Her chin lifted. “Only if I’m coming with you.”
That wouldn’t happen, but they’d argue about it after she gave him the information.
“All right, tell me the entire story,” he urged.
Chapter19
Early in the morning, Mia found herself back in Doc Sharon’s examination room, sitting on the worn leather table without paper this time. Apparently, the doctor had run out of the flimsy covering. Seth lounged across the room in a chair, watching her carefully.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing.” He was still bruised along his jawline, but most of the cuts on his body had healed. He seemed thoughtful, but she couldn’t decipher the energy rolling off him.
“What are you thinking?”
The door opened, and Doc Sharon entered before Seth could answer. She held a stack of papers in her hands and kicked the door shut behind her with one pristine white tennis shoe. Today, the healer wore pressed black pants, a bright purple shirt, and a neon pink lab coat. Her dark hair was up on her head, and the gray woven throughout sparkled beneath the dim light.
“Mia, you’re pregnant,” she said.
Mia took a deep breath. “I’m aware.” The test had been more than clear, and she’d been honest with the healer about the timing of the pregnancy. “I need some direction here. Please, tell me you have records dealing with a similar situation.” The need to protect this baby was heated and strong inside her, and knowledge was power.
Doc Sharon shrugged. “That’s pretty much all I can tell you.” She chewed on the inside of her lip. “I went through the archives and took photocopies of some old journals from earlier healers—a few of us like to keep records. I did find one from about four hundred years ago, in calligraphy no less, referencing the birth of a baby born of a wolf shifter and a human.”
She handed the papers to Mia. The writing was scrawled and difficult to decipher.
“Any chance you read these?” Mia asked, pushing her hair over her shoulder.
The doctor leaned against the bright orange counter. “Sure. I learned calligraphy for fun when I was about seventy. From what I could read, um, it’s not good. Apparently, the child was born faster and stronger than any kid at that age, but he was also…” She shrugged. “Feral.”
Coiled fire rolled through Mia’s stomach. “Feral?”
“That’s what the records depict.” Sharon nodded. “But I don’t know anything more than that about the situation. The pup was from a pack outside ours that somehow ended up consulting with my great-grandmother, and she took copious notes—based on secondhand accounts. It was a different time. The kid might not have been feral. He may have just been a little wild.” She cut a look toward Seth. “Like you. You were totally wild as a kid, so it’s entirely possible they misdiagnosed the child four centuries ago.”
“What happened to him?” Mia asked, her chest aching.
“Don’t know,” Sharon said. “The offspring was from a pack in Texas, and I’m not even sure how their healer and my ancestor communicated. She just cataloged what she’d heard. The child was around four years old when she gained her information. My guess? His parents left the pack and made their way alone.”
That was exactly what Seth had wanted to avoid. Mia looked at him, trying to read his thoughts. “So, is it the concern that the child may be feral…or that he or she is just more powerful? Stronger and faster than other wolf shifters?”
Sharon nodded, approval in her eyes. “Good catch. I can’t really see the other packs giving a hoot if you have a feral kid on your hands. I can, however, see them being proactive about you creating such a badass. Man, I hope it’s a girl.”
Seth didn’t visibly react. “You’ve been around for a while, Doc. Can you scent the baby?”
“I’d need another several decades to determine what you think the old shifter from the Copper Pack smelled at that pharmacy.” She frowned. “Although once in a blue moon, we get a shifter who develops their senses early. So, keep that in mind.”
Mia glanced at Seth. “You can’t scent a baby?” It seemed so weird to be asking such a strange question, but at this point, she was all-in.
Seth shook his head. “No, I’m only in my thirties. I won’t be able to do anything like that until I’m at least a hundred.” He glanced at his watch.
Doc Sharon followed his gaze. “Don’t we have the mandatory all-pack meeting today?”
“We do,” Seth confirmed. “In about three hours.”
Sharon cast a worried glance toward Mia. “There are pack members in their three hundreds, as well as especially gifted ones, who will be able to smell the babe. If you conceived this baby before you two mated, some folks in the pack will know it.” She shrugged. “Most won’t care, but anybody who doesn’t like you as Alpha or wants to take you out in the future won’t like you possibly having enhanced offspring. You’re dangerous enough as is, Seth.”
“I’m aware of that,” he said quietly.
Sharon shook her head and straightened. “But Mia needs to be at the meeting. She’s your mate, and you’re newly mated, making you the new Alpha. She can’tnotbe at the meeting.” The woman wrung her hands together. “It’s imperative you show a strong front. Together.”
