Page 10 of The Omega's Bloodlinem: Part Two

“I’m inclined to agree,” said Murdoch, still facing away. “Nothing about this is ideal, but the many possibilities indicate it could have been far worse for another nest.”

Relief settled in my chest. I would have to cling to that outlook so the guilt didn’t swallow me whole.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to train you yet,” said Calliope. “My body has been betraying me.”

“That’s totally okay. You should be resting.”

“We’ll go back up with you,” said Yelena. “Would you be feeling up to sitting with Logan over some tea?”

“I could probably manage that.” Calliope offered me an exhausted smile. Murdoch helped her into the wheelchair and the four of us got onto the elevator to go upstairs.

I stayed in Calliope’s suite while Yelena went to work, fixing the tiger a cup of peppermint tea before settling myself on the edge of her bed.

“Thank you. I hate not being able to do everything for myself anymore.”

“You’re protecting your body and your babies. That’s an important job, and soon they’ll be on the outside.”

She sighed, staring into her cup. “It was supposed to be easier.”

“I’m sorry it’s not. Pregnancy is different for everyone.”

“I’ve been telling myself they’re going to be angel children for putting me through this.” She stroked a hand over the swell of her belly.

“They’d better be,” I said with a laugh. “I don’t know how long I’ll be around, but I have a lot of experience with neonatal kittens. I can’t imagine tiger cubs would be that different if you needed help.”

“I definitely plan on giving birth as a tiger. I feel like that body is a little better set up for things, plus baby tigers are a lot more equipped for the world when they come out than human babies are.”

“Is the gestation different?”

“We unfortunately get stuck with human gestation time. I would much rather only be pregnant for, like, three months instead of nine, but nothing I can do about that.”

“Do the babies shift with you?”

“Yep, though I’m under orders to not shift until I go into labor, just in case.” She sighed. “It’s really ruining my groove.Did you know we had no idea for the longest time if babies shifted in the womb along with their birth parent until they started doing ultrasounds on pregnant shifters in both forms. The babies don’t have much control over their shifting until they’re older, so they’re kind of sporadic little goblins picking forms at random once they’re born. That’s why a lot of families come to the nests. We’d be found out in a heartbeat if we had our kids out and about in human society.”

I had a thousand questions to ask, but I wasn’t sure Calliope was up to a discussion about shifter brain development in their different forms. If the wider world knew about shifters it could probably be studied, but that didn’t work so well when they were all on the down low.

“I guess that’s true. I know it’s not the same, but I have helped a fair few cats through labor and birth. If you want extra support when the time comes, just let me know.”

Calliope nodded, a soft smile on her lips. “Your brain works in interesting ways. I suppose that’s a case of not being raised in shifter society. Do you compartmentalize our forms?”

“I mean, I kind of have to. I adopted Seth and Caden thinking they were cats, and I think it prevents things from getting weird if my brain completely separates that form from their human one when we get physical.”

Calliope laughed. “That makes sense to me. We fuck in all forms, but there are definitely limitations if you have a human partner.”

“Wee bit.”

Calliope worked her way through her tea, telling me all about how she had met Murdoch and her part in forming the nest. They weren’t opposed to adding more people into the mix, but there has thus far been no one tempting enough to consider it.

“Are you building a pack?” she asked eventually.

I blinked at her.

“Omegas do that. I haven’t been around many of them, but you do have a certain gravity.”

“Not entirely on purpose, but I guess that’s kind of what’s happening.”

“Who all is in it? I know your panthers, but the rumor mill is strong, and I prefer my information from the source.”