We kept that up. Before long, the doctor came in and he was laughing so hard, there were tears coming down his face.
“Good afternoon. Let’s get this ultrasound started. Everything else looks good on your vitals and weight. Any questions?”
I knew Striker wanted to ask about shifting since he loved it and hadn’t been able to in so long, but he said nothing. If the healer didn’t bring it up, I definitely would. I didn’t want Striker to keep shifting and running as his wolf if it meant harm to him or our pup.
Striker reached for my hand as the healer moved the wand around his belly, clicking the mouse and doing all kinds of screenshots of measurements and information. That went on for a few minutes and then he turned to us. “So, are we finding out the sex today? This pup has already shown me but if you don’t want to know…”
“We do,” I said. I might’ve been overly excited. They both chuckled. An overexuberant alpha and papa to be.
“How about you, Striker? I can tell your partner only if that’s what you prefer.”
“No. We both would like to know. Thank you.”
The healer maneuvered the wand around Striker’s belly and turned his head to get the right screenshot. “There you go. There’s a lack of…extremity here, so it’s definitely a girl. You two are dads to a daughter.”
“A girl,” Striker whispered.
I couldn’t help the tears that streamed down my face. All of this was real before but now…it was very real.
“I’ll give you two some time and then we need to discuss shifting, Striker.”
Striker sat up with my help and I wiped off his belly. “Wait, no. Please, tell me now. I was nervous to ask.”
The healer sighed and sat back down. “I think you are far enough along now that shifting might be dangerous for the baby. She is forming well and growing, but we don’t want todo anything to hurt her. So, I’m going to recommend no more shifting until you have this baby.”
Not the news Striker wanted to hear.
We left the healer and, on the way home, Striker said nothing.
He was scaring me. “Omega, I know it’s not the news you were hoping for but it’s only a few months more.”
“I know. My wolf already knew. I’m just sulking for a minute. And now I’m hungry.”
“Hungry I can fix. The other thing, not so much. But we could talk about baby names.”
Instantly, my mate lit up. “What do you think about Harlow?”
“Let’s make a list.”
Chapter Twenty
Striker
I was out of breath before we even got to the event, my first one as a real coach. Not as a sideliner with good advice. Not as an assistant or a helper. This was my team now.
Andrew made it first and bounced on his toes, waiting for the others. He gave them all a high-five and told everyone they could do it and good luck.
Andrew was our mascot without the costume. The cheerleader. The inspiration.
All these kids were an inspiration.
This time, the competition was for real. They were qualifying for regionals. They had gotten through the local qualifiers and ranked in the top fifty but, today, they had to rank in the top twenty in order to make it to the next level. We only had ten kids on the team, so we had a good shot.
Plus, my kids were awesome.
“If I asked you to sit down, would you?” Wulf said from beside me. He wore a T-shirt with the name of our team and had everything matching. Shorts. Socks. Shoes. Hat. Everything. The man was all in. Sometimes, I thought he was more invested than me.
“Nope. Not today.”
