Time was a fickle thing. One minute it was rainy, soggy April and the next, we were suffering through the dead of summer. Then, as if Mother Nature decided that she was done with the sweltering heat, she cranked the knob over to autumn without so much as a warning. But that was Indiana weather in a nutshell. You never knew what season you’d wake up to next.

Needless to say, I’d never been more thankful to say goodbye to summer. Of course, I’d also never been five months pregnant and uncomfortable in all the worst ways. The morning sickness sucked, my back and hips ached constantly, my chest was tender and the baby loved using my bladder as a punching bag.

Plus I was hormonal as fuck. I dropped a plate the other day and promptly burst into noisy tears—and the plate hadn’t even shattered. All I could see was the smear of red spaghetti sauce and pasta splattered all over the floor and cabinets, and I was in hysterics.

“I-I’m sorry! God, I can’t do anything right!”

“Hey, hey. It’s okay, Chance. Honey.” Huxley was at my side in an instant, his voice low and crooning. It didn’t seem to matter. My gut was in knots. Tears flooded down my cheeks with a hiccuping sob. “No use crying over spilled milk, right? Look.” He knelt down and grabbed the plate up off the floor. “Not even a chip! No harm done, baby. It’ll clean. Trust me—Dresden’s made some god awful messes. This is nothing.”

I sniffled and tried to clear my throat. Huxley put the plate in the sink, then fetched the broom and dustpan out of the closet. I swallowed back my tears best I could when he bent down and scooped up the mess of pasta, leaving behind the garish streak of bright red.

Huxley’s smile was kind. “There. Now why don’t I run you a bath and you can take a nice hot soak?”

“That’s a great idea. Get off your feet for a little while and relax. I’ll run some mop water and take care of this mess,” Soren offered, patting my arm. “It’ll be okay, Chance. Go on.” He nudged me, then wandered off in search of the mop bucket.

“C’mon.” With one arm wrapped around my shoulders, Huxley steered me out of the kitchen and down the hall. I leaned into the touch with a whine, my socked feet shuffling over the hardwood. I sank down to sit on the closed toilet lid while my Alpha drew me a bath. Steam rose up like fog and the surface of the water was covered in a sheen of pink bubbles.

“Ow.” I rubbed at my side, putting pressure on the spot where the baby’s foot jammed against my sternum. I could feel it moving around, pushing at my insides as if there wasn’t enough room to stretch. Flattening my hand over my belly, I felt the nudge beneath my palm and my heart skipped a beat. I smiled.

The first time it happened, it floored me. It was proof that the child growing inside of me was alive and kicking. I’d seen the doctor earlier in my pregnancy, to make sure that everything was progressing smoothly. We knew that the baby was active and healthy, but we still didn’t know the gender. I had another ultrasound scheduled, but I felt pretty sure it was a girl. I didn’t know why, but that was my gut feeling whenever I felt it move.

“Is the baby being mean to my poor little Omega?” Huxley teased lightly.

I smacked his arm. “It likes to sucker punch me in the ribs.”

“It’s saying, let me outta here!” He winked, then took my hands in his to help tug me to my feet. I rose to stand beside him, my legs suddenly tired and aching. He smiled and wiped the dampness from my cheeks, then planted a tender kiss on my forehead. “Why don’t you soak for awhile? I’ll light a couple of candles and it’ll be like a spa date.”

I laughed at that. “Only if you’re giving me a full-body massage later.”

Huxley winked. “That can be arranged—with a happy ending, even.”

“A man after my own heart.” After Huxley left, I shut the door and stripped out of my sweater and jeans, leaving them on a pile on the floor. When I straightened up after peeling my socks off, I caught sight of myself in the mirror.

Alongside the silvered scars from my past were thicker, redder stretch marks that spanned across my stomach. I traced them with my fingers and studied my reflection. There was a softness about me now, compared to the bony wraith of a man I’d been the day I moved in. With the proper nutrition and vitamins, I’d gained weight around my hips and abdomen, and my face had filled out, no longer gaunt and haunted.

I looked healthy. No more bruises mottling my skin in greens and purples. Huxley would never strike me. Little by little, I was letting go of the demons in my past and seeing the possibilities that were stretched out in front of me. My future. I had a future now.

Smiling to myself, I carefully stepped into the tub. I sank down into the hot water with a hiss of pleasure, the smell of lavender and jasmine filling my nose. Hux knew just what to do to make me happy, didn’t he? Settling into the tub to soak, I rested my head against the porcelain edge and closed my eyes. My toes curled beneath the water and the baby nudged my belly again.

By the time I got out of the bath, my skin was soft and wrinkled and I was relaxed once more. I tugged my still-clean clothes on over my damp skin and drained the tub. While I was rinsing the last of the suds down the drain, Dresden came wandering into the bathroom, toting along his stuffed fox by one paw.

“What you doing?”

“Washing out the bathtub so nobody slips and falls. What are you doing?” I hung the shower head up and tugged the curtain closed with a rattle of metal hooks.

He grinned toothily up at me, looking so much like his father in that moment. “Uncle Soren says you’re gonna have a baby,” he said, matter-of-fact.

My stomach quivered, but I wasn’t going to lie to him. He was old enough to know the truth. “I am gonna have a baby.”

“Why?” He cocked his head, then gently patted my stomach with his small hand.

I swallowed around the knot forming in my throat, but I smiled nonetheless. “Because I love your daddy a lot. That’s why.”

“Are you gonna be my other daddy then?”

“Wh-What?” I blinked, taken aback.

He puckered his lips together and drew his stuffy to his chest. “Daddy said you’re gonna be my other dad. So I have two daddies again, like other kids. Is that why you’re having a baby? So it’ll have two daddies too?”

I didn’t know what else to say, so I went with the safest choice. “Yes.”

“Is it a boy or a girl?”

“I don’t know yet, but I think it’s a girl.”

Dresden was quiet for a moment. “I’m gonna have a little sister?”

Emotion swelled inside of me. I chased the worry from my voice when I asked, “Would you like that, Dresden? Would you want a little sister or brother?”

“Do you think she’d play cars with me?” His expression was solemn, as if that was the single deciding factor on whether or not he wanted a sibling.

I grinned. “Probably, when she’s older.”

“Okay. Will you play cars with me?”

He turned those big, hopeful eyes on me because he knew damn well I was a sucker, and I melted like butter in the sun. We sat down on his play-mat and I grabbed a bright yellow dump truck, rolling it down the carpet street. Of course, Dresden was more interested in running his toy cars up and down my swollen belly. “It’s a hill! Drive up the hill, everybody!”

“I think it’s about time for bed, mister.” Huxley swooped in to save me, gathering Dresden in his arms and giving a squeeze. The little boy squirmed and flailed, giggling like mad. “I think Chance has had enough torture for one evening, my naughty puppy. Alright, let’s go get ready for bed. PJs and teeth brushing! Say goodnight.”

“Night!” he parroted happily, and the two of them paraded down the hall.

It wasn’t too long after that I climbed in between the sheets myself. I dozed in and out, listening to Huxley read Goodnight Moon, hushing his voice at the quieter parts of the book. Happiness fluttered inside of me. This was mine…

I fell asleep with a smile on my face, but peace didn’t last long.

I jerked awake in the dead of night, gasping for air. My heart thundered in my chest and a cold sweat prickled on my brow. I sat up in bed so fast that Huxley groaned beside me. The bedroom was dark as pitch, the blocky red numbers on the alarm clock my only light, and my skin crawled.

It was too quiet…

“Hux?” I whispered, struck by an inexplicable fear. I grabbed his arm and shook him gently, my body going hot and cold all over. “Hux, wake up.”

“Chance?” His voice slurred with sleep, but he pushed himself upright. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“I-I don’t know. I think I had a nightmare…” Why else would I wake so violently? I still couldn’t get my racing heart to slow down, no matter how many deep breaths I took. “I’m scared.”

“Baby, there’s nothing to be afraid of. I’m right here. I’m—”

He fell silent when the first howl split the night. My chest clenched up, panic clawing through me at that low timbre of sound. No… No, it’d been months! Why now? How the hell did he find me? I choked on a cry and clung to Huxley’s arm, gripping it so tightly that my knuckles ached.

Two more voices joined the first, their midnight song a wavering and terrible thing. I started to shake.

“Chance?” Huxley whispered when they finally petered out.

“It’s him,” I whimpered.

Bones had found me.