Chapter 20 The Dragon Doctor
The Dragon Doctor
Lawrie
Burnes had been MIA since the incident at the headquarters atrium two days ago.
I tried not to worry about him and not to be annoyed at Ernest’s constant hovering.
He couldn’t help himself. Yesterday, we ate lunch together at his office by the engineering lab, and today, we were headed for a lunchtime appointment with the dragon doctor as I called him in my head.
He would do some tests to determine the timing of my heat and advise us on possible contraceptives. I was nowhere near a decision about whether I wanted to have a kid already or not. The dilemma seemed surreal to me.
We only had a little over an hour, but luckily, Doctor Clearbridge’s office lay in the Ardaine city center, not far away from Sullivan and Burnes.
The strange thing about it was the lack of signs—the doorbell downstairs had only a number, and after we exited the elevator, we almost missed the small label on a nondescript door to the right:
Francis Clearbridge, MD.
I figured since Doctor Clearbridge tended to creatures that weren’t supposed to exist, he had every reason to stay discreet.
Ernest rang the bell, and a young omega opened the door.
“Hello, do you have an appointment?”
“Yes. Lawrence Winchester.”
“Welcome.”
He led us into a large luxurious waiting room with wide cream sofas and antique furniture.
“The doctor will be with you in a few minutes.”
Then he disappeared into another door to the left.
We sat down, Ernest immediately put an arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into his embrace.
A vague sense of guilt nagged at me, but I pushed it away.
My body, my decisions. Not that Ernest was in any way trying to persuade me.
He was annoyingly supportive and understanding, which didn’t help the doubts I was having.
“Are you okay?”
I started at Ernest’s voice ringing in the empty waiting room.
“What? Sure. Of course.”
He put his hand on my knee, and I realized it was bouncing up and down.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
“Do you want me to come in with you?”
“Maybe? I don’t know.”
Just then, the door to what I presumed was the doctor’s office opened, and a young, pregnant man exited, a dark-skinned, muscular alpha right behind him. They nodded in greeting and hurried to the elevators.
An older, short man in a white coat peeked out of the office.
“Lawrence Winchester?”
“That’s me.”
“Hello, Lawrence. Nice to meet you. My name is Francis Clearbridge. Please, come on in.”
Ernest rose with me, and the doctor smiled at him politely.
“Ernest, do you mind waiting outside for the time being?”
“Sure. No problem,” Ernest said too fast.
I gave him a quick peck on the cheek before following the doctor into the office.
He closed the door behind me, and I swallowed. Being without Ernest, especially in new places, still made me uneasy.
“It’ll be just a few minutes, Lawrence. Don’t worry.”
“I know.”
“It’s strange, isn’t it?” He rounded the desk and sat down, gesturing to an upholstered chair to the left.
I lowered myself into it. “What do you mean?”
“A few weeks ago, you didn’t even know him, and now you can’t imagine your life without him.”
“Was it like that for you as well?”
“Yes. I’ve been with my husband for sixty-one years.”
“Sixty-one?” I gasped. “How old are you?” Then my brain caught up with my mouth. “I’m sorry. That was inappropriate.”
“I’m eighty-two.”
I blinked. Dr. Clearbridge didn’t look a day above sixty. He wasn’t even fully gray, his short, thick hair salt-and-pepper, his clever eyes twinkling, the wrinkles around them shallow.
He leaned over the table. “One of the perks of a healthy relationship with a dragon.” He winked at me and settled back into the chair, rotating on it from side to side.
“So. When Ernest booked the appointment, he mentioned you would like to know the time your heat would come.”
“Yes.”
“We’ll do the exam shortly. I need to take a sample of your slick and a drop of blood. Then we do a quick ultrasound of your womb. Sound okay?”
“Sure.” Not that I enjoyed spreading my legs for doctors, but I’d done it before my first heat as well. I’d survive.
“And then he said you wished to ask about possible contraceptives.”
I took a deep breath. “That’s correct.”
“Sadly, the options are limited for dragon mates. Many of the common methods are out of the question.”
“Why?”
“Your body will crave a true breeding. Even if you think you’ll be able to control yourself, you won’t. By the third or fourth heat wave at the latest, you’ll need it.”
My cheeks flooded with warmth. I didn’t need lengthy explanations—I could very well imagine what he meant. I hadn’t been able to control myself around Ernest since the first touch. During heat, my urges would take over completely.
“Hormonal treatment is not recommended because the changes your body will go through are different than for human omegas.”
“So I can’t use the same pill as human omegas.”
“No, you can’t. But there are alternatives,” Dr. Clearbridge said, his clever gaze on me unwavering. I had the feeling that whatever I’d say or wouldn’t say, this man would know what I was thinking.
“Ernest said that, yes.”
“The only method that’s reliable and doesn’t affect your health is a contraceptive device inserted into the womb.
The procedure is not completely painless, and the soreness lasts for about a day after the insertion.
Then about two to three days after removal, you can experience slight abdominal pain and faint bleeding.
That’s because of the tissue damage to the channel to your womb.
It heals very quickly, and you won’t feel any discomfort during the heat itself.
The device doesn’t affect your cycle in any way, aside from the fact that it makes successful fertilization impossible.
” The doctor paused, leaning back and folding his hands on his small, soft belly.
“It also has one more advantage, which for you might be the most important one.” He smiled gently at me. “You don’t have to decide now.”
I blinked. Was the doctor truly a mind reader?
“Meeting your mate and feeling the changes in your body is an overwhelming, life-altering experience. It might be the most tumultuous time of your life so far, am I right?”
I gave him a jerky nod. “It’s only been two weeks.”
“When you’ve settled into your new life and gotten to know your mate a little better, you’ll be able to truly consider what you want your future to be. Now you might feel that your choices have been taken away from you, and you’re desperate to regain control over your life and body.”
I looked down at my hands. He was right.
“You are in control, Lawrence. You are safe. This isn’t some kind of misfortune that has befallen you. Being mated to a dragon is immense luck, just like Ernest is immensely lucky to have found you. Have you been able to relax and enjoy yourself during the bonding?”
“Yes. Ernest is great. Um. I…do like him a lot. I keep telling myself it’s crazy, that I can’t be in love with a man I barely know, but…” I shrugged.
Dr. Clearbridge stared at me steadily with a tender, almost grandfatherly gaze. “But you do know him.”
“It feels like he’s always been in my life.” Two weeks! My brain helpfully reminded me.
“Here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll take the tests so we can determine the timing of your heat. Then we’ll book another appointment, a few weeks before your heat, for the insertion of the contraceptive device.”
“And if I change my mind?”
“You’ll come to my office anyway, and we’ll talk about pregnancy instead. Sound good?”
“Okay. Great.”
I hated everything about these types of exams, but Doctor Clearbridge was so chill about everything I was able to relax.
The awkward part took only a couple of minutes.
Then he did a quick ultrasound of my womb.
Soon I was dressed again, a small piece of medical tape covering my finger where he’d taken the blood sample.
I sat down by his desk, and a few seconds later, he reappeared, carrying a slip of paper.
“It seems you’ll go into heat the last week of May,” he said, studying the paper. “Between the twenty-fifth and twenty-seventh, with 97 percent accuracy.”
“That was quick.”
Lifting his eyes, he smiled at me. “It’s a fairly simple test, measuring the hormone levels in your slick and blood. The program compares the values with the ultrasound images and does the math for us.”
“Cool. Um.” I swallowed. I’d remembered one more question while I was getting dressed, but now I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the answer.
“Yes?”
“If we have a kid, will there be something different with, you know, the pregnancy, and…the birth? Because the baby will be a shifter, and Ernest is huge. And my body…well, isn’t.”
“Are you worried about the pregnancy or labor?”
I blew out a nervous breath. “Both.”
“Lawrence, you still don’t understand, do you?
” The entertained smile on the doctor’s face confused me.
He didn’t seem like a jerk, and this was a quite serious subject, wasn’t it?
Pocket-sized as I was, would I push a freaking dragon out of my womb at some point?
“You are not a human omega. Not anymore. Those rules, expectations, and most importantly, those risks—they don’t apply to you.
You are a dragon’s mate. The chance that something will happen to the fetus, or that you’ll experience any complications during pregnancy or birth—all those risks are zero. ”
“Zero?”
“Absolute zero. You won’t even get a cold for the rest of your life.”
I gave out a short burst of half-crazy laughter. “What?”
“Aside from excessive use of force, nothing can hurt you or the baby.”
“So I can get hurt like in a traffic accident, but I’ll never get cancer.”
“That’s correct. And if you do end up in a traffic accident, your chance of survival will be significantly higher, and the speed of your recovery will baffle your doctors. But most probably, you’ll remain completely healthy until one day, your heart will have aged so much it will stop beating.”
I blinked.
“Anyway,” he said cheerily. “Back to pregnancy.”
“Yes, that.”
“Ernest might have already told you that your heat will be shorter, about six days, and very intense. Neither of you will be able to resist the impulse to breed. Whether you opt for the contraception or not, the recovery will last only about three days and will be mild. If you get pregnant, the first signs will arrive about two weeks after the heat, similar to those of a pregnant human omega. Slickness, tension in the tissue underneath your nipples, noticeable change in your scent, and heightened libido. You’re very welcome to come for an ultrasound after the first three months.
It’s not necessary, since like I said, the health risks are nonexistent, but you might want to know if you’re having twins. ”
“Twins?” I croaked.
Dr. Clearbridge grinned with glee. “Yes, Lawrence. Twins. It happens.”
“Like, more often?”
“Not by much.”
“Excuse me?”
“The chance of having twins is 0.3 percent for human omegas. It’s about 2 percent in dragons. But that is still only one birth in fifty.”
“One in fifty. Okay.” That’s low, right? Is that low? “And the birth? It’s supposed to be the most painful experience of my life.”
“No. It won’t hurt at all.”
I refrained from scoffing outright. “Like at all?”
“No.”
“How’s that possible?”
“See, you still think of yourself as human. You’re not, Lawrence. You’re the peak of evolution. All those missteps nature has done—those things don’t apply to you.”
“Are you actually telling me that in nine months, the baby will just glide out of me?”
He chuckled. “Not really. Your labor will be several hours long, you’ll have contractions and will have to push just like human omegas do. But you can be in the privacy of your home, in the care of your mate, who’ll be able to make your birthing experience pleasurable.”
I squinted skeptically. “How?”
“This might sound shocking to you since you obviously haven’t spoken about it with your mate.
Once you go into labor, your pheromones will heighten your mate’s arousal and affect his seed.
During contractions, your mate’s penis will stimulate the birthing canal, and the proteins in his semen will soften the tissue in the mouth to your womb. ”
“Wait a second. Are you talking about sex? During labor?”
“Yes. Dragon mates have intercourse while in labor, up until the delivery phase. You shouldn’t shy away from deep penetration.
It will help your body to open and make the experience more satisfying.
Long labor is exhausting, but mainly because the omega becomes sexually overstimulated.
Even so, dragon mates experience intense orgasms both during transitional labor and the delivery. ”
I just gaped. Of all the things I’d imagined, this wasn’t something that had ever entered my mind. This was beyond wild.
Dr. Clearbridge winked at me. “Contractions are a very interesting experience for both partners.”
“No hospital, then,” I stammered out.
The doctor grinned. “I wouldn’t recommend that, no.
” He opened a drawer and slapped a discreet folder on the table in front of me.
“Have a look at these together, in the privacy of your home. It shows the best sexual positions during the different stages of pregnancy and during labor. You can also find a series of illustrations showing the best birthing position for a dragon mate, how your mate can best assist you during the delivery, and a checklist of what you should have ready at home before the big day.”
I wordlessly took the thick folder without looking at it.