Page 8 of Wild Born

“Is that from human lore?” Lee arched his brows at me.

“Almost, but I changed it. Besides, even the surviving non-shifters don’t really care about that anymore,” I shrugged. “They took enough of our stuff over the years.”

“What about Rhomas? Like Thomas but with an ‘r’?”

“Rhomas,” I rolled the name around my tongue. “I like it. I think it fits him.”

“Rhom for short,” Lee nodded.

“I’ll start filling out his birth certificate,” I said, standing up.

I kissed Lee’s forehead on the way out of the room. As far as I was concerned, Michael Lawngry couldn’t drag his ass to town soon enough. I always hated being in limbo and this time it wasn’t just Lee and I in limbo. It was the baby too. Once everything was officially filed our lives could move on and his could begin.

“And then maybe we can romp,” my wolf cut into my thoughts, and I shook my head.

He wasn’t wrong. Romping would definitely improve the situation, but whether or not Lee had birthed Baby Rhomas, his actions were in accordance with having a new pup in the house. We’d waited before and unless we never had another kid, I’d wait again.

***

Despite the wait feeling like years passing by, Doctor Michael Lawngry arrived on Mage Street exactly when he said he would. I stayed at home with Baby Rhomas while Lee showed the visiting doctor our lab. Having the dragon shifter touching all our stuff, put off my wolf. Sure, he was here to do us a favor, but the lab was sacred territory. My wolf paced inside my chest as I rocked the baby. The furry guy was certain Michael would blow up the lab before the test finished.

“Stop it,” Darian cut into my thoughts over the pack link. “Michael Lawngry isn’t here to blow up your lab. He’s here to vouch for what we already know.”

“Stop listening in on me,” I growled.

“Tell your wolf to quit sounding off the intruder alarms then.”

“He’ll be fine once everything is done and over with. You know how he is. Lee and I put a lot of our own money and resources into that lab, Alpha. It’s his stomping ground.”

“Well, today, he has to put up with a visitor, because we need to know if Roomba is really wild-born.”

“Rhomas!” I snapped at Darian. “His name is Rhomas.”

“Rhomas,” Darian repeated a few times before something off the pack link distracted him.

Logically, I knew Michael wouldn’t wreck the lab. Part of me figured even my wolf knew that, but he was more instinct and laws of the wild than I’d ever be. I learned to be civilized for the sake of my patients, but he was the part of me that never could be tamed. Standing, I held Baby Rhomas to my chest and walked the length of the nursery. All the other kids were back at Jake’s today. They didn’t know where their newest sibling came from and not a single one of them asked. They accepted that the new baby was part of our family and that was enough for them.

“Calm down. You’re making me itchy,” Lee cut into my thoughts over our mating link.

“Itchy?” I asked.

“When you get like this, it feels like fleas are crawling through my fur.”

“Sorry, mate. On edge.”

“Michael’s cool. You know him. He’s not in here knocking everything around. He’s running a test,” Lee said as if he needed to remind me.

“How much longer?” I asked him.

“Not long now, Alpha, not long at all.”

I paced still holding Baby Rhomas to my chest. Usually I had more patience than the others around me, but it was as if all the world hung by a thread. I kissed Rhomas’s head, willing the test to process quicker. He smelled wild, but what if somewhere out there someone was looking for him? What if someone had left him out there on his own and the she-wolf just pulled him into her den to protect him? Rhomas wouldn’t be the first baby left out for someone else to find.

“Wild. All twelve are there on all three runs he did,” Lee chimed into my thoughts a few minutes later.

“You’re officially Rhomas Hemlock-Knight,” I held the pup up to look him in the eyes.

He wiggled his little limbs until I rested him against my shoulder once more. He rubbed his head against me until he found his comfy spot again. Our family had officially grown.

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