The Omega's Price

Chapter 18: A Home

The look on his mate's face was best described as dangerously stunned as Mew's focus remained on the doctor and his ass on the floor, "I'm sorry what?", he choked out.

"Our babies have... tails?" Gulf reiterated, shocked.

The doctor sent them both a beaming smile as she moved the wand and then pointed to the screen, "see that small dot right there? That's the beginnings of the tail protruding from the coccyx. Most litter babies will have a tail until their first shift, which starts around the age of five years old, sooner if you have an unstable alpha."

"Wait, wait, wait", Gulf said hurriedly, "our babies will shift? There haven't been shifters in decades!"

"Well, this is unprecedented but from our research and past medical cases, litter pregnancies will only produce offspring that can shift" she explained as she continued to stare at the monitor, "can one of you shift? I'm still uncertain as to how this happened. There hasn't been a case like yours, where a litter pregnancy occurred with neither parent being a shifter."

Gulf shook his head, "I can't shift... Mew... Mew? Paaka?"

Mew's head jerked around to Gulf as he increased volume, "kosdyr... our babies are special."

Gulf's face softened as he stared at his mate, he could just imagine the thoughts running through his mind and his fingers twitched to brush against him to peek.

"Of course, they are Mew, they're ours."

Their eyes continued to remain locked on the other until the doctor made a strange squeal, "you guys are so cute!"

They both jerked from their gaze and Mew smiled at the doctor shyly, "I uh... can't shift either. But we're going to need all of the information we can find about shifter babies."

"Hmm, one of you must have a latent gene or something, do you both mind if we take some samples? And of course, we have a special set of textbooks that give a detailed outline of shifter life in litter offspring. When to expect what and important milestones."

They both agreed to the samples and the doctor finished up the ultrasound as she muttered to herself, "uterus walls are healthy... one baby seems to be a bit smaller than the others, so it looks like we have a runt situation. Hmm I wonder if this one will move over to the side..."

Gulf interrupted her musings nervously, "uh... Dr. Kun what does a 'runt' mean? Is there something wrong?"

"Of course not, they all look extremely healthy, but occasionally, there will be a runt. This is also detailed in the textbooks, but for the most part they just need extra care. Runts will stay on formula for longer and sometimes shift later. I recommend a stress-free environment as much as you can for the first year, sometimes their health can turn quickly."

"What do I do if something happens? A-am I going to lose any of my babies?"

"I have to say Gulf, for being almost two months along, everything looks incredibly good. The babies are positioned well, and they look healthy, heartbeats are strong, I'm not going to say you're out of the woods a hundred percent, but for now everything is wonderful. Just keep doing what you're doing, try to remain unstressed and exercise up until that twenty-week period."

Her strong and confident voice helped to alleviate some of his fears, and he held out his hand for Mew. He needed his mate near him. A sigh of relief left him as their hands connected and the warm skin of Mew's palm quieted his pounding heart.

How did I get so lucky? My mate is giving me the most precious babies. Maybe we should start thinking about names. And do they have bunk bed cribs... we're going to have FOUR!