Page 50 of What A Croc
Jackson
Robert squirmed uncomfortably on the exam table, causing the white paper beneath his ass to crinkle loudly in the small room. Dr. Sinclair had been able to fit us in the next day, concerned about the positive tests and wanting confirmation. Or if it was a false positive, he wanted to see what was going on inside Robert’s body.
Robert had peed in a cup, then had blood drawn, then been asked about a million questions from the nurse. Now, we waited. It had only been about twenty minutes, but it felt like forever.
“Stop growling,” Robert admonished, and I hadn’t even realized I had been. “He fit us in, so he’s got other patients. If you need to get back to work, I’m fine hereby myself.”
The fuck was this man even saying?
“I’m not leaving you alone,” I growled, then grimaced when I heard the low rumble in the back of my throat, and Robert raised a questioning brow at me. Entwining our fingers, I took a breath. “I’m not leaving you alone. I don’t need to be anywhere else. I’m on my lunch hour, and it’s not like anything major is going to happen at the office if I’m late getting back.”
Robert had tried going into work this morning, but his morning sickness had hit just as badly as the past few mornings, and he’d ended up letting Wyatt know that his “flu” was still hanging on and that he was getting an appointment with his doctor for the afternoon. We’d need to see if the doctor could prescribe him something for the nausea.
The door opened and a wolf shifter, who looked a ton like my boss, walked in. His face was stern, but he smiled warmly at Robert, holding out his hand to shake it. “Robert, good to see you.”
“Hi Finn,” Robert greeted him softly. “I’m sure this is all some kind of weird mix-up. My body is just going through the change and going a bit haywire.”
The man looked so much like Brendan it was causing me to stare. Because while I knew Brendan was the second of a set of identical quadruplets, I hadn’t met any of his brothers yet until today. And while their facial featureswere the same, there were vast differences. I would definitely be able to tell Finn Sinclair apart from my boss.
Finn planted himself on the rolling stool that all doctors seemed to have, then gave me a sardonic look. “Are you Robert’s alpha?”
“I am.” Leaning over, I stuck my hand out in introduction. “Jackson Sobek.”
“Ah,” his ice blue eyes lit up, “Brendan’s new CFO for the store and the mall. Nice to finally meet you. We–my brothers and me–have been trying to figure out a time to meet you properly that works for all of us, since we all own shares of the mall. But our schedules have been crazy lately with work and families. And honestly, we tend to let Brendan just handle all that stuff. The man loves retail.” He shuddered, like there was nothing worse he could imagine doing in the world.
“No worries,” I assured him, because really, Brendan and I were working well together, and while I knew he and his brothers owned the new mall in Sweet Alps, I didn’t like the idea of answering to four bosses. Especially ones that really didn’t understand the business.
“Well, Robert,” he turned his attention back to my mate, and the file folder in his hands, “I’ve looked over all your test results, and you are in fact, pregnant. Congratulations.”
Resisting the little butt wiggle I wanted to do, instead I watched Robert’s shocked face. “I…what? How? I don’t understand. I thought you said I was starting the change.”
Finn rested the folder on the little desk behind him. “You are. However, it’s still possible for pregnancies to occur. I know you hadn’t had a heat in a while, but you told my nurse you did have a heat last month. I would say from looking at your lab work the pregnancy occurred during that heat.”
“But…” Words seemed to fail my mate, and I squeezed his hand. “I’m too old.”
Finn smiled, and the man’s face transformed from sternness to warmth in an instant. “While your age is a concern, we’ll make sure to monitor you closely. I have no reason to believe you won’t carry this pregnancy to term.”
“What are the concerns here,” I asked, “with Robert’s age. Is there a danger to him?” Because if there was a single chance that I could lose him because of this pregnancy, well, we’d need to talk about that. That was something I wasn’t willing to do. If Robert’s life was in danger, we would end the pregnancy. Period.
“How?” Robert wheezed, still stuck on the reality that he was indeed pregnant.
Finn’s smile softened even more, as his blue eyes glanced between Robert and me. “May I ask a personal question?”
Robert flapped a hand at him, and I could feel his emotions zigzagging all over the place through our bond. Calming myself, I tried to push that towards him, seeing his shoulders come down from around his ears after a few seconds. “You’re my doctor. You get up close and personal with me all the time. Why should now be any different?”
Finn chuckled at Robert’s snark. “Are you two fated mates, by chance?”
Robert glanced at me, and I shrugged. “We are.”
“I thought that might be the case,” Finn turned and jotted down something in the folder. “My guess is, and this is just going off what I have learned the past few years about fated mates and my own personal knowledge with them, is that when fated mates first spend time together, most times the omega will experience a mini-heat or even a full blown heat. Yours appears to have been a full blown, normal heat.”
“Yes, it was,” Robert whispered, and I nodded my agreement.
“It definitely was.”
“These heats tend to make birth control pretty much ineffective. So even though your body had started the beginning of the omega change, the heat you had likely had you at full fertility.”
“We did use protection,” I told him, “except the first time.” Feeling my cheeks pink up at the memory of taking Robert against my car, I glanced at my mate. His cheekswere just as pink, and he gave me a soft, secret smile that heated my blood.
