A Mate for Lu - Amy Bellows Page 0,61

They don’t shrink when they shift. They simply grow an exoskeleton and a huge stinger.

“The problem is that this is a lot more complicated than the Guild or even the scorpion shifters. The Gentoos keep threatening to take over Anchorage. They could do it, too. We haven’t fulfilled our obligation with the fidelity necklaces, and we’re not going to. What if we went public with a way to change the anatomy of their trans kids? How do you think they’d react to that?”

I’ve already thought about that. In fact, Cy in missing the most important part.

“In gentoo culture, they favor their alpha children. Even more than polar bear shifters. What do you think the Gentoos would do if they knew a way to ensure their child was an alpha? In Liam’s case, changing his anatomy was the right thing. But imagine if someone made those changes to a kid who didn’t want them? We’d be creating gender dysphoria instead of relieving it.”

Cy doesn’t ask if the Gentoos would really do that. Fidelity necklaces are a prime example of what the Gentoos are capable of.

“I’m weak right now, Lu. My pregnancy is harder than I thought it would be. I want to help you with this, but not until my baby is born.”

He’s probably right. I could barely handle the drive here, let alone a flight to New Mexico or an encounter with a huge scorpion. But I do have one other question.

“If I could… change you. With my paint. Would you want that?”

Cy shakes his head. “No. What you did for Liam was good. But that isn’t something I’d ever want.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’m sure. You don’t need to fix me, Lu. I’m not broken.”

“That isn’t what I meant.”

“I know. And I’m not saying Liam was broken. But based on what you told me, he felt like there was something wrong with him—something that needed to be changed. That isn’t the case for me. My body isn’t wrong.”

That makes sense. Things aren’t always going to be as simple as they were with Liam. If I want to be helpful, I’ll need to listen, instead of making assumptions.

“I just want to help.”

He smiles. “I think you will. How about I make some tea. Do you like peppermint?”

It seems like I have a lot to learn. About my magic, about how to help, and about Cy. He’s never opened up to me this much before.

“Peppermint tea sounds great.”

41

Sam

Two months later Lu and I are stuck in the doctor’s examination room, waiting on test results. Lu’s been a wreck all morning. He hasn’t been able to keep anything down.

Yesterday the doctor’s office called and said they had all of the results for the amniocentesis. Instead of telling us over the phone, they insisted we come in to speak to the doctor.

Lu’s been obsessing about what that means all night. He’s convinced that if they had good news for us, we wouldn’t need to come in. He holds my hand with a vice grip.

“I think they have a policy about not giving test results over the phone,” I say.

My words don’t seem to reach Lu. He’s still vibrating with worry.

The door finally opens, and our doctor rushes in. “Sorry to keep you waiting. One of my other patients had an emergency.” She sits down on a rolling stool in front of us and flips to the second page of her clipboard. “First, I want to assure you that your baby is doing well. All of the test results suggest that they’re growing at the rate of a polar bear shifter fetus, even though they’re in their penguin form. That’s excellent news.”

The news doesn’t seem to calm Lu. Perhaps he can feel the “but” coming as much as I can.

“The main problem I anticipate with this situation is that the egg growth is slower too. This could be fine, or it could cause the egg’s integrity to be compromised. This means that you’ll need to give birth in the hospital, just in case we need to do an emergency section.”

Lu’s shoulders relax. He doesn’t understand. There are a lot of reasons why penguin shifters lay their eggs at home.

“What about his nest?” I ask.

“That’s why I wanted to speak to the two of you in person. As you may be aware, the formation of a penguin shifter’s nest is integral to the birth process. That formation usually takes weeks. Which means Lu will need to move to the hospital three weeks before the birth.”

I can’t