Heat Race - Tanya Chris Page 0,106

to Elias, omega wombs were situated such that they were less likely to press against the stomach. But the thought of the baby flipping back and forth between wolf and human was about to trigger some.

“It’s going to be fine.” Jasper stroked gently along his spine. “You were meant for this, and you’re doing a great job.”

“The fact that you and Saul are able to shift is a positive, not a negative,” Elias agreed in a carefully modulated voice. “It shows how strong the bond is.”

Elias was trying to conceal how left out he felt over being the only one who couldn’t shift, but the bond was too strong to hide much these days, thanks to a lot of really, really regular sex. Elias thought it was possible that the baby fed on either the psychic energy of their bond or the sperm itself, a theory Dr. Morris found fascinating. Jack Henry didn’t care about theory and couldn’t picture the physiological process Elias had tried to describe, but he knew the time they spent strengthening the bond—otherwise known as fucking—did the baby good.

If he went too long without a good, hard fuck, he got edgy, and if he got too edgy, he might trip into the feral state that had resulted in him waking up as a wolf. And though being a wolf was super cool—now that Saul knew he could shift, he spent so much time in wolf form it was like living with a giant dog—Jack Henry refused to shift again until the baby came out.

Dr. Morris finally made his appearance in the exam room, bringing an assistant and a machine that must be the sonogram with him. Now the room was really crowded. They all had to jockey for position until the doctor ended up on one side of Jack Henry with the machine and the technician on the other side, leaving him without any of his mates to hang onto. The technician smeared his stomach with cold goo and applied the wand to it. The more she moved the wand around without saying anything, the more nervous Jack Henry got.

“It’s more to the left on omegas,” Dr. Morris said.

Finally the technician’s face lit up. “There we are.”

“Perfect,” Dr. Morris said as he leaned over Jack Henry to look at the display.

“The baby’s perfect?”

“The picture’s perfect. I’m going to need a minute here.”

Right. Jack Henry tried to stay still as he looked at the picture himself. It was just a bunch of grey and white flecks, much like when the other machine had been shoved up his ass. He didn’t see anything like a baby. But the technician helped guide his eyes, pointing out the head first—which looked like a typical fetus head, thank the stars—and then some arms and legs. Even though he’d said he didn’t want to know the baby’s sex, he took a peek between its legs to see if he could guess, but he couldn’t.

“Everything looks fine.” Dr. Morris straightened up to flash a reassuring smile around the room. “Obviously, we’re shooting in the dark to some extent, but that’s a viable fetus, developing nicely. Try to relax,” he told Jack Henry. “That’s the best thing you can do for the baby.”

Jack Henry nodded, though what he really wanted to do was explain to Dr. Morris how hard it was to relax when you were a medical anomaly who’d rather not be a medical anomaly.

“And you-all keep taking care of him,” Dr. Morris said.

Saul’s enthusiasm for exactly how Jack Henry needed to be taken care of came strongly across the bond. Jack Henry couldn’t help smiling at it. Saul hadn’t been his normal self since that encounter with his father. Or even before then. Since that horrible day with Lon, actually. Jack Henry suspected the reason Saul spent so much time in wolf form was to avoid his human feelings. In wolf form, he was a happy pile of fluff, always angling for belly rubs or to have his fur brushed.

Dr. Morris and the technician left the room so Jack Henry could get dressed. He had six hands trying to help him until he pushed them all away. He wasn’t fragile. In fact, he felt stronger than ever. He’d been thinking of the baby as fragile, but maybe it wasn’t either. It was the product of wolves, after all.

“Should we have asked Dr. Morris about the shifting?” he mused.

“I doubt he’d know,” Elias answered. “I’ve done a lot of research on the subject,