Midnight Magic, page 120
His color faded to white, and his heartrate was almost nonexistent.
It hadn’t worked. I’d hastened his death. Dropping my chin to my chest, I began to bawl. The tears ran salty and hot down my face and soaked my jeans. Rome’s voice echoed down the hall. “She needs you! Get in here!”
With a final sob, I kissed Boris and ran to assist Marissa.
THE PRIDE EXPANDS
Marissa was lying on her side. Cats don’t lie down to labor unless something is very wrong. She should have been pacing, or at least crouched so that gravity could help her. Instead, she was curled on her side, eyes wide with pain, too weak to do anything.
I hesitated, afraid to get too close to an actual tiger, even a starved one. Only Lupe’s entering the room and pressing a reassuring hand against the small of my back gave me the courage to move ahead. I crept up beside the laboring mother. I could see that, on the workstation, a sedative had been prepared and was in a hypodermic, ready for me to inject into her IV. If I had to, that would be more pleasant for everyone than my shooting her with a dart.
Marissa’s eyes were watching me intently. “I am here to help,” I whispered. The huge golden eyes showed some understanding.
Slowly, I reached towards her abdomen. Exhausted, she lay back and let me examine her. She was so lean that I had no problem finding the babies even through her belly. Not used to patients who understand English, I swore under my breath. “One of them isn’t in the right position.”
The tigress’s eyes flared in panic.
“We are going to take care of you,” I said firmly and quietly. Lupe handed me a Doppler. Running it over the distended abdomen, I picked up three distinct heartbeats. While I listened, two of them seemed to be slowing down.
“We need to deliver now.”
“Can you do a C-section?”
I jumped; I had almost forgotten Rome was in the room.
“In her weakened state, anesthesia would not be indicated.” I suddenly had a new empathy for MDs who must tell their patients that the prognosis is grim.
Fuck Dr Volchok. I began reciting everything I had ever read about lion-tiger hybrids. “Lions and tigers have different growth inhibiting genes. Because of that, liger cubs tend to be exceptionally large, and as adults they become enormous.” Marissa rolled over, clearly not interested in my soliloquy.
I was kicking myself; I should have moved faster. I should have taken care of her and insisted on an actual MD to save Boris.
“I’m sorry. I thought we had some more time.”
Rome knelt beside her, stroking her face.
I was aware of my dad joining us. ” We have a surgical crane,” he said.
“Why am I not surprised?” I said, but I would have to tease him about his amazing facility another time. I stood up with a suddenness that startled my patient. “I need an ultrasound machine.”
I knelt on the ground and reassured myself with the doppler. There was a lot of banging and bustling as they brought the machine in.
Using the ultrasound, I was able to see where the babies were. It was not a pretty picture. The cub that was rotated in the wrong direction was blocking the other cub.
“I’m going to turn this cub; I’m going to try external pressure first,” I announced to the room. I have never heard of a large cat having anything like a transverse cub shifted. Cubs are usually quite small compared to their mother’s pelvis. The idea of trying to do an internal exam on a conscious tigress was more than a little off-putting, so I would start with external procedures.
“She can do it,” my dad told Rome. This was far from certain. While dad held the wand on Marissa’s abdomen so that I could monitor the cubs, I applied pressure. Using a rocking motion of the heel of my hand, I pressed first on the baby’s shoulder and then the hip. It took several repetitions, but then just as I was about to give up and attempt to do it internally, there was a sudden shift.
Terrified that if we wasted a second, the cub would slip back into the transverse position, I tried to make Marissa raise her shoulders. “We have to get her lifted right now!”
She didn’t fight me, but even nearly starved, she was at least 300 lbs. I couldn’t lift her. Behind me, there was a sudden growl, and I leapt out of the way. Rome had shifted, moved past me, and positioned himself in front of the mother of his cubs. He began to lick her face. Her exhausted eyes flickered open. I took hold of her paws, and with my help, she was able to lean on Rome.
Getting as close as I could to her, I felt the first cub emerge, head down. The sac split as the cub landed in my hands, and only the growl coming from the new mother made me hurriedly put it down. There were limits to how much she would let me near her baby.
I bit my lip and reached for the hypodermic. If I had to sedate her to rescue the cub, I would. Marissa gave a shuddering groan, and almost immediately, the second cub emerged.
Breathe, breathe, baby ligers, please, please breathe. She went through so much to have you. Please, please breathe.
Lupe pressed some warm towels into my hands.
“We need to get them warmed up,” I said, hoping the new parents would understand my intentions and not eat me.
Apparently not. Marissa bared her teeth at me, and I froze. I had decided that I had no choice, and I crawled closer to her. I would sedate her and then save the babies. She would thank me later, when she was a human mother who I could explain things to. Rome rolled sideways so that Marissa gently drifted onto the floor. He took two steps and was over the babies. He lowered his muzzle.
The tigress relaxed and lay on her side, taking it all in while nearby, a Barbary lion licked one cub and then the other.
“Umm, Dad?” my voice was shaky. “Typically, male lions eat cubs,” I whispered nervously. Dad had no concerns and gently patted my shoulder.
Rome began to lick the cubs vigorously, first one and then the other.
The tigress shifted her position and began to clean her babies as well. With a squall, the first cub began to take deep breaths. Under Rome’s ministrations, the second cub began to move around.
I collapsed against my dad with relief.
My dad was beaming. “They are safe as could be. Let’s give them some privacy.”
I wasn’t willing to leave them alone for long, but I had to concede that if there was an expert about this, it was Zeb. I let him lead me into the hall.
“I am so proud of you, Filly. External pressure on a transverse lie in a mixed cat pregnancy with a compromised patient? Amazing!”
“Oh Dad, I am just amazed by you. Can you ever forgive me for thinking you were, you know… cray-cray?”
He reached over and tugged on a lock of my hair. “I may in fact be, as you say, ‘cray-cray.’ I just wasn’t wrong about extraspecists.”
“Hey, did you pay for my vet school and always had a master plan involving me living with Boris?”
His eyes flew wide with what I knew to be totally fake innocence. “Me? What do you take me for?”
He reached out and grasped my hand. “I am so glad that you are in my world now.”
Tears were beginning to build up behind my eyes. “I’m sorry you couldn’t tell me before.”
“It’s pretty wacky,” he admitted.
“I’m sorry we didn’t give you enough credit. I am ashamed of both mom and I.”
He raised his head sharply. “Filly, no. You mustn’t blame your mom.”
“Of course, I blame her! She took me, and she left you!” my voice was laced with cold fury. “I could have known this,” I gestured around the room, “My whole life! I could have known you were a visionary. You could have kept your family.”
“Clementine,” my dad has so rarely used my actual name that I almost gasped. He spoke quietly, but with absolute authority. “I made her go.”
I reacted as if he had slapped me across the face.
“Why?” it came out in a plaintive cry, more hurt than angry, but that was false advertising since I was furious.
“Nate wasn’t the leader of the colony then. I wasn’t sure if it would be safe. And there is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe. Nothing.”
The lump in my throat escaped in a little bit of a sob.
“I know that Dad.”
Chaya opened the door. “Doctor Jasper, our new family is asking for you,” she said. I was glad to see that she seemed happy about it. Nate could force the other shifters to tolerate Rome’s new family, but Chaya’s acceptance would go a long way in encouraging it.
“Come in,” said a woman’s voice. Nestled on the floor, covered in a blanket, was Marissa with a baby in her arms. Rome sat cross-legged next to her, cradling another one.
Chaya’s hands flew to her mouth. “They are beautiful.”
They were in their human form, and Rome smiled over my shoulder. I realized that Nate stood behind me. “It’s a boy and a girl,” the proud new father said.
Nate walked around me and reached out to stroke the baby’s head. “I was thinking, since you are the first to have a son, you can name him Ignatius. For Dad, not me, of course.”
Rome was touched. “No, I think that’s yours to pass on.”
Marissa leaned her head against Rome’s shoulder. “I was thinking of Rex, since his father is a fucking lion.” Her love for the sire of her cubs radiated from her.
Nate laughed. “That’s right. Rex Santu. King of the jungle.”
“RS!” I exclaimed, remembering the lavish red letters on the papers that described the first Ignatius Sands. “Those letters were on those ancient papers.”
This was not news to anyone but me, but I was still amazed by it.
Rome looked at my dad. “What do you think of Rex Zebadiah Sands?”
My dad was delighted.
“I think that’s mighty fine. Will you name the girl after your mother?”
Rome nodded. “Helena it is. What’s a name that means queen?”
Dad and I both blurted out, “Regina” and I quickly followed with, “But God, don’t use that.” They didn’t listen to me.
Chaya took over. “Gentlemen, we need some room in here so that we can bring in the bed. You can come back in ten minutes.”
We got the babies dressed and helped Marissa into the hospital bed. I was seriously going to have to ask my dad how the hell he financed all this medical equipment.
“Can we get you anything else?” Chaya asked, wheeling the bassinet closer to Marissa.
“I am starving,” the new mother said.
“Oh,” I was flustered. “Should I have Rome hunt for you? Or do you feel strong enough?”
The pretty woman shook her brown hair. “I would kill for a pizza.”
“Oh, thank God,” I said.
Chaya sat on the side of Marissa’s bed. “Do you intend to get married? I do think that’s always for the best.”
Marissa looked surprised. “We figured we’d never be allowed to. I told my mom I was pregnant, and she must have told my dad. That night Dr. Volchok came to get me.”
Chaya gave a low, furious growl, but then realized how frightened Marissa was and patted her arm. “There aren’t enough of us to be turning anyone away. Too much bloody testosterone around here as it is.”
“What’s the deal with your hair?” Marissa asked me.
“Umm, it’s white. Always has been. No big deal,” I answered curtly.
“That’s not what your dad told me.”
“What?”
“He would tell me stories about his daughter when we were, you know, in the lab. I would have lost my mind if it hadn’t been for him.”
“What did he say?”
“That he hadn’t figured it out, but he was sure it was supernatural, since you can’t dye it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. I think it’s just lacking pigment.”
I left them to wait on the pizza and joined my dad in keeping the bedside vigil.
“So, what’s this crackpot theory about my hair?”
“Oh, that might have just been a fairy tale I told a terrified young woman.”
“Is it?”
“Honestly, Filly, I don’t know. But stranger things have happened. I have always thought you were magical.”
“I love you, Dad, but you are probably nuts.”
“Quite likely, but that doesn’t make me incorrect. Let’s figure it out together, shall we?”
“I would love that, Dad.”
THE MAJESTIC TAIL TRANSFORMATION
Some chairs had been placed beside the hospital bed where Boris lay, pale as death itself.
“I know this doesn’t make you feel any better, but Boris would never want this community to be exposed. Recovering from a gunshot like that was never much of a chance anyway.”
“You are right,” I said. “Doesn’t make me feel better at all.”
Nate and Solstice entered the room. Solstice pulled a bedside table around and Nate took food out of a bag that read Mabel’s.
“What is Mabel?” I asked.
Solstice had poured my dad a cream soda and handed it to him. “She’s a mountain lion.”
“Oh,” I said, somehow feeling even worse. Nate handed me a take-out box. “I wasn’t sure if you would want avocado toast, but Mabel assured me that you would never say no to it.”
Solstice squatted down in front of me. I smacked my own forehead. “Dammit, I meant to look at your lacerations,” I said.
She shifted her scrub top so that I could see that it was soundly bandaged.
“I derma bonded it, no need to bother. Listen,” her kind tone made me shrivel even deeper inside myself.
When I was an intern, I used that tone when I had to tell people that the pet they loved was not going to recover.
“I am going to turn the volume off on these monitors, just to make it more peaceful. You can stay in here as long as you like.”
“Leave the monitors on, though.”
“Of course,” she said, twiddling the loud beeps off.
I was grateful when Nate didn’t ask anything and simply pulled a chair next to mine.
None of us said much. Dad opened his meal.
“I can’t believe I didn’t ask this yet.” It was turning out to be my day of being clueless about people I loved. “Did they hurt you?”
“They did not. However, my two food options were the smoked lard on black bread that Volchok favors or the very much still alive rabbits that he feeds his army.”
“Hey, you haven’t invented a blood test to determine if someone has become a shifter, have you?” I asked, only partly kidding.
“No, but it’s on my shortlist.” I had no trouble believing that.
Seeing that I had no intention of touching my food, Nate asked my dad, “Zeb, can you hold down the fort for a few minutes?”
My dad nodded. “You two stay where I can see you, though.” I blushed, but wasn’t about to say, “That train has left the station.”
We stepped into the hall, and I defiantly shut the door.
“Be nice to Zeb. You are his world.”
“I know I am,” I said, suddenly shy.
He took a deep breath, which made his broad chest look even broader. “Clementine Regina, I want you… I want every bit of you, every day, forever.” I gasped. He continued, “But I want you to be happy. In fact, I need,” he pressed a big hand to his own chest, “I need you to live your best life. If that doesn’t include me, I understand.”
I stammered, “I want you too, I’m just moving a little slower than you are.” The only thing that could have made him even more appealing than the eyes, the shoulders, and the strong hands already did was his earnest proclamation that he would give me up if it would make me happy.
I pressed my body against his. “We will figure it out,” I whispered, meaning every syllable.
I held his hand as we walked back in to see Boris. I slumped down in my chair and looked at his ghost-white face. He wasn’t uniformly pale. Darker splotches were emerging. That sort of bruising could only mean that Solstice had been right all along; he was in multiple systems failure. I had failed.
I reached for his big hand. “Boris, forgive me. I was trying to save you.”
“I should have gotten you to an ER. I had this crazy idea that we could turn you into a shifter, and we were so far away from a hospital, and liger cubs were coming.” My regrets piled up on themselves and threatened to smother me. I dropped my head onto his barrel chest and began to cry.
Nate’s hand on my shoulder made me look up. I followed Nate’s astonished eyes to the silent cardiac monitor. It showed a heart rare that was steady and nowhere near low. “100 beats a minute,” I said out loud as I read the monitor. I grabbed a stethoscope and listened to his chest. His lung sounds were strong and clear, but he still showed no signs of waking up.
“That’s a cat’s heart rate,” I yelled. The oximeter reading showed him having an oxygen saturation rate higher than humans ever get. Even if he had really turned into a shifter, mountain lions don’t live at very high elevations and don’t need to be that much more oxygen-efficient than humans. My dad had now come fully awake.
I suddenly remembered the way my dad had always reacted to every triumph in my life, from when I got into vet school to when I bought my first car. He threw his hands up and in the clumsiest, dorkiest dance move ever began to shake his hips, singing, “Celebration time! Come on!”
I joined him for a spontaneous shimmy.
Nate’s expression made it clear that lion shifter families are far less nerdalicious. I refused to have it and took his hand.
While we shook our groove things to my dad’s tuneless singing, I felt my heart soar.
“Dad,” I said over his droning. “Nate and I are dating.”
“Dating?” he asked.
In unison, my Barbary lion shifter and I answered back, “Dating.”
*.*.*.*.*
A few hours later, I was significantly less certain of what was going on. With only the manuscript from Gevaudan to go on, I sort of expected Boris to take on a tawny color. The priest had described the child turning grey like a wolf. To keep myself busy, I drew labs every few hours. If anything, Boris was growing even paler. His non-audible breathing had morphed into an uncomfortable pant. Looking at the thermostat made me even more worried. It showed the room at 65 degrees, easily within a cougar’s comfort range.
