Chapter Fourteen
Nico
Far worse things had happened in my life than being terrorized into a heat. And in the days that turned into weeks after, we avoided the subject, though with each passing day, I felt more certain that we’d done it.
I had the day off, a Friday morning that Shilo took off with me to finish the paperwork with the shelter. They needed proof of my spaying and vaccines—none of which I’d actually get. The pack doctor, a veterinarian by trade, handled the paperwork on it—and the chips.
We rolled out of bed and dressed, shuffling to the kitchen for our usual coffee. The smell of it was off-putting to me, but I sipped a few mouthfuls politely. But it didn’t escape his notice. Still, we said nothing about it. It seemed like it might jinx the suspicions.
We loaded up into his daily driver, a pickup truck a dozen years old with barely any miles on it, though it did have a lot of wear. He said that pack members used it to move and haul when they needed. What was the alpha’s was everyone’s, he said.
The vet had my paperwork ready, declaring Donner sufficiently spayed, registered, chipped, and vaccinated, but that could have been handled easier if he’d dropped it off. What we were really there for was my ultrasound.
Tests for omegas hadn’t been exactly a high priority in the shifter’s scientific community and human pregnancy tests could be unreliable. What wasn’t though?
Dr. Finnegan walked me into a back room and sat me on a cold metal table and tossed a pillow for me as I leaned back and pulled my shirt up and pants down to a few inches below my navel.
“Shilo, you’re an animal, I swear.” The doctor shook his head, his jet-black hair, a finger’s length overdue for a haircut as it swayed. “He treating you nicely, Nico?”
Cold gel hit my belly, and I twitched as the even colder probe pressed in. “Treating me very well, thank you.”
“Mm-hmm.” He stared at the screen, moving the wand from below my navel and down, grinding down into what I thought was my womb.
“Nothing…” Shilo’s words came out in a whimper as he stared at a large vacuous space.
“I should hope not.” Dr. Finnegan snorted and angled the wand. “If I found a pup in his bladder, I’d be very concerned and impressed.”
“Oh.” Shilo’s voice held a note of embarrassment that I ignored as I watched the doctor search out what he needed.
“Aaand, here we go.” Dr. Finnegan grinned, his teeth a tiny bit too sharp to be human, eyes a cheeky gold as they glittered playfully. “You did it.”
I stared at the screen as Shilo leaned down to eye it closer. I could barely tell what we were looking at until he zoomed in and focused on a little bubble with a lima-bean shape hovering within. A flicker of life pulsed at the center of it, and he highlighted it on the monitor. “And the heartbeat is acceptable.”
“Can you tell the gender?” Shilo gripped my shoulder, shuddering.
I pursed my lips as the doctor gave him a scolding look. “Alpha, where the hell am I supposed to look to see a penis or a vagina on this, or count the segments of his sacrum to see if he’s omega or not. Omegas tend to have an extra segment. This is the size of a literal lentil. It doesn’t have a gender. It has a heartbeat and be thankful for that.”
Shilo held his hands up and I snorted in laughter. “Sorry! I—”
“And for that matter, does the gender really matter?” The doctor hit a few buttons, printing grainy pictures off for us while he chewed Shilo out. “It’s either an alpha or omega, most likely.”
Shilo tensed his shoulders and pursed his lips. “No, gender doesn’t matter. I apologize.”
“Good.” Dr. Finnegan wiped me down and then the probe before docking it a little firmer than necessary. “Now, are we good?”
I nodded. “Thank you, Dr. Finnegan. I don’t think the gender really matters to either of us.”
“Good.” He offered me a soft smile and shooed us out of the clinic, stuffing a stack of papers in my hand separate from the envelope we needed for the shelter.
We got back to the truck, and Shilo breathed a sigh of something other than relief.
“He was a bit cranky.” I stared out the window at him, pacing past the front desk with a clipboard in hand.
“He’s an omega.” Shilo watched with an almost-sad look before starting the truck. “He had an experimental operation to stop his heats, and it wasn’t reversible. His old alpha turned him away. He wanted pups.”
“Oh goddesses… I’m so sorry. Why did we go to him? That’s so cruel.” I bit my lip and Shilo rested a hand on my leg.
“He’s okay with it. He is just touchy about omegas being equal. If he sees me treating you well, he’ll come around.” Shilo gestured at the papers and sighed. “Once we get onto the side road, duck down and shift so we can go visit.”
I huffed and did as he told. Donner had to make an appearance, and Ruth would mark us in compliance. Joy.
Though, my wolf had a sudden hard craving for hamburgers.
Preferably cold.
***
A short while later, we hopped out of the truck, strolling across the parking lot to the pound. I trotted in step behind him, foregoing the leash as we made our way into the front office. Shilo carried the paperwork in hand and sat it on the counter in front of a bored-looking volunteer who glanced from me to Shilo a few times. “Okay?”
“I’m here to see Ruth. She in?”
The volunteer, a teenage girl in the world’s baggiest clothes, stood with a sigh and shuffled toward a door leading into the kennels. When she opened the metal plate, a barrage of scents—ammonia, urine, feces, and the sound of eighty-seven dogs barking for attention blasted out. “Ruth!”
I pinned my ears back and Shilo visibly flinched.
“They’re always like that.” She sighed, staring out the door as a quiet retort issued back. “She says five more minutes.”
We shrugged and meandered around the front waiting area, catching sight of a front room with a dozen cats kept in cages—one of which was hanging from the bars wide-eyed and howling in an earsplitting screech.
It stuck a paw out, swiping at the air as the girl turned, staring at it. “That cat gives me the creeps. Always makes eye contact.”
Shilo gave me the side eye and shuffled off to the room with me at his heel.
I waited outside the room, as a wolf may have startled the cats, and for Shilo, that seemed to be the case, too, as cats retreated to the backs of their cages and hissed, all save for the wild-eyed tabby swiping out from between the bars.
“Holy shit…” I heard Shilo mutter under his breath as the cat howled again. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Getting you out. Be nice for them and we’ll get you a bath and out of here so you can contact your clowder.”
The cat silenced, eyes going wide in pure relief. Shilo patted the bars of the cage and slipped out just in time for Ruth to come jogging out, eyes wide and mouth stretched into a pleasant grin. “Shilo!”
“Ruth!” Shilo caught her hand in a jovial shake and pointed to the envelope of papers on the counter.
“Awesome! Dr. Finnegan does good work. Hey there, little guy.” She glanced down at me and offered me a hand to sniff. I sat primly and offered a paw to shake, instead. If I was off leash—I’d best play the part of a well-trained pet.
“All trained up! Who did you take him to?” Ruth shook my paw and grinned.
“Nobody. Came pre-trained.” Shilo grinned and jerked his thumb toward the cat cages. “What’s the story on the crazy one?”
“They found him in a bank vault. Dropped out of the ceiling. Damndest thing. Someone had opened up all the grates and was trying to break in and I guess kitty wandered over there. There’s a chip, but the number’s out of service and he’s closing in on his date .” She eyed the cat with a suspicious gaze. He was back on the bars again, clutched to them and shivering.
“I like him. Donner needs company.” Shilo stuck his thumbs in his pockets and glanced down at me. I wagged my tail because that seemed like the thing to do.
“No fees to take cats. We’ve got so many kittens on the way that we were having to move arranged dates up and we’re short on help. Not many volunteers want to work here.” She sighed miserably. “But hey! I was meaning to talk to you since you’re driving. Can we make some sort of arrangement for you to transport a few pups to bigger cities when you have runs? I want to team up a bit and get these guys into no-kill places.”
Shilo rubbed at his jaw and nodded his head from side to side. “Sure, shoot me an email with the details and a list of cities you’re looking for matches on.”
Ruth sighed in relief as she pulled out a clipboard for Shilo and went about packing the cat into one of those cardboard pet carriers. She walked in with a stick and loop paired with one of those leather gloves that went up to her elbow. “He’s spicy!”
“Lemme handle it. I have a way with kitty cats.” Shilo sighed and walked in as the cat bristled and stared her down. I kept my distance, not trusting cats, even shifters, as far as I could throw them. And, under Shilo’s glare, the cat hunkered down and tucked his tail when Shilo scruffed him before putting him in the cardboard box.
“You have everything you need for a kitty cat at home?” She beamed.
“Yep. He’s in good hands.” Shilo hefted the box under one arm and fished out his wallet for a business card. “Also, lemme see about getting you a volunteer or so.” The masked concern on Shilo’s face told me all I needed to know.
Her face lit up and with a final pat to my head, we left, and he placed the cardboard box on the back seat as we peeled out. The scent of tomcat and alpha filled the truck over my mate’s scent. Fuck.
“You, kitty cat. When we get off the main road, shift and explain. There’s a bag of clothes on the floorboard back there.”
A sheepish head popped out of the box with a light mew.
A literal cat burglar.