AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I glanced down to find her eyes wide, her face pale.
“Blood work?” she whispered.
Dr. Patel quickly replied, “Oh, there’s nothing to be worried about. It’s a standard procedure in all pregnancies, human and shifter alike. But considering you're a bit of an anomaly, it will at least give us a baseline for the future.”
Mariah nodded. Was she just worried something might be wrong?
“Actually…” I cleared my throat. “While you're at it, would it be possible to run some additional tests on her blood work? We still don’t have any answers as to why the serum worked on her when all of Tomas’s previous trials failed.”
Mariah shifted on the chair next to me, averting her eyes as she pulled her hands back into her lap. She flinched when the doctor reached for a tourniquet.
I wondered if I’d made the wrong decision by not pushing her for details. What exactly had she endured at Tomas’s hands? Rage brewed inside me, but I tamped it down. Mariah needed me to be her rock right now.
Still, we couldn’t just ignore this, either. Tomas remained at large. Anything we could learn about his experiments would help.
“What kind of tests?” Mariah asked as Dr. Patel tied the band around her upper arm. She let out a shuddering breath.
I tightened my grip on her hand, giving her a reassuring smile even as my concern reached new heights. “Just to see if there are any differences between your blood and that of a born shifter." I turned back to Dr. Patel. "A reason why the serum worked on Mariah when it hadn’t on anyone else.”
Dr. Patel nodded. “I’m not sure what I’d be looking for, but I’ll definitely take a look and see if I spot any anomalies. I’m not making any promises, though. Unless we have access to some of Mariah’s past blood work, I’m afraid the only things that will show up are what’s present in her system currently, so I can’t make comparisons. But it’s worth a shot,” he said quickly when I frowned.
With expert skill, Dr. Patel tapped a vein and drew several vials of Mariah’s blood. Her eyes had glazed over, and she was staring at the wall, with her lips pressed tightly together. Other than that, her face was blank. I ran a hand gently up and down her back, my pulse racing as I fought to keep my anger at bay. Tomas was going to pay for everything he’d done to the people I loved.
“There we go,” Dr. Patel said, finishing up and covering Mariah’s arm with a bandage.
I drew her close, hoping to give her some comfort when I asked my next question—one I knew she wouldn’t want to hear. “Now that she’s a shifter, do you think her blood would be of any use to Tomas?”
Mariah tensed up as I rubbed my thumb over the back of her hand. She hadn’t even considered the possibility, but it needed to be addressed. If Tomas could no longer use her in his twisted schemes, we could breathe easier.
“Again, I can’t be sure, but it isn’t as if her entire genetic structure changed, only part of it. If I had to venture a guess—and this is just a guess—I would say yes.”
Mariah trembled, and I wrapped an arm around her, holding her close as disappointment surged. Admittedly, it’d been a long shot. I clenched my jaw, hating that I had to bring it up at all, but we couldn’t hide from what Tomas wanted.
“Thank you, Doctor.”
He gave me a quick nod and turned to Mariah. “All right, you're all set. We’ll have the results in a few days, and I’ll be in touch. You can schedule your next pre-natal checkup before you leave with the nurse at the front desk.” Dr. Patel gave her an encouraging smile. “In the meantime, take care of yourself and the little one.”
“Thank you,” Mariah said, offering a small smile of her own, though it didn’t reach her eyes.
We left the office, and I could still sense the emotions swirling around her like a storm. Had I upset her by bringing up the serum? Was she thinking about what had been done to her? She wasn’t herself as we walked toward the car. I'd wanted to bring it up again so many times, but I always hesitated to mention anything about her time imprisoned with Tomas. I wanted to let her bring it up first, yet I couldn’t ignore this any longer. Not after what I’d just witnessed.
“You hungry for some lunch?” I asked once we were in the car.
“That sounds good.”
But her voice was subdued as she stared out the window, her shoulders hunched. I clenched my jaw and drove through one of Mariah’s favorite local burger joints, then went to a nearby park. I stopped the car. Maybe if she couldn’t run away from me when I asked her questions, I’d get her to open up.
She looked at me in surprise and I gave her a tight smile. “I thought we could have a picnic before we head home. I also thought…maybe you might want to talk. You shut down there at the doctor’s appointment.”
The muscle in her jaw jumped as she looked away.
“Come on,” I said, pushing the door open. “Let’s sit outside.”
The weather was still fairly mild during the day, but it wouldn’t be long before colder temperatures set in round the clock. I grabbed a blanket from the trunk and led Mariah to a semi-private area of the park.
“I know you don’t like to talk about it,” I said gently as I spread out the blanket. Then I handed her a sandwich once she sat down. “But I worry about you and what happened while you were held captive by Tomas. You don't have to share anything if you're not ready, but I’m here for you, Mariah. You can tell me anything.”
Mariah hesitated, her light brown eyes filling with gratitude, but there was also a hint of fear. I couldn’t begin to imagine the nightmares that haunted her, but I needed to know what Tomas had done so I could protect our family and our clan. If she knew more about the serum, that was something I needed to know as well.
