Chapter 29
Marcus was in shock. I was in shock. Fuck, I’d thought Dom was off his rocker when he’d texted too.
But he hadn’t been. Marcus’s smell had changed. It was still so subtle that you had to be shifted to notice, but that would change over the next few days. Once that happened, every werewolf who came near him would know.
That was, if that was what Marcus wanted. With a sigh, I pulled the car over and turned it off.
I unbuckled my seat belt so I could turn and look at our mate. “It’s real.”
“I… Ell, I do not have the parts.” He gestured at his abdomen. “You know. The parts.”
I cleared my throat. “Omegas have…the parts, and you’re an omega. You have a womb. I can talk you through everything. What I know isn’t really textbook medicine, but it’s what we as a society have kept alive of the medical knowledge.”
Marcus’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “You’re not saying it has to come out the same way it got in, but you’re strongly implying that. You know, if you look at the surrounding plumbing, that seems so impractical.”
I inclined my head. “Well, yes. But only if that’s what you want.
” I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “I was an idiot. We all were, but I think I was the biggest. As a general rule, when a werewolf goes into the medical field, they get access to our medical knowledge. Things we’ve built on, studies we managed to run without it getting out, records of people who learned to treat our kind without anything to go on and decided to write everything down so it wouldn’t have to be learned all over again.
“Marcus, when we found you, I think meeting us, your mates, kickstarted your heat. You may have had a little bit of a cold, although I think it can sometimes present with a raspy throat. Then when we had sex, that ended your heat. I should’ve realized you weren’t sick, no matter how improbable it was that you were an omega. ”
He was biting his thumbnail. “I mean, I had no idea. Heat, huh? Sure felt hot. You’re saying I have a womb. Fuck, but didn’t I get lucky it was you and not Steven?”
I growled. Marcus’s eyes widened, and I stopped. This was not the time to scare him or make him think we were those kinds of alphas.
“He wouldn’t have been able to get you pregnant.
He’s not a werewolf. You are… Honestly, I’d have to speculate.
No gene sequencing has ever been done on an omega’s remains as far as I’m aware, so I can only tell you theories about it being a recessive trait or a mutation in someone with werewolf ancestry.
It doesn’t really matter. You’d have needed to be with an alpha. ”
I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry about Dom.
Don’t mind him. He just didn’t think. Marcus, we’ll do a blood test to confirm, but I don’t have a doubt in my mind about us being right.
I’ll have to double-check, but an omega’s pregnancy is around seven months.
That means you don’t have quite as much time to think about what you want to do as you might think. ”
“You mean, do I want a cesarean or do I want to squeeze a melon out of my ass?” I laughed without humor. “What a choice.”
“Marcus, if you don’t want this baby, abortion is an option. I assume Linc is reminding Dom of that right about now.” I reached for his hand. “Do you remember that I told you I love you?”
He looked out the windshield. “Something like that’s hard to forget. I’ll have you know that came pretty much out of the blue.”
“Well, maybe you’re right. But I do love you, and I will make damn sure that you decide what you want to do. We will support you if you want to be a dad, and we will support you if you don’t. We’ll love you either way.”
His jaw muscles tensed. “I…I don’t even know how. I don’t know what to do.”
“Next steps. That’s what we’re working on now.
We’re going to get you a blood test, and then we’ll do an ultrasound too.
” I was pretty sure there were a few helpful anatomical illustrations in some of the documents I’d seen on the online platform we’d built for our kind over the years, and perhaps seeing it would help Marcus understand himself better.
“I’ll explain what’s happening, what’s going to happen, and what we’re going to do if you don’t want any of it to happen.
There’s no reason to be afraid at all. It’s unexpected, but you don’t have to be scared, Marcus. ”
“I guess I—hey, is that one of you or a real wolf?”
I followed Marcus’s line of sight. In the road ahead of us stood another werewolf, though not one I knew. He was a dark gray with mottled black on his top coat, his fur looking dull. He stared right at us, and he just stood there.
“That’s a werewolf, but I don’t know him. Not from around here.”
“Does that happen often? Someone passing through like that?”
“Sometimes, but people tend to stop by a pack elder. That’s considered common courtesy.” I looked over at Marcus. His face was pale. I couldn’t read the emotions there. “Wait in the car, okay?”
He nodded, then his head jerked in my direction. “Wait, is this a hazing thing after all? Something where all of you get together and act like guys getting pregnant is a thing?”
I shook my head. “It would be cruel of us to do that to you or to anyone. We’re not cruel, Marcus.”
That seemed to sink in, seemed to resonate. “I…I’ll wait here.”
“I’ll be right back.” I got out of the car and walked toward the wolf. He watched me, but otherwise didn’t move. “Hi. Looks like you’re new in the area. Mind shifting so we can talk?”
He didn’t. He didn’t do anything. It made my hackles rise. We were still on our territory, and not shifting when asked was impolite, not to mention unnecessary when there wasn’t anyone else around. I stopped and looked over my shoulder at Marcus, then back at the other wolf.
“Friend, I don’t want to be unkind, but you ran into us. Let’s have a chat.” I walked toward him, slower than before. Since he was shifted, that should allow him to scent me easily enough.
Something sharp struck me from the left and right, in my thighs, my arms. I was confused at first, thinking maybe it was bugs, but then the pain hit.
Intense, sharp. It went through me, searing, so overwhelming I couldn’t even scream. Bright light flashed in front of my eyes, and I turned. Marcus, I had to get Marcus away from here.
I passed out before I got to lay eyes on him again.