“Sure, go ahead, as long as it won’t take too long. I’ve got a flight to Cancún this evening and a mate who won’t be happy with me if I miss it.”
She hesitated, not sure how to word things, and plucked at the edge of her examination gown. “The pregnancy is a real shock. I mean, I had the IUD, so I thought it should have prevented things, right? It hasn’t even come up as a topic of conversation with my . . . partner. I was starting to feel nauseated before I changed this morning, so I must have already been pregnant. So it had to have been the father who . . . changed things?”
The doctor’s eyes were shrewd and kind. “No single birth control is a hundred percent foolproof, for either Wyr or human. Yes, all things being equal, the IUD is a very effective method of birth control, for the most part. And yes, Wyr can control their reproduction cycle. For the most part. But I’ve also known Wyr to lose control during the first days of the mating frenzy. Only the two of you can say whether or not he’s just your lover or your mate. If I were you, though, I’d think about going easy on your partner on this one, if he’s your mate. Does that help?”
Her throat worked. She had to swallow hard before she could reply. “Yes. It helps a lot. Dr Medina, thank you so much.”
“My pleasure. I love the babies. Should have been an obstetrician.” The doctor closed her file and stood but paused before stepping out. She regarded Pia curiously. “By the way, you never did tell me what you shifted into?”
Caught off guard, she stammered, “Oh, a . . . a marmoset.”
“Odd,” the doctor murmured, giving her a quizzical look. “I wouldn’t have classified marmosets as herbivores. And your mate?”
“He’s . . . not one.”
The doctor narrowed her eyes on Pia. “You will tell me, won’t you, if it becomes medically relevant?”
“Yes, of course,” she said with a sheepish smile. “I promise.”
The doctor pointed at her. “Take your vitamins. See you next month.”
She changed into her clothes, giddy with both relief and hunger. She could eat a horse if it weren’t somehow cannibalistic. She bent and tied her shoelaces.
Pregnant. Mate. I’m going to have a dragon baby.
Nope, that didn’t get all the way inside. Let’s say it again.
I’m going to have a dragon baby.
She straightened as black stars danced in front of her eyes. Maybe she really was going to spin into the air and fly into pieces anyway, with or without Dragos’s help. She had so many things going on inside, random thoughts and feelings were popping like fireworks at the Fourth of July.
Panic at possibly losing the pregnancy had receded, to be replaced by panic at being pregnant. She was relieved not only that the pregnancy was viable but, even more, that all the evidence said Dragos hadn’t intentionally trapped her with it. It looked like she owed him a big apology.
But of all times for it to happen! She had only just, literally hours ago, decided to stay with Dragos. Then there was the war with Urien, which had only just begun. And who knew how Dragos was going to react when he heard the news. He might spin into the air and fly into pieces too.
She pressed her hand over her abdomen. Oh, peanut, I always had the sneaky hope I might have a child someday, but I have to tell you, this timing sucks.
She ran into an unexpected snag as she started to leave. The nurse checking her out asked, “Still the same insurance and co-pay?”
Same insurance. From Elfie’s. And her with thirty-three dollars in her pocket and no checkbook. She pinched the bridge of her nose. Offering a mental apology to all concerned with a promise to pay the bill for real, she lied, “Yes, thanks.”
She forked over the twenty-five-dollar co-pay, waved away the offer of a receipt and tried to not look shifty about any of it while she continued her internal dialogue with the peanut. What if he hates the idea of the pregnancy? What if he doesn’t want you? He has to want you, that’s all there is to it. Anyway, I want you. I just don’t know what I’m going to do with you. Just one more thing I’ll have to figure out, along with how to live with the rest of the crazy-ass changes going on in my life.
Business concluded, she made her way through the lobby toward the clinic door where she paused. She didn’t think she had the Power to reach Dragos telepathically, but she decided to give it a try anyway. Dragos?
His response was immediate and, thank God, calm. Yes.
I’m done. I’m headed home, she told him. I’ve got some news and I owe you a big apology.
We can talk about whatever it is later, he said. Where are you? I’ll come get you.
You don’t know? She thought for sure Bayne or Aryal would have told him by now. She pushed through the glass door, squinting in the bright sunlight. Where was the harpy? She shaded her eyes as she looked around. See, I went to my doctor’s—