Page 22 of Courted by the Sabertooth (Mori’s Mementos #3)

Nic

Moonscale London

Three days after the positive pregnancy test, we went to a cute little omega and baby clinic on the corner of two adorable residential streets.

The front yard was covered with flowers and cute little wooden baby signs with their drawn-on babies paused mid crawl in their colorful onesies.

I might’ve melted down into a puddle of goo if I wasn’t in a hurry to get the official validation of my pregnancy.

Ever since the positive test my eyeballs had turned into faucets, and everything made me cry.

Beal was convinced that it was my hormones.

I thought it was the placebo effect. Either way, we were about to find out exactly who was growing inside me.

Inside the waiting room furniture was just as cozy as the exterior promised.

Soft, purple, plush armchairs lined the walls with little tables full of informational pamphlets in between them.

We’d made an appointment. So Beal popped up to the check in window while I looked around.

Above the chairs were photographs of babies as if they’d taken a photo of every baby they delivered and added it to the décor.

“We can go back,” Beal said, appearing at my side while I contemplated whether a live birth or an egg was what I was hoping for. I knew I was supposed to say as long as the baby was healthy that was all that mattered but the logistics of each presented its own unique challenges.

Beal took my hand and intwined our fingers together, leading the way after a cheery nurse in bright green scrubs that smelled like plantain scented pheromone blocker spray. Why did they all smell so yummy? It was nearly enough to give me a flashback to my recent time inside the hospital.

Inside the examination room was a plush table lined with that crinkly paper that always made me grind my teeth.

With all the new innovations coming around every year, you’d think they’d have solved that problem by now.

There were three guest chairs that matched those in the waiting room and of course a spinny leather stool for the midwife.

There was a clean, purple robe hanging on the back of the door that I was supposed to put on but I had a sudden bout of shyness and almost put it on over my clothes.

In the end, I kept my underwear on for the moment.

I didn’t climb up on the table straight away. I wasn’t too keen on being the center of attention at the moment, so I hid next to Beal. Maybe the midwife wouldn’t see me hiding in his shadow. He wrapped an arm around me and kissed my temple.

“I’ll bite their damn hand off if they do one thing you don’t like,” he whispered in my ear, and I knew he meant it.

“You can’t go around eating midwives and doctors,” I said, switching to our mating link.

“I can and will if that’s what you need me to do,” Beal countered. “I am here to protect you.”

“I just need you to make sure I don’t weenie out and run away.”

“Don’t turn into a weenie or Neal will eat you,” he teased.

“That might be preferable,” I said. “I never told you how much my dragon hated doctors, did I?”

“No,” Beal admitted. “But I knew. That’s why you put it off for a few days.”

A soft knock sounded on the door and a cheerful looking woman with thick, curly grey hair pulled back into a bit of a messy ponytail came into the room holding a clipboard.

“Nic and Beal?” she asked.

“That’s us,” Beal grinned.

“Well, aren’t you the happiest sire I’ve seen in a while.

It’s usually you all who threaten to eat me.

Especially first timers. Oh, I shouldn’t assume that you’re a first timer.

I’ve been with my wife so long that I forgot not everyone meets their true-mate their first day at Moonscale Academy.

But it is your first time,” she said, turning her attention on me.

Under her messy grey curls, were bright blue eyes and a kind smile. I wanted to trust her but wasn’t sure I wanted to be touched at all. I should’ve told Beal to hold me down if I tried to run off but knew he’d never have gone for it.

“Yes,” I nodded only after Beal gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“It’s perfectly normal to be a bit nervous. All this baby having business can be a wee bit intimidating,” she said. “Are you having any morning sickness?”

“No,” I said. “No symptoms of anything at all really except for the positive pregnancy test.”

“He’s been a bit emotional too,” Beal said like the traitor he was.

“I have not!” I hissed at him and bit my lip. “Okay, maybe I have.”

“Well, that’s within your rights. Growing a life is never an easy task.

You get hungry and achy, and everything is moving too fast or too slow for you.

Every sense comes in at ten times the normal intensity.

You go on and be as emotional as you need to be.

You won’t be the first carrier to cry, shout, or break something in this room.

I’d recommend avoiding the medical equipment, if at all possible, that’s a rather expensive bill.

But I’ll let you snap my clipboard over your knee if you feel better.

You’d be surprised at how many clients take me up on that offer. ”

“I think I’m okay,” I said, unsure if she was joking or not.

“Well, I’m Edna. I always like to introduce myself before I ask folks to hop up on the table. Just seems like the polite thing to do.”

“I’m Nic and he’s Beal,” I said, holding onto his hand for dear life.

“Well, whenever you’re ready to see baby, I’m ready to show him to you,” Edna said, crossing the room and turning on the big monitor that sat next to the table.

“Can you put me on the table?” I asked Beal over our link.

“Can you tell her you want me to? She looks like the sort who’d break that clipboard over my head for manhandling you in front of her,” Beal said and I blinked.

“What happened to eating her?”

“I will eat her if she hurts you or you ask me to. I just don’t see the point in pissing her off. She’s older and probably an omega.”

“What’s that have to do with anything?” I hissed at him over our mating link.

“Everything unless she hurts you,” he said.

“Is everything alright?” Edna asked after a few seconds of silence.

“Yes,” Beal said.

“He’s going to help me up.”

“Are you having any pain, Nic?” Edna said, starting to round the table but Beal had already picked me up.

“No,” I shook my head. “My dragon’s just rooted to the spot.”

Inside me my dragon wouldn’t budge up. He was laying with his tail curled to his belly and his wings over his head as if she were about to scale him instead of performing an ultrasound.

“My raccoon once made me jump out of a window to avoid a jab as a kid,” Edna said, flashing me a conspiratorial grin. “Though, there are many perks to having a mate to carry you around.”

A few seconds later, she had the robe open and thankfully didn’t comment on my having kept on my black boxer briefs.

Beal’s jaw tensed as he stood next to the table so that I could keep a death grip on his hand.

For a second, I had a visceral image of him biting her in half.

Then I told my dragon to cut it out. She was a nice old raccoon.

A soft whooshing filled the room and then on the screen came a jellybean. It wasn’t as small as I expected it to be this early on. In fact, the jellybean had a distinct shape to it.

“I would say you are definitely having a baby,” Edna grinned.

“Did I wait too long to come in?” I asked, my heart thumping inside my chest.

“Not at all. It’s always hard to tell when you conceive if you don’t have the obvious symptoms. Add in the fact that Earthside has zero resources about primal cat pregnancies and you couldn’t have known. Primal cat? Is that a fitting descriptor or is that a bad way to say it?”

“I’ve been called worse,” Beal shrugged.

“Not in my clinic you haven’t,” Edna shook her head. “I wasn’t sure if sabertooth was outdated. I wasn’t even sure if it was hyphenated or not.”

“Primal cat or sabertooth would both be fine. I’m glad you didn’t add the tiger. Not all of us are tigers,” Beal said, not taking his eyes off the monitor. “He’s already at the start of his second trimester, huh?” he asked a second later.

“I’d say so. Most of the growth happens during that time. I’d say… Hmmm…. Beal, do you want to give an estimate first? It can be fun to fill in the gaps that way.”

“Well, he’s about a month pregnant, I think.”

“We got it on the first try? How do you know that?” I asked and instantly turned into a cherry tomato unable to believe the words that slipped off my tongue.

“I believe so for the reasons I told you before,” he said, meaning his barbs. “So, six weeks? Maybe eight if we’re stretching it but then I can’t account for the draconic genetics. That always brings some unpredictability.”

“I think you’re probably right. I’d like to see you each week, Nic. I know that sounds like a lot of seeing my grey head but that’s eight appointments and a delivery. Think we can manage that?”

“I think so,” I said. “Do you print off sonograms?”

“Yes, and if you provided your email, we’ll send it to you there too,” Edna nodded.

An hour later after a well-omega exam, I left, and we headed out for lunch. Raiel was at home sleeping before his evening shift at the Raven’s Perch. So, Neal had some company. His second favorite hobby right after eating was napping. So, it was probably good company.

Beal wouldn’t stop smiling at me as we walked into the restaurant hand-in-hand and if he didn’t stop, everyone would guess I was pregnant. At least, that’s what it felt like. Then again, soon, everyone would know anyway.

The constant smiling was only the beginning of Beal’s doating on me.

It was as if he were everywhere by magic.

Doors opened, chairs pulled out, pillows rearranged themselves on beds and sofas as soon as I thought about plopping on them.

My toiletries never seemed to run out and my favorite hoodie was always dryer warm as we headed into the cooler months.

When it became too tight to pull over my pregnant belly another one appeared, nearly identical except the fingernail polish stain on the inside of the sleeve cuff wasn’t there.

By that point I didn’t bother to question the magic.

Sometimes you just had to take the good things as they came.

As we updated the nursery with more modern and sturdy furniture, I spent a lot of time thinking about how my child would be in the nursery I was in when I hatched from my egg.

Things really had come full circle and my mum wasn’t here to witness it.

Dragons sometimes did this. It wasn’t uncommon to have at least one friend who knew or was close to a dragon who was currently sleeping for seemingly impossible stretches.

“I think she’s resting now that she knows you’re safe,” Raiel said one morning when he came home from work at the bar to find me and Beal discussing the matter in the kitchen.

“I know,” I sighed. “I miss her and I want her to know her grandbaby.”

“She will,” Beal said as if it were all set in stone.

Only nothing was set in stone and everything could change at the drop of a hat. Soon, I’d make the drive out to visit Crilus. He wasn’t technically running his attic magic anymore, but he was the only magic user I felt comfortable enough seeking out right now.

“Not tonight, though,” Beal shook his head, picking up my thoughts over our mating link.

“I’m too tired,” I said, scrunching up my nose and shaking my head. “I think I’m going to get some sleep whenever I run out of ice cream.” I glanced down at my third pint of the night nearly half gone.

“Bed now or then?” Beal yawned.

“Now, I’ll just bring it with me,” I said, lifting my arms because I’d became spoiled since we found out I was pregnant.

Beal had carried me to bed nearly every night since then with Neal following on our heels like a little sentry.

This was the good life and sometimes I could even forget my mum murdered three men to ensure it was exactly that.