I Dated a Mob Wolf by Viola Grace
Chapter Twenty
She groaned as he rocked into her from behind. It seemed that a canine with a mate was the best alarm clock she could have asked for. He was tender, thorough, and had begun to gently rouse her from sleep right on time.
Her hands were over his on her breasts and clit. He was lapping at her marks, which sent thick hums of lust through her. He slowly slid inside her and dragged out, and she twisted against him.
He thrust in and stopped just short of embedding the knot. He shuddered against her and groaned low. He stroked her clit with slow circles, and she moaned and arched back against him after a few sliding touches.
They panted together, and he chuckled. “Not as good as with the knot, but a nice way to start the day.”
She chuckled. “And I don’t have to work to get the tissue back into normal shape before they slide the scanner in there.”
He whispered, “Will the sperm show up on the scan?”
“No. You are still snipped for now. Shooting blanks, as it were. Did you want me to turn it back on now or when we are looking into a second child?”
He blinked and smiled. “You are thinking about a second?”
“Yeah, I am. If I make it through this one, and thanks to Khytten, I think I will, I have no issue going for one or two more.”
He kissed her shoulder and said, “I can wait to reload.”
She laughed. “So, after the baby is born, we just need to wait until I go into heat again.”
He licked her shoulder. “So, October.”
She turned to look at him. “Seriously?”
He grinned. “I am good with numbers, and I like to schedule things. Your heat should activate at the end of October or beginning of November.”
“So, when do you think the baby will be here?”
“Based on average active pregnancies, late August or early September.”
She blinked. “That is a really close guess.”
“And you have accelerated healing, which means that sex will be back on the table sometime in October, and your heat will kick in shortly after.”
“What happens if it doesn’t? Breastfeeding delays these things.”
He shrugged. “Then, I wait. Whenever you are ready, I’ll be ready. Possibly lying in our bed naked with a rose in my teeth, just so you don’t get the wrong idea.”
She laughed, and they got up to shower and have breakfast. This was the big day. The appointment where they found out if they were going to have a little Vallu or a little Etgar. Either way, the child would be a Daycross.
They got in the car, and even the guards were rather excited today.
“So, you have an OB on the island?”
“Yes, she will be happy to treat you. I have spoken with her already. You can see her this afternoon if you like.”
“Will she treat actives?”
“Of course. That is the majority of her practice.”
“Good. This place doesn’t specialize in actives, so they are a little nervous around me.” She glanced at him. “Oh. Shit.”
Rejik laughed.
Etgar looked at her innocently. “What?”
Vallu soon learned that when you arrived at the scan office with a seven-foot wolfman, you went right in. Etgar selected one of every pamphlet he could find and sat there reading it while she changed for the ultrasound.
The technician came in when she was settled on the exam bed, and the woman eased past Etgar as she turned on the equipment, and she looked at the gel. “Sorry, Miss Vallu, it is going to be cold.”
Etgar said, “Hand it to me.”
The tech frowned and looked between them. “Miss Vallu, this is your, uh, friend?” She handed the container over, and Etgar enclosed it in his fist.
“He is the father. I met him at work.” She smiled. It sounded so innocent unless you knew what her occupation had been.
“Ah.”
He handed the container back, and the tech jumped. “Yeah, that will be nice and warm for a while.”
There was the placement of the sheet, the hiking of the med gown, and the gel snerted all over the bump.
Vallu chuckled. “That noise never gets better. We want pictures, as detailed as you can get.”
“You want to know if it’s male or female?”
Etgar nodded. “Yes, please. Decorating in neutrals is frustrating, and my mother wishes to lay in a wardrobe.”
Vallu chuckled. The wand was applied, and the small image began to take shape on the screen. She felt a flutter and saw the small creature flexing on the screen. “Oh, wow.”
Etgar took her hand, and they both watched the tiny creature in black and white. The tech took image after image and made copies for them.
Etgar looked at them, and it was as if his breath had been knocked out of him. “So, the sex?”
The tech wiped the goo off Vallu’s belly. “I am going to prepare my report. You can wait in the doctor’s office.”
Etgar asked, “Why can’t you tell us?”
Vallu squeezed his hand. “Because people get angry when it isn’t the one they expect, and then, they challenge the findings. We will find out today. I had the bloodwork done ten days ago.”
He frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She sat up and pulled her tunic down. “Because it has been a very busy week.”
She snorted and hopped to her feet, walking to her clothing. She got dressed and was back in the heels, heading for the reception area. The woman saw them coming, met them halfway, and redirected them to the doctor’s office.
Etgar murmured, “I get the idea that they are a little nervous about having you as a patient.”
She snorted and elbowed him. He playfully wrestled her into his lap, and they were sitting together, foreheads touching when the doctor came in.
Vallu looked up but didn’t get out of his lap. “Hey, Doc.”
The doctor blinked. “This is...”
“Etgar. He’s the father.”
“Are you sure? You did mention that you were an escort.”
She tensed, and he stroked her back. “I am sure. I am only fertile twice a year, and I made sure that he was the only person I was with those days.”
“Days?” the doctor’s brows rose.
“Yeah. That is how long it lasts. The joys of an activation. You don’t get to pick them; you just have to learn to live with them.”
“Right. I wouldn’t know. So, the baby is looking healthy. What have you been doing to yourself?”
“Uh, nothing.” She couldn’t really explain that she had gotten a vial of breast milk from an assassin couple, and it had done the trick.
“Well, the walls of your uterus have thickened to a normal level, and if things remain stable, you are on your way to a shockingly normal pregnancy.”
“What is the gender?” Etgar rumbled.
The doctor looked at him, then at Vallu. “Did you want to know as well?”
“Yes.” She smiled slightly.
“Oh, well, your bloodwork says it’s male.” The doctor smiled weakly. “The rest of the levels from two weeks ago are all normal, so you can just come back for your regular scheduled checks.”
“Her care is being transferred to Daycross for convenience. Please, have your staff get her file ready.” He set Vallu on her feet. “You know what, we will just take the file now. Please, bill me accordingly.”
He flicked a business card onto the doctor’s desk and gathered the file and hard copies of the scans.
“You can’t take that. It is property of the clinic.”
He smiled and showed a lot of teeth. “You will find that I can, and it is property of the patient.”
Vallu watched him radiate power toward the doctor, and she quickly grabbed his hand. “Come on, love.” She didn’t want him scaring the doctor, and he was already halfway there.
He let out a low chuffing noise, and she calmed down a little. He took her bulging file, and they left the doctor’s office, ignoring the receptionist who begged them to go out the back.
Vallu let her teeth descend, and she nodded to a few young women in the waiting room. One of them blinked, and her eyes went serpentine. She winked and said, “Have a great day, Five.”
Vallu jolted and covered the view of the woman’s face with her hand, and she laughed. “Twenty-nine. You are carrying?”
“No, just here for some scans. I am donating eggs to my sister, so I have to get some screening done.” She looked at Vallu’s belly. “Congratulations. A little boy?”
“Yup. That is still sinking in.” Vallu asked, “Did Zera call?”
“She did. I will be there.”
Vallu left Etgar for a moment and hugged the other escort. “See you there.”
They left the office and had to wait for Rejik and Carl. The two came back wiping blood off their hands before Carl looked down with his eyebeams, destroying the evidence.
Rejik nodded. “You called it, boss. The Denwells were waiting by the back door with a kidnap kit... and a body bag.”
Vallu frowned. “What?”
“Your association with me has now made you a kidnap target. You didn’t think that the guys went with you for your own entertainment?” Etgar was flipping through the file.
“I thought that was to keep me from making a break for it.”
He chuckled. “That, too.”
The guys chuckled.
She deflated. “Damn. That’s unexpected.”
“The hostilities between families will calm as I extract more and more of our assets from involvement in their projects.”
“Oh. Right.”
He reached out an arm and pulled her close. “Come on, let’s go home and see if we can’t get you seen by a doctor that doesn’t consider you a necessary evil.”
“Bad notes?”
“Not great.” He was particularly tense.
“What did you read?”
“With your two-month scans and checks, she estimated your survival possibility at about thirty percent. She considered asking you to terminate, but you stated you knew the risks.”
“Well, I did. I do. It’s fine. I am fine. The ultrasound proved that the problem has fixed itself with Khytten’s help.” She patted his hand as they headed for the ferry.
He turned his hand and held hers. He pressed his forehead to hers. “You made me an emergency contact in case of an incident at the time of delivery.”
“Uh, yeah. Of course. You were always going to meet it; I just wanted to bring it into the world first.”
He smiled. “You know I am going to be there, right?”
She chuckled and nodded. She glanced toward the bodyguards. “I am sorry for any of you who are going to be near where I deliver. It’s gonna be loud and probably sweary.”
The guys laughed. “We can handle it.”
Olim gave a thumbs-up from the driver’s seat.
She chuckled. “Well, I have never been this relaxed or this clothed with this many guys at close proximity.”
The laughter in the car lasted until they were on the water and on the way home.
Etgar smiled. “Do you remember Khytten’s party?”
“Uh, yeah. It was just eight months ago.”
He pulled her into his lap and nuzzled her neck. “That was fun. But I prefer things a little more private. A lot more private.”
She chuckled. “You are starting foreplay in a car with four other men. That kind of private?”
He lifted his head, looked at the guys, and shrugged. “Still fewer people in the room. I could barely get it up.”
She laughed until she was weak. They had drawn a crowd at the party. Knowing what he looked like now, it was funnier when she imagined him surrounding her and covering her as they locked. They did it doggy style a lot as he didn’t get as much benefit from looking into her eyes.
“Please, tell me that you weren’t alpha’d up during that.”
He chuckled. “That many other males in the room? Of course, I was.” He sighed. “Don’t you remember?”
She chuckled. “We had all been given a shot by that point. It all blurs into one hot memory.”
Rejik blinked. “A shot?”
“One of the escorts, Eleven. She can program her breastmilk. With some help from her patron, she produced a shot for arousal. So, even folks who were nervous were suddenly very interested in contact with the escorts. The fuzzball here just picked me up and hauled me to a pile of pillows. Come to think of it, there wasn’t much talking, and he is normally very bossy.”
He growled against her neck.
She snickered. His thumb rubbed against her marks, and she gasped. Her body throbbed, and she felt a slick response. “Cheater.”
He grinned against her skin. “Any advantage I can get.”
“So, we are seeing the other doc today?”
Rejik piped up. “She’s having tea with Lady Daycross right now.”
Vallu blinked. “She makes house calls?”
He chuckled. “The doctor is my godmother. She delivered me.”
“Oh, boy. Well, at least she is familiar with your junk, even if scale is now a thing.” She muttered it around his thick neck.
Carl spluttered out a burst of laughter, and Etgar turned to fix him with a glare.
“Doc Emma is one of the most matter-of-fact people you will ever meet, and she has kept up her license for friends and family only.” He chuckled. “She likes babies, but there is no one better despite her age.”
She nodded and went along with it. When they got home and walked into the morning room where the ladies were having coffee, Vallu looked at the wizened woman who moved with the energy of a squirrel. “Good morning.”
Doc Emma looked at her with white eyes and smiled. “That has yet to be decided. Come on, I need to do a complete exam, and I am not going to do it in the morning room.”
The tiny woman grabbed Vallu’s hand and hauled her through the house and up the steps like she lived there.
Vallu looked back, but Lady Daycross had a firm grip on Etgar’s wrist.
Doc Emma hauled her into the bedroom and said, “Strip. I have to do a full exam, front and back.”
“Um, okay.”
“I am old. You are wasting time, Miss.”
“Vallu. My name is Vallu, Doc Emma.”
The woman smiled. “So, not just a mattress warmer. You are still... oh. You are quick.”
She chuckled. “I used to charge by the hour.”
Doc Emma blinked and laughed. “When did you retire?”
“Right on schedule. Twenty-one weeks ago.”
Emma looked at her belly and cackled. “Ah, so you meant to have it.”
“I did. It was planned. Well, it was my plan. He just found out last week.”
“You are sure it is Etgar’s? That shy boy couldn’t make any headway with the ladies.” Emma pulled her to the bed and got her to lay flat.
“He does fine with me.”
Emma paused. “He does, doesn’t he. Huh. I pegged him for running his father’s empire and brooding on an invisible throne, dissatisfied with the world around him. Now I am hearing from everyone that the empire is nearly dissolved, the family is making money from supporting ventures around the world, and the Daycrosses have more accessible funds now than they ever had in their history. It started five and a half years ago. I don’t suppose you know why that is, Miss. I mean, Vallu?”
Vallu blushed as the woman’s fingertips ran over her from head to toe, an inch at a time. She was being scanned. She could feel it.
“Uh, I have no idea about that. I worked for five years to afford to be with my child when I had it. I set up everything I could on my own funds, got a house, retirement income, college fund. Everything was in place. And then, I took my last date with Etgar.”
“And he hit you with the first shot.”
“We were together for four days, but yeah, I left with more than I arrived with.” She smiled. “And then, I retired before I could get fired for doing what I did.”
Emma laughed. “Flip over.”
She lay on her belly, and Emma ran the scan from head to toe, spending a lot of time on the mating marks. “What are these?”
“Uh, mating marks? It happens with biters. This way, another biter or alpha knows that I am taken. Also, any pressure is like a cheat code for a video game. It gets my arousal started.”
“Can I try it?”
Vallu blushed. “First, finish your baseline assessment, and then, you can touch them.”
Emma blinked. “Interesting. You don’t mind?”
“Etgar has gotten me pretty used to being handled. Plus, he is right outside the door, his ears perked up and listening.”
“Huh. I wouldn’t have expected it from such a shy boy. Those friends at school tried to bring him out of his shell, but it was difficult.” Emma continued her scanning. “He seems to have blossomed in the last few years. Your doing?”
“No idea. All I did was go on strings-free dates with him and cuddle. No personal or financial matters were discussed.”
“So, you really were one of those Blind Dates I have been hearing about?”
“Yup.”
“I hear they are expensive.”
“We are. Very.”
“You are an active.”
“Oh, yeah. I am a basic-level healer, but since the pregnancy manifested, I have fangs and cravings for Etgar’s blood as well as increased strength and reflexes.”
“Cravings for blood?”
“I am guessing it is an iron deficiency. Or an urge to bite him back. Not sure.”
Emma made it to her toes and nodded. “Okay, fairly healthy. The baby is very healthy.”
“It’s a boy?”
She laughed. “It is. Lady Daycross said you had some concerns?”
Vallu sat up. “I think a friend sent me repairs in a bottle. My family suffers from uterine rupture during delivery.”
“Even the men?”
“They suffer in their own way. The first pregnancy causes a lot of hemorrhages; the second usually causes death.”
“You are a healer, though. You should be able to repair the damage.”
“Yeah, but instinct will make me work on the child first, and I might not be conscious enough to take care of myself. I have to plan for every eventuality.”
Emma nodded. “Well, I will be there, dear. Now, let’s see what those marks do.”
There was pressure, there was a sharp exhalation, and Vallu’s body hummed to life.
Emma took another scan, and her eyes widened. “So, I can see why he would do that. It would certainly speed things along. You two had sex this morning?”
“We did. Not completely though.”
“Completely?”
Vallu looked at the woman and blushed. “Knotted. We didn’t do that because of my appointment this morning.”
“How long does it lock you together?”
“Anywhere from ten to thirty minutes.” She blushed. “Depending on how hard my orgasm is.”
The older woman laughed. “Well, it’s good to know that he puts the effort in to keep you. So, why all the marks. I thought they could do it with one?”
Vallu grimaced. “He wants me to wear necklaces to keep him in mind. And to make quickies more feasible.”
There was more laughter. “I am very happy that he has found someone who understands what he needs. Now, are you getting what you need?”
“Yeah. My niece can come and visit, he has set up a sewing room for me in the solarium, and I think if Lady Daycross moves to get away from the noise, the guestroom might have a steady stream of escorts who want a quiet vacation away from guys.” She chuckled. “So, I can have friends over because I don’t think I am going to travel much.”
“Yeah, you are right there. So, why didn’t you initially want him to know?”
Vallu sighed. “My choice. My dream. He didn’t need to be hauled along for the ride. And then, I finally saw his eyes. I hope my baby has his eyes.”
Emma blinked, and realization struck. “You wore a mask.”
“Yup. I only saw him in thermal imaging and greyscale. I saw he was warm, I felt he was furry, and I knew he had a fun sense of humour once he relaxed.”
“When did he relax with you?”
She smiled. “It started the second date, and he was bickering with me lightly by the third. By the fourth, all dignity was out the window.”
Emma nodded. “You can get dressed now. Well, I have to say, you make all of the young ladies I have been presenting to Etgar look like high school girls or gold diggers.”
Vallu snickered. “Please. Please, tell me that those ladies have been presenting to Etgar.” She was getting dressed.
There was a deep laugh from outside the door.
Emma blinked and frowned. “What am I missing?”
Vallu explained presenting to an alpha, and Emma’s eyes got wide. “Well, I hope not. They were introduced at the country club.”
