Page 61 of Pulled By the Tail
She squirted a cold gel on Georgia’s stomach and rubbed a wand over her abdomen. The blank screen distorted into a gray and white image. Slowly, the image of something that looked more like a fish than human—or Tal—emerged.
The image moved. Her breath caught in her throat.
No. She took back the fish statement. Those were fingers, teeny-tiny fingers. No sign of a tail, though.
“When does the tail develop?” she asked.
“Soon. It can be hidden in this position, but the tail does not always develop.”
Belith said the baby appeared healthy for its stage of development. “Human-Tal kits take nine months to gestate. Most pregnancies occur with few complications. I will prescribe vitamin supplements and I expect to see you again in a month for a check-up.”
A baby.
Her baby.
Georgia had spent many nights drifting off to sleep, imagining the family and life that awaited her on Corra. Whenever her fantasies took her to this particular moment, she assumed she would burst into tears of joy. She’d have her husband by her side, not her casual hookup.
Only he hadn’t felt like a casual hookup for some time now.
Talen’s amber gaze fixed on the monitor. “Our kit.” He grinned, fangs exposed, but if the dancing his tail did was any indication, he was thrilled.
She didn’t know if she felt the same.
The situation was completely backward. She had everything she thought she wanted, and it wasn’t right. At all.
Talen
“I don’t thinkwe should tell anyone just yet,” his mate said.
She sat at the edge of his bed. Until her room could be thoroughly cleaned, she had to make do with his bed, which pleased the feral part of his brain. That hungry beast wanted his mate in his bed every night.
When they arrived home, he hustled her upstairs, walking straight past a curious Bright. Soon the older female would burst through the door, bearing a tray laden with a meal, and demand updates.
Before she could say another word, he pushed her against the closed door and knelt, pressing his ear to her belly.
His mate. His kit.
He wanted to believe he could hear the kit’s heartbeat but settled for the gentle thrum of his mate’s heart. Gently, he lifted the fabric of her tunic and rubbed his cheek across her bare skin, marking her with his scent. She smelled of lotion and medicinal soap.
Her fingers tangled in his hair and she sighed. “Okay?”
He withdrew, unsure if she asked after his well-being or if he would refrain from shouting his joyous news. He’d bet on the latter. “I will try, but I have never been able to keep a secret from Bright,” he said.
“It’s not a secret. At least it won’t be for much longer. I just need to think.” She scratched the back of her hand, the skin red and raw.
“I will draw you a bath,” he said, setting a glass of water down on the bedside table. After the bath, he would apply the ointment the doctor prescribed. He took a thick bathrobe from the wardrobe, as any garment of hers might be contaminated. When he placed the robe next to her on the bed, she remained in the same position along with the pill waiting next to the glass.
“My mate, you must take your pill.”
“Yes, Daddy,” she muttered. The color leached from her face, making the red splotches around her eyes and on her cheeks that much more vivid and grotesque. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Medicine. Bath. Then we talk.”
He ran the water in the tub until it was warm, and then he plugged the tub. Slowly it filled. He added a packet of powder that promised to soothe itching skin to the water. He doubted the claim, but it smelled pleasant enough.
Georgia stood in the door, wearing his bathrobe. The sight pleased him to no end. His mate, carrying his kit, wrapped in his scent. His chest rumbled with happiness, the closest he had come to a purr since he was a kit.
“What did you mean, ‘Is it Tal-human?’ You don’t think this baby is yours?” The hurt in her voice obvious, even to one as foolish as himself.
