Page 13 of Omega Haunting (Starscale Mates #8)

Astral

I’ve always heard that everyone dies famous in small communities. I was never sure whether it was supposed to be a threat or a reassurance. Ever since I met Marsin it felt sort of like a threat. While most of the pack did respect the time we sequestered our selves away for our matingmoon, I received a lot of texts and emails asking about him and the Starscales in general. Even a couple of magazines reached out wanting to interview him. The only one we ever agreed to was one started by someone in the GGB territory and aimed at omegas. Happy Omega Magazine. It was a short interview over the phone while we waited to see the doctor. Mostly the guy on the other end of the phone wanted to know how omegas were treated and how they fared in a system based on points and not money. In the end, he got the guy an interview with his uncle, Hush.

“The magazine will be good for them.”

“Or our omegas will be a good influence on y’all,” he teased.

“Cultural exchanges often benefit both parties,” I said, putting on my best mockumentary voice.

“Astral, the doctor will see you now,” a perky blonde with iced tips on his short, spiky hair called out. He was a few years behind me in school and I didn’t remember his name until I saw the nametag that read: Seas.

“Aren’t you a doctor yet?” I teased him, falling back on the old bad humor our pack was so well known for.

“Not yet. I take the boards next summer, though,” Seas shrugged. “Any symptoms?”

“Morning sickness. Positive star test.”

“He almost cried this morning too,” Marsin added on.

“That is private,” I snapped at him and regret filled up my belly before the last word was even out of my mouth. “Sorry, mate. I…”

“It’s okay. Pregnancy messes with your emotions. I don’t know that they can do anything about that but I think it’s important we tell them all of your symptoms.”

“I know but… It is private,” I sighed.

“How about I don’t ask any more questions and leave that to the doctor,” Nurse Seas said, showing us into Exam Room 3. “You’re right in here. You can go ahead and gown up if you want.”

“Gown up?” Marsin asked, shutting the door behind the nurse as if he suddenly decided he didn’t want Seas anywhere near me. “That doesn’t sound pleasant and if you don’t want to you don’t have to.”

“Sheesh, mate,” I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose.

“What did I do? If it’s about what I told him, I’m sorry. He did ask and I thought you forgot with everything going on….” Marsin said.

“It’s not that. I mean, I might’ve told the doctor anyway. Maybe. Gowning up is just switching into a hospital gown. It’s not the gown that’s unpleasant. I forgot about the well omega exam. It’s really for the baby.”

Marsin furrowed his brows together as if he’d never heard of such a barbaric thing. He tilted his head to the side as I turned my back and pulled my shirt off over my head.

“He’s doing something on the flight link,” my wolf chimed into my thoughts.

“We don’t do those unless we suspect something is wrong. I know it’s a bit different for us. Eggs and all. You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Marsin said. “They literally can’t make you do anything and if they try, they’ll have to deal with me.”

“They’ll nag but they won’t make me do anything. I just want to make sure the baby’s okay,” I said. “It’s not something I want to talk about or dwell on or…”

Marsin dropped down to his knees in front of me.

“This definitely isn’t a ‘while you’re down there situation, mate,’” I laughed despite the nerves swishing around my belly.

“Shush for a moment, please and thank you,” Marsin said and pressed his ear against my belly.

I did shut up because I wanted to hear what he heard. I homed in on our mating link and let the rest of the world fade away. I heard the faintest heartbeat. It sounded healthy to me but what did I know? I wasn’t a doctor.

“The baby is not inside of an egg,” Marsin announced. “You wouldn’t hear a heartbeat quite like that if it was.”

“Are you disappointed?” I asked, biting my lip.

“No. You’re a wolf and I love you. I just don’t know as much about non-egg pregnancies,” Marsin frowned. “It’s a gap in my knowledge that no amount of reading has filled.”

“I’ve seen plenty of them,” I said, popping up on the table. “So have my parents. We’ll be okay. If it’s the exam you’re worried about, don’t be. Believe me, you’ll be glad when it’s over and we know the baby is okay.”

“Only if you’re okay too,” Marsin said, taking my hand and entwining his fingers through mine.

“I will be. It’ll take more than a doctor making me flash him to tear me down,” I laughed. “Don’t you eat him while he’s trying to do the ultrasound either.”

“Why would I do that?” Marsin cocked a brow at me.

“Because you’re my mate and I’m pregnant and you’re already in a bad mood at him,” I grinned and squeezed his hand. “It’s more common than you think. Just remember Doctor Leem is a wolf, and you are a dragon. Remember you broke the truck scale at the junkyard when we tried to weigh you.”

“That was for your science,” he teased but he was right. It was my idea. Though the wolves who owned the junkyard seemed keen to find out how much he weighed in dragon form too. To be fair, Marsin did fix their scale and updated it in some high-tech ways that I didn’t understand and wasn’t sure the junkyard guys did either.

“I love you,” I said. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, magic,” he said and kissed my forehead.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Come in!” I called out.

“Good afternoon, Astral. Little did I know many moons ago that the little wolf pup I saw on the screen would one day come in for me to look at his wolf pups,” Doctor Leem grinned. “Good, you gowned up. Young people these days don’t understand how important it is to ensure everything is okay.”

“They like to exercise their freewill,” Marsin said before I even had the chance to introduce him to the doctor.

“You must be Marsin. I’ve been doing what reading I could on your flight. There isn’t much out there about it. I’ve read everything Izora Moonscale published and put out for the public. It seems your flight often skips on some of the steps we take. I understand why that might be an adjustment for you but as wolf pups do not generally come with hard protective shells, we do our best to ensure they’re safely tucked away inside the uterus.”

“I understand that,” Marsin nodded. “The baby is a wolf pup. I listened.”

“You listened?” Doctor Leem asked, his voice lowering with skepticism.

I cringed. Marsin was usually a dragon of science, but he hated anything that wasn’t necessary. If an ear could do the job no fancy equipment was needed.

“Moonscale literature doesn’t cover how dragons hear not only through sound waves but also through space? It’s similar to the echolocation bats use but much more sophisticated.”

I frowned. Was this a science off or an alpha off?

“Neither,” Marsin said, picking up on my thoughts over our mating link. “As I told my mate, I will respect his freewill and as long as your tests don’t violate that I won’t stand in your way, doctor.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. Marsin was usually so levelheaded.

“What are you talking about?” my wolf laughed into my thoughts. “He’s smart. Maybe even a bit of an intellectual but levelheaded isn’t the word I’d use for him. He still thinks Dern is going to gobble us up with his tomato soup. He’s territorial, bossy, and gonna eat the doctor. I think I’m falling in love all over again!”

“I am not eating the doctor, yet,” Marsin’s dragon joined the conversation. “If he goes against your wishes, I’ll eat him. One bite. One big, stringy, probably horrible-tasting bite.”

“I’m ready,” I told the doctor and stretched out on the table.

He grabbed his machine from the table across the room and rejoined us. I held onto Marsin’s hand for dear life because I believed his dragon would eat the doctor and I didn’t want to go on the run because my mate committed murder in the misguided name of protecting me. I would, but that path would be a bitch during pregnancy.

As soon as my stomach was exposed, Marsin’s grip on my hand tightened. I almost made a joke about how his over-protectiveness was all the test I needed but thought better of it. The doctor pushed a button on his handheld device and the monitor on the wall came on.

“That’s where we’ll see the baby,” I said to Marsin, hoping to redirect him but he didn’t take his eyes off Doctor Leem.

To his credit and years of experience, Doctor Leem didn’t engage further with Marsin as he performed my ultrasound. In no time, our little jellybean was up on the screen. Marsin’s eyes gleamed wet but he still didn’t look away from the doctor.

“You can look at the screen,” I told him over our mating link. “It’s not like he’s going to eat me. He took all sorts of oaths not to do those things.”

“I can see through you,” he said. “I can see the baby and the doctor at the same time.”

“Marsin, don’t be that guy. Look at the screen. See your baby with your own eyes for the first time. We’ll never get these moments back, mate.”

Marsin glanced at the screen and then back to the doctor. Then he looked at the screen again. Really looked this time and his eyes misted over more. I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. That jellybean would grow into the tiny wolf pup we’d love, raise, and protect. It was the tiny baby our love made and was so much more important than the doctor who was just doing his job to ensure our baby was healthy and that my body was healthy enough to continue growing a healthy wolf pup.