The Last Shifter’s Baby

Chapter 3

“Rebecca? Are you alright?” He repeated.

She let out a shaky breath, “Yes, I’m fine. I’m fine.”

Luke frowned, “What were you doing in here?”

“I just-I wanted to check on the hippo.”

Luke’s gaze softened, his expression understanding. “Rebecca, you have to trust me when I tell you that we don’t have any animals together that can’t be together.”

“But-“

“Why don’t you take lunch early? Drink a whole pot of tea, okay?” He suggested with a small smile and pressed a firm kiss to her forehead before releasing her completely. Head spinning and breath short, Rebecca let Luke guide her out to her ATV. He urged her to go home and have lunch before disappearing back into the lion habitat, leaving her alone and feeling lost.

Rebecca did go back home to take lunch early, but she didn’t drink a whole pot of tea like Luke suggested, she only drank half. The longer she sat at her kitchen table, hands wrapped firmly around her mug, the more she thought she was blowing things out of proportion. She just wasn’t expecting a leopard in the habitat, that’s what had spooked her. Also, it must have been a branch that snagged the flannel. There was no way the leopard had actually pulled her away from the lagoon, it must have been a trick played by her frightened mind. And of course the lion would back down, she thought, Luke’s probably been working with him all six years he’s been here. So, the more she thought about it, the more she decided that her reaction had been silly. She had no reason to be frightened. Obviously, the charts Maggie had sent her were out of date. She’d have to ask Luke for updated versions, so she didn’t have any more unexpected encounters.

Trying to distract herself, she flipped on her phone, frowning when she saw that her sister had replied to her message.

I forgot I even sent that… Bitter much?

Rebecca scowled and typed out a reply. Are we four? She sighed after she sent it, knowing that fighting with her sister wasn’t going to make her feel any better. The truth was, she was bitter. Bitterness and jealousy still rose within when she thought about the three blonde heads, big, toothy smiles, and the soft swell of her sister’s abdomen. She finally relented after her second cup of tea and smoothed the wrinkles from the Christmas pictures, pinning them to her small refrigerator. She snapped a quick picture and sent it to her sister with a caption, there’s still a lot of blank space. You might need to send more, knowing it would be enough to soothe her sister’s irritation.

After she finished her third cup of tea and the last of her cheese sandwich, she was ready to get back to work and find Luke. Climbing onto the ATV, she drove to the medical center, having an inkling where she would find him. When she walked into the private holding cells and saw Luke cradling Henry the wolf pup, she had to stop and admire the moment. Her treacherous brain replacing the image with one of Luke cradling a baby like that, a baby with dark locks and amber colored eyes. She quickly stopped the fantasy before it could go any further, clearing her throat.

Luke turned to face her, a slow smile spreading across his face. “Hello, this place hasn’t scared you off yet then?”

“I don’t get scared off easily. I just wanted to find you and apologize. I usually don’t freeze up like that and act so…unprofessional. I got startled by a leopard; I think the noise attracted the lion.” She said. “I wanted to ask if I could get some of the updated charts from you. I think Maggie sent me the old ones; it didn’t have the leopard on it.”

“Oh, right. Um-you don’t really have to worry about that. All the information you have is up to date, we just got the leopard this morning.”

“Really?” She arched a brow. “Because he seemed pretty settled in to me.”

“Well, you know,” he focused his attention on the wolf pup in his arms. “That one’s pretty lazy.” He answered vaguely.

She sighed; I don’t even know what to believe anymore. “So other than the lazy leopard, everything else in my charts is up to date?” She asked, only a little bit sarcastic.

Luke nodded. “I was hoping that this afternoon you could help me with something.”

“Of course, anything.”

“One of our tigers hasn’t been eating. I could use an extra hand while I take a look at her.” He said.

“How old is it?” She asked.

“She’s twelve. Let me put him back and I’ll take you out to the habitat.” He said and stroked a hand down the fur along Henry’s back before unlocking the holding cage and settling him back inside with his mother.

He pressed a hand to Rebecca’s lower back, guiding her out of the medical center and out back to his truck. She could feel the heat of it burning through the fabric of his flannel. He drove her out to the tiger habitat, Rebecca remembered reading in the charts that they had six Siberian Tigers, all rescued from private owners. She hesitated as he unlocked the front gate and he turned, the side of his mouth twisting up as he saw her hesitation.

“They’ll be fine with you if you go in with me.” He said and she nodded slowly, stepping up close behind him as he opened the gate. The tigers were spread out in the habitat but the one closest to the gate was obviously ill. The tiger was laying on her side, her stomach distended with bloat, her breath shallow and too quick. Rebecca felt any lingering fear she had disappear as her brain whirred into clinical mode. She knelt next to the sick animal, gently palpating her stomach.

“We need to get her to the medical center. I’d like to start some imaging, you have ultra-sound equipment?” She asked.

Luke nodded, “I’ll sedate her. I have a holding cage in the back of the truck. Can you set up the ramp? We’ll have to wheel her into the bed.”

Rebecca agreed and together they set to complete their tasks. She was surprised by how seamless they worked together, Luke sedating the tiger as she prepared to transfer her. The ride back to the medical center was tense, Luke’s fingers tight around the wheel.

“Has she been here long?” she asked softly.

“Six years, we got her a month after I started working here.” He answered. “She was starving. I had to force feed her, formula, a couple milliliters every hour for twenty-four hours.” He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, “I know I’m too attached. I always get attached.”

“That’s not a bad thing, Luke.” Rebecca told him, and then they were back at the medical center and she was helping him with the ramp to roll the tiger’s cage out of the bed of the truck and into the examination room.

Together they transferred her onto one of the long tables and Rebecca set up the ultra-sound machine. She shaved a patch of the tiger’s fur to get better access to the soft, pink skin and pressed the wand against her belly. They saw it at the same time, the gray mass of tumor that was currently blocking her lower intestine. She heard Luke release a long rush of breath as she zoomed in on the image, taking several stills.

“So that’s it then.” She heard him say softly.