Mates of a Human

Part Five. Chapter Nine. Michael

Alex was not happy. He had not been happy since Samuel had announced his pregnancy. It was not obvious from a human perspective, he smiled whenever he saw Eric and I, allowed us to be affectionate with him, I even caught him stroking the tiny bulge of his stomach on more than one occasion. But I was a wolf, if I couldn't scent the discontent rolling from him in waves, who could?

I wanted him to finish work early, now that he was carrying our child, I was worried that the chemicals he needed to use would harm him or the baby. He was due to leave anyway, what was the point of waiting those few weeks? His severance pay wouldn't be all that great. But he refused. I thought about insisting, pressuring him into doing as I wished, Eric talked me down from doing so. Alex's pride could only take so much. That was what Eric had put Alex's temper of discontent down to; his pride. I wasn't so sure. But I hoped that once Alex saw the life he carried, his mood might change.

And change it did for about two seconds. As the little one appeared upon the ultrasound, his eyes met mine properly for the first time in a while and seemed to melt. Or perhaps that was my wishful thinking, my eyes had been stinging slightly as our child was shown to us. Whatever I saw, or thought I saw was wiped away as the nurse declared that he was not carrying one child, but three.

Was it too much for him to take in? After all, just four months ago he considered himself an ordinary human man and now he was mates to a weretiger and werewolf and carrying triplets.

He didn't say much, just took the envelope carrying pictures of the three beans as he jokingly called them, from the nurse. Eric offered to take him home and he agreed with a thank you, but not before allowing me to hold him. He trembled in my arms for a moment before calming down and offering me a tentative smile.

"Drive safely," I told Eric as I saw them to the car park.

"Don't I always?" Eric said, with a slightly wounded tone, to which Alex let loose a small snort, but got in the passenger seat anyway. I watched as he pulled his seatbelt across his body before almost subconsciously stroking his belly once more. A smile came unbidden to my lips. Time, yes time is what my nervous mate needed, time and our love and attention. He also needed to know that as much as we are thrilled at the thought of becoming parents, we fell for him before we knew he could fulfil that long forgotten wish.

"I'll see you both at home," I said, missing them already. Unfortunately, I was only a few hours into a double shift. I would not see them until late tonight. I did not move until Eric's car could no longer be seen by me.

In the last four weeks, the beds situation in geriatrics had improved, no longer were we desperate to find beds for incoming patients, we could continue as we were. Although there were still ripples in effect, such as delays in non-urgent operations, things were looking up. Complaints now generally consisted of ward cleanliness, something that was out of my control. I encouraged visitors and patients to put such complaints in writing, which would be forward to management. Of course, it was likely management would play it off, say that they had already plans in motion to improve such and such. We would see how that played out in the end.

As I was returning to my office, I was still wondering on methods to improve my mate's mood when I was stopped by Clover, who needed to discuss a patients treatment. And so began a wave of checks and consultations, so I was unable to think about it further. Nadine also asked for more advice, this time on a fey patient. My knowledge of Fey physiology is lacking, so all I could do was hand her a telephone number of a senior doctor who I once worked with. He was a Fey himself, but one would never know unless he admitted it.

I managed to find five minutes, so I sent a text message to Eric, asking how Alex was.

Alex is fine. At the gym with me. Currently swimming.