Page 55 of The Wolves At My Sides

“No worries. Just don’t want you passing out on the table,” Dara said.

“There they are,” I said as the jellybean came onto the screen.

“You took my line!” Dara laughed. “Do I get to say the next part?”

“That everything looks good and we’re probably expecting a fox or a wolf because a bear wouldn’t be that developed yet?” I offered up.

“Maybe you went into the wrong side of medicine,” Dara chuckled. “Everything does look perfect, though.”

“So tiny,” Fen whispered, blinking back tears.

Irwin leaned down and kissed his cheek. They nuzzled together for a moment, rubbing noses and exchanging whispers over the mating link I couldn’t quite make out.

“The normal amount of printouts?” Dara asked us.

I glanced at Fen.

“Don’t look at me. Everyone I’d show them to is in this room. Well, plus maybe Shepard and them, but still,” Fen chuckled.

“The normal amount plus one, please,” Irwin nodded.

A few minutes later, Fen’s shirt was back on, and he and Irwin switched places. I held onto him from behind, keeping one hand spread out protectively over his stomach. He leaned back into me, still buzzing with mirth and anticipation. One day, I hoped he’d have a lot fewer moments of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“You know the drill,” Dara winked at Irwin as the whoosh-whooshing filled the room again.

My fox shook his head like a fly was trapped in his ear and I fought off the urge to not do it myself. Irwin gripped my hand tight, but he was already staring at the monitor. For a second, I wondered if we should’ve brought Faran with us.

“He’s too young to remember, Alpha. The next time, if he’s old enough, we’ll bring him. I think it would be exciting for a little kid to watch,” Irwin grinned.

“Hmmmm….” Dara said and my eyes flicked to the screen in a panic.

The jellybean on the screen was slightly larger than either of us expected.

“You may have conceived before your trip,” Dara said. “In fact, I think you most certainly would’ve had to.”

“Is that possible with how much natural feeding I was doing and how I’ve not had any pregnancy sickness?” Irwin asked.

“I think it is,” Dara nodded. “Under normal circumstances, I’d say no or at least that it was unlikely. Though, more and more research shows just how much the true-mate response affects fertility. If we count that, it’s possible.”

“Maybe the baby’s a bear, so it’s bigger.”

“A bear wouldn’t show this clearly even at this stage,” I said, and Dara nodded his agreement.

“It takes nine months for a bear cub,” he said.

“It’s not a bad thing,” I said, reaching around Fen to put my hand over both of theirs.

“I know. I just—How did I not know?” Irwin asked.

“Not all pregnancies are the same. Not all pregnancies have vomiting as an early symptom. Sometimes folks make it almost to delivery without knowing,” Dara said.

“So, I’m a month along?”

“Probably. Is that a problem?” Dara asked.

“No, not a problem,” he peered closer at the screen.

It wasn’t just the size of the tiny human we saw on the screen, but the fact a trimester had passed and if you looked closely, you could see the developing baby’s human features.

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