Happiness is Earned (Second Chances Book 3), page 66
Oh how the tables have turned.
But instead of continuing this discussion, I turn with a smile as I hear my mate walking down the stairs. She’s gorgeous as she enters the room, and I think my smile is mirrored by everyone.
She took Malachi’s demands seriously, and is wearing a light pink skirt that looks sinfully sweet against her dark skin. The top is a weird colour, and pattern, but it makes her tits look good.
I can’t wait for them to fill…
“Your hair looks nice,” Griffin says, as Malachi snorts.
“What’s so funny?” Nora didn’t even mean that to come across as an admonishment, but it did anyway.
“Out of all the things he could compliment, he chose your hair.” Malachi shakes his head at Fin. “Seriously?”
“Her hair does look pretty,” Voss says, with a smirk.
He’s not wrong. It’s in pigtails, and they’re both gorgeous and practical.
Nora rolls her eyes, before returning to me. “Is our date becoming a group thing?”
“No. We’re going to do that tomorrow, if that’s okay for you?” She nods, beaming at me. “Perfect.”
We head out to the cars. Orson is driving Nora and I, whilst the others bicker over who goes with Malachi and who goes with Griffin. I care very little, since I’ve got the most important package with me.
She seems very relaxed, which makes me happy after the day that we’ve had. I’m glad that her sister’s loss isn’t wearing on her too badly.
Or overshadowing our big moment.
“Don’t you think it’s cruel?” Nora asks, resting her head on my chest. Orson makes eye contact in the rearview mirror, raising an eyebrow, but I shrug, not really sure how to reply to him.
“What’s cruel, little queen?” I stroke her hair, loving the feeling of her in my arms, knowing that right now, she’s growing our child. She’s providing them with life, with the ability to grow and develop.
Everything in my life starts with Nora—and the same will go for our child. All of our children, because is this fuck going to be the only one.
“This twist of fate.”
I’m not sure if it’s the come down from the excitement, or what, but she’s not making any real sense. It’s probably easier to just agree. “Yeah. It is cruel.”
Orson smirks in the mirror, and I roll my eyes giving a small shrug with the side Nora’s not on. How else was I meant to reply?”
“It really, really is. Why would fate let the day my sister’s baby’s heart stopped beating be the day that mine starts?”
And holy fuck. She’s right.
The thing is… Nora might find that cruel.
But I can’t help the smile that appears on my face.
The loss of a child’s life is never something to celebrate.
But this kind of misery to two people I’d happily torture slowly and painfully… well, it’s a very fitting ending.
55
NORA
“Why are we here?” I demand, as we pull up outside the doctor’s office. My heart is pounding, my vision is blurry and my palms are sweaty.
We’ve heard the heartbeat—I can still hear it now.
Why are we here?
“We’re going to get a scan,” Atticus says gently. I try to move away from him, but he holds me closer, the vibrations of his chest echoing underneath me, as he softly purrs. It’s annoying, the way he’s using his animal magnetism to calm me down.
As if I’m some kind of unstable animal.
I’m petrified, and Atticus is acting as if I’m being dramatic. I don’t need to be soothed. I need answers.
“We’re all very excited that we can hear the heartbeat, little cub,” Orson says, turning the engine off as he turns to face me. Atticus is still cradling me to his chest, as if I’m going to run away or something equally as ridiculous.
“So why do we need to see inside me?”
“We’re just wanting eyes on the cub,” Atticus says, adding a husky note to his voice. Combining that with the purrs, and I’m going further than just losing the anxiety.
I’m getting turned on.
Which is unacceptable since I’m also mad at him.
“We all want to see them,” Orson adds.
“Them?” I gasp, shaking my head. “We’re one baby in here, Mr.”
“Well we don’t know the gender,” Orson says, with a small laugh. “Come on. Let’s go meet our cub.”
I nod, and Atticus finally lets me go. Our car won the race, so I deduct a point from all the losers, and then share the points between them.
There’s a small huff about it, but it disappears almost as fast as it came as we head inside the doctor’s office.
The receptionist looks up with a smile on her face, but when she realises who it is, the smile switches from being genuine to being forced polite.
“Oh, wow,” she says, keeping that fake grin firmly in place. “It’s a big party here today! Let’s hope the room is big enough.”
Orson laughs. “It should be. I let Dr Likens know we’d all be here.”
“We can do it one by one if we have to,” Fin reassures her.
“Nice to see you again, Griffin,” the receptionist says, and I eye him weirdly.
She’s a… I have no idea actually.
“She’s friends with my parents,” Griffin says, tugging me into his arms as Orson handles the sign in. The others go over to the waiting area, claiming their chairs.
The office is pretty empty, only one other person here, and she’s reading a magazine. She didn’t even look up as we entered.
“What is she?” I ask, resting my head back on his chest as he starts to massage my shoulders.
“She’s an aqualuma.” I tense, but Fin continues with his massaging as Orson pulls out his debit card. The purple Coutt card is identical to the one I own, but likely has his own name on it. “An aqualuma is a type of mythical creature that is meant to reside in the deepest parts of the ocean. They’re very righteous beings, and have a big tail like a dragon.”
“Oh.”
“Not very powerful, unless it’s a morality debate, mind you.”
I snort, and Orson looks back at me. I shake my head, not wanting to voice what I found funny.
“Is the room ready for us?” Orson asks once everything is handled.
“It’ll be ready in a few,” the receptionist says. Her name badge is covered by her long, black hair, so I can’t read her name. “In the meantime, sweetheart, can you go get us this sample.”
“She’s already pregnant,” Fin says, with a frown. “Why are you testing her wee?”
“They test for more than just pregnancy from the urine,” Orson says, before the receptionist can even answer. I see the woman raise an eyebrow, but she’s more amused than anything.
Me too, to be honest.
Orson’s I know the answer tone is hot, and even my wolf finds it a big turn on. The fact that he’s put so much time and research into this, is everything to me—to us.
He’s going to be a good father to our pup.
“They check her hormone levels, her sugar levels, what her ketone levels look like—”
“We get it,” I interrupt, and he shrugs.
“They’re just making sure she’s healthy,” Orson says, patting Griffin’s arm. “A UTI is very dangerous during pregnancy.”
“I don’t have a UTI,” I mutter, snatching the urine sample pot from him as they all start laughing.
Atticus gently points out the toilet door to me—as if I’ve not been here before—and I quickly do my business. It’s easy enough to fill in the sample container with the cup they provide, and then I head back out.
It doesn’t take long until we’re called in, not that you’d realise with how impatient all of my men are being, but it’s sweet. I like that they’re excited about it.
I leave the cup on the table for the doctor, and take the bed in the middle of the room. It’s very obvious that’s my spot.
Dr Likens smiles, and steals my urine to go test, after telling me to get comfortable.
“So what happens now?” Micah asks quietly.
“Dr Likens will do a scan over her stomach,” Orson says. “There’ll be no blood, no pain, no nothing. She’ll just be checking on our little cub.”
“I thought that was Nora,” Voss teases. Orson grunts, not replying. “I’m betting we’re having a boy.”
“You can’t tell what we’re having this early,” Griffin says.
“It’s just a guess,” Voss mutters.
“I say girl,” Atticus counters. “Nora needs some feminine influence to balance out the men.”
I snort, resting my head on the pillow. “Do you really think a tiny baby is going to be the backup I need?”
“Well, not immediately,” Atty mutters, seeming a bit put out.
“Are you excited?” Fin asks, sitting next to my right hand.
I nod. “A little nervous too, though.”
“So, everything looks great with the sample,” Dr Likens says, smiling at us as she comes back into the room. “Now, do we want to see baby?”
There’s lots of nods, and I grin at her.
“It’s good that there’s such a full house.” She comes over to the side. “But, can all the men stay on the other side of the bed? I need some room to work with Mama here.”
I mouth the word mama, thinking about the tiny human who is going to be calling me that in the near future.
It’s crazy.
And wonderful.
So how the fuck could my sister give this up? How could she willingly lose out on this kind of moment?
“How do you want me?” I ask.
“Just tug your skirt down a little more, so I can get this in,” she murmurs, tucking some of the blue roll she’s got into the waistband of my skirt. “And then raise your t-shirt up to just under your bra.”
Then she adjusts my position on the bed since it was made for shifters who are usually a lot taller than me, and pulls out the wand thing.
“So, we’re going to attempt this way first, but we may need to do a transvaginal ultrasound at this stage.”
“What’s one of those?” Devoss asks slowly.
“Well she mentioned the word vagina,” Mal says. “So I’m assuming you put that up there?”
“Not this one,” Dr Likens says, winking at me as she grabs a very thin, but long stick. “This one.”
“That won’t fit inside of her,” Fin says, in disbelief.
“It’s shorter than me,” Cevon says, with a shrug. I eye the stick, thinking of his cock, and honestly it’s not even close.
The wand Dr Likens is holding is a good twelve inches or so. I love my mates, and they’ve got beautiful thick and long cocks, but not a single one is in the double digits.
Even if they believe otherwise.
“Well, even if it may be shorter than you,” Dr Likens says, emphasising the words with great amusement. “It’s not all going inside your mate.”
“So, are we ready Mama?”
I nod, a thrill racing through me at those words. Without waiting for a response she puts some cold gel on my stomach, uses her scanner and starts rubbing it along my stomach.
She presses in a little harder than I’d like, but the discomfort fades when she says, “Oh there it is.”
My eyes widen, my breath catching, as we eagerly wait to see what she does.
She motions to the screen above my head, and I see what she’s looking at.
“See here?” she says, highlighting the screen.
It’s tiny. A weird blob thing… my pup.
She starts taking some measurements, and I don’t really know what she’s looking for. I have no doubt some of my guys do, but unless there’s an issue, it’s not that important to me.
All I care about is my tiny little blob.
I was expecting to see an actual baby, which was silly. Even though our pregnancies are a lot faster than some other shifters, and even humans, they’re still not that fast.
We’ve got around six months for our pregnancy, although it can be a little sooner than that.
I do feel bad though. Ari got pregnant first, but I get to meet my baby before she meets hers.
“This is amazing,” Orson whispers.
“Can we have a photo?” Atticus asks, and Dr Likens nods as she continues to work. “I want a copy for my offices.”
“How many copies are you wanting?” Voss asks, with a smirk.
“Four.” Atticus doesn’t hesitate here, and I grin. It’s even sweeter when they all start making their demands on how many they want.
What could Griffin need seven for?
I fucking love all of my men, and I know they’re going to be amazing dads to our little blob.
“So we’re measuring at nearly six weeks,” Dr Likens says, giving me a smile. “And everything looks perfect.”
“Wait, what?” Malachi interrupts, pulling his gaze away to look at the doctor. “That makes no sense.”
“My measurements are accurate, Mr Romero,” Dr Likens says.
“Her heat only ended three weeks ago!” Malachi says, with a snarl. “That’s not possible.”
“The pregnancy was clearly conceived at the beginning of the heat then,” Orson says, rolling his eyes.
“But the baby is healthy?” I ask.
“Perfectly heal—oh.” Dr Likens trails off, wonder filling her gaze and panic fills mine. I grab the closest hand to me, squeezing the calloused hand firmly. I’m glad it was Cevon’s hand I grabbed, because I think he needs the most support right now.
“It’s okay,” Atty soothes, bending at the head of the bed to kiss my forehead. “Right, Dr Likens?”
His words are a snarl, as if he’s forcing her to give him exactly what he wants. I can feel the dark power he’s emitting, the underlying threat.
But Dr Likens doesn’t even flinch, despite the fact that she’ll be feeling the energy from her Alpha who is upset with her.
“I want to show you something,” Dr Likens says, smiling at me.
“You just started to say our baby was healthy and then cut yourself off,” Griffin says, with a frown.
“Baby A is perfectly healthy,” she reassures us.
“Why are you calling it baby A?”
“Don’t call my baby an it!” Orson snarls, smacking the back of Voss’s head.
“Because you’re having twins,” she says, with a grin. “We’ve got Baby A here, and then, Baby B.”
“That makes no sense,” Orson says, with a frown. “We can only hear the one heartbeat.”
“Listen,” Dr Likens says, adjusting a dial on her machine. We hear the fast beats from the machine that echoes with the sound we hear from our tiny… pups?
“We still only hear one,” Devoss says, eyeing the rest of the group who agree.
“Because their heart beats are in sync. It’s quite beautiful, really.”
“Oh,” Atty murmurs, rubbing my forearm as he rises to his feet.
“Will it stay that way?” Micah asks.
“Probably not,” Dr Likens says.
“I don’t understand how it’s possible.” Two babies? I can see both blobs now, although Baby B is peeking out from underneath Baby A.
“We’ll need another scan in the next… say fortnight. Baby B is trying to hide, and at this stage, there’s not much we can do to get him or her to move for us. I’ll want to do another check to make sure things are progressing nicely.”
“Twins?” Micah whispers, looking down at my currently flat stomach in awe. Soon enough, I’ll be big and round.
I like that the imagery doesn’t make me feel as terrified as it used to.
The bonds inside me are a mess. We’ve got Atticus, my Alpha, who is both excited and panicked. But from there, I can’t really decipher the differences in any of them.
Even the scents in the room are too muddled to distinguish what is coming from who, and they’re so powerful that it’s making me nauseous.
I can’t even tell if it’s an overall positive reaction or a negative one.
Twins.
Two babies.
Inside of me.
Fuck.
“Do we know what we’re having yet?” Malachi asks, the first to break the uncomfortable atmosphere.
“No,” Cevon says, kicking the back of his legs. “Don’t be stupid. We won’t find that out for a while.”
“Alright, okay,” Malachi mutters. “No need for the violence.”
“Cevon’s right,” Dr Liken says. “We’ll likely be able to find out at the twelve week mark.”
“We’ll have to start a betting pool,” Voss says quietly and I just roll my eyes.
Healthy is all I care about.
Dr Likens starts printing off the myriad of photos for us of our little blobs, and I don’t even try to hide my tears as I continue to watch them on the screen.
They’re not moving, and sure they’re nothing more than a bundle of cells at this point… but they’re a part of me.
“I do want to do a blood test just to check on a few different things.”
“Do we have a reason to be concerned?” Orson asks.
“No,” Dr Likens reassures him. “It’s just since you’re here, it’s something we can tick off. Now that we know you’re having twins, we’ll want to monitor a little more closely with your smaller frame.”
I frown.
“But her size isn’t a risk, right?” Malachi asks, nervously.
My frown turns into a scowl. I sit here as they quiz my doctor, using she and her, and not once does anyone bring me into the conversation.
I get it. I’m defective.
I’m not a true shifter, in the ways that matter.
That even though I’m the one carrying the babies… I’m not the best home for them.
“Any more questions?” Dr Likens asks.
“No,” Atticus says, and the others shake their heads too.
“Perfect, I’ll send the nurse in to take some bloods, and I’ll get you to make another appointment in two weeks with Janet on reception.”
She heads out of the room, and as the door shuts behind her, I burst into tears. They’re not the loud sobs, just the standard tears dripping down my cheeks, as true sadness overwhelms me.
