“I’ll be right back,” Mac assured him, taking the vials of Theo’s blood with him.
“Take your time…I’ll still be here.” Theo waited until Mac’s footsteps faded away before jumping down from the exam table. Chewing his bottom lip, he paced the room trying to rationalize leaving before Mac completed his exam.He has my blood…that should tell him I’m fine…right? What more will poking me tell him? That I’m ticklish?That was a closely guarded secret only pooh bear knew…and that bully in third grade. But after pooh bear came to his rescue, he had nothing to fear from that asshole ever again.
Theo hadn’t thought about that day in a long time, but now, looking back, realized it was the day he fell in love with pooh bear. Not that he knew what the feeling was, only that Norm was going to be someone important in his life.I was right! He’s my everything…the love of my life…the man I need more than my next breath of air.
Without warning, Theo’s tears started to flow again. Brushing them away hurriedly, he fell to his knees in despair. Steel was right and Theo couldn’t ignore it anymore. In his mind, he saw himself lying in bed, pale and lifeless as his pooh bear begged him to stay with him. Yes, that had to be why he was crying so much because his bear knew what was happening to him, to both of them, and his bear knew he would suffer the same fate.
A new round of tears began when Theo realized his bear—his sweet and loving bear—would lose his life all because he was fatally ill. Gasping as another thought popped into his head, he broke down completely; his death would also mean the death of pooh bear. Soul-deep sobs filled the room as Theo’s tears began to puddle on the floor. It was too much to endure. To lose his life before he married his pooh bear, before they had cubs, was bad enough, but then to die knowing what would happen to his pooh bear was…was…
~/~/~/~/~
Norm had headed down to the hospital after Steel told him Theo had agreed to see Mac. He didn’t expect Mac to find anything physically wrong with his honey bunch, but it would be good to rule out that possibility. Walking toward Mac’s office, he figured he’d be just in time to hear his Theo was fine.
He was stopped cold by the sound of a plaintive wail full of pain and despair, reaching him. Panicking, he raced down the hall, screaming Theo’s name, frantically opening closed doors only to see empty rooms, his search finally ending when Mac rushed toward him.
Grabbing Norm’s shoulders, Mac saw his bear lurking in his eyes and, shaking him hard, finally got them to focus on him. When the wildness in Norm’s eyes finally subsided slightly, he asked, “What’s the matter? Where’s your injury?” In the silence that followed his questions, Mac finally heard Theo’s sobbing. Turning his head towards the examination room his patient was in, he muttered, “What the fuck?”
Following Mac’s gaze, it took Norm only a second to figure out where his Theo was. Breaking from the doctor’s grasp, he ran to the room, slamming the door open, searching until his eyes found Theo on the floor. His sobs sounded even more heart-wrenching than they had from in the hall. Crouching down next to Theo’s huddled form, Norm gently gathered him in his arms, softly crooning words of comfort and love as he held his mate’s head close to his chest.
Rising, he carried his honeybunch over to the love seat against the far wall, then sat down, holding his mate tight to his chest. After a while, the dreadful sobs subsided and Theo fell asleep. Looking down at the face he loved more than life itself, he saw the dark circles under his fiancé’s eyes. Since Theo was unable to answer his questions, he looked up at Mac, knowing it had to be terrible news. “What’s wrong with Theo?”
“Nothing…as far as I can tell…well, I haven’t completed my examination yet, but according to his blood work, Theo’s in perfect health. Of course, I would want to do an ultrasound to make sure his cub is healthy but I don’t expect there’ll be any problems.”
Blinking once, then twice, Norm was flummoxed. Thinking he’d misheard Mac, he asked, “Can you repeat that?”
“Uhm sure…I said Theo is in perfect…”
“No…fast forward a bit…the part about Theo being pregnant.”
“Oh,” Mac grinned. “Theo is expecting a cub…I’m guessing about five months from now. Of course, it’s just a guesstimate; I should be able to narrow it down after a bit of research on Ghost Bears.”
Stunned, Norm stared at Mac in disbelief. “A baby? We’re going to have a baby? That’s impossible!”
Chapter 13
“I assure you Theo’s pregnant,” Mac insisted. “If you want, I can always run the blood test again although I’m certain it will produce the same results.”
Bewildered, Norm stared at Mac. “No…I just don’t understand…how can Theo be pregnant?”
“Well…sex is usually involved,” grinned Mac.
“No shit, Einstein…that’s not what I meant.”
“Oh…because you haven’t found your third?” Mac guessed.
“Ghost Bears shifters don’t mate in threes.”
“Really? I always thought all bear shifters had three mates,” mused Mac.
“I can’t say what other types of bear shifters do, but with Ghost Bears it’s always been just two…as far as I know.”
“I wonder why that is,” Mac murmured.
“There are too few of us, from what my parents said.”
“Interesting…further research for me to do,” Mac said, smiling. “Okay, if that’s the case, why are you claiming Theo can’t be pregnant?”
“Because we haven’t said the sacred words at our wedding ceremony, yet.”
