pregnant from being stupid just once.

Right?