Brax Chapter 16
We ended up waiting four days before we were able to go and have a doctor confirm whether Cerys was pregnant. I thought we’d both lose our minds. As we waited, with help from Nico and the others, we got information on Council of Oracles scientists who resided in the States. They’d be able to test her genes. We didn’t tell anyone on the Council why we wanted them. We were lucky that they didn’t ask.
The first order of business was the baby doctor. The one we went to was not far away in Arizona. The ones closer to home were all booked solid for weeks. We made the hour’s drive in tense silence. I held her hand. She kept squeezing the hell out of my fingers. Once we got there and situated, we anxiously sat in the waiting room. There were only a few men there in addition to me. They appeared upset, as if they were forced to be there.
We came prepared with all the paperwork pre-filled out. We were left to wait. The clock’s hand seemed to crawl by. We’d been there close to twenty minutes when she was called back. I had no intention of missing anything. Going through a weigh-in and other things, it wasn’t long before we were seen. The doctor asked what we needed. When we explained that we’d been told Cerys was pregnant, but we’d been told that we couldn’t have kids, she’d been understanding. More blood was drawn when we first arrived, so they were testing it. On top of that, they asked if Cerys had been drinking water. I thought it was a stupid question, but she smiled and nodded.
That led to her being put in a hospital gown, her belly exposed, and a big machine brought in. Goop was spread on her tummy. The doctor did it and took her time pressing and moving a wand over her stomach. Every once in a while, she’d click a button. When she was done, she smiled.
“I can confirm your regular doctor was right. You are pregnant. Now, based on my measurements and the fact they’re so small, I estimate you’re about six weeks pregnant, give or take a few days. I see you’re already on prenatal vitamins. You’ll need to—”
I cut her off. I knew it was rude, but I had to make sure I heard her right. “Sorry, Doc, but did you say they?”
“Caught that, did you? Yes, I did. Two sacs are forming in there. Here, let me show you.” She turned the screen toward us. I stood there in shock as she pointed out these two light blobs and said those were our children. My heart skipped, and utter love filled me.
I stared transfixed at the screen. Even though the doctor had verified they were real, I still had a hard time believing it. Even before Cerys, I’d resolved myself to the fact I would most likely never have children. After meeting her and deciding to take her as my mate, I’d let the last remnants of that dream go. Every time Nightstalker insisted she’d carry our pups, as he called them, I’d told him it wasn’t happening.
Now, I was faced with not only the reality that it’s definitely possible but also the fact that we created a double miracle. Twins had my head spinning so hard that I found myself lightheaded. I abruptly dropped into the chair next to the table where Cerys lay. Her eyes widened, and she raised up on her elbows.
“Brax, are you alright? You look pale,” Cerys asked.
More emotions hit me. They were a combination of hers and mine and that of the doctor, who was wondering if we weren’t happy with the news. Feeling like I wanted to faint, I bent forward and placed my head between my knees. I began taking deep breaths and holding them for the count of five before letting them out.
“Sir, would you like to lie down?” the doctor asked in concern.
I gently shook my head and croaked, “No, just give me a few minutes. This is a shock to us.”
“If you don’t want the babies…” The doctor’s words faded away when I let loose a growl, and my head snapped up to pin her with a glare. Nightstalker wanted to get in the poor woman’s face. I fought him back until I could speak.
“We more than want these babies. We thought we couldn’t have them. You’re positive?” I questioned.
She smiled as she nodded. “I’m positive. I’ve been doing this for fifteen years. You’re pregnant with twins. Of course, you’re not far enough along yet to tell what the sexes are. There are some genetic blood screening tests that you can get around ten weeks that also tell you the sex. Or you can get an ultrasound at twenty weeks.”
“Is there a reason to wait for the ultrasound rather than having the blood test?” I asked.
“There’s no need for a blood draw, and some people don’t want to know anything in advance. The test isn’t dangerous. Do either of you have genetic histories of family members having Down, Edwards, or Patau syndromes?” the doctor asked.
My clueless look got Cerys explaining to me what those last two were. I knew what Down syndrome was. The other two I was clueless about.
“Brax, both are genetic disorders like Down syndrome. In Edward’s, chromosome eighteen has a third copy. Those babies are born small, with heart defects, and have severe intellectual disabilities. Patau children’s cells have extra genetic material from chromosome thirteen. That extra stuff disrupts normal development and causes lots of complex organ defects. I’m not aware of anyone in my family who has these. What about you, honey?”
Of course, my family hadn’t had children in centuries, but I answered, “Not that I know, but there’s a lot of distance between members in mine. It would probably be smart to test just in case.”
“We can do that. Or, if you want to continue your care with a doctor closer to you, you can ask them to perform it. I understand that you came here because you weren’t able to get in to see a doctor in California in a timely manner.”
“That’s right, but I think we need to discuss it. Is there anything else we need to do today?” Cerys asked.
They chatted about vitamins and nutrition. I tried to concentrate, but my mind kept going back to the fact that I was going to be a father. I was afraid to believe it. By the time we left, the fog had started to lift. In the truck, we were quiet for the first part of the ride. Eventually, Cerys broke the silence.
“Talk to me, Brax. Are you sure you’re happy about this? Don’t feel you have to say you are if you’re not. I’d never force you to be a father.”
“Where the fuck did you get the idea that I don’t want them? I’m stunned but overjoyed that I’m going to be a dad. On top of it, there are two of them. I want to shout it from the rooftops and strut down the main street, telling everyone I pass. Are you having second thoughts?”
Something close to terror started to rise inside of me. Her gasp and words eased it. “Brax, I don’t have a single second thought. I’m shocked as well. I’ve always wanted kids. Would I have chosen to have them at my age? I don’t know, but I won’t turn them away. I’m right there with you about shouting it in the middle of Needles.”
I gave her a wicked grin. “Then, when we get back to town, why don’t we go to the middle of town and do exactly that?”
“We shouldn’t?” she said, but I heard the question.
“Why not?”
“We can’t do that unless we tell Twyla and the guys first. If we don’t, they’ll never forgive us. I want to see their faces. Twyla will be beyond thrilled,” Cerys said giddily.
“Hell, yeah, let’s do it. Send a text to them and see if everyone can meet at our house at six. They should all be off work by then,” I told her.
She didn’t waste her time getting out her phone and tapping away. I concentrated on the drive. I had even more precious cargo.
Cerys and I barely contained ourselves until everyone gathered at our house that evening. By the time they were seated, we were ready to burst, but we held our news in for a few moments.
“Alright, you’ve got us worried. You asked us all to meet, and we know you went to the doctor today. What did she have to say?” Twyla asked anxiously.
“Yeah, why did you want us all here? We hate that the first doctor obviously didn’t know what she was talking about, not that it wouldn’t be cool if you could have kids,” Nico said.
“Could you see them if they were about to have a baby? We’d never be able to live with Brax,” Keir jokes. I gave him the finger, causing them to crack up.
“Hush,” Twyla told them. The guys were trying to defuse what they thought was bad news with humor. They tamped down their antics when Twyla ordered them to hush. When they were calm, Twyla nodded. “Go ahead.”
“We found a lot of useful information. We’ll have to decide whether to continue to go to the Arizona doctor or find one here who can see us in a month,” I told them.
This got their attention. They straightened in their chairs. Disbelief, fear, anxiety, hope, and astonishment were flitting across faces.
“Whatever is wrong, you can get through it, Cerys. You’re strong, and you’ll have all of us to help you. Are you sure you shouldn’t get a second opinion? What does this doctor want to do? Shouldn’t you go to a specialist, not a regular doctor?” Twyla asked doubtfully.
The worry coming off her and a few of the others swamped me, and I knew it was hitting Cerys. She gave me a quick glance, which I nodded to, and then she answered her grandmother.
“Twyla, there’s no need to get another opinion or for you all to be worrying. I’m fine and healthy except for slight anemia—”
Twyla kept her from saying more. “Then why do you have to see a doctor in a month? Your anemia will take longer than that to correct itself, and when you need a follow-up test, it can be done here. Why continue to see that doctor in Arizona?”
“You’re right about the anemia, but as for why that doctor, we liked her. And I’d like her to continue caring for me over the next eight months or so.”
Twyla was the one to catch the significance of the eight months. She squealed as the guys gave her and us confused looks until Royal stood up. Nico was on his feet next. We’d worked to keep our emotions locked down so he couldn’t figure out what was up, but we’d let them loose when she answered Twyla.
“Are you saying you’re pregnant for real?” Royal said in astonishment.
“You can’t be,” Nico said next in disbelief.
They all talked over each other, voicing their disbelief and then their enthusiasm. We let them babble for a couple of minutes, and then I gave a loud howl to bring their focus back to us. They retook their seats and quieted. Twyla had gotten up and was still hugging Cerys. Twyla was crying. Cerys sat on the loveseat, taking her grandmother with her.
“Brax, how can it be possible? She’s human. None of us can detect a shifter gene in her,” Royal stated.
“I know we can’t. And we have no idea how, but the doctor showed us proof in black and white.” I held up the sonogram picture. He took it and studied it. As he did, his head raised.
“I don’t know much about babies and these pictures, but shouldn’t there be only one of these lighter blobs, not two?”
Both Cerys and I smiled as I answered, “In most cases, yes, but when you’re having twins, there’s two of them, like that.”
This caused another uproar. Twyla was kissing Cerys all over her face, and then she got up to come do the same to me. The picture was passed from hand to hand so everyone could see it. Finally, it made its way back to me, and everyone calmed down again. Twyla had retaken her seat, and everyone was expectantly watching us. Cerys was standing with my arm snuggly around her.
“We have a lot of unanswered questions, as you can imagine. We need to find the answers now that the pregnancy has been confirmed. I contacted the Council of Oracles to get the names and addresses of the geneticists they work with. I didn’t tell them why I wanted them, and they didn’t ask. The next step is to get Cerys an appointment with one of them to see if they can figure out how she can be pregnant.”
“Brax, do you know what this means if there are humans capable of producing shifter children?” Keir asked hoarsely. He, Banner, Nico, and Royal were the oldest of us.
“I do. However, before we tell others, we have to know how it happened in her. Is it just a fluke or something else? Until we know, that means this has to stay a secret. You can’t tell anyone,” I warned them.
I met each of their eyes, so they saw this was an absolute order. I might not have a wolf pack, but the alpha in me was rearing his head. Nothing and no one would pose a risk to my mate and pups. If they did, I wouldn’t be able to hold myself or Nightstalker back.
“We won’t say a word. This is too important to risk. What about the Council? As soon as you see one of their scientists, they’ll know,” Nico said.
“They will, but until then, they stay in the dark. I don’t want them descending on us, demanding answers we don’t have. They’ll have to wait.”
“Honey, what about your parents?” Cerys asked.
I’d called them a couple of weeks ago after we returned from Temecula and told them I was mated. They were delighted for me. The fact she wasn’t a wolf had only dimmed their happiness a little. They admitted they had hoped I’d find a wolf, but as long as I was happy, they were, too. Both of them promised to make the trip to see us soon. However, with this new development, we might have to make a trip to Delphi. If that happened, we’d hop over to see them in Corfu.
“We’ll tell them when we know more.”
“I hate that you can’t tell your family when I told Twyla. It’s not like I have anyone else to tell on my side. Mom and Dad hate everything I do anyway. They won’t be happy to hear they’re about to be grandparents. It doesn’t seem fair,” Cerys said as she rubbed my chest.
“Hey, what are we? Chopped liver,” Fennick protested.
She laughed. “No, you’re not, and yes, you’re family, of course you are. I was thinking of blood family, dork.”
“Dork! By the gods, you need to spank her more,” Fennick told me.
“And let us watch when you do,” Nico said, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Okay, perv,” she shot back, making him grin.
“As much as I love name calling, we have important work to do. First, make the call to the closest geneticist and get an appointment. In addition, prepare for the Council to descend once they hear why we need a geneticist. On top of that, we need to celebrate. It’s almost dinner time. I say, let’s order a feast and get the little maman , mommy, fed. She’s now eating for three. We don’t want her to get hungry and eat off our arms and legs,” Royal joked. He winked at Cerys as he said the last part. She gnashed her teeth at him, making us laugh.
And just like that, we settled in to celebrate. I told them that I’d left a message after we got home with a few of the places closest to us. We were waiting to see who called back and go from there. There was one in Los Angeles and another in Phoenix, Arizona. Both were about a four-hour drive from Needles. I kept praying we wouldn’t have long to wait. The mystery was killing me.
I was surprised when I got a call back from the Phoenix location the next day. When I explained what I wanted done and why to the head scientist at the facility, he’d gone crazy. He kept asking if we were sure she was one hundred percent human. I informed him of how many shifters had vouched she was. He would’ve seen us the next day if he could’ve done it. However, due to a project they had, he couldn’t get us in until a week later. We readily took it.
Cerys insisted that rather than take two vacation days at work, she would trade with someone. I didn’t think it was necessary, but it was her choice, so I let it go. As for me, I had so many vacation days built up due to the fact that I never took days off until I met her. I just asked for two of those. Although it was only supposed to take a day, I wanted to give her time to rest and not worry about rushing home afterward to get to work the following day.
Today was the day. As we pulled into the parking lot, I fought down my nerves. I tried to block them so that Cerys wouldn’t feel them. She had enough of her own that she’d been working to hide from me. I kept assuring her everything would be alright. Twyla insisted on coming with us. I had no problem with it. What had surprised the hell out of me was when we were about to leave the house for the drive here, all of my friends had shown up. They insisted they were going for support and to provide an escort. Cerys thought it was weird but didn’t say anything. I knew the real reason.
Since they found out she was pregnant, they were taking turns guarding her as much as they could. It was challenging with their jobs, but they usually stood guard over the house at night. They said that was when we were the most vulnerable. I asked them who they thought would attack us. They had no answer but were almost as invested in this pregnancy as Nightstalker and I were. None of them wanted to chance something happening to Cerys or the babies. I kept that information from her. I didn’t want her to stress.
It was comical to see us entering the building and signing in. Half the guys stayed outside, but the rest insisted they come inside with us and Twyla. We didn’t wait more than five minutes before we were called back. The looks we were getting from the staff told me the key ones, such as doctors and nurses, knew why we were there, and they were dying to find out if it was true. We were shown to an examination room. I refused to let the guys inside. They weren’t seeing my mate’s body. They stood in the hallway. Twyla did come in with us.
The process dragged on for hours. They took blood, did an internal exam, performed sonograms, put her through other machines, and took other samples. They asked us a million questions, which we answered to the best of our abilities. I thought the day would never end. Cerys was drooping with fatigue when I finally called a halt to it.
“That’s enough. We’ve been here for hours. Either you have enough or you don’t. She needs rest and food. We have a four-hour ride home. Can you do this with what you have or not?” I demanded.
“Mr. Christou, we understand your impatience. And we’re sorry that we’ve taken so long today, but we have to be sure we’ve covered every possible explanation. Thank you for your patience, both of you. We do have enough to run the rest of our tests. However, if we should need more, we can arrange to get blood or whatever closer to you, so there won’t be a need for you to come back. Ms. Morgan, thank you for being so cooperative. It has made it easier, even if it doesn’t seem like it. I can’t tell you how important this is to our community if you are truly all human,” Dr. Fields said.
Dr. Jonas Fields was the head of the facility we were at. We’d discovered he and several doctors and staff were shifters. The rest were humans who were trusted with the secret. I understood how they were able to trust them when Nico explained. A vampire had placed mindblocks on all the humans to prevent them from spilling the secrets of what they did at the facility. He knew because he entered their minds to place one of his own and found it. He wanted to ensure they didn’t pose a threat to our kind.
“I understand, and we want to know just as much as you do. I’m just really tired. Do you have an idea when you might know?” Cerys asked.
“Give us a week. I know it sounds like forever, but in actuality, that’s super fast in the scientific world. We’ll have our best people working on this around the clock. I promise we’ll let you know as soon as we have an answer.”
Shaking his hand, we thanked him, and I hustled her and Twyla out of there. It was six in the evening. The prospect of a four-hour drive after eating was too much. I posed my suggestion to the gang in the parking lot.
“Okay, so here’s the deal. I’d like to stay the night. Cerys is exhausted, and that ride is too much for her. And I’m mentally wiped. I think we’ll get a hotel room for the night and drive back tomorrow after a good night’s sleep. We thank you all for coming along. Wish we had answers. Anyway, don’t feel you have to stay the night with us. Please head back and do whatever. We’ll be fine. I know some of you have to work in the morning.”
There was a short debate. It ended with Gunnar, Banner, and Twyla staying. The other four had to work. Banner, as a lawyer, found it easier to adjust his schedule. Gunnar wasn’t actively working any bounties at the moment. Twyla was retired, so her time was her own. Just in case we had to stay, I’d packed a bag for Cerys and me. I discovered the rest had, too. What were the odds?
Fennick, Royal, Keir, and Nico stayed to have dinner with us, and saw that we got settled in a hotel for the night before they took off. I made them promise to let us know when they made it home. It was all I could do to get Cerys to shower before she crawled into bed. She was out before I put the covers up over her. It took me a while to fall asleep, even though I was tired, too. I kept thinking about what Dr. Fields and his team would find and what it would mean.