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I chuckled, still rubbing her arms. “You’re welcome to fall asleep right where you are. I don’t m⁠—”

The sound of Milo fussing upstairs funneled down to the kitchen, and Summer shot up.

“I guess that plan is a no-go.” I smiled at her, cupping her cheek. “Duty apparently calls. I can help, though. I’ll make the bottle while you change him?”

She grinned at me, nodding her head. “That would be great. Thank you. Would you bring up the Orajel too? I have a feeling this is teething, rearing its ugly head again.”

“Of course.” I looked up the stairs, not hearing the baby, which I took as a good sign. “All right, just give me a minute to think of something seriously unsexy…”

Summer snickered, putting her fingers to her mouth to hide her grin. “Oh, right. Anything I can do to help? I must admit… I like this.” She wiggled her hips slightly.

I smirked at her, tucking a stray hair behind her ear as I genuinely tried to think of anything other than the feeling of her still warm and snug around my dick.

“Nothing you can do is going to make my knot go down.” I looked at the floor, angling slightly to pick up her nightgown and hand it to her. “Except, maybe put this on.”

She laughed, maneuvering the fabric over her head, which of course jostled her on my knot. I pinched my eyes shut, focusing on anything other than my mussed-up, freshly fucked mate on my lap.

After a moment, I heard Milo fussing again, and that worked. I didn’t want to keep the poor guy waiting. Summer nodded at me, and we both readied ourselves for me to pop out so that she could run up the stairs. Once we separated, she hurried toward the steps, only for me to stop her for a second.

“Summer,” I whisper-shouted, and she turned around. “Forget something?”

Her cheeks turned bright pink as I held up her panties. “Whoops.”

She dashed back to grab them and pull them on. I stole a kiss before she hurried back up the stairs. Which, of course, only had my dick hardening again, and I had to tuck away the semi so that I could go make a bottle.

There was no missing her shaky legs as she scampered away, and fuck me, I was the proudest alpha in town.

“Duty calls, indeed.”

Chapter 30

Summer

One amazing thing about being part of a pack was the health insurance. I wasn’t sure whose health insurance I was technically on, but I knew I had an insurance card that allowed me to book a doctor's appointment with no hassle.

Milo, happily sitting in his stroller, watched the world move past him as we walked the pleasant twenty-minute journey. I could have taken the car, but it was a lovely morning, and the fresh air would do me and Milo good.

Marshall had gone to work at my insistence. He had wanted to be there for me, but there wasn’t really much he could do at a doctor’s appointment, other than hold my hand—which, I’ll admit, would have been nice but not essential.

As we walked, I thought about everything I wanted to tell the doctor. I’d been taking my suppressants as normal, but something didn’t feel right. There was what happened with Marshall in the kitchen and Tobias while watching TV. I didn’t regret it, not at all, but there was something so intense about the way I jumped him… it was worrying.

That was not like me, and I wanted to know what was going on, especially since it was too close to the few heat symptoms I remembered experiencing before I started my suppressants. So I steeled myself as I walked into the office and checked in, taking a seat with Milo in the waiting area.

After a few minutes, they called me back. The nurse started with the standard questions, taking my height and weight, also with the basic vitals. I was new to this clinic, so I understood that they needed to start getting a baseline for my normal health.

I waited another few minutes before the doctor came in and took a seat in the chair across from me. “What can I help you with today?” Dr. Lopez asked.

“Hello.” I nodded, my chest tight as I forced a smile. “I’m new to town. When I moved, I filled my heat suppressant prescription at the local pharmacy here, and they gave me a brand I didn’t normally use. I thought it would be fine, but… well, things have been happening.”

Dr. Lopez’s brows rose. “Define things.”

My face flushed. There was no shame in talking to a doctor, but I couldn’t stop rerunning what happened between Marshall and me in the kitchen over and over in my head.

“I think they’re…heat spikes. They come on super suddenly, and I can’t seem to control myself when they do…”

“Hmm, all right. I’m going to give you a check over first to get an idea of what’s going on. Is that okay?” she asked, grabbing her stethoscope.

“Of course.” I straightened, waiting patiently for her to do her thing.