Chance jerking away from me was what woke me. With a jolt, I sat up in bed, thinking his heat was demanding another round. But his sweet scent had all but faded along with his cycle and the look on the man’s face now was damn near panicked. “Chance?”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck! I-I gotta go.”

I blinked, trying to clear my muzzy head. My stomach plummeted. Go? Was that all there was to it? We’d spent days not knowing where I ended and where he began, lost in each other’s bodies, and he was ready to leave? “Go where?”

“The store! I… I need to—you and I—you came inside and I’m not on the pill and if I get pregnant…” His voice petered into a keening whine. His cheeks went blotchy red and he wouldn’t meet my gaze and it hit me, then, what he intended to buy. Plan B. The morning after pill. Why did that make my every last nerve ending go cold as ice?

“Chance.” I grasped his wrist and drew his attention, then reached out and brushed stray bangs from his sweaty forehead. “Hey. Would that be so bad?” I kept myself calm and composed despite the way my heart was rioting.

His eyes flashed wide, wary and alarmed once more. “What... What are you talking about?”

Damn it. I fumbled over the words. “I mean, hell, Dresden already adores you and if we’re being honest, he could use a dad, and if you were pregnant… Well. Would it really be that bad?”

It felt like rejection, as crazy as that sounded. The idea of the Omega wanting to terminate the little spark inside of him made me feel physically ill. “Maybe it’s what we both need? You need an Alpha to protect you and I…” I felt my composure slipping. “I’m lonely as hell, if we’re being honest. Maybe I could use an Omega like you.”

Chance’s face went pale, his lips tight and pinched as he gazed down at our joined hands. Guilt nibbled at me then. Maybe he didn’t want to be a dad. I was being selfish. I cursed under my breath. “Chance. It’s your choice. Your body. I would never force you to keep a child you didn’t want.” He looked like he was going to start sobbing at any moment. My heart ached something fierce. “Come here, baby.”

He closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath, then collided with my chest. I stroked my fingers through his auburn hair and held him. “Look. We’re not mated, so there’s a large chance you’re not pregnant at all. Right?”

“But you’re an Alpha,” he mumbled.

“I am, but there are more factors than just that. You’re not a wolf. We’re cross-species. Charlie and I tried for months to get pregnant.” How many times had he cried, worrying endlessly that he was barren? That he could never carry our child? I kept that little truth sealed firmly between my lips, then pressed a kiss to Chance’s temple. “I’m sorry,” I murmured. “I just… I can’t help but feel I was given a second chance with you.”

He blinked fretful eyes up at me, worrying his lower lip between his teeth. “What do you mean?”

I frowned. “When Charlie died, I thought that was it for me. That there was no way I’d ever find anything like that again. We had a once-in-a-lifetime sort of bond. The minute I saw him, I knew he was mine, and when I lost him? I resigned myself to being alone. I told myself that I’d pour my heart into raising Dresden by myself and not think twice about love, but Chance? When I look at you, I feel that same damn tug in my soul.”

Chance blinked away the tears gathering on his lashes. “Y-You want me? It wasn’t just heat hormones?” I nodded and several droplets slid down his cheeks to land on the pillow. He tentatively touched his hands to his stomach. “If I am…pregnant? You’d want my baby?”

The way he said it made me ache. Did he really believe he was that unlovable? I swallowed around the lump in my throat, then kissed him. Gentle. Tender. I palmed over the backs of his hands and my heart pitched.

“Our baby—and yes. I would happily love our baby, and his father. I know all of this is happening so fast, but I mean it. Give me a chance. You deserve to be loved, Chance Rossi. Let me show you what it’s like to be loved.”

His chest shook with a sob. “Hux. I…”

I kissed his plea away and squeezed him against me. “Give me a chance,” I whispered against his lips.