Chapter 10 My Baby Is A What?
MY BABY IS A WHAT?
Ottis looked up when Doc made a choked sound, only to see the alpha grabbing a handful of red lace and dumping it on a red shape in his arms.
What?
“Sweetheart, get me a blanket,” Doc hissed, darting his eyes wildly around them.
Why the hell had he thrown lace all over Marcie?
Why was Marcie... red?
Ottis was about to say something, when a tiny red wing popped out from the pile of lace.
A red wing.
What the fuck? Was that Marcie?
And was that Doc’s idea of a disguise?!
“Holy fuck,” Ottis whispered.
“That’s what I thought,” Doc said, turning to fumble around in the cart. “Blanket, sweetheart. Now.”
Ottis scrambled for the cart, yanking out a pair of soft, colorful sweatpants.
They were bright enough to distract from the red, but maybe they would attract too much attention.
He tossed the pants at Doc anyway, then ripped the packaging off a soft pastel blanket.
Ottis threw the blanket at the wriggling lump.
Before the blanket covered Marcie fully, Ottis caught the gleam of a red eye, and a scaly snout with only two teeth.
Oh Mother Moon, it was her.
“My pup is a—”
A dragon.
“How the hell did I not know this?!” Ottis whisper-shouted. “I’m her dad! I’ve been taking care of her for eight whole months.”
“Sometimes they present late.” Doc smoothed the blanket gently over Marcie’s restless shape. He rumbled low in his chest.
To Ottis’ surprise, Marcie calmed down and rumbled back, her voice higher-pitched than Doc’s.
“How adorable is that?” Ottis said, his heart tumbling. He hurriedly suppressed that feeling and glanced around.
Dragon shifters were rarely open about their identities.
Poachers had been hunting them for centuries for their impervious scales and magical blood.
But it wasn’t just the poacher threat; there had been a recent spate of baby kidnappings, where bad guys tried to steal dual-species babies to create some army.
It was worse if the babies also belonged to a rare species.
“Damn it,” Ottis said. He had noticed that Marcie was a little... different sometimes, but he hadn’t realized it was because she was a whole other species.
And here I thought we wouldn’t be a target.
“You’re fine,” Doc rumbled. He wrapped his arm around Ottis’ waist and pulled him close. “Calm down. I’ll keep you safe.”
“I’m trying to calm down,” Ottis hissed.
They couldn’t stick around. They should be home, somewhere safe, so Ottis could properly freak out without feeling as though someone was coming to steal his baby away.
“Here’s what we’ll do,” Doc said. “We have all the things we need. Hijinks will run them through the checkout stand. In the meantime, we’ll get out of here.”
“I don’t think I can carry a lump out of the store,” Ottis whispered. “It’s going to look so suspicious. What if someone thinks I’m shoplifting? Hell, we haven’t even paid for this blanket.”
“Hmm,” Doc said. And he unbuttoned his shirt, leaving his pecs and abs in full view.
“Wow,” Ottis’ mouth said without his permission. “You could walk around like that, and no one would look at me. Your nipples suck in all the attention like twin black holes of lust.”
Doc huffed, his chest and abs vibrating with laughter.
Ottis froze. Then he buried his face in his hands, horrified at himself. “Did I really say that? Twin black holes of lust? Fucking hell. If this doesn’t chase you away then—”
“I find it very attractive,” Doc said.
“Oh,” Ottis said, his heart stuttering. “You find the strangest things attractive. There’s probably a word for it.”
“Let’s not find out.” Doc’s eyes crinkled again. “C’mon, help me get my shirt off, and we’ll wrap it around Marcie. Don’t look around; that’ll be suspicious.”
It was so difficult not to look around. Especially when they were doing something suspicious as fuck.
But Doc had a point—if Ottis accidentally caught someone’s eye, they would attract attention they didn’t need. Instead, he walked stiffly next to Doc, watching the wriggling bundle in Doc’s arms.
In a quiet corner, Ottis helped to peel Doc’s shirt off his broad, muscular shoulders. He wrapped the thin shirt around Marcie, pulling off all the other things Doc had piled on her. Luckily, Ottis had dressed her in loose clothes today; she would’ve been so uncomfortable otherwise.
“Better,” Doc murmured, glancing around discreetly. “Here.”
He handed her over to Ottis.
As a dragonet, Marcie felt different in his arms. She was heavier than a furry pup, and she felt sturdier, less soft. Her fluttering wings felt fragile, though. Ottis was terrified of accidentally hurting them while she was bundled up like this.
“How do I hold her when she’s... flapping?”
Doc stepped up close behind him, grasping Ottis’ hands. Gently, he guided Ottis’ arms around Marcie so she rested more comfortably against him, the warmth of his hands soaking into Ottis’ skin.
It felt like an embrace, Ottis realized, both of them holding onto Marcie, Doc wrapped around him.
“Wow,” he breathed. “It’s like I’m in a D-word sandwich.”
“D-word?” Doc huffed.
“You know, the family-friendly D-word. Not the other one.”
“I wasn’t thinking about the other one.” Doc was laughing harder now.
“Damn it! I wasn’t trying to be funny!” But it was kind of funny. He had a dragonet in his arms! Ottis bit down his smile.
“Of course you’re not funny,” Doc said obligingly, smoothing his calloused thumb over Ottis’ knuckles.
“Actually, you’re also a D-word,” Ottis realized. “Your name. Imagine if there were two of you sandwiching me.”
“There’s just one of me, I’m afraid.”
“Well, you could shift and... and your tail would be long enough to go on my other side, right? Like one of those U-shaped body pillows.”
“Is that what I’ve been reduced to? A U-shaped body pillow?”
“You should be proud,” Ottis said meaningfully. “Now you’re a D and also a U.”
“At least that wasn’t an F and a U.”
“You did F me. Wow, I hope this isn’t how we teach Marcie the alphabet,” Ottis blurted.
Doc laughed silently, but with huge, violent heaves of his body that made Ottis and Marcie shake along with him. It was the hardest Ottis had seen him laugh, and it was amazing.
Ottis felt a tiny bit proud of himself. But also embarrassed, because he hadn’t planned any of this.
“You would let me teach her the alphabet?” Doc asked when he sobered up.
Ottis froze. Wow. That was... kind of far into the future. In fact, it sounded kind of crazy, letting Doc stick around for so much of Marcie’s life.
“We’ll see,” Ottis said carefully. “I don’t know about making promises yet.”
Doc hummed. “A wise decision. Let’s get ready to leave. Hijinks is almost here.”
Two seconds later, the butler popped up beside them, all smiles. “Reporting for duty, Butt-Cart Probe Master.”
“Ugh,” Doc said fervently.
Ottis giggled. “Butt-Cart Probe Master,” he whispered under his breath. “It has a certain ring to it.”
Doc groaned. “Not you too.”
“You should put that on your hospital lanyard,” Hijinks said brightly. “In fact, I’ll get it printed for you, with rainbows and unicorns around your face—”
“Oh gods. No,” Doc muttered.
“—and on the back there will be a handy pickup line for whenever you need to seduce the Probe Consort.”
Ottis winced. “From 699 Pickup Lines?”
Hijinks waggled his eyebrows. “How did you guess?”
“It’s not going to work on me,” Ottis said.
“You never know,” Hijinks said solemnly. “They may miss you like ships passing in the night, but one day. One day, there will be a pickup line that sweeps you off your paws and leaves you feeling like you’ve been electrocuted.”
“Because that sounds pleasant,” Ottis said dryly.
“Good luck finding it,” Doc said with the air of a man who knew it would never happen.
Hijinks sniffed disdainfully.
“Anyhow, we’re leaving,” Doc said, unwrapping himself from Ottis but leaving an arm around his waist. “Handle the checkout, Jinks. We’ll meet you at the car.”
Hijinks gave a jaunty salute. Doc glanced around; Ottis stretched out his hearing as much as he could. When they were sure the coast was clear, Doc led Ottis out of the store—not too quickly that they would be noticed, and not too slowly that they would make themselves a target.
In her shirt bundle, Marcie babbled to herself with little snorts and roars.
“She sounds even more amazing now,” Doc said in an undertone. “I thought she couldn’t get more adorable than a human child.”
“This doesn’t change our contract, does it?” Ottis asked slowly. “You won’t want her for yourself?”
Doc grinned. “Nah. I already have you.”
Not for the first time, Ottis wished he could see the rest of Doc’s face. But he was unsure of his own reaction to Doc’s scars, and he was afraid he would accidentally hurt the alpha because of it.
“Maybe in the dark?” he said.
“What’s happening in the dark?” Doc frowned.
“If you wanted to taste me. You could remove your masks in the dark, and I won’t see you. But it would have to be absolute darkness, instead of just low light. I can still see in low light.”
Doc froze mid-step. Then he continued walking with Ottis through the parking lot, taking a deep breath. “I appreciate you trying, sweetheart.”
“So it’s a no?” Ottis wasn’t sure if he was disappointed.
“Not right now,” Doc said. “Give me some time to think it through.”
“It’s not a no.” Ottis cheered up, almost bouncing as they walked.
Doc tipped his head a little, as though he was trying to figure Ottis out. “You... really want that?”
“I think so,” Ottis said slowly. “I... I don’t know how I would react to you. You know what I think of my own scars. But yours don’t look so bad. Maybe if I knew the story behind them, it would give me some perspective.”
Doc watched him for a long moment. “Let me think about it.”
Ottis nodded. “Okay. I think it’s something we should talk about, if we want to get really naked with each other.”
Doc huffed. “Wise words for a young one.”
“I’m twenty-eight!”
“Like I said, young.”
Ottis blew a raspberry at him, which didn’t help.
Doc covered Ottis’ mouth with his free hand.
It was warm and dry, heavy against his face.
Ottis’ breath stuttered. Doc glanced at him.
Still walking, and still guiding Ottis with his other arm, Doc dragged his fingertips over Ottis’ lips, a slow back-and-forth slide that made his calluses snag on Ottis’ skin.
It felt really nice, when Doc touched his mouth. It felt intimate. Like a kiss.
“Wow,” Ottis whispered, his heart skipping. “You’re doing this and walking at the same time.”
“Trust me, I’d rather be doing this and not walking,” Doc murmured, his eyes crinkling. “Preferably somewhere alone with you.” But he let his hand fall away so Ottis could focus on their surroundings instead.
“There’s something you should know,” Doc added a moment later. “My shirt is fireproof.”
Ottis’ thoughts screeched to a halt. “Crap. Everything we bought today isn’t.”
“Not to worry. I’ll get them fireproofed. We’ll invite Uriel over to spell them, and hear about his woes with Bruiser.”
Ottis snickered. Unknown to Doc and his alpha friends, Uriel was secretly an omega. Except the mage looked like an alpha, and pretended to be one. He was heavily scarred, a single dad, and he had been butting heads with Bruiser, one of the alphas in Doc’s friend group.
The alphas had a betting pool going, on when Uriel and Bruiser were finally going to get together. In the meantime, Ottis listened in the omega chat when Uriel ranted about the things Bruiser did.
“It’s a great idea to invite Uriel over,” Ottis said. “He can tell you so much crap about Bruiser, it’s so funny.”
“Have you been talking to him?”
“Are you jealous?” Ottis grinned.
“That depends on what you think of him.” Doc’s eyes narrowed a little. Ottis’ heart skipped again.
“I don’t want him as my alpha,” Ottis said truthfully.
Doc stood taller, preening a little. Ottis snuggled closer into his side.
They were approaching Doc’s car when Marcie sneezed under the cover of Doc’s shirt. The shirt lit up orange from the inside, just a tiny spot of light.
But Ottis saw it. Doc did too.
Had someone else seen it?
Ottis’ heart kicked.
“Don’t look around,” Doc murmured. “That’ll make you appear more suspicious. But I think Marcie caught an eye or two.”
“Crap,” Ottis whispered.
With a light pressure on Ottis’ waist, Doc herded him past his car.
It made sense. They shouldn’t draw attention to their escape vehicle.
Two cars past their own, heavy footsteps approached them from behind. It wasn’t Hijinks.
Doc squeezed Ottis’ hip. “Keep moving,” he said under his breath.
Then he released Ottis, and turned to face the threat himself.