Page 38 of Donner

She turned to me. "What about you, Jax? Do you have any questions?"

I had so many questions. I pelted her with everything I could think of, from whether I would lay eggs (no) to the length of gestation (the same as for any reindeer).

"Your local doctor will be able to tell you more as your pregnancy progresses, but there is no reason the two of you can't have healthy, happy children."

"Thank you," Beau said. "That's the most important thing." He squeezed my hand. "Healthy babies."

I nodded, but I still had a million questions. "It's been ages since sex ed, and I wasn't exactly paying attention back then." I shrugged. I hadn't been the best student, even in classes that held my interest. "Do you have a book like that for reindeer?"

She laughed. "Yes, we do! I'll grab you a copy while you speak to my colleagues. Since you're pregnant, we would like to offer you a chance to participate in an exciting study."

I reminded myself these were shifters around us. They meant no harm to our babies or to us. Still, it was hard for me to calm my flight response.

Dr. Haugen motioned us to the door, which opened into a lab with four tables beneath large vents. Only one was lit with a spotlight, and the vent above it hummed like a vacuum.

"We've just achieved our biggest research breakthrough yet," she said, "separating our human DNA from our shifter DNA. We're still not quite to the stage where we can determine a child's animal before it manifests, but we're getting closer. Right now, we're experimenting on mink DNA. One of our mink shifters is infertile, and we're hoping her animal's DNA can tell us why."

She introduced us to a group of researchers milling around another table and walked away. As we made introductions, she went through a door opposite the one we came through. The comforting scent wafting from that direction reminded me of old books, like a library.

One researcher asked if he could take blood samples for their database. I didn't see why not, so we both sat down at the table and tried to distract each other while the researchers did their best to poke us without any pain. I had never been a big fan of needles, but it was bearable when I didn't have to watch it dig into my skin. I kept my eyes on Beau, and he did his best to make funny faces until we were both bandaged and back on our feet.

Dr. Haugen startled me as she grabbed my non-punctured arm. "Here's your book."

"Thank you so much."

"We appreciate your contributions to our database. We'll let you know if we notice anything strange with your blood work that could interfere with your babies. Now for the big request." She sighed. "Would you be willing to return here to give birth? We have a state-of-the-art birthing facility with a much higher than average success rate. You have nothing to worry about as a reindeer shifter, but we excel at helping smaller animal omegas who have larger alpha mates."

"I'll be safer here than with the midwife at home?" I asked. As an only child with mostly single friends, I didn't know much about our pregnancy practices, but I knew we had a midwife.

"You'll be safer here than in most places in the world," she reassured me. "All we ask in return is to run a few tests on your babies to see if we can guess their shifter types. We won't know if we're successful until their first shifts, and we won't share the results with you until then."

"It'll be no different than if I had them at home." I let out a sigh of relief.

"Exactly. No different, but it could help families in the future, especially the smaller shifters who are more susceptible to common animal diseases."

I glanced at Beau, but he was watching me like this was my decision to make. He gazed at me with so much pride and awe, my eyes stung and I had to look away.

"We'll be glad to help," I said.

"Thank you. All of shifter kind thanks you." Dr. Haugen smiled and shook our hands in turn. "It's time for you to return home. Any last-minute questions?"

"Our mating marks are fading," Beau said. "Is that normal?"

Dr. Haugen smiled at both of us as though she'd expected the question. "It is with the human bite. There's one more step you need to complete to set the full mark between your beasts. Chapter ten in your books can provide all the details, but I'll give you the gist. You need to partially shift to peck or bite your mate. Then, your beasts will be mated as well."

Beau tilted his head, and I could feel his eagle's gaze. "I think we can figure that out."

"Please let me know if you have any questions after you read the books."

"We will," Beau said.

My head spun and the sound of rushing air was overly loud this time, almost deafening. Instead of returning to Santa's workshop, we were once again in my apartment. I leaned into Beau, and he wrapped his arms around me.

"I think I need a nap," I said. "It's been a weird day."

He chuckled. "I could use one, too."

"Wait."

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