Page 42 of To the Moon
All the sleep in the world couldn't have prepared me for the surprise that walked through the door of my padded room. Dr. Bunting's deep brown eyes regarded me as though I were a prized animal. He examined me like a veterinarian. After he checked my teeth and paws and listened to my heart, he stepped aside.
Mr. Paska entered the cell and bent down to examine my collar. I lay groggy and listless, unable to do much more than open my eyes, find the lids far too heavy, and close them again.
"When will the sedation wear off?"
"We still have a few hours," the doctor said. "I'll run the blood sample we took against the lab results from LA, to confirm the match. Then, we can run our own tests."
"You think we've finally found an omega?" Mr. Paska asked.
"The data will tell." Dr. Bunting's smug tone sent a shiver down my spine. I wanted to leap to my feet and rip his throat out. The growl I mustered sounded more like a whine, and so soft I doubted they heard me.
It was the opposite when they entered the room next door. Sebastian growled, low and menacing. I heard him plainly. Either the duct systems carried sound or the door wasn't as airtight as it looked.
I would test it later, when I had the strength. Now, I listened as Sebastian's growls and barks turned ferocious in response to the calm human voices.
"I shouldn't have sent that email to Lonnie. I'm so sorry, Gunnar."
"Nothing we can do about it now,"I answered.
I still felt bad for running. I'd needed space to clear my head and talk to my wolf, but I should have known his loyalty lay with Sebastian.
Sebastian's menacing growls ended in a yip.
"Fuckers got me again,"he said through our bond before he slipped into unconsciousness. Without our connection, I would have feared the worst, but through it, I sensed him breathing, drifting, and sleeping.
The next time my door opened, Bunting entered alone. Without preamble, he tapped the tablet in his hand. Electric shocks radiated from the collar before the sharp needle poked me. Then, the world faded to black.
When I woke, I was in another place entirely. Gone were the padded walls and floor, replaced with an elevated dog bed and a bowl of water. The room had glass on three sides. The wall to my right was frosted glass, but the other two were clear.
The front wall faced out into a medical facility with state-of-the-art equipment. The room appeared empty. Gently, I struggled to my feet, my muscles aching from the long sedation, and padded to the wall for a better look.
The lab extended beyond what I could see from the confines of my cell. It reminded me of Dr. Bunting's lab, but this was far bigger than the one where he'd run my tests for the space program.
A high-pitched yip echoed through my enclosure. I looked to the right, the direction I thought it had come from, and saw Sebastian's wolf up on his back haunches, his front paws up on the glass wall between us. Ignoring my aches and pains, I ran to him, placing my paws over his with only the three-paned barrier between us.
"Mate,"my wolf said."Alpha. Sire of our pups."The words stunned me. The drugs had kept my wolf at bay, but now, he was at the surface of my thoughts.
"Are you all right?"Sebastian asked when I dropped back to my feet.
"The old man was right. We're going to be parents,"I said. My wolf had mentioned pups before, but it didn't sink in until now. Me, a father. I'd thanked all my lucky stars I was attracted to men because I didn't want to end up like my deadbeat dad. Mother Nature, fate, or maybe even science was laughing at me now.
"You're feeling all right, though?"Sebastian's wolf whined, and I looked up. The glass between our enclosures ended a foot or so beneath the ceiling. They wouldn't be able to gas us, but they still had the sedative injections through our collars.
I touched my nose to the wall between us, and he booped me through the glass."My wolf wants to be closer to you."
"I want to be closer to you,"he said with a snarl."All those times you were scared, it was because you thought I would abandon you!"
"Me and our pups."Through my wolf, I sensed I carried more than one, and that they were all right, even after all the drugs. Despite my fears of being a father, they would always have me, even if Sebastian left us.
"I would never! What we have is far too important to give up on it now."
"You're only saying that because of the pups."
His snarl was downright terrifying. He snapped his teeth at the glass."No. I'm saying it because you're my mate."
Through our bond, I sensed Sebastian's emotions beneath his frustrated thoughts. The affection he had for me reciprocated how I was starting to feel toward him. While we hadn't said it aloud, it felt a lot like love.
"My wolf wants … I want … to protect you at all costs,"Sebastian said.
