Chapter Nineteen
Wulf
There wasn’t much to move from Striker’s tiny apartment into mine.
He ended up leaving the bed and dresser for the next roommate for Eli.
I was glad my moving wouldn’t put him in a tough spot, rent wise.
He had enough to worry about with his athletic career and working nights.
Honestly, I didn’t know how he managed it.
Plus, most of Striker’s things were already here.
“Everything is already here?” he asked, coming home from work.
“Yeah. I went and got it this morning. I hope you don’t mind. I figured it would take something off your plate and you could just relax. We have that appointment with the healer in a few minutes.”
My mate sighed. He was torn about going to the healer.
Of course, he knew he had to. To check the baby’s health and his own but doctors in general made him fidgety and after all he’d been through, who could blame him?
“I’m gonna shower first. Thank you for taking care of getting my things. Was Eli there?”
“He was. I gave him the key. He was okay with it. The new roommate is going to move in tomorrow.”
“Good. Five minutes.”
When Striker said five minutes, he meant it. The man could shower and get dressed faster than anyone else on the planet, even with his leg.
We’d fallen into a PT routine of our own over the past few months. The shifting helped. Going to the gym with Eli early in the mornings, before his shift was over, did wonders. And, of course the special massages by his alpha and his homework from the clinic
Sometimes, he got into funks where he would feel sorry for himself but those became fewer and fewer.
He amazed me every day.
And today, we both would stand in amazement, I was sure. Today was ultrasound day. Not only would we get to hear the heartbeat again but this time we would actually see our pup and how much they’d grown.
“So we’re going to find out the sex?” Striker asked as we got into the car. We were on time but to him, on time was late.
“We decided we would. Unless you changed your mind?”
“No.” He took my hand. “No. I want to. I want to know so we can pick out names and cute little outfits. We also haven’t painted the nursery. We need to do that.”
He looked out the passenger window as his scent spiked–tangy and almost sour. He was stressed and that was the last thing he or the baby needed.
“Everything is going to be okay. I’ve already called a couple of places to do the painting. You and I really don’t have the time and I don’t want you inhaling all the fumes anyway. It will get done, omega. Try not to stress.”
When we arrived at the healer’s office and went in, Striker calmed somewhat. It was no wonder. The office was painted a soft blue and there were spa sounds coming through a speaker in each room. We didn’t even get to sit down when we were called to the back.
He took Striker’s vitals, and he had to put on a gown so that they could do the ultrasound.
“You’re even cute in that paper gown,” I said, taking the stool beside the bed he was on.
“Stop that. I am not.”
“You are.”
We kept that up. Before long, the doctor came in and he was laughing so hard, there were tears coming down his face.
“Good afternoon. Let’s get this ultrasound started. Everything else looks good on your vitals and weight. Any questions?”
I knew Striker wanted to ask about shifting since he loved it and hadn’t been able to in so long, but he said nothing. If the healer didn’t bring it up, I definitely would. I didn’t want Striker to keep shifting and running as his wolf if it meant harm to him or our pup.
Striker reached for my hand as the healer moved the wand around his belly, clicking the mouse and doing all kinds of screenshots of measurements and information.
That went on for a few minutes and then he turned to us.
“So, are we finding out the sex today? This pup has already shown me but if you don’t want to know… ”
“We do,” I said. I might’ve been overly excited. They both chuckled. An overexuberant alpha and papa to be.
“How about you, Striker? I can tell your partner only if that’s what you prefer.”
“No. We both would like to know. Thank you.”
The healer maneuvered the wand around Striker’s belly and turned his head to get the right screenshot. “There you go. There’s a lack of…extremity here, so it’s definitely a girl. You two are dads to a daughter.”
“A girl,” Striker whispered.
I couldn’t help the tears that streamed down my face. All of this was real before but now…it was very real.
“I’ll give you two some time and then we need to discuss shifting, Striker.”
Striker sat up with my help and I wiped off his belly. “Wait, no. Please, tell me now. I was nervous to ask.”
The healer sighed and sat back down. “I think you are far enough along now that shifting might be dangerous for the baby. She is forming well and growing, but we don’t want to do anything to hurt her. So, I’m going to recommend no more shifting until you have this baby.”
Not the news Striker wanted to hear.
We left the healer and, on the way home, Striker said nothing.
He was scaring me. “Omega, I know it’s not the news you were hoping for but it’s only a few months more.”
“I know. My wolf already knew. I’m just sulking for a minute. And now I’m hungry.”
“Hungry I can fix. The other thing, not so much. But we could talk about baby names.”
Instantly, my mate lit up. “What do you think about Harlow?”
“Let’s make a list.”