18. Dominic

Chapter 18

Dominic

I t was amazing how much the body could change in just a few weeks’ time. Three weeks ago, when I met Frederick’s parents for the first time, I didn’t appear pregnant. Now, I had what Frederick called “the most adorable baby bump”. I smiled as I walked along the pathway between our house and the omega clinic. We were having our ultrasound today, and I was excited to see how things were progressing.

The weather, although not exactly warm, it certainly was warmer than it was several weeks ago. The sun was peeking out of the clouds every so often, but the most important thing was that the wind had stopped blowing. It would take time for me to adjust to that aspect of living here on top of a mountain in Montana.

Frederick was at work, and would meet me at the omega clinic for our ultrasound so we could see our little guy for the first time. I was excited, and it was finally starting to sink in that this was my life now. I had found love, and we were going to start a family together. I placed my hand on my lower stomach and felt a flutter inside of me. That was our son, our little baby that we’d created together.

I was lost in thought thinking about our new addition when there was suddenly a bright shimmer in front of me. It caused me to stop abruptly, because I had no clue as to what it was. I took a step back when it appeared to be getting closer to me, but I wasn’t nearly fast enough. My first instinct was to throw a ball of magic at it, but that quickly dissipated when I felt myself wrapped up in warmth. There was no threat, and if anything, a sense of peace and calmness was surrounding me.

“Are you the entity that is on the mountain?” I asked it. “Are you the one who looks after the pregnant omegas?” I glanced around, wondering if I was suddenly in danger from something else nearby. I didn’t see anything, nor did I sense that I wasn’t alone. The only thing here with me was the warm breeze that I could swear was giving me a hug. I heard what sounded like a quiet jingle, and then the warmth was suddenly gone. I looked to my right and watched as whatever it was suddenly disappeared between the trees. That was odd, but after the initial contact, I didn’t feel as if I were in any danger.

I stared after it for a moment before I shook my head and then continued on my way. The breeze picked up, and after the warmth that had surrounded me, the wind felt cold. This caused me to shiver, and I decided that I could get a walk in another time. I was more than ready to get out of the weather, so I used magic and teleported myself to just in front of the omega clinic.

I was surprised to see Frederick already there. He had been walking toward the door, but changed direction and instead was now headed directly toward me. Our appointment wasn’t for another fifteen minutes, but he apparently had planned on being early.

“Are you all right?” He asked me.

“Why wouldn’t I be? I was thinking I would walk here, but the breeze was a bit chillier than anticipated so I decided to use a little magic.”

Frederick stared at me for a long moment before he nodded. “Perhaps that’s what I was sensing through our bond.”

I looked at him and shook my head. “Maybe. More likely it was my moment of panic that I felt when I was suddenly surrounded by a warm shimmer. I was lost in thought thinking about the baby, and I didn’t see it until I basically walked right into it.”

Frederick’s eyes rounded. “Were you hurt?”

I shook my head. “No. It felt as if whatever it was, it only wished to give me a hug. I looked around and I saw nothing and nobody on the path with me. I was there with only whatever that entity is.”

“Where?” Frederick seemed upset, and that wasn’t what I wanted.

“Between here and the house on the pathway. I was maybe five minutes from the house. Whatever it was, the shimmer seemed to circle me before it gave me a hug. It lingered for a moment before it trailed off and disappeared into the trees. I don’t know what it was. But it definitely didn’t feel threatening”

Frederick looked as if he wanted to chase after it but instead, he simply nodded and then wrapped his arms around me.

“I’m not going to be controlling, and I’m not going to tell you that you can’t leave the house. I am only going to ask that you please keep our bond open and let me know if you ever feel as if you were in danger. I understand you can take care of yourself, but I love you and the need to protect you is overwhelming at times.”

I could certainly accept that. “I understand,” I told him before I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. “Should we go in and see if Dr. King is ready for us? We’re a little early, but maybe he’s not busy.”

Frederick nodded before he pulled away. He opened the door for me, and after we entered the clinic, we were greeted by not only Dr. King, but Todd as well. Dr. King happened to be in the waiting room leaning against the front counter and talking to Todd, his office assistant. I had heard that his office manager had, according to him, sadly decided to stay home with his twins. Dr. King of course supported Cecil’s decision, but Todd, who was there to replace Cecil, was still struggling to figure out the computer system. And wasn’t it just a tiny little world? Cecil was Warwick’s mate, and they were the proud fathers to twin hellhounds.

As we approached the counter, Dr. King stood up and offered us a friendly smile. “There is the expecting couple. Are you ready to see your baby for the first time?”

“We are,” I told him. “I think that Frederick might be more excited about it than I am,” I said, teasing my One. Frederick knew I wasn’t upset, nor was I being too serious. In fact, I loved that he was so excited about the new life we were creating together.

“That is good to hear. Shall we?” Dr. King asked.

After smiling at Todd, we followed Dr. King down the short hallway and into the second room on the right. Since this wasn’t my first visit at the clinic, I knew that I needed to climb up onto the exam table. Thankfully, it was sitting somewhat upright, and was quite comfortable. When I reclined back and got settled, immediately I relaxed. This was an ultrasound, a magical one at that. There was no need for me to be so worried and nervous.

“So tell me how you have been feeling,” Dr. King said. “Any sickness? Aches? Pains? Food aversions? Anything amiss?”

I shook my head as he asked questions. This pregnancy, I had learned, had been a dream and many omegas and carriers would love to experience a pregnancy such as mine.

“No, none of that,” I responded. “The only thing that I’ve really noticed is that my sexual need has increased. It was already fairly high before I became pregnant, and I really wasn’t expecting it to increase, but it has.”

Dr. King chuckled “That is most certainly expected at this phase of your pregnancy. I have very rarely met an alpha or sire that had issue with that aspect of pregnancy.”

Frederick snorted. “No issues from this sire either. I think having a healthy sex life is beneficial to our relationship and has helped strengthen our bond so quickly.”

“You are correct,” Dr. King said. “In my experience, mated couples that are more sexually active tend to have a stronger bond. I can say that until I am blue in the face, but some alpha just don’t seem to understand that. It is rare, but it does happen, sadly.”

I looked at Frederick in horror. How could an alpha not sexually desire his omega? Was that even possible? I was lucky in that not only did Frederick desire me, but he met me desire-for-desire.

“But we are not here to discuss the sexual doings of other couples,” Dr. King said, pulling my attention back to him. “Yours? Absolutely if you so wish or if you have questions. But if you have read through the book I provided to you during your initial appointment, you will know that sex, even rough sex, is perfectly safe up until the day you deliver as long as there is no pain associated with it. Once you experience pain or discomfort of any sort, it is time for sex to be shelved until at least a week postpartum. Personally, I truly recommend you wait at least three weeks, simply to give your body and mind time to adjust. Because we are paranormal beings, our body heals and rebounds within days. But that does not mean that mentally you will be ready to resume those activities two days after you give birth.”

I looked back at Frederick, who was shaking his head. “I’m good to wait however long it takes for him to tell me he’s ready. I do not see that as being an issue, as he already has no problems with telling me how he is feeling.”

I shrugged because it was true. We could be in the middle of having dinner and the mood would suddenly hit me. More than once we had stopped in the middle of a meal, and Frederick had stripped me naked and slid into me while I lay on the table. Those had certainly been enjoyable moments, and at times the memories alone were enough to cause us to take off running for the bedroom.

“Then I don’t see any need for us to have the sex talk in further detail. As always, I am here if you have any questions. You both have the clinic number, as well as my personal cell number. Feel free to call me anytime day or night if you have any questions or concerns that you feel are urgent.”

I still had nothing that I needed to discuss with him. I looked at Frederick, who once again shook his head.

“I don’t have any questions,” Frederick said. “I was going to ask when he was going to start showing, but it seems like in the last week his bump went from nothing to showing. It’s a cute little bump.”

Dr. King chuckled. “Yes. Dominic will show some, but he has a long torso, and since the two of you are both warlocks and warlock babies tend to be on the more slender side just as their parents are, I don’t foresee Dominic as becoming overly large during his pregnancies.”

Frederick nodded and seemed satisfied with the doctor’s response.

“Any other questions or concerns?”

“No,” I said after meeting Frederick’s eyes again.

“Good. Let’s get on with the fun part then.”

Several things happened all at once. The light in the room suddenly dimmed, the head of the table started to recline, and there was a sudden swoosh-swoosh sound that filled the room. I looked at Frederick in question, wondering what that sound was. It took a moment for me to realize that it was actually our baby’s heartbeat. When I realized what it was, my eyes widened in awe moments before they started to tear up. That was our baby’s heartbeat, and we could hear it.

In front of me, there was suddenly something fuzzy hovering above the table, and then it came into focus. There he was. There was a 4D image of our baby floating in the air in front of us.

“That’s him? That’s our little Enrico?” I asked.

“If you are naming your baby Enrico, then yes, that is your baby,” Dr. King told us. “His heartbeat is incredibly strong, and his organs are all developed to where they should be for his gestational age. I will let the two of you stare at him for a few minutes while I quickly get detailed measurements to make sure he’s exactly where he needs to be for his gestational age. At first glance, he looks as if everything is exactly as it should be.”

I couldn’t help it, my eyes had already filled with tears, and now they were running down my cheeks. That was our baby. That was my little Enrico. He looked so small. His tiny little fingers were perfect. As was his little nose.

I looked over at Frederick and fell even more in love with him as he stared at the image that was floating in the air. He was completely mesmerized by what he was seeing. Not that I blamed him. It was truly fascinating to see our baby, well an image of our baby floating in the air.

Frederick finally realized that I was no longer looking at her son, but him, and he leaned in to give me a gentle kiss. When his lips pulled away, he moved and whispered next to my ear. “You are by far the most amazing man I have ever known. I will never be able to convey to you just how much you mean to me. But I am so very happy that you are the one I am going to spend the rest of my life with. And that it is you who will be the other father of my children.”

If I hadn’t already been in love with Frederick, I would have fallen then in there in that moment. “I love you too,” I told him. He hadn’t said those exact words in that moment, but he hadn’t needed to. They were there among the ones he did speak.

Frederick smiled at me and then reached up to wipe away the tears that had started to fall from my eyes. When a tissue suddenly appeared in front of me, I took it without hesitation.

“It is very common for pregnancy to cause emotions to overflow,” Dr. King told me with a grin. “I see nothing amiss with your son. His development is exactly where it should be with both his organs as well as his bone development. Ten fingers, ten toes. Two ears, hands, arms, legs, and feet. I do not see anything that is catching my eye that we should be concerned about.”

“That’s all a good thing, though,” Frederick said.

Dr. King looked directly at us. “Yes.” He turned to his left, and after reaching for something, he turned back holding out a strip of paper. It only took a moment to realized it was several images of our baby, and I was incredibly thankful to have them.

The image of our son disappeared from the air the same time the lights in the room brightened and the head of the table rose slightly.

“We’ve already had the sex talk, so we don’t need to go over that again. I want to see you in a month for a quick check up unless you experience some sort of complication before then.”

“I can certainly do that,” I told him. I glanced at Frederick who I found was staring at the strip of images. When I looked back to Dr. King, he was smiling at Frederick. “We can do that,” I told him.

“Good.” Dr. King looked at us expectantly. “Any questions for me?”

“No.” I gently nudged Frederick’s shoulder, which finally grabbed his attention. He looked up at me in question, but I could only smile at him. “Do you have questions for the doctor?”

“Oh! No. The only one I really had, he already answered.”

I looked back to Dr. King who nodded before he stood up. “Very well then. Let’s get you scheduled for a month from now, and then I will let two of you get back to the rest of your day.”

With Frederick’s help, I slid down off of the exam table, and we follow Dr. King from the room. We made our appointment with Todd, with some assistance from Dr. King, and then we were on our way. Once outside, I pulled Frederick to me and gave him a lingering kiss. I was going to miss him for the next few hours, but he would be home soon enough.

“I’ll be waiting for you at home,” I told him after we pulled apart.

“What a coincidence,” Frederick said. “It just so happens that I have the rest of the day off so that means I get to go home with you. Can you think of something you would like to do once we get there?”

Immediately my body heated, and Frederick chuckled because he could feel the surge of desire as it rushed through my body through our bond. I knew that he would take care of me, and after he wrapped his arms around me and transported us to our bedroom, he did exactly that.