The Doctor

LORELAI

I woke to hushed voices, my body heavy, my eyelids even heavier. I fought through the fogginess in my head, wincing as it pounded a little.

My lips were dry, but my stomach no longer radiated pain through me.

“She’s awake,” Brax said, and I let out a sigh of relief that he was okay.

He connected straightaway, and I lifted my heavy arms for him. “You’re okay,” I breathed.

“Garrett is dealt with,” he said, and his lips pressed against mine.

He pulled away, and Derik took his place, kissing me softly.

“You should not have pushed yourself, beautiful. I have given your mother permission to drug you into unconsciousness if you attempt something like that again,” Derik breathed against my mouth.

I smiled weakly, then opened my eyes, meeting his intense gaze. “I didn’t mean to. I just had to get Brax to accept the strength from us.”

Kai chuckled, leaning over to kiss the top of my head. “Little Human, Brax was never in danger,” he said.

I frowned. “But he was pinned?” I asked, and Brax nodded.

“That’s how we do it. We let them run through their energy. He had just finished the heat; he was all hyped up on ego and strength from that. I just had to keep him busy until that strength faded, then I would have destroyed him,” Brax said.

I frowned harder. “But you were in pain,” I said, and he kissed my hand.

“It happens in challenges, Spitfire. It’s why I told you to hang back, but then you channeled and forced the strength on me.

“It meant I won faster and still destroyed Garrett, but I would never risk you like that.”

My lip trembled. I was so human it was humiliating. I should have trusted that he had it instead of getting involved, but the idea of him in any pain, getting hurt, was not something I could handle.

“We can’t handle you in pain either,” Derik said, answering my thoughts before he stepped back, my mother coming forward.

“Sweetie, you’re awake.” She beamed, and I nodded.

“Thanks. For being my mom,” I said.

She smiled softly at me. “Always. And never for a thanks. Now, where is this doctor?” she asked, turning to the alphas.

“He doesn’t leave his home. We have to go to him.” Derik sighed, and I frowned.

“A doctor? Where’s Cain?”

“We gave you the potion already, but your mother doesn’t want us biting you yet. She wants you to see a doctor first.”

She nodded and turned to me. “I may be human, but you are carrying a half-wolf, half-human child. I think that needs a little more attention from a medical professional instead of a bite,” she said sternly.

Kai smirked, turning away to get some water.

“Oh. Uh, Mom…”

“The wolves already explained the situation, but I would still like to hear it from the doctor.”

She smiled, and I nodded, taking the water from Kai gratefully.

“Okay. I guess we’re going to the doctor then.”

I sighed and pulled my blankets off me. Derik was there straightaway, lifting me in his arms. I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck.

“Here,” Mom said, and laid the blanket from home on me.

I wrapped it around me, and Kai opened the door for us to head out. Brax and Kai flanked my mom, who wore a heavy velvet cloak with a wolf pin holding it closed. I smiled at that and looked to Derik.

“You gave her a pin?”

“She is under our protection. That makes sure the wolves know it.”

“Thank you.” I smiled, kissing him.

He kissed me back, still walking as I deepened the kiss. He felt so good against me, just the kiss making me want more. I buried my fingers in his hair as his tongue slid along mine.

“Lorelai!” my mom scolded, and I pulled away.

Derik smirked and gave me a peck before I laid my head against his shoulder.

“Wolves clearly have no sense of public indecency,” my mother sighed, shaking her head.

I chuckled. She was still so stuck in tradition, but it made it all the more crazy that she was trying. I loved her for it, so damn much. I didn’t want her to leave.

Derik held me tighter and kissed my head. “We’ll do what we can, beautiful,” he said, and I smiled as he walked me along the cobblestone paths.

“So what happened to Garrett?” I wondered.

Brax snickered. “He’s now the bitch. He’s on all the shit jobs, and even initiates can tell him what to do now. He won’t be able to challenge any of us again until he is further up the ranks,” he said.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Brax,” I said, and he slowed to walk next to me.

“I’m not that easy to get rid of, Spitfire.” He grinned, then kept walking, moving up to flank my mother.

Other wolves stared at us, their eyes narrowing on her, her human scent everywhere, but none of them looked like they were going to attack. They were more curious.

The three alphas that enclosed us were huge, intimidating, and wore scowls so perfect that I’d be surprised if any of the other wolves even breathed when they passed, making sure they didn’t piss them off.

We moved through the city, finally stopping at a small stone building near the east wall.

It had large windows with wooden frames, a porch, and an amazing garden beaming with flowers, lined by a small hedge.

A man was in the garden, digging and troweling as he hummed. I raised a brow, and Derik smiled.

“He’s a little eccentric. But he is the best doctor we have. He’s obsessed with flowers,” he said, and stepped forward.

“Actually, I am obsessed with their healing properties, Derik, but thank you for the introduction. I assume this is Lorelai Valarian, the pregnant winter born?” the man said, standing and brushing the soil from his pants.

He was tall and had an impressive look, even considering the graying hair at the sides of his slicked-back black hair. He wore a loose white cotton shirt.

Derik placed me down and nodded as the doctor came forward.

“I am,” I said. “And this is my mother, Pearl Valarian. She’s—”

“—a stunning specimen. Welcome, Pearl,” he said, grabbing her hand and kissing it, looking over her intensely.

Mom stammered a little before blushing, her other hand going to her chest as she smiled. “Uh, thank you, Dr…?”

“Call me Galen,” he said in a seductive voice that even made me blush.

Kai chuckled. “Should we give you two some privacy?” he teased.

I rolled my eyes, but Galen eyed my mother like he was waiting for her to decide on that. Everything went silent before she realized she was actually meant to answer.

“Oh, gosh, uh, no thank you, Kai. I’m here for my daughter,” she said, her blush telling me she was flattered.

I smiled. Maybe wolves and humans were more right for each other than originally thought.

“Another time then.” Galen patted her hand, then walked over to me.

His eyes were intense as they took me in, huddled in my blanket, the sun breaking through gray clouds to lighten the day around us.

“Lorelai. Come,” he said, then turned away and led us inside the home.

It was cozy, covered in plants and flowers. My mother looked like she was in heaven, drawn to each plant as she looked them over.

The room was huge, bigger than it looked on the outside.

There was a loft upstairs, outlined in a wooden railing, which contained his bedroom, but downstairs was a big, open space with a medical bed and supplies. It was clear of plants and led into a lab setting.

His kitchenette and living area were along the opposite side of the home, the half we had entered in, a direct divide between cozy and homey to clinical and clean.

He led me to the bed and sat on the stool next to it.

“Lie down, please,” he said, and I frowned.

“You know why we are here?” I asked.

He nodded. “Of course. I have been expecting you since you got here. A hybrid alpha being birthed from a human? Exceptional circumstances.

“I’m sure I am the only wolf here that will be able to give accurate information,” he said, grabbing a notebook and scribbling notes down as the alphas and my mother surrounded the bed.

“What about Cain?” He had been pretty insightful so far.

“Ahh yes. Our other hybrid. He is magically connected, sure, but I am sure you’d like to know if the human part of your fetus is developing as normal? Facing the right way?”

He smiled, and I nodded. My mother grabbed my hand, her eyes on the doctor, that telltale blush on her cheeks.

The doctor reached for my dress, pausing when three growls echoed through the space. He eyed them before huffing and pulling back.

“You three. Out,” he ordered, and they all snarled in return.

Galen stood, his eyes furious. “You have brought me an extremely complicated case on my day off, and to work out her baby’s vitals and structure, I need to concentrate, which I cannot do with you three pulling the mate and alpha ranks on me.

“This is my home, one I have opened my door to for you. You will respect my authority in it. Get. Out,” he said, obviously seething, but in a way that was polite and intense.

My mother clutched my hand tightly, but I rubbed a soothing thumb over hers. Kai kicked a chair closer and sank down into it, clearly refusing to leave. Derik looked hesitant, and Brax didn’t move.

Galen narrowed his eyes on them.

“We were just challenged. Despite dealing with the threat, the entire city knows of the quickest way to get to us. We are not comfortable leaving her alone yet,” Derik explained, ever the diplomat.

Galen looked between us, then sighed irritably and sat back down. “Fine. But no snarling or growling. I have to touch her—as a physician, nothing more,” he said.

I trusted him; I just had to wait until my alphas did.

They all stayed silent, building the tension until Derik finally nodded.

Galen nodded back, then tore a hole in my dress, letting my stomach pop through. He rubbed his hands together before placing them on my stomach and pressing.

He nudged the bump around, the ache intensifying as he got lower. He frowned then and pressed his fingers along the width of my pelvis.

I gripped Mom’s hand and waited for him to say anything about what he was thinking, but the minutes passed silently.

He started going between feeling my stomach, the pressure increasing, to the notes in his book and back again.

I sucked in a breath as his fingers pressed in harder, the pain a little worse. His eyes flickered to mine before he frowned, muttering to himself and going back to his notebook.

He went to press in again when Brax’s hand snapped out and grabbed Galen’s before it could touch me.

“Gonna need a bit of information before you put your hands back on her, Doc,” Brax said, and Galen sighed, sitting back on his stool and grabbing his notebooks.

“The baby is the size of a six-month fetus; I understand it hasn’t been that long since conception.

“That isn’t too concerning, except for the fact that winter is around the corner and judging by the accelerated timeline, this child will be born in that window,” he said.

The tension thickened. Everyone knew that a winter born in any race was not ideal. Would this child be like Brax or me? Would it even be a wolf? It didn’t matter to me, but it might to the pack.

“Her pain in the lower abdomen could be normal growing and stretching, but I’m concerned the pressure of growing so quickly is putting strain on her placenta.

“The toxins and potion are keeping the child healthy in a werewolf way, but Lorelai has a human body. I’m not sure how strong we can let the fetus get before she will have to birth.”

He kept explaining. It was all stuff I had expected, but it still came as a little bit of a shock since it was so real now, the idea that I was going to have a child, a hybrid child born to alphas.

It’d be strong and tear me apart for sure.

“The birth, how will it go?” I asked, and he sighed heavily.

“Unfortunately, that is one of the things I cannot get any accurate information on.

“There are two options. One, you go into labor naturally and birth the hybrid like a human or a wolf. Staying calm will be the only way for that to happen. Otherwise, the second option is this child could turn and tear you apart.

“That is for Cain’s abilities to decipher, I’m afraid. As for me, I can tell you you need to drink more water. Being dehydrated won’t help with the pain.

“You also need to be keeping yourself fed. As much as I am sure these alphas have you occupied most of the time, you need to keep up as much strength as possible.

“I’m going to give you some herbs from my garden to help, they’ll keep you hungry so you remember to eat, and then others will help with vitamins and all of that,” he said, standing up as Derik held his hand out for the notebook.

Galen handed it over, then looked at my mom. “Pearl, you look like someone who appreciates the value of our plant life. Would you care to join me in the garden?

“I daresay the herbs you pick will be of the most help in this situation; magic has a way of leading us to what we need through connections we can’t see,” he said, and even me with my winter born mind picked up the double meaning.

She blushed and nodded before looking down at me. “You’ll be okay here?” she asked, and I nodded.

“I’m okay,” I said, closing my torn dress and pulling the blanket over me.

She gave my hand a squeeze, then went with Galen out the front door.

I smiled after her. “He is strange, but he seems nice,” I said.

Derik frowned. “He is one of our more polite wolves. His beast stays on lockdown for most of the year,” he murmured, still looking over the notes.

I frowned at the implication that his control wasn’t guaranteed. “He has flipped out before?”

“Last year. He’s big on respect. He was disrespected. Can’t say I blame him. He is a little…frigid.” Kai smirked.

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“It was the heat. A female assumed because he wasn’t mated that he would be joining, but he never does. Somehow he resists. Says he is waiting for the one.

“She laughed at him for it, and he killed her. She was beneath him anyway so it wasn’t too big of a deal, but everyone stopped harassing him after that,” Brax said, sitting on the end of my bed.

I was about to respond when Derik snapped the book shut and chucked it on the tray next to the bed. We all turned to him, and he ran a hand over his head before he clenched his fists and stalked away.

“Derik?” I asked, and he spun to me.

He came forward, finding my mouth and kissing it fiercely before holding my face between his hands.

“I’m sorry, beautiful,” he said, and I frowned.

“For?” I asked, not complaining if it meant more kisses.

“We should have looked after you better. We have been neglecting your human needs in favor of ours, assuming magic alone would keep you alive, but we were wrong. For that I am sorry,” he said.

My heart warmed. “I’m okay,” I said, but he shook his head, grabbing the book.

“Not according to this, you’re not. But we’ll fix it. No more sex until you are better—human standard better,” he decided, and my jaw dropped.

Brax raised a brow, and Kai just flat-out refused.

“No sex for you maybe, but I’m—” Kai started, but Derik shoved the book at him and he frowned, flicking through the pages before his lips pursed.

He handed it to Brax, and I huffed.

“So I’ll eat and drink more, but I have other needs,” I tried, but even Kai shook his head this time.

“Nope. Not right now. Let’s just get your human body better,” he said patronizingly, and I rolled my eyes, sinking down on the bed.

“I feel fine. I don’t need to be punished.”

I sulked, and Derik kissed me softly again.

“Not punished, looked after, like we promised to do. We need to remember meal times and make sure you are drinking.”

“And resting,” Brax breathed.

I frowned, reaching for the book, but he pulled it out of my reach and handed it back to Derik.

“No stressing for the pregnant human,” Derik said before putting the book out of my reach again.

I sighed and leaned back. Fine. I trusted them. If I had to rest and eat and drink then I would, but the no sex thing seemed unfair.

“The easiest way for me not to stress is definitely taking my mind off matters.” I smirked, and Kai laughed.

“For every day you eat three meals with snacks in between and eight glasses of water minimum, I’ll let you cum,” Kai bargained, and I grinned.

“Deal.”

He sealed it with a kiss that made me want to go stuff my face right then to make sure I was going to get my reward.

He pulled back just as Galen and my mom came back in.

She had a basket of herbs and flowers that she put on the bench by the lab area, her eyes lighting up at all the fancy equipment that we had no hope of experiencing in the human villages.

“Lorelai, your mother is going to help me mix the right things for your daily vitamins. In the meantime, I suggest you go and find some food.

“I’d like to see you back every week to replenish supplies and to monitor your and the baby’s weight. The positioning of the child too,” Galen said.

I was still stuck on the fact that my mother was going to stay with him. He was a wolf, she was a human, and she was usually so aware of that fact. Either the herbs had gotten to her brain or Galen had.

“I’ll be back to collect Lorelai’s mother and the herbs. How long will you need?” Derik asked, and Galen held his chin, thinking hard about the answer.

“Three hours, forty-two minutes, fifteen seconds.” He gave a precise number, and I held back my chuckle.

“Right. I’ll be back then,” Derik said as my mom came over.

“Are you sure you are okay here, Mom?”

She nodded. “Yes, sweetie. I’m in my element here, and I would like to make sure no extra herbs or concoctions are being made that could harm you.

“Not that I don’t trust your judgment, Galen, I just need to make sure,” she said, looking over at the doctor, who didn’t seem offended in the slightest.

I nodded, then looked at my alphas. “She’ll be safe here?”

“Galen is an elder. No one will harm her while she is with him and a guest of the alphas,” Derik said, and I raised a brow.

Hmm, him and his secret elders. I still had to ask him about his parents.

He narrowed his eyes on me with a stern warning written in them, but I didn’t care. I deserved to know, and I wanted the answers he still hid from me, especially since we were now mated.

Our lives were entwined by the fates whether his parents liked it or not.