Chapter 16
Jared woke as a sudden sharp pain pierced his guts.
He rolled off his side of the bed in a hurry, hunching over and clenching his buttocks, certain that he was about to have a sudden, embarrassing evacuation.
The pain passed, only to be replaced by icy jabs that stabbed at his insides and made his body shudder.
He dimly was aware of the mattress moving as Steve came up behind him.
“Babe, you all right?” he asked Jared, a hand settling gently on Jared's right shoulder. “Jesus! You're burning up!”
Jared shook, too racked with chills interspersed with sharper stabbing pains to his guts to answer.
Steve clambered off the bed, turning to scoop him up and carry him out, unconcerned with their nudity. He made towards the door, bellowing for the housekeeper as he fumbled the door open and made his way down the hall. Jared clenched his eyes shut.
Oh God. What's wrong with me? Is the bite infected or something?
He gave an especially violent shiver and succumbed to blessed oblivion.
He came to with worried faces peering at him from around his bed back in his New York apartment.
He frowned in confusion and began to sit himself up. Steve's hand met his shoulder and gently pressed him back down.
“Easy there. You gave us quite a scare.”
“Thank God you're awake,” Desmond said from the other side of the bed.
“You scared the daylights out of me, dude.
Steve came through the portal carrying you and I thought you were dead or something.
Then we all found out you were just sick but no one could figure out what was wrong and you just laid there for forever, man, Desmond babbled until Alice put her hand on his arm.
“I think we should give them some time alone,” she said to Desmond softly. “We'll just be in the living room,” she continued to Jared, giving him a soft, sad smile.
“What's going on? Why did she look at me like that?” Jared asked in a panicked voice.
Steve averted his eyes. “I-I don't know quite how to tell you this.”
“Tell me what? Am I going to die or something?”
“Uh... or something?” Steve replied, sounding lost.
“Seriously? What is it?” Jared was torn between dread and extreme annoyance. If I'm not going to die, then what is it? For crying out loud.Just tell me!
I will, he heard.
Wait, 'heard' isn't quite right. I heard it, but not out loud. What the ever loving fuck?
Apparently because you're my True Mate, my bite uh...did things we didn't expect. And uh, other stuff...
Other stuff? What other stuff? And what do you mean 'things'?
Steve winced and turned away, taking a few short steps to stand by the window, gazing out. We genuinely thought it was legend. I'd have made doubly sure you were okay with it before otherwise...
Legend...wait! The bite- it turned me? I'm going to go furry?
Not exactly. You've been out of it for a few days, and when the doc figured out what was probably happening, he reached out to find out as much as he could.
You, uh, don't become a wolf, but you can grow claws and fangs if need be as you have the blessing of the magic that made my kind.
At least, I hope you see it as a blessing.
I'm able to grow claws and sharp teeth? Like, if I need to wolf out to protect myself, or only during full moons or what? And how the hell are we speaking?
Steve's shoulders tensed. That's a mate thing. Previously, we assumed only wolf to wolf matings allowed it, but it seems that as a True Mate to an alpha, the, uh, blessing, confers that ability to us as well. To uh, talk like this.
Jared took a moment to digest this. Then, what about the 'Grr... Look at me, I have wolf-man claws thing?'
Oh, that will happen during full moon shift times and ummm...when you need to let them out. Only as you allow though because there isn't actually a wolf within, just some of the manifestations.
Because of the 'blessing'...
“Yeah...
Okay, I can deal with that. What else aren't you telling me?
Uh...while trying to get a better picture of what was going on inside you, because, well, because your skin was rippling weirdly around your middle...
Just spit it out.
Doc wanted to see what was going on in there so he did a scan and uh...
Uh...what?
You seem to have developed a physical anomaly.
Jared sat up abruptly at that, clutching his head as dizziness overtook him in a sudden wave. 'hat the fuck do you mean, 'I've developed a physical anomaly'? What does that even mean?” he demanded.
Steve turned, a frightened look upon his face that Jared had never thought to see.
“Well, umm...the doc thinks it might be to grow an...an embryo...”
“Do what? You mean, like a baby? Are you shitting me?”
Steve blanched. “N-no. But um, those were really old legends and it was assumed the Alpha and his mate had used surrogates and ummm...it's too early to tell if there even is an embryo. So, it's, ah, still just a guess.”
“A guess.” Jared sank back down onto his pillows. “Can, can I be alone for a few minutes? I-I need to wrap my head around this without having to deal with anything else.
Steve nodded stiffly, his eyes glassy with unshed tears as he he exited the room.
Steve?
Yeah?
I don't hate you. I just...I gotta get a grip on myself and digest this information. It's, well, it's out there even for...
Yeah...
“Well, I don't hear hysterical screams, so I'm guessing it didn't go too badly?” Alice said, trying to keep it light.
“It could have gone worse, I guess,” Steve said morosely. “He wants to be alone to let it sink in.”
“That's understandable though, right?” Desmond interjected. “I mean, dude, he might be having puppies and wham, by the way, you're also not quite a wolf.”
Steve winced. “I know, but I'd hoped that he'd want to, I dunno, come to terms with it with me, you know? He didn't even ask how long before we'd know about the baby. And dude, puppies, seriously?”
“Yeah, well, my sister has a kid and he LOVES being in his pup form. Nothing wrong with that.”
“Yeah, but you don't have them as puppies.”
“You do if you're stuck in your shifted form during pregnancy and delivery,” Alice piped in.
Both men turned to face her.
“Really? I'd never head that. Then again, I thought the rule was 'no shifting while preggers'. So how?” Desmond asked, shocked.
“Sometimes a shifter ends up having to shift in very early pregnancy, and if she does and doesn't lose the pup, she has to stay in that form or risk losing it,” she explained.
“Wow, I can't even...” Desmond muttered.
“At least we don't have to worry about that. I mean, he can't shift, just ummm...grow some extra bits...” Steve's voice trailed off. What am I even talking about? He swiped a hand over his face. Shit, we might become dads.
Steve?
Yeah, babe?
I'm scared.
Me too. Can we be scared together?
A pause.
Yeah, come- come hold me please?
You bet.
“He's asked me to come back,” he told his mother and Desmond.
“Go be with him, I can let myself out.”
“I'll cook something light for dinner, okay? You just go on.”
Steve gave a short nod and strode from the room. Jared peered at him uncertainly.
“If, if we have baby, how will they get it out? I-I looked and I didn't grow a new umm...”
“The doc says the accounts mention a flap opening up and then resealing. But umm... it's apparently dependent on you being on our ancestral packlands or the magic doesn't...it doesn't...”
“Work?”
“Yeah. For the magic to be strong enough for that to go well, you have to be there, where the magic originates.”
“And if not?”
Steve crossed over to him and enfolded him into his arms. “Then you and the baby die,” he whispered.
“But, how will we know it's time? Do I just go into labor and we run for it?”
“No, apparently it's preceded by a dark line appearing, indicating that the flap is fully formed and will unseal within days.
So there's time to get there. Then when it's time, you, uh, go into labor and the flap unseals itself, and the baby is able to come out.” I sound like an idiot, not someone who knows what's going on. Way to reassure him, Steve, you moron.
“That, that doesn't sound too bad,” Jared said, trying to control the wobble in his voice as he spoke. “So, um, how long before we know and umm, how would I hide a big bump. Nine months is along time to hide.”
“We'll know in three or four more days because he'll be able to verify all this by seeing an embryo on the scan, and ummm, yeah, you'll probably need to quit your job or something.
And, well, wolf shifter babies come at ninety to a hundred and four days and he said there was no indication this'd be any different just because you're a man.”
“Three months? We only have three months to get things ready? We have the wedding and all that and we need to set up a nursery!”
Steve felt some of the tension leave his body.
“Yeah, But Mom's handling the wedding stuff, remember? Just, let her do her thing, and if there's a baby, we'll go baby shopping, okay?”
“If? Be serious. You don't think my body would grow bits for a baby if there wasn't one, do you?
Oh my God. There's diapers, and cradles, and cribs, clothes, all sorts of stuff we need to decide on.” Jared pushed away from Steve to stare him in the face.
“And what are we going to feed the baby? Will I make milk?Am I going to grow...” his voice dropped to a whisper, “boobs?”
“I...I don't know. He never mentioned any of that. Want me to call him and ask? I have his number.”
“Is it too late in the day? What time is it?”
“It's not too late and we should know about that.”
“Yeah, call him.”