Page 93 of As The Shifter World Turns

Micah

Today was the big day. The day I got to see our baby. We’d managed to find a shifter doctor who did their own ultrasounds. That had not been an easy task. It wasn’t like you could put it on your website.

I’d already met Dr. Grey once. He was nice enough and not once did he give us side eye for being mated. And maybe that was only unicorns who were shitty about that. I wasn’t sure, but it gave me comfort that he was one hundred percent about the baby and bringing them into the world safely.

“Here.” I handed Archer a bottle of water. It was the third one in the past half hour. If I were him, I’d hate me at this point. But he just guzzled them down.

“That’s the last one.” I promised. As long as he didn’t pee. The doctor told us if he did, that he needed to begin again.

We were sitting in the parking lot of his office. Archer had been sure that the bumping up and down in the car, especially if we hit a pothole, would absolutely destroy his hope of not having an accident. And really…seeing the amount of water he drank in real time—he was probably right.

“Ten minutes,” I encouraged him as he squirmed in his seat. This whole water thing was cruel and unusual punishment to pregnant people or something.

“I want to know,” he blurted out. “I know we said we wouldn’t, but I want to.”

We’d had a few discussions about findingout the baby’s sex. I’d always been on the side of, you carry the baby you get to decide. And he did… a few times.

“Sounds perfect.”

Once his bottle was empty, we went inside and signed in. Thank goodness we were called in right away. My poor omega looked like he was about to explode.

The basic vitals later and we were led into the ultrasound room and set up with Archer on the table, his belly exposed.

I loved how he rounded out, making room for our baby to grow. He didn’t see it that way, worried about the stretch marks and his growing ass. I had no idea a fuller ass was a side effect of growing a baby, but unlike Archer, I was a fan.

“Hello, fathers. Ready to meet your baby?” Doctor Grey went right to the sink and washed his hands.

“I hope it’s fast.” Poor Archer.

“We’ll see what we can do.” Dr. Grey went about coating his belly with gel and moving the wand around. “There’s your baby.”

Tears streamed over my cheeks and when I dragged my eyes away from the screen, Archer’s unblinking eyes were glued to the image.

“I’m not taking pictures for your records, but I’ll be happy to do so and print out for you,” the doctor explained. “You know because unicorn.”

“Our babe is a unicorn?” Archer said, his voice thick with emotion. “A unicorn?”

Unicorn.That was my beast, knowing he wouldn’t be alone.

Yeah, I told him.

Dr. Grey pointed out all the differences between human babies and unicorn ones. Unlike wolf pups, there were enough things that made it best to keep them out of medical records now that they were all online.

“I want one.” I grabbed Archer’s hand. “We can keep it from humans, but I want to have a pic.”

“I can do that.” The doctor clicked away on his mouse. “Would you like to know the sex?”

I didn’t answer. This was Archer’s decision to make.

“I think no. I want to focus on the wonder that is me carrying a unicorn.” He squeezed my hand. “Thank you, love.”

“No. It’s me who?—”

He pushed me away and rolled off the exam table. “Sorry doc. I gotta go.” He ran out of the room so fast, it reminded me of the roadrunner cartoons.

“He had to go,” I shrugged.

“It's a thing that happens,” Dr. Grey chuckled.

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