Chapter Seventy-Six
The paper on the exam room table crinkled as Catherine readjusted herself. She’d been told to dress in a thin paper gown which barely covered her unmentionables. She twined her fingers together as she looked around the room. The posters on the wall depicted the inner workings of the body, warned about drugs and listed a hotline for those dealing with depression. Catherine shifted again wondering how much longer she’d have to wait.
“You have got to stop doing that,” Juno pleaded.
Catherine glanced over to the chair against the wall where Juno was staring down at her phone. “Just nervous.”
“Why?” Juno scoffed, eyes still on her phone as she typed. “It’s just a routine appointment, right?”
“Yeah…” Catherine lied.
Juno glanced up and opened her mouth to ask more when Catherine was saved by a light knock on the door. Catherine called for them to come in. A short, spry woman with a pleasant smile, dark brown hair and light brown eyes entered. Catherine recognized her immediately: Nancy’s assistant. Her stomach knotted.
“Catherine?” Nancy’s assistant said. She stepped forward, tucked the folder she carried under her arm and clasped Catherine’s hand between her own. “I saw the name Catherine on your chart but I didn’t realize it was you.”
“Uh.. hi…” Catherine felt her face heat. “I’m so sorry I don’t think I ever learned your name.”
Nancy’s assistant laughed and pat her hand. She swung herself into her stool and scooted closer to the exam table. “That’s quite alright. Our meetings haven’t exactly been routine. My name is Tammy Lauden.”
Catherine stretched her hand out. “Nice to officially meet you, Tammy. This is my friend Juno,” Catherine said with a bob of her
head in Juno’s direction.
Juno saluted. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Tammy said with a nod. She scooted back in the stool and applied some hand sanitizer to her hands. “So, I read in your chart you have some questions about fertility? Is there a reason you came here rather than going to Nancy?”
Catherine could feel Juno’s heated gaze on her. She didn’t like lying to her best friend… or her mate. It had been three days since Matt revealed the truth behind Dominic’s plans for her. Three days of stress, fear, questions and doubts about how she could keep
herself and her new family safe.
“Sort of, I…” Catherine sighed, releasing her fear and gathering her courage. “To be frank, Tammy, I came here because I wish to make decisions about my body and I need the guarantee that certain people won’t find out.”
Tammy folded her arms in her lap and leaned forward. Her brows furrowed. “You understand there is patient-doctor confidentiality.”
“Yes, well, I am new to the world of lycan etiquette but from my experience with wolf hierarchy, if someone of a higher rank than myself wants to access my charts or asks you directly, you must answer their questions.”
Tammy looked slightly uncomfortable. “True… If Alpha Jensen were to command me…”
“Or a beta?” Catherine prodded.
“Catherine,” Juno hissed. She stood from her chair and came to stand beside her. “Are you telling me Graham doesn’t know you’re
here?”
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“He knows I’m with you,” Catherine assured her.
Juno scoffed. “What is going on?”
“Catherine,” Tammy began. She placed a hand on Catherine’s knee. “While in Blackmoore lands, I am Nancy’s assistant. She has no plans to go anywhere and if I want to someday have my own office or position, I need the experience I can’t get as an assistant. That’s why I work here a few days a week. Whatever we discuss within these walls will not leave these walls. Whether the alpha or your mate commands me to tell them I won’t be able to due to the oath I took when I began working here.” She squeezed Catherine’s knee for emphasis. “Whatever you need to tell me or I can help you with will never be disclosed to anyone else. If, however, you still don’t feel comfortable, I can find someone else to take your appointment at another time.”
Catherine glanced over at Juno. Her friend raised a brow high and bobbed her head to hurry up and continue. She took a deep breath and began to explain to Tammy all she’d experienced in’the last five years that was relevant. How she’d been marked by an alpha wolf, the magical manipulation Curtis put her through, how Dominic somehow blood bound her, the poisonings, how her gift manifested… everything..
Tammy paid close attention to everything Catherine said, only interjecting when absolutely necessary. After Catherine disclosed what she’d learned three days earlier, she sat waiting for Tammy to respond. Juno kept her hand on Catherine’s shoulder. Juno’s entire body was tense and vibrated with anger after learning for the first time what she’d endured. Catherine placed her hand over Juno’s and squeezed.
“Well… I would say that is a very complicated medical history, Catherine,” Tammy finally said. She put her hair up into a ponytail and then turned to look over her notes. “What I can tell you immediately is that one perk to being Nancy’s assistant is that I do the majority of the research for her. So when she said she’d look into hybrid history, it was really me and I relayed what I’d learned,” Tammy said. She started typing on her computer with a determined look on her face.
“That’s a good start,” Catherine agreed.
Tammy nodded and turned back. “Are you having side effects from the wolfsbane or its antidote?” she asked.
“No.”
She started performing the physical exam. She took Catherine’s pulse, temperature and blood pressure. She cupped her throat and started feeling the tendons. Then she softly prodded Graham’s mark.
“His mark appears to have healed very well. Any issues with adapting to the lycan venom?”
“No.”
“Have you shifted since the marking?”
“No.”
Tammy stepped back. “If you’re having difficulties with the magical aspect of your gift, I may have to refer you to a witch practitioner. They are better suited for…”
“No,” Catherine interrupted. Juno let out an annoyed chuckle before sitting back in the chair against the wall.
Tammy crossed her arms. “I’m sorry, maybe I should just ask what it is you need to discuss.”
Catherine took a deep breath and looked down at her lap. “I need to know what my options are for eliminating what the man who is after me wants.”
Tammy’s brow furrowed. “What he wants?”
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Catherine nodded, looking up desperately. “I need to know how I can keep from getting pregnant.”
Tammy blinked. “Well… there are forms of protection we can discuss. Uh, there are condoms and I can give you a shot before you go into heat where…”
“I need to know how I can keep from getting pregnant if I’m being held against my will. Something more permanent.”
Juno gasped. “Catherine!”
Tammy was staring at her as if she had two heads. “Uh… I could… I…”
“What are you thinking?” Juno hissed. “Are you not going to talk to Graham about this? He should be here, not me.”
Catherine groaned and smacked the exam table with her flattened palm in frustration. “Dammit, Juno, I will tell him but I can’t make a decision with him here.”
Juno sighed and rubbed her temples. “You know he would support whatever…”
“I know he would!” Catherine hissed. “He would tell me to do whatever I want to do, whatever I feel comfortable with. But I’d still know. It would still affect my decision. Even if he wasn’t my mate I’d be able to feel it just like I can feel how both of you are reacting right now. I just…” Catherine tapped her hand on the table in aggravation as she fought for words. “I want to hear my options without being swayed first. I’ll make my decision and then I’ll talk with Graham. Satisfied?”
Juno grunted. She tightened her folded arms across her chest and stalked back to her chair.
Tammy cleared her throat. “So, um… what we could do is I can give you a physical exam. Take a look at your cervix and I can tell when you can expect your heat. Based on what you’ve said, if your heat comes soon maybe we can let it run its course and you’ll have more time.” Catherine shook her head. “I can also take a few blood samples.”
“What for?” Juno interjected.
“It can tell us a few things like how recently you received foreign blood, any dna anomalies, how you may react to certain methods of birth control…” Tammy shrugged. “I can run all of the tests, it’ll take about an hour or so, and then you can come back in and we can go over our options.”
“Okay,” Catherine agreed. “Let’s do it.”
Tammy had Catherine lay back on the table so she could perform a pelvic exam. Juno held her hand while Tammy took samples of her uterine lining and took several vials of blood. Not wanting to wait in the stuffy waiting room, they went out to lunch where Juno continued to berate Catherine about the idiocy of her plan.
An hour and a half later, Catherine and Juno were waiting in Tammy’s office. When Tammy entered she looked like someone who had news they didn’t want to deliver.
“Okay,” Tammy drawled out as she sat down at her office. “We have all the results back. Are you ready?” Catherine took Juno’s hand and nodded. “So, as for your heat cycle, I’m guessing you’re about two-three weeks out.”
“Really? That far?” Juno asked.
Tammy nodded. “It’s pretty standard with lycans to go into heat during the full moon. With your shifting condition, it makes even
more sense.”
“The full moon is in almost three weeks,” Catherine pointed out. She looked at Juno. “That’s a lot of time for Dominic to find me.”
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“What did her blood say?” Juno asked anxiously.
Tammy’s face turned pale and Catherine realized this was what she didn’t want to discuss. “Ah, yes, Catherine, this is going to be hard to hear. We did a few tests and, based on the amount of male werewolf blood we found in your system, it appears you were given the blood within the last two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” Catherine and Juno asked at the same time.
“That means I was being fed his blood by someone in Blackmoore,” Catherine whispered, her mind churning.
“But you don’t get your produce from Matt in Blackmoore,” Juno reasoned.
“Based on the amount we found, this was a direct feeding,” Tammy said.
“Meaning?” Catherine asked.
“It was given to you via its original liquid form. Can you recall any instance when that may have happened?” Tammy asked.
Catherine thought for a few moments. “The night I was almost taken from the packhouse? I was poisoned with wolfsbane but maybe… Maybe one of the new girls in the kitchen slipped me something? We get each other coffee all the time.” Catherine rubbed her eyes with her palm. “This just proves how unsafe I am. Anyone can poison me at any time? Even within the safety of Blackmoore? I can’t… I won’t…”
Light hands gripped her upper arms, stopping her tangent. “It’ll be okay, Kitty.”
“You’re right. I’ll make sure it is. What are my other options, Tammy?”
Tammy paled again and she twirled her pen in her hands a few times trying to dispel her nerves. “I can give you a shot before your heat but it wears off within about five days. I can give you a pill to regulate your hormones but they don’t work if you don’t take them. There is some new technology being tested similar to a human IUD but for shifters. I couldn’t get one though for a few weeks which doesn’t help us. I… Well, I…”
“What?” Catherine prodded.
“I’ve heard of one way those who don’t wish to become pregnant have managed to stall their heat. It’s one hundred percent mental but it’s probably the most dangerous option, especially for someone like you who is so connected with their wolf.”
Juno’s glare turned icy as she focused in on the doctor, making the poor woman look even more uncomfortable than she had. “You cannot possibly be suggesting…”
“You can block your wolf. Build a wall between your conscious mind and that of your wolf. Without that side of yourself, you will not go into heat therefore you won’t be able to become pregnant.”
“Are you joking?” Juno gaped.
“How?” Catherine asked.
“Meditation. Every day,” Tammy explained, both of them ignoring the angry wolf beside them.
“I just… build a wall?”
Tammy nodded. “Figuratively. Disconnect yourself from your wolf and do whatever it takes to keep it at bay until you can seal the connection until the threat has passed. I must warn you though, if you are disrupted before sealing it altogether, that side of
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