Page 40 of To the Moon
She nodded, and he began to speak.
"Once upon a time." She laughed and said in German, "Oh, Opa, they will think this is a fairy tale!"
"Tell the story," he chided. He began again, and so did she.
"Once upon a time, men lived alongside wolves during the darkest era. There was no food. Water was scarce, and everything was frozen. Giant bears came down from the north, killing man and wolf indiscriminately. Together, men and wolves made it through the dark night. Some say they crossed a line from which they could not return.
"The wolves marked their chosen humans with bites, forging a bond of shared destiny. The wolves shared their dens to keep the humans warm. In return, the humans built fires to keep the bears away. Both wolves and humans contributed to their food stores with hunting and foraging. Soon, the marked humans gave birth to a new kind of person, neither man nor wolf.
"At first, the elders thought their young would die out, the last of their species. No female children had been born. As the boys matured, it became clear there were three types. Alphas craved dominance and demanded submission from their peers. Betas worked hard and did whatever the family needed done.
"Omegas looked like betas at first, but when the children first shifted into wolves, after puberty, their differences became apparent. Alphas were drawn to omegas like bears to honey. When the first omega went into heat, the family couldn't keep one alpha away from him. That alpha fought the others, and then he and the omega ran away together.
"The family thought all was lost until the two returned days later, carrying fresh bear meat with them. The two had stumbled into a bear cave while the omega's heat rode him, and they'd killed the bear hibernating there. Once the omega's heat broke, they returned home with their heads hung low, offering the feast in return for rejoining their family.
"The humans were quick to accept them, but the wolves noticed the omega's scent had changed. They howled and ran with the moon, asking the goddess what it meant. Her only response was to shine down on them with her silvery light.
"On their run, they found the cave where the two shifters had killed the bear. They gathered the rest of the carcass and brought it back to their home. Most importantly, they took it as a sign of good fortune and let the alpha and omega stay.
"The omega put on some weight, and the family rejoiced. He had been the smallest, the runt of the litter,and finally with the feast of the bear, he thrived. Six months later, they thought it was all for naught. He writhed on the ground and whined anxiously, sure the horrible wracking pains would kill him.
"The wolves encouraged him to shift into his wolf form. A few hours later, he gave birth to two wolf cubs. Soon after, they shifted into healthy baby boys. That was when our people understood the purpose of the omega."
The old man stared intently, letting his words settle over us like a wet blanket. Bettina rose from her wingback chair to pour herself a glass of water from the pitcher on a side table. "Would anyone else like some?"
I started to shake my head but glanced at Gunnar. He looked completely shellshocked. "Yes, please." I motioned her over and helped Gunnar take a drink.
Mr. Bertholf had moved from the couch opposite ours with the speed and dexterity of someone much younger. He took Gunnar's hand again and brought it to his nose. "It's as I thought. You are schwangerschaft." The word was more advanced than my German, though I was fluent.
Even Bettina frowned at him. "Like the omega in the story?" The old man nodded. "Pregnant," she said. "He says you're pregnant."
Gunnar blinked up at him, but my wolf was doing summersaults inside my head. He was ecstatic, while I froze with fear. What had we done?
CHAPTER 16
GUNNAR
The sceneryoutside the train window passed in a blur from Lausanne to Vevey. Like the train, my life seemed to be moving too fast.
Sebastian and Bettina spoke softly about blood tests and lab results while my mind reeled. The old man's nose had to be mistaken. I couldn't be pregnant! The shifter creation story sounded as unrealistic as any other fable from the past. Dark times led to partnership with wolves, ending with a pregnant human omega.
They must have been mistaken. The first omega must have been intersex or trans. Except I wasn't, at least, not that I knew of, and my sudden illness this morning seemed oddly like the hormone fluctuations one of my foster mothers displayed during her first trimester.
I couldn't remember the last time I'd gotten sick. I'd survived the aeronautical gravity tests and pressure checks without a hint of bile at the back of my throat.Why this morning had I thrown up Bettina's perfectly cooked eggs?
How could I argue with the old man's paranormal explanation when the events of the past month had changed my entire worldview? Paranormal creatures existed, and I was one.
I wasn't ready to make the leap from one impossible possibility to the next, though. I needed to speak to my wolf, but he trembled in the far reaches of my mind. Only shifting would bring him to the surface.
Through our bond, I felt Sebastian's joy. He was much quicker to believe the old man's ridiculous story. What did that mean for me? Would he keep me locked away from the rest of the world, sequestered in the ski resort, until our pups arrived?
None of this seemed possible. Worse, they made monster movies like this. A poor man falls for a hot billionaire, only to find himself locked away in a dungeon while mad scientists perform horrendous tests on him.
I wouldn't wait to be locked up. On that, my wolf and I agreed.
With my hat and gloves tucked into my coat pockets, I removed the puffy garment when Bettina pulled into the resort's driveway. Then, I toed off my shoes and tucked my socks into the open holes. It took me a little longer to remove my jeans and sweater.
By the time the car jerked to a stop in the hotel parking lot and Bettina yelled, "What the hell are you doing?" I was naked except for my boxer briefs. The snow crunched beneath my bare feet, and the coldburned my toes. I hopped on one leg to yank the briefs down and off.
