We didn’t hear the howls again. Not the following night, or the night after that. Days bled into weeks and Bones made no attempt at a comeback. Huxley scouted the woods every night, leaving his mark on the territory we called home. Soon, Bones’s scent was a distant memory and you could only catch a whiff every now and again if you stood on the porch steps.

Maybe he’d finally given up. I almost didn’t dare hope and yet, as the seasons changed and my stomach grew rounder, I knew I needed to cling to it. I knew that if Bones had truly let me go, he’d found some other poor soul to suffer his abuse. It was just how he was. It made me sad, but so long as it wasn’t me…

I plastered myself against Huxley’s side every night. He was strong and safe—more than that, he was home. Home was where the heart was, wasn’t that how the saying went? It was something I never thought would happen to me and here I was, seven months pregnant and happy. This was my home and I promised myself that I would do whatever I could to keep my family safe.

Omega or not.

“Oh my god, I have to pee.” The seatbelt bit into my stomach, all the while the baby was kicking the hell out of my bladder. I winced and tried to soothe the active pup by pressing my hands against my belly, but all it did was make me have to pee more. Ugh. Whoever said that having babies was a magical thing was a big, fat liar. “Hurry, Hux!”

“Jesus, we’re almost there. Like, two blocks from the complex. Can you hold it two blocks?” Huxley grinned at me, tapping his hands impatiently over the steering wheel in an almost frenetic beat.

I groaned. “I’m not responsible for any leaks. She’s using my bladder as a punching bag.”

He laughed. “She’s gonna be a handful, isn’t she?”

“Lord. Why do I have the feeling that we’re in for months of sleep deprivation?”

“Of course we are. That’s what having a family is all about.” He patted my knee, then rested his hand there. I slid my fingers between the gaps in his and squeezed. He glanced over and met my eye, happiness shining there. “Are you excited?”

“I’m scared shitless,” I admitted with a squeak. Between the check-ups and the Lamaze classes, the realization that I was getting ready to push a living being out of a small hole in my body was quickly sinking in. With it came worries that rooted deep and wrapped vines around my soul. There was always a risk with male pregnancies, especially if the Omega had been under a lot of stress.

I considered the whole running-from-my-evil-ex thing pretty damn stressful.

His fingers curled around mine. “It’s gonna be okay, babe. You got this. You’re one of the strongest people I know. Just think about how happy you’ll be when it’s over and you’re holding little Charlotte in your arms.”

Huxley beamed. With the last ultrasound, we knew for sure that the baby was a girl. Huxley and Soren had been bustling about like chickens with their heads cut off, decorating the other side of Dresden’s bedroom to make room for Charlotte. Dresden was over the moon excited and asked me almost daily, “When is my little sister coming?”

“Here!” Hux pulled the car into a parking spot near the front of the medical building and killed the engine. He came around to the passenger side to help me with the door and I waddled—yes, waddled—up the ramp and into the doctor’s office in search of the restrooms.

Ah. Sweet relief…

Our appointment was at three, but Dr. Moran was running a little behind, as always. I didn’t mind waiting. I liked looking around the small waiting area, watching the other Omegas in various stages of pregnancy. Plump and glowing, some of them had young pups in their arms while toddlers played together, moving chunky wooden beads along a colorful metal track.

I smiled, my chest squeezing. That would be us soon.

When the nurse called us back, I changed into one of their paper gowns and got up on the exam table. My heart thumped a nervous beat when the technician smeared cold blue goop over my stomach and began the process.

I shivered. “Why does it have to be so cold?”

Huxley chuckled from beside me. The tech offered a sheepish smile. “Sorry, honey! Believe it or not, I did try and warm it up in my hands first. Okay, hold still.” She began to move the paddle around and on the black and white screen, I saw my baby. It made my breath catch in my throat. “Man, she’s an active thing, isn’t she?”

“Tell me about it.” I groaned.

“That’s a good thing. Typically that means she’s gonna be a happy, healthy baby.” She nodded and continued to take images. I could hear the soft swoosh-swoosh of the infant’s heartbeat on the monitor and I couldn’t stop my smile from stretching from ear to ear. “Are you excited?”

“Yes. Scared, but excited,” I admitted, squeezing Huxley’s hand.

“And you, Dad? Are you excited?”

He gazed down at me, his chocolate eyes filled with warmth and love. “More than anything.”

After the appointment, we stopped at a drive-through and got greasy burgers. Charlotte loved junk food and hated anything remotely healthy. I could only imagine trying to get vegetable baby food down her. There would be sickly green goop everywhere.

Snowflakes fell like dandelion seeds, covering the earth in a blanket of fluffy white. It was only the beginning of November, but apparently Mother Nature decided that it was time for winter. Huxley drove with the windshield wipers going at a steady pace, our hands linked together between us on the center console. My heart soared.

Dresden met us at the door, jumping up and down. “It’s snowing, Daddy! Can we make a snowman? Pleeeeease?”

Huxley scooped him up off the floor, ruffling his hair. “I dunno, kiddo. It’s not really the right type of snow for a snowman. It’s all light and fluffy.”

The toddler thrust out his chin, defiant. “I wanna go play. Wanna play in the snow!” He squirmed until Huxley put him down, and then he hurried over to me. His hands on my belly, he patted ever so gently. “The baby wants to go make a snowman,” he said solemnly.

I tried not to laugh. “Is that so? How do you know?”

“She told me! Please, Daddy?” He blinked big blue eyes up at me and damn it, if I didn’t melt.

I looked at Huxley. “Sure we can’t go play in the snow? I mean… The kids want to, so?”

He scowled. Soren giggled, a hand cupped over his mouth to hide his smile. “Yeah, yeah. Go get your jacket and your boots from the closet, Dee.” When the little boy cheered and raced off, Huxley jabbed a finger gently into my chest. “You’re such a pushover,” he said, matter-of-fact.

I just grinned. “You love me anyway,” I said and the four of us tromped through the snow in coats and hats and mittens, tossing handfuls of white fluff through the air. Dresden piled up as much snow as he could to make some sort of disfigured snow-ghost, but we humored him by putting a couple of grapes where the ghost’s eyes should go.

It was the most pathetic, yet beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my entire life.

I loved it.