Page 44 of Warwick

“When did his heat end?” Dr. King asked. He had rolled closer and was now typing on his laptop.

“The eleventh is when he came out of it, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Dr. King nodded. “And, Cecil, any symptoms? Morning sickness? Change in appetite? Mood? Anything out of the ordinary?”

I took another breath. I was suddenly having difficulties breathing again. I looked at Warwick and held out my hand. When he grabbed it and brought it to his lips and kissed the back, a tear ran down my cheek. “I’m sorry, Warwick. I wanted to believe you. And part of me did. But I could shift. How can I shift?”

“No need to be sorry. We’re going to have to figure out how to be parents soon, though, since the doctor says you’re carrying two and not one.”

And there was that. “Twins? Are you sure, Dr. King?”

“Yes, Cecil. I’ll do an ultrasound for you in just a bit. It’s early still, but I can show you that there are two in there.”

I was going to have twins. Two. Not one, but two. I looked over at Warwick, who was still holding my hand. “What are we going to do? We’re going to be so busy. And how are we going to handle two?” I was definitely worrying about how we would handle twins. One was going to be hard enough, but two?

“Stop worrying,” Warwick said. “We’ll figure everything out as we go.”

I nodded. He was right. And Warwick was going to be an amazing dad. He was so protective and attentive with me.

“All right, with Cecil being a bear shifter and their gestation being five months, and you said October eleventh, I have your estimated due date at March tenth. Now, I would expect a couple of weeks before then to not be out of the question since it’s twins.”

I looked at Dr. King. “March. Seriously?”

Dr. King nodded. “Yes. Babies happen all months of the year, and your two should be here in early spring.”

Warwick squeezed my hand. I looked at my mate. “It’s going to be all right.”

“Do you think your assignment will be wrapped up by then?”

Warwick’s brow furrowed. “Which assignment?”

“The one in Italy. I would really hate for you to miss being here for their birth. Well, unless that’s a big nope for you. I could probably get Grandpa Lev to be with me.” I really needed to contact my grandparents. They had texted me once, telling me that they were happy I had found my mate and to enjoy my time off getting to know Warwick.

“The assignment takes as long as it does,” Warwick told me. “It could be over in a week or could take a year or more. We never know with assignments like that.”

Oh. Warwick and I really needed to sit down and talk about his job and what it entailed. The problem with that was every time we tried to do that, we usually got distracted and ended up naked and knotted together. I couldn’t help it—my mate was sexy, and I loved it when he was knotted to me. He didn’t seem to mind either.

“Are you ready for the ultrasound?” Dr. King asked. It took a moment for me to pull my attention from my mate to my boss.

“Yeah, sure. Are you doing the old-school way or the magical one?”

Dr. King chuckled. “Old-school. I can get some early measurements a little easier that way. And to be honest, with you being mated to a hellhound, there are going to be a lot of extra questions that others are going to have regarding your babies.”

At that, I propped myself up onto my elbows. “What do you mean? I’m having babies, not a science experiment.”

“Yes, but your mate is a hellhound. Nobody knows what, if any, impact that will have on a pregnancy.”

I flopped back completely and stared up at the ceiling for a second before I looked over at Warwick. “Know anything about possible hellhound babies?”

Warwick shook his head at me. “You are the first that we know of that could possibly be carrying a hellhound baby.”

“I can tell you if you’d like to know,” Dr. King said, scowling at the computer screen. He’d squirted the gel on my stomach and was holding the transmitter against my flat stomach.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. I knew that look didn’t mean anything good.

“Do you wish to know what you’re having?” Dr. King asked while looking at us expectantly.

I looked up at Warwick. “I’m not sure. What do you think?”

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