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Not that I needed to. I was a slower biter than the guys, and Jensen had managed to break his cupcake in half in seconds.

The moment I saw the pink frosting covering his face, I knew.

I was having a little girl.

“A girl!” Cullen shouted, picking me up and swinging me around gleefully.

“I was so excited when the lady told me it was a girl. Girls are the best!” Joey declared.

I was yanked out of Cullen’s arms and into Jensen’s, smothered in his scent—but I wasn’t complaining.

Tears of joy gathered in my eyes.

Gideon beamed at me, shaking his head with a laugh. “We are going to have our hands full!”

A daughter.

It was feeling very, very real now.

Chapter 46

Cullen

It felt like after Christmas, we had blinked, and it was already mid-January. Bethany had thrown herself into her studies, making sure she could take plenty of time off once the baby was born. We had offered several times to pay for her to retake the semester, but she was adamant that she had already done most of the work and wasn’t going to give that up.

We all respected that but hated seeing her work so hard. With every day that passed, her belly grew bigger, and her exhaustion was weighing heavily on her.

Also, her cravings were getting downright weird. As a restauranter, I could appreciate some culinary exploration, but pickles and peanut butter? That was a bit much, even for me.

The beautiful omega in question was rummaging through several bags as we tried to complete the task she had given us.Triedbeing the operative word, because she was so dang distracting with her rounded belly. She was beautiful and allmine.

Joey was at a friend’s house for the afternoon, so we were taking the opportunity to get a few errands done as a pack. The nursery had finally been painted in the colors Joey and Bethanyhad picked out together, and we now had a small mountain of furniture to assemble.

“We are three highly educated alphas. I refuse to be defeated by a flat-packed dresser!” Jensen grumbled.

“I think it’s faulty,” Gideon declared as Bethany settled into the large squishy armchair we had brought her for night feeds, a bag of chips in hand, watching with bright eyes as the scene unfolded before her.

“It’s not faulty. You guys are just struggling to get the job done.” She giggled.

“No sass from the peanut gallery!” Jensen declared, playfully glowering at the omega.

Turns out, it didn’t matter how much education you had, assembling flat-pack furniture was a skill that none of us possessed. We were hobbling through the task and doing a pretty abysmal job.

The doorbell rang, a jaunty little tune playing—Jensen’s doing.

Bethany’s head perked up. “Is that my takeout? I’ll get it!” she declared happily, pulling herself out of the armchair with considerable effort and waddling toward the door.

Jensen chuckled. “I think that’s the fastest I’ve seen her move in days.”

“Her cravings are getting brutal,” I said. “I’ll go make sure she’s okay.”

“Trying to find an excuse to get away from the flat-pack nightmare?" Gideon asked.

“Oh, that’s an added benefit, but I just don’t want Bethany opening the door for a delivery guy, especially if it’s a male…”

Both Jensen’s and Gideon’s eyes flashed with something almost dangerous. The closer Bethany was to giving birth, the more and more overprotective we were getting. Even the idea of being around a member of the opposite sex that wasn’t us madeall our instincts on edge. It wasn’t logical and it wasn’t fair, but Bethany had taken to the new development with grace.

Getting up was a lot easier for me, and in no time, I was following her as she waddled adorably down the hall to the front door.