Page 13 of Call Don't Fall

“I’d die. I still might die in protest,” I laughed.

“You’re not allowed to die. There is nothing wrong with you that’s going to kill you any time soon,” Kirk said and kissed the top of my head.

“Did you always want to work in medicine?” I asked because if I couldn’t get inside his head through performing the claiming vows at least I could ask questions to try to do it.

“Not really,” he shook his head. “Everyone always expects the answer to be yes when they ask that question, but it wasn’t for me. I started in social work, but I wasn’t cut out for it. I got too involved.”

“Too involved?” I arched a brow. “Isn’t that a social worker’s job?”

“Sort of, but not in the way I mean,” he shook his head again. “I was called out for a wellness check because a kid in grade school had been absent for a week. The family moved a lot back and forth, bouncing between school districts and stuff. Everyone thought it was probably that. Well, I go to do the drop in and it’s clear that the kid has been abused – bruises and bite marks and just stuff you don’t see on little kids. Sure, wolf pups might play fight but these weren’t kid bites. Well, that was because the birth parentshad split up and one of them had a new partner who was abusive. They were trying to keep the kid home long enough so that everything healed up and no one would know. Not my best moment but—”

“You beat the shit out of him, didn’t you?” I asked, knowing it was the truth before he confirmed it.

“Yeah. The total shit. Took three of the Hemlock guards to pull me off. He had a broken nose and collar bone. I was going in for the killing bite. Should’ve went to jail or something but my lawyer argued the ‘natural defense of young in wolves’ theory and nothing happened to me except for losing my job. I got a decent severance package, and it helped pay for nursing school. I still wanted to help people I just had to be a little less involved. Plus, being instinctively protective and able to back it up comes in handy. You’d be surprised how many times abusers show up to the ER.”

“They’re dumb,” I frowned, furrowing my brow. “I want to say that was reckless, but it wasn’t. Not really. It was wolf. It was hot. Well, the way I imagine you looked while kicking ass is hot. Maybe not the actual situation.”

“Not hot at all. Kid’s doing fine now but it’s insane the things people will do to kids who can’t defend themselves.”

I glanced at my belly. Nothing Kirk and I had done so far would result in a pup, but I couldn’t stop myself.

“I’d kill for our pups,” Kirk said, his voice keeping that serious tone it took on whenever he talked about work, past or present.

“I would too,” I nodded. “For any pup.”

He ran his hand over my belly as if he too imagined our future growing inside my body. I was hard and slick again. Okay, hard again. My slickness hadn’t gone away. It lingered there, pooling between my cheeks and keeping me all too aware of the fact that Kirk and I hadn’t exchanged our claiming vows yet.

“We’ll have to be careful,” he said as his hand made another soft pass over the flat plain of my stomach.

“You do want kids, don’t you?” I asked. “You just said you’d kill for them but—”

“I do. We’ll just have to be careful with your blood sugars and stuff,” Kirk said, his hand pausing on the center of my belly. “I can feel him there asleep.”

“Huh? Oh!” I laughed. “My wolf. I was about to say I’m sure you’re great at making babies but you’re not that great. No one’s that great. You’d have to have invisible sperm with the superpower of swimming through the air or something.”

“I don’t think I’d want that ability,” Kirk screwed up his face, seriously considering the consequences of such a thing. “I definitely don’t want that as a superpower. That would be a curse. Not only do you lose the visual of the shot but also they go flying around. How far? Are they sentient enough to hunt down someone or aim for conception?”

“You overthought that one, alpha,” I laughed and stole a kiss. “Don’t worry. These hypothetical super sperm always aim for me because we’re true-mates.”

“You’d have to eat birth control at every meal and I’d need to take on all the shifts to afford all these pups,” he smirked. “But on a realistic note, yes, I do want a family.”

“Even if they inherit the fainting gene?” I teased him.

“I don’t think it’s debilitating in the long run and it’s not for sure they’d have it.”

“True. I thought it missed me until today,” I sighed. “I’m glad we found each other and all but I’d rather have met you on the Ferris wheel or something.”

“Me too for your sake,” Kirk nodded.

“But if it had to happen I’m glad you were my nurse,” I said and snuggled in close to him.

He was hard now too. It was all over his scent and in the way his fingers dug possessively into my flesh. Goosebumps broke out across my skin and I considered trying for more.

“Your wolf needs the rest,” Kirk said, as if reading my thoughts.

“I know. I can’t believe he’s sleeping again.”

“No more of that sedative for him. I’ve made sure they added that to your chart. There are other ones. Beastout is the most commonly used sedative for inner beasts but you’re sensitive to it. Too sensitive to it for my liking.”

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