The Crown

17 - Grace

The clinic was quiet as Zander and I waited for Maddie to finish her last appointment with a shewolf who looked to be about ready to give birth. The secretary was nice, asking me about my health record and helping with filling out forms that would be needed since I was now Maddie's knew patient. Zander had sat quietly, reading a novel about how to raise a pup and I could see the longing in his eyes.

"How long has it been?" His mate had been killed long before we had met. She had been pregnant, just about ready to give birth herself, when a ragger had slipped into the pack grounds, slashing his claws through her stomach and killing both her and her pup.

"Four years. It's hard and I miss her." I nodded and leaned my head against his shoulder. I felt my heart pull at his sadness that seeped into every word. This man has been through a lot.

"One day you'll find that love again. Just never forget the love you had for your mate and child." I whisper, feeling him take a shuddering breath.

"Thank you Grace."

With that we settled back into a comfortable silence.

Not long after the door opened up and the she wolf before us steps out, her face glowing.

"Remember to take it easy, your pup will be here soon and we don't want you to be stressed out." Maddie says as she guilds the shewolf to the desk where the secretary waited to finish up with her and make another appointment before her pup was born.

"Grace you can come with me. Zander do you want to come or stay here?" Maddie says, turning to us.

"I'll stay here and wait. If Grace needs me all she has to do is link me and I'll be there. Besides this is her appointment." He laughs out and I see Maddie roll her eyes before waddling towards the door. I quickly follow the pregnant she wolf who was my new doctor and couldn't help but laugh when she cursed her growing belly.

"I swear I can't wait to get back to being small. This thing makes it hard to move." She grumbles as she slowly enters an examining room, manoeuvring her body through the door before I follow inside.

"At least you'll have a break to take care of your body and raise your pup." I point out, sitting up on the bed, the crinkling of the paper beneath me filling the room.

"Yep. No more broken bones, black eyes and pregnant she wolves to deal with while I take some time off." She agrees.

"So what you in for Grace. I know with your records you don't get sick easily." Maddie continues and I sigh.

"Lately I've been really tired, my body feels worn out and I have a hard time sleeping when I do go to bed." I answer, a yawn following my statement seconds later.

"With everything going on around you I wouldn't be too surprised if it's from the stress. Add on Audry and her drama and I bet it would be worse for you. Hopefully we can figgure this out before your corination tomorrow." My friend replies, her hand moving over a tablet as she writes out the symptoms I mentioned.

"Just to be safe do you think you're pregnant?" Her question surprises me and I couldn't help but think about it. Me and Caden were always careful so there shouldn't be any way I was, and I told Maddie so. We spent the next few minutes talking before we concluded that blood work and urine would be a good idea. With the lab being down the hall we would get results in minutes.

"I'm just going to go through every possible test. Iron, B12, pregnancy. Hell I'm even doing an STI screening just to make sure nothing is wrong. I mean I know Caden is clean but there are other ways to contract a Sexually Transmitted Infection. Finally I want to do a simple cancer screening. It's rare for a wolf to get cancer but I want to make sure. If it is them we caught it early and can treat you right away." She confirms. I knew she meant well and so I agreed to each test, quickly rushing to the bathroom with the specimen bottle for urine before returning to get blood work.