Page 30 of Mating the Omega
The nurse came in—the pack didn’t rate a doctor, but Adelaide was a shifter with probably as many courses under her belt as a doctor would have. I knew this, because Mac had filled me in on her entire history on the drive over to the clinic.
“Morning, Mac,” she said, and shook his hand. “I haven’t had a chance to offer congratulations to both of you yet. When’s the official ceremony?” She glanced between the two of us.
Mac looked shamefaced. “We haven’t talked about it yet. I thought Jason would want to be more settled first.”
“And then you go right ahead and get him pregnant?” She raised her eyebrows at him, and to my great amusement, Mac flushed.
“I wanted him to,” I told her, saving my man’s reputation. It couldn’t hurt mine—after the past month, I was pretty sure what it was. Not that omegas started high on the social class scale anyway. Doomed by our biology.
“Good morning, Jason,” she said. She had a warm smile and her manner was matter-of-fact. More important to me, she didn’t seem to be judging me. “Mac told me on the phone this morning that you two are trying to start a family.” The whole time she was talking she was pulling things out of cupboards and drawers. “We’ll do a physical exam, just to make sure you’re healthy, then I’ll take some blood. It’s pretty early, but we should see something in your blood test if you do have a pup growing in there.” She smiled and reached for my arm. “We’ll start with your blood pressure.”
As far as I could tell, she examined me without doing anything differently than she would for any other shifter. It was only at the end that things changed. She had me lie down and undo the fastening of my jeans. I was more grateful than ever that I’d showered this morning, because she started pressing on my stomach between by bellybutton and cock, moving her fingers around in a pattern that only she seemed able to see. Her expression was intent, and Mac and I held our breath, my hand clutched tight in his, as she made her tour of my womb.
“All right, you can close up your pants now,” she said, and stepped back. “This will all have to wait on the blood test coming back positive, but I’d say it’s looking good for a pup.”
Mac stepped forward, his face alight with excitement. “He’s pregnant?” His grip on my hands tightened even further and I had wiggle my fingers a little to remind him that it was a real live person he was holding on to. He smiled an apology at me, but his attention immediately turned back to Adelaide.
I felt snubbed, but only a little. Right now, she held the key to a mystery we both wanted solved.
She laughed and shook her head. “I can’t say for sure. There’s some swelling which may or may not be normal for him, because I don’t have a baseline to compare it to. But his womb feels denser.” She turned her attention to me. “We don’t get many omegas here, but I started looking into it when Mac’s cousin Bram was born. You’ll be okay.” Then she turned back to Mac. “It’s a good sign. I’m guessing you two likely won’t have to worry about heats for a while, but I’ll let you know for sure when I have the results of the blood tests.”
“How long will that be?” Mac’s voice was full of suppressed emotion, excitement, anxiety, eagerness. I squeezed his hand and he squeezed back, but his gaze stayed fixed on the nurse.
She winked at me. “A couple of days. We have the equipment to do a few simple tests, and that’s one of them. I’m glad you weren’t coming for a thyroid test—I’d have to send that out and it could be weeks. But if I can do it myself, it’s just a matter of when I get the time to do it. I’ll call as soon as I know anything.” She held out a hand to help me up and whispered, “The fathers always get worked up. Take it easy on him, okay? He’s going to be a royal pain in your butt for the next six months, if I know Mac.”
I snort-giggled, and whispered back, “He already is. That’s okay. It’s Mac.” We shared a grin and then I shook my head at Mac’s questioning expression. “Doctor-patient stuff. Just you worry about finding me pickles and ice cream.”
“Are you having cravings already? We can stop at Supplies on the way home…” He looked relieved at having an actual task to accomplish.
“No, no, I’m teasing you!” I laughed and kissed him, then looked up to see Adelaide shaking her head at me.
“I told you to be nice to him.”
“Oh, I will,” I said, and sent Mac a look that told him exactly how I wanted to be nice to him. It made him suck in a harsh breath, and a shiver ran over my skin.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
I spent the ride home curled up against Mac’s side, my hand under his shirt running over the solid planes of his belly, my head on his shoulder. Mac had one hand on the wheel, the other sneaking down the back of my jeans, teasing at the skin at the base of my spine until I was ready to tell him to pull over, despite the fact that it was only a ten-minute drive from the clinic to our home. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it.
The Alpha was sitting on our front step when we pulled up in front of the house, his expression grim. We got out, our ardor suddenly cooled, and I had an uneasy feeling that this was about me, and it was going to be bad.
Mac walked straight up to him and unlocked the door. “Let’s talk inside.” He followed the Alpha into our living room and I closed the door behind us.
“Should I go upstairs?” I asked, uncertain whether they’d want me in the conversation. In Montana Border, I would never be involved in a discussion with the Alpha, even if it had something to do with me. It wasn’t how it was done there, though I was starting to understand that things were different here.
“I think you’d better stay,” the Alpha said. “This concerns you.”
He and Mac sat on our couch and I curled up in my chair in the corner. My mother’s blanket was draped over the back of it, and I pulled it down over my shoulders to combat the chill of apprehension I felt.
The Alpha looked at Mac, then at me. “We’ve received a summons today. Several of them. Your old pack is suing us to return you and to pay them damages for the loss of your—” he snarled”—innocence. And its value.”
The blood drained out of my face, but I didn’t know what I felt. I should have guessed they wouldn’t give up so easily. “When do we go to court?” I heard myself say, as if I were in another room, eavesdropping on my own conversation.
“They filed in human court. That might be our only hope.”
“What? Why?” Mac left the couch to come sit with me, picking me up, then settling down with me cradled in his lap. I hugged his arms to me, but all my attention was for the Alpha.
“They’re treating it as a civil matter, like you’re property.”
