Chapter 4 They Choose Who?

• *Rose*
• I am naked, on a bed, and my legs are spread wide open. This is how I wait for the doctor. How attractive….
• The lovely nurse from before has just left. She came into the examination room to check on me, saying that she wasn’t sure I could manage by myself since, clearly, I have rocks for brains, and when she arrived, she said that the doctor would be in in a moment, so I may as well go ahead and put my feet in the stirrups.
• That was at least five minutes ago.
• Thankfully, I have a sheet draped over my legs, and the gown I have on covers the top of me.
• I stare up at a bright light, wondering if this might burn my corneas if I have to stay here much longer. That would be a great excuse to use to get sent away. Maybe then, I’ll have the opportunity to run away and strike out on my own.
• I am imagining the doctor will be an eighty-year-old man with cold hands and the same attitude that the nurse had. That would be my luck.
• Why is it that no one who works at the castle is nice?
• Tristan and Mark are nice…. Mark was quiet, but not in a rude way. And Tristan was overly friendly. I like them both, but they aren’t workers here, it seems. Perhaps in another life, we could be friends–or something.
• I can’t help the physical reaction that happens inside of me when I think about either one of them. I start to feel myself becoming damper and damper between my spread thighs, and a tiny ache begins low beneath my belly.
• Realizing I don’t want the doctor to catch me in such a state, I decide to think about something else–anything else. The last thing I need is for the doctor to realize something has me excited.
• I envision myself back at the sewage treatment facility and how embarrassing it was the day that I threw up.
• There, that does the trick. No matter what happens, I must keep my mind off of those two guys I bumped into until this examination is over so the doctor won’t see the evidence of my true feelings.
• A few moments after I’ve steeled my resolve, I hear the curtain fly open. “Hello!” a friendly female voice says, and I look up to see a small woman, perhaps only about five feet tall, with dark hair pulled back in a bun and small spectacles balanced on the end of her nose. She is wearing a lab coat and carrying a clipboard.
• “Hi,” I manage to get out of my dry mouth. Talking is not my strong suit today.
• “Sorry to keep you waiting, dear. I’m Dr. Pendergan. How are you, honey?” She smiles down at me, standing near my head.
• I don’t know how to answer that, so I finally give her the truth. “Terrified.”
• “Oh, dear!” she says, patting my shoulder. “I’m so sorry. I know this isn’t easy. But I’ll try to have you out of here as quickly as possible, all right?”
• I am beginning to think I have gone into the wrong examination room because she is awfully nice, and so far, I haven’t had the sort of luck that brings me nice people. Well, other than the two muscle men.
• “Okay,” I say, hoping she’s telling the truth so I can leave.
• “Now, I just need to check a few things, dear, make sure you’re in good shape if the king decides to make you our lucky winner.” She smiles at me like I am here for some sort of a contest and not as a favor to my entire pack. But then… I suppose most of the other girls would think of themselves as winners if they are chosen.
• Not me. That would make me the biggest loser.
• “All right. First I’m going to do a physical exam, and then I’ll use the ultrasound machine. I’ll have Nurse Nancy come in to observe so you can feel comfortable that everything is fine, all right dear?”
• I nod, but if Nurse Nancy was the mean lady I’d met before, I don’t want her in here.
• Dr. Pendergan sticks her head out of the curtain and calls for Nurse Nancy. A moment later, another older woman walks in. It isn’t the same nurse as before, thank the Moon Goddess.
• “All right,” the doctor says, and I focus my eyes on the ceiling trying to put myself somewhere else as she goes about her physical examination.
• It’s not as bad as I think it’s going to be. She basically just checks to see whether or not I am a virgin. Satisfied that I am, she moves on.
• “Now, this ultrasound machine will just give us a good look at your reproductive organs,” she says. “Sorry the gel is cold.”
• My gown is pulled up, but the sheet is still over my bottom portion, and she’s told me I can take my feet out of the stirrups, thank goodness.
• She’s right–the gel is cold. She rubs it all over my stomach with a wand, and then the machine comes to life, and her eyes are glued on that as she moves the wand around.
• After a few moments, Dr. Pendergan makes a sound like she’s trying to suck all of the oxygen out of the room.
• Alarmed, I turn my eyes to the screen. I hadn’t been watching before because I have no idea what I should be looking at. I still don’t.
• “Nurse Nancy, do you see what I see?” Dr. Pendergan says, her voice a sharp whisper.
• Nurse Nancy comes over next to me and stares at the little screen. She inhales loudly too.
• “That’s… amazing!” she says.
• “I know!” Dr. Pendergan agrees. “One in a million!”
• I swallow hard. I have no idea what they’re talking about, but it sounds like they are happy about it. All I can think about is that whatever is on that screen is probably not helping me earn my ticket out of this awful place.
• Dr. Pendergan puts the wand down, clicks off the machine, pulls out a few photographs she’s apparently printed, and turns to me as Nurse Nancy wipes the gel off of my skin. “Have you ever had an exam like this before, dear?”
• I shake my head. No words are coming out of my mouth.
• “Well, you have a very unusual anatomical trait that most women do not have. You have two uterine horns, dear, like a wolf. Most shifters only have one uterus, like a human.”
• “Ookay,” I mutter. “So… what does that mean?”
• “It means your chances of conceiving are very, very good,” she says with a wide smile.
• I can only stare at her.
• Selfishly, this is terrible news for me.
• There’s a bustle around me as they discuss what to do. I am in a trance, wondering exactly what this means for me.
• “Get dressed, dear,” Dr. Pendergan tells me, and then they both leave. And I am alone.
• With my two uterine horns….
• I pull myself up off of the table and get dressed, sitting back down to hook my shoes. A few moments later, Dr. Pendergan calls, “Are you dressed, dear?”
• “Yes,” I tell her, and she pulls the curtain open.
• “The king would like to see you immediately, honey. I will walk with you.”
• My head rocks back and forth, and I press my feet to start moving like I’m some sort of automaton or zombie.
• Dr. Pendergan is overjoyed as she walks down the hallway with me. She is practically humming with excitement. I don’t know what to think about any of this. Perhaps King Gene will think I am some sort of an abomination from how I’m walking and send me straight home.
• We do not enter the king’s office as I expected. Instead, we head towards a large auditorium, and Dr. Pendergan walks me up on stage.
• Bright lights shine into my eyes, but as I look out at the crowd, I can tell that there are dozens, maybe hundreds of people out there. I can’t see many faces, but I can see the front row. I recognize the red-headed girl I spoke to before and that blonde who was so stuck up.
• Why are all of these people here?
• Why am I here?
• “This is her?” King Gene says to the doctor as we walk over to him. He looks shocked to see me again so soon.
• “Yes, Your Majesty,” she says and hands him the pictures.
• He looks at them and makes the same annoying ‘ahh’ sound like the doctor and nurse had done. “Very well,” he says. “Thank you, Doctor.”
• Dr. Pendergan nods her head, and then steps back beside me as King Gene quiets the crowd.
• “Ladies, gentlemen, and all citizens of the kingdom,” he begins as the crowd quiets to a hum, and I find myself looking out at the audience as well. “It is with great pleasure that I announce to you that our Breeder has been found!”