Chapter 3

Jess

I start with vitals; lung sounds, heart beat, eye check. Nothing out of the ordinary for a wolf. She seems underweight. "Could you go grab the portable scale for me?"

"Of course" Leo stalks off to the shed.

Next up are teeth and claws. Teeth look normal, perfect even. Claws are a bit long, odd. Ears are fine. Next I run my hands along her legs to check for joint swelling, injury, or parasites; ticks, fleas, etc. Nothing. So far she's seems the picture of health, although a bit on the larger side.

Leo comes back with the scale and helps me shimmy her onto it. 103.94 lbs. Not bad for an ordinary female, but she's large, she should be closer to 120-130lbs.

"She's definitely underweight, but otherwise healthy. She probably collapsed from hunger and exhaustion." Leo writes my assessment on my clipboard. You'd think he's a vet tech and not a carpenter. "We'll tag her, let her rest a few days, get her weight back up and let her back out."

I go to stand back up and he's instantly got one hand under my elbow and the other on my back. I roll my eyes again. This is our fifth try at having a child. I'm 37 years old now so this one is even more high risk than the others, "geriatric" as my OB called it, eye roll. But I'm fine, as I keep telling Leo. He's just worried, understandable.

"Time for you to put your feet up." Tells me as he leads me back to the house. "I'll get started on dinner and then check on our guest."

"What should we call her? I'll put it in the log book for the tag."

"I'm sure it'll come to us."

He leads me back inside our, not so little, farm house we inherited from my father. Most of the land was sectioned off and sold to the state for nature preservation as per his wishes. He always made it his mission to preserve this land and protect the creatures that lived on it. Very little of his land was actually used for farming.

The outside is yellow, just as he kept it for my mother. The color of sunshine, her favorite. I've renovated the inside though. Modernized everything with greys, greens, white, and dark wood accents. The original hardwood has been repaired, stained, and sealed. Leo walks me to the large grey sectional in the open living area, his hands never leaving me. The way he pampers me you'd think I was close to delivering, but no. We haven't even reached the second trimester yet. He makes sure I have a million pillows and a blanket before he pulls one of the macrame ottomans over to prop my feet up.

He pecks my lips before heading for the kitchen. He askes "What does Momma want for dinner?" I humm in response. "We've got frozen pizza, stuff to make spaghetti and meatballs, and…" I hear him opening the pantry and freezer as he looks through the food. "...Ice cream." He heaves a sigh. "I need to go shopping."

"I am perfectly capable of going to the grocery store."

"I know, and I would let you…"

"LET me?"

"Ok, wrong words."

"Please, little preggzilla. Let me do things for you." How can I say no when he asks so nicely? Wait, what did he call me?

"Preggzilla?" I keep my tone calm but cold as I glare at him from my nest in the couch. He just grins at me over his shoulder as her stands at the pantry.

"Ice cream it is."

He comes back to the couch with a tub of ice cream, a bottles of wine, two glasses and spoons. We eat and chat while the TV plays some TNT marathon in the background before retreating to our bed for the night only to be awoken in the early morning hours by an earth shattering howl from the back yard