Chapter Nineteen

Ricky

"How long?" I gawped, wiggling a finger in my ear because Burke couldn't have said what he'd said.

"Two hundred-seventy-three-days, give or take," he answered me again as I eyed his dancing belly, trying to consider how big my little bull would be at the end of his pregnancy.

I patted his hand, continuing to cuddle him against my chest as I stared at the wall over his head, unseeingly. Crimson?

Hmmm?

Crimson, how long do stalk pregnancies last?

We'd started this conversation after Glass had left, looking like he'd gotten a kick to the nuts when Apollo didn't get up and follow him to the door as he clearly wanted. Lions were clearly good at holding a grudge. Then things had gone a little rhubarb-shaped.

Drew had given Apollo an eye roll that left no one in doubt he thought Apollo was being a dick. Then Randy had offered to take Apollo's mate off his hands and that had led to a bloody lip and a black eye, despite it being a joke. We could all see he was joking, but not Apollo.

To avoid the drama, I'd hurried Burke out of the room, much like Maximus had done with Tim, and we'd come up to his room. Then I'd started this silly conversation—

Stalks vary from season to season, could be four weeks or eight to twelve. Is there a problem?

Oh, I'd stalk there is! Cows are pregnant for two hundred-seventy-three days. What does that mean for my bull? My stalks?

All of that I kept strictly for Crimson. My ballsy-bull did not need the stress, not when he got uncontrollable urges to do things he wouldn't normally. My brain was doing a pole dance, a complicated one that left me figuring out how to get me back on the ground, ready for a bull birthing like no other.

We don't have a doctor in town. We've never needed one. I could always figure things out. I think we need help.

You don't say! I wasn't willing to take any risks with my mate. Help from who? I was screeching, and my heart was beating hard enough to break free of my chest.

"What's wrong?" Burke lifted his head, his eyes narrowing as he looked up at me.

"It's… you see… oh Great Rhu. We need a doctor," I exclaimed, making a mockery of not sharing any stress with my mate.

His brows tugged together. "We do? For what?" he asked, confusion swimming in his eyes.

"Your pregnancy. Tim is just having stalks. You are having both stalks and a calf. The difference between the two… we need to figure out." I'd opted for the truth, then wished I hadn't when he mooed in distress.

"My babies." His hands cupped his little round belly. "What does that mean for my babies?" he continued.

"We'll figure it out, I swear we will." Won't we, Crimson? We'll figure this out. There was no way I wanted to be a liar.

I'll make some calls. That doc from Potatoville, he's been on the news talking about cross species. I'm sure he'll help us.

Cross species. I shuddered, not liking the implications of that, tucking Burke back against me and making soothing noises. "It's going to be fine. You, me, the babies, everything will work out. If an alpha wolf can give birth to potatoes and a potato can give birth to pups, we got this." Did I sound convincing?

"You promise?" Burke made an undignified sniffing noise, then pushed his face into the curve of my neck, snuffling.

"I promise." If I crossed my fingers when I replied and chose to send a request to the Great Rhu, my ballsy-bull didn't need to know.

~/~/~/~

Three days later

I smiled at the man—potato sat at the kitchen table drinking a cup of tea, looking right at home. Burke clung to my arm after he'd spent two hours letting Doc Picker examine him, draw blood and do a scan thing with a portable machine he'd brought with him in the bed of his truck. Doc Picker definitely had come prepared. "So, what can you tell us?"

He swallowed the sip of tea he'd taken and gave us both a kindly smile that crinkled the edges of his eyes.

Does he look worried to you?

No, baby.

Are you sure?

Yes.

"Now you have to know this ain't my area of expertise, but the girls all look to be the right size after talking to Crimson. I'll need to wait for the blood panel to come back, but I'd say from the scan, all your babies are growing at the same rate. The little calf is keeping up with your stalk."

"G-girl's," I said, choking with emotion.

"Yep, two girls," he replied, his grin spreading over his craggy face,

I looked at my ballsy-bull. "We're having girls!"

"I can hear," he muttered, then promptly burst into tears.

I quickly pushed my seat back from the table and scooped him up, placing him on my lap. I patted his back and gave Doc an apologetic smile. Burke clung to me, and I rocked him in my arms, thinking of it as practice.

"Hormones. They'll be rife for a while," Doc explained, before taking another sip of his tea, not looking at all concerned. "You'll get used to it."

He was looking at me when he said it, so I nodded, hoping like all rhubarb, we wouldn't get time to get used to the hormonal swings. "So the pregnancy, our girls, they're all alright?" I asked once more for clarity.

Doc nodded. "Looks like. Crimson has offered her spare room to me to stay at her house to be close by for you both. Support you through this."

"Don't you need to go home?" I asked, my brows rising when he looked at his cup wearing a scowl.

Oops, what have I said?

Huh?

Sorry, I was thinking about the potato, he looks… upset.

Burke glanced up, appearing happy to have a distraction. He does. He looks like Apollo.

You're right. Could be he has a mate he's having problems with too.

Apollo was being lion-headed, and Glass was letting everyone know how pissed he was about not getting any lion hugs.

"Nope, I'm not needed at home right now." When he glanced up, I had to focus. I got the impression whatever he was thinking about made him unhappy, especially with how his mouth tugged down at the corners. "So I'll stay and help here. I brought some soil to see if it helps as much as it does for our kind."

My thoughts changed track when Burke perked up at the idea. "That's generous. Maybe you might like to do some tests on our soil. It's magical too." Or it was for rhubarb.

"Great. I can do that after I've settled at Crimson's."

"I told you, I'm not doing it with him!" Apollo roared and Burke jerked out of my lap, running for the door.

"You are," Maximus roared back. "We are all pulling our weight watching the cameras, and it's your turn."

I darted up. "Sorry, looks like we have a situation."

He waved me away, placing his cup down, and getting up. "It's fine, I'll leave through the back door and take some soil. You know where I'll be if you need me." Then he slipped out the door as I went after Burke.

In the large living area, I went to stand behind Burke, rubbing his tense shoulders. Apollo was snarling at Maximus, who looked unconcerned.

"I ain't sitting with Glass for eight hours. Nope, not happening. Nope."

The doorbell rang, and everyone looked at the door before we all looked at Apollo. "Then you can tell him." On that, Maximus nodded to the rest of us. "You guys, let's give them some space."

We all trooped out of the room. "Do you think that will work?" Randy whispered to Burke.

He shrugged. "Who knows? I've never known Apollo to be as bull-headed as me," he whisper-shouted.

"Shush," Maximus murmured as we entered the kitchen before he shut the door. "Let's give them time to figure it out."

We'd set the monitors up in the upstairs attic after clearing it out, as it was the only empty room in the pride house. We'd all be taking turns with a rhubarb to watch the monitors.

Just the thought of it was boring, unless a stalk had his ballsy-bull sitting on his lap. I cheered up at that. Hours of being alone with my bull? That wasn't so bad. Maybe Glass could persuade Apollo to sit on his lap, that might make them a little less grumpy.

Talking about sitting on your lap…

I grinned and took hold of my ballsy-bulls hand. Whatever my baby wants.

Oh, ice cream with pickles… or pickles ice cream. He looked expectantly at me, his big brown eyes begging. Do you think they'll have that in town?

Wasn't he just the cutest? I gave him a lip-smacking kiss. Let's go find out.