Epilogue
SVEN
She’s trying to lift a box, and I lose my damn mind.
“Put it down.” I’m across the room before she’s got it off the floor. “Esme.Down.”
“It’s just a stack of magazines, Sven, it’s not…”
“I don’t care if it’s air.” I take it out of her hands and set it on the stack.
Then I put my hands on the swell of her belly, palms spread over where our daughter’s growing. I feel a kick against my hand, and the growl that comes out of me is primal.
“You felt that?” Esme’s face lights up. “She’s been doing it all morning.”
I smile, dropping to my knees to press my face to her midsection.
“Hi,” I tell our girl. “Stop kicking your mother.”
Esme laughs, running her fingers through my hair. I kiss her bump and breathe her in. Her warm, sweet scent’s gone richer with the pregnancy, heavier, and it gets me every damn time.
The last things we needed to move out of her old apartment are in boxes in one of our spare rooms. Books, prints, a couple of plants.
I have a half-built crib down the hall and a woman in my living room wearing one of my shirts, round with my pup, everything she owns finally here.
“You’re impossible,” she says, smiling, showing me exactly how much she doesn’t care. “I’m barely five months pregnant, Sven, and you won’t even let me carry a houseplant.”
I cross my arms over my chest, nodding. “Correct.”
“Freaking Pickle carries more than me, and he weighs eleven pounds.”
Our dog thumps his tail from the center of the room, blind eye and all. Bastard’s been fucking glued to his new mommy since the day she moved in. Fucking threw me away for her in the span of an afternoon. Traitor.
I pull her back against me, with her back to my chest, my arms around her, and I put my mouth on my mark on her throat… it’s healed now, but never fading… and feel her breath catch.
“Sven.”
I hum into her soft skin; her intoxicating scent. “Boxes can wait.”
She hums back, and I hear the smile in her voice. “You said that an hour ago.”
“And they waited.” I drag my teeth over her skin, and she shivers. My insatiable need for my mate flares.
I get her upstairs, lay her down in our bed, and take my time pulling her shirt off, and when she’s finally naked under me, I have to stop and just look.
Esme’s all curves, more than ever, soft and full and round with my fucking child, her tits heavier, her belly swollen tight, skin glowing, and the sight of her like this… pregnant, mine, bred, in our bed… does something to me I have no words for and no control over. The growl comes up my chest and doesn’t stop.
“You keep looking at me like that, gonna have to do something about it,” she breathes.
I huff out a small laugh. “Can’t help it.” I spread my hand over her belly, then drag it up to cup one full breast, runningmy thumb over her hard nipple, and she arches into my touch. “Fuck, you’re the most beautiful female I’ve ever seen.”
“Sven…”
“On your side, Omega,” my voice’s gone rough, low.
She rolls, and I get against her back, tuck her into my body, lift her leg up over mine to open her, and reach down between her thighs to find her fucking soaked. Always soaked for me. I drag my fingers through Esme’s slick, and she moans, pushing back against me.
“Feel how wet you are.” I work two fingers into her, slow, and she takes them with a gasp. “Always ready for… Fuck…” I sound wrecked to my own ears.
