by Sy Walker
“That all makes sense. I definitely don’t want to do this without a doctor, even if it is an old, crotchety one like him.”
“I agree. I don’t think I’m equipped to deal with delivering a baby, much less one being born in such extraordinary circumstances.”
“Are you as scared as I am? I mean, I have no idea how to parent and we are going to have a child that is decidedly out of the ordinary to bring up. What will he be and how do we train him if we don’t understand how our different gifts affect him?”
“We’ll be like any other parents with their first child, making mistakes and just doing the best we can. Hopefully, when the elders become involved, there will be things they can advise us on that will help us along.”
“I just hope you are right. It would be a much better benefit to have them on our side rather than against us. If we have to run, we’re completely on our own.”
“Let’s just not worry with that right now. We’ll focus on getting the baby here safely before we worry about all that.”
“I can’t help it, Blake. I am worried. This has all been so sudden. For the first time in my life, I feel genuinely frightened by something.”
“I do too, but we’ll be okay. Come here.”
Blake pulled Zebe into his arms and held him. Even their relationship was different for Zebe. He had always been the alpha male in his relationships, but it seemed Blake had taken over that role in this one and it didn’t really bother him. Their relationship worked. Despite all of the what ifs and concerns, he felt happier than he had ever been in his life. Perhaps it was just some sort of hormonal thing due to the pregnancy, but he was very content to just let things be instead of feeling as if he had to be in total control as he usually did.
Zebe awoke the morning of the tenth day with the most incredible pain. He had just been to the doctor the day before due to heavy bleeding that had really worried him until he was told what it was. The exit was forming and now he knew what the pads were for. This must be what women felt like at least once a month . . . bloated, bleeding and in pain.
“You are going into labor. It’s time,” the doctor told them.
“No. I’m not ready,” Zebe said woefully.
“You are ready. Today is your due date. The baby is on the way. You have to be ready.”
“I can’t do this, Doc.”
“You can and you will. I will take good care of you. I promise, even if you do smell like a dirty dishtowel.”
Zebe almost laughed at his continued distaste for his wolf scent, but it caused a sharp pain in his side to laugh and he quickly stopped, grimacing instead.
“This is so great. We’re going to be fathers!”
“You’ll be a father. I am apparently a mother,” Zebe said sarcastically.
“As long as you don’t start wearing dresses and pearls, you can call yourself what you’d like,” Blake told him playfully.”
“It seems apt. Of course you realize that makes you a motherfu. . .,” Zebe began, his words cut off by a pain that seemed to rack his entire body.
“See, that is what you get for being mean to me,” Blake teased.
“Doc, can you check and see if he has a womb? I think I’d like to return this favor to him once we square all this away.”
“Sure, sure. I’ll get right on that. For now, get undressed and up on the table. Let’s get you into the stirrups and work on bringing this baby into the world.”
After several hours of labor, during which Zebe was quite certain he would pass out or perhaps even drop dead, their son was delivered. He smiled weakly as the doctor help the baby up and cleared its lungs, bringing forth a ferocious fit of crying. It was beautiful. He looked over at Blake, still holding his hand despite his efforts to squeeze it clean off his wrist during delivery and noted tears falling down his face.
“You did great. Just look at him. He’s perfect.”
“He looks so normal.”
“What did you expect? A wolf snout and fur covering?”
“I don’t know, some sign of what he will be, I suppose.”
“Time will tell.”
The doctor finished cleaning up the baby and lay him on Zebe’s chest, letting the two of them enjoy him as his tiny hands grasped their fingers and he cooed quietly, now calm and at peace near Zebe’s heartbeat. He was stunning. A sadness passed over Zebe as he realized that the real work would begin now. They would have to face the council of elders from both families and they would have to raise this very special miracle of a child.
“Alright boys. The easy part is over. Now, it’s time for the hard part,” the doctor told them as he finished tending to Zebe after the birth.
“The hard part?” the asked, almost in unison.
“Yeah. You have to raise the little booger now.”
They laughed as they went back to admiring the baby. After resting for a while in the doctor’s makeshift delivery room, Zebe was allowed to go home. They spent the next few days just enjoying their child and allowing Zebe’s wounds to heal. He was grateful to get back to normal, even stepping out into the back yard where he couldn’t be seen if someone happened to come to the house and shifting into wolf form long enough to make sure he still could do so without a problem.
Finally, they each called their respective elder councils and asked to meet with them, explaining that there would be members of the other shifter family in attendance so there were no surprises. Though each side had arguments against attending any peace talks, it seemed more like posturing than a sincere desire not to make peace. When the day arrived, both Blake and Zeke were extremely nervous. They took the baby, whom they had named Michael Darren after each of their grandfathers, with them.
“You ready for this?” Blake asked.
“As ready as I will ever be,” Zebe replied.
“Just remember, Michael comes first. You make sure he is safe and I’ll do most of the talking.”
“Sounds good to me. Let’s do this.”
Blake kissed him on the forehead before they walked into the large building where council meetings hadn’t been held in decades. It sat on a barge in the middle of the river with a walkway coming in from either side. Neither was surprised to see that the elders sat on their respective sides not speaking or looking at one another as they waited for them to arrive.
“Gentlemen, thank you so much for coming here today to listen to us. Before we begin, we want you to know that we have the deepest respect for each and every one of you on both sides. We hope that you will hear us out and consider what we have to say with the gravest consideration. As many of you are aware, there was recently an incident in which a wolf shifter was killed after having drifted across the river into bear shifter territory. This is his brother, Zebe.”
Everyone’s eyes fell on Zebe and looked curiously upon the bundle he held in his arms as he greeted them with a warm smile. Of course, most of the wolf elders knew him from previous discussions of how to handle the murder of his brother and they smiled thoughtfully at him. The bear shifter elders remained expressionless as they waited for more, looking back toward Blake.
“Zebe is my partner and the bundle he carries in his arms is the first wolf/bear hybrid born in thousands of years. We came here today to ask that you consider this great miracle as a sign that our people should restore the peace that existed not that long ago between us. Our fighting has gone on long enough and we feel it is time you established your places in history as the elder council that established a new era of nonviolence and perhaps even friendship.”
“What sort of nonsense is this? That is just a myth. What do you think you are trying to prove?” one of the elders said angrily, jumping to his feet.
“I promise you that it is not a myth. This baby is, in fact, our offspring and while we don’t know what traits he will possess, we can tell you that it seems to us that he is just the sign that has been needed that we’ve reached a point in modern times where it is in all our best interests to make peace with one an
other,” Blake said hastily, moving in front of Zebe and Michael protectively.
“Have you any proof of this, son?” one of the bear shifter elders asked quietly, drawing the eyes of all the others, including the one who had burst out in anger.
“Doctor Dunson will confirm what I am saying to you. He assisted us with the birth when the time came. He can provide you with the assurance that this is Zebe’s child and since only another shifter can impregnate a man, you will have to afford me the willingness to accept that I know I am the father.”
“Let me see the child,” a wolf elder said, stepping forward toward the center of the room. Zebe nodded toward Blake and stepped forward, opening Michael’s blanket and letting him view the child. He was surprised when the elder reached for his foot, gently pulling his toes apart and nodding. “He speaks the truth. This child bears the mark.”
Several other council members stepped forward to see for themselves and before long, the entire council was intermingled looking at the baby. Many of them broke out in smiles and hugged the men, shaking their hands and congratulating them. Finally, they all returned to their seats and looked at the two of them.
“Zebe, I am sorry for what happened to your brother. I have learned that the culprits have paid the price for their actions. We have no desire to escalate the situation with further acts of violence. If your elders can agree, I believe it is in everyone’s best interest to make peace with one another and take action against any that dare breach that promise,” the Chief elder of the bear shifters said.
“I see no reason not to make such a pact and require our people to honor it,” the Chief elder of the wolf shifters replied.
“Then we are at peace?” Blake said, more a statement than a question.
The two chiefs nodded their agreement.
“Then I suggest we have a grand celebration and share the good news with everyone,” Blake said.
The elders agreed and began calling in other members of the community to join them in celebrating a new day where bear and wolf shifters would live among one another peacefully. Blake and Zebe smiled down at Michael as he smiled up at them happily. It was hard to imagine that one day, this tiny child would be found in the history books of their people as the one who brought peace between their people. Not only were they his very proud parents, but they were falling deeper in love every day.
THE END
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TAKEN BY THE DRAGON
I’d always known that I was privileged, but I never really understood the true scope of what my father had done to his people. It had been a known fact for some time that what we call home has always been in the hands of the dragon shifters. They have allowed us humans to live in harmony with them. I see them often circling at night, most likely hunting for a new sustained supply of food. There have been no records of a dragon shifter killing a human, unless provoked to do so.
“For once, I wish that you could get your head out of the clouds long enough to take this seriously. I don’t know how much I have to stress this to you my son. The dragon shifters are not to be trusted, and eventually we’re going to have to fight them to the death. The contract is coming up in the next day or two and I want to make sure that everything is in place. These negotiations can be little taxing. Neither one of us really want to give up anything of real value.” My father was a man that knew what he wanted, and wasn’t going to allow anybody to stand in his way.
“I know that you’re only trying to prepare me for that eventuality, father.” I wore the wounds that he had inflicted on me during training, as a badge of honor. I felt that for once he was taking me seriously. “I don’t see why anything has to change. We’ve lived in peace with them for, as long as I can remember.” My grandfather was the one to initiate first contact with them.
My father Peter came after me with that sword, wielding it at like a true master. Over the course of the last two months, I’d been pushed into doing things that was out of my comfort zone.
My father was known to be reckless, but adventurous to the point of not caring for his own safety. He took me rock climbing, sword fighting, put me through hand to hand combat, and had even taught me to use my own environment, as a weapon of choice.
We were on the outskirts of the estate, a castle built by the very hand that made the contract. My grandfather died a few years ago, leaving his legacy and heritage in the hands of my father. I was not blind to the plight of others. I saw the way that they suffered needlessly. I tried to talk to my father about it, but he was reluctant to show any kind of mercy. I thought that he was being firm, but fair. Maybe I was a little blinded by my own admiration for the man to know what was really going on.
“What I’ve been putting you through is to make sure that you have all the tools to fight back when it’s necessary.” He had never shown any interest in teaching me these things before. I was not foolish, and I had begun to take notice that he had been flash cutting some of the land. I was sure that the dragons would not like that their home was being decimated. “I’m going to go into these negotiations with one purpose in mind. I want them gone, and I will not take no for an answer.”
He wore his armor with pride, even though he had never seen battle a day in his life. This armor was passed down from one generation to the next. I was a carbon copy of my father, except that he was sporting a black goatee and had 50 pounds of muscle over me. I was never much for exerting myself, but maybe it was time to turn over a new leaf.
“I don’t see the reason for this, but there’s no point arguing.” We were both 5’10 and had the same jet black hair. I was only 160 pounds, but what I did have was a great physique that was honed from a daily regimen of running. My father on the other hand was muscle-bound and had no problem using that intimidation over others. He was the lord and the ruler of the land. There were those that felt that he was ill equipped to lead, but they had done nothing to supersede his authority.
I had a soft spot for my mother, who knew from a very early age that my interest didn’t lie with the female form. I had never discussed this with my father. He was stuck in his ways, and there was no way that he could possibly accept the fact that I was gay. I’d never pursued the matter inside my own land, as it was a worry that my desires would get back to him in some way.
“You are my son and there will come a time that you will be given the mantle of responsibility. I fear that leaving you out of business matters has made you weak. You don’t know how to make those hard decisions. I’m here to teach you that life is hard. There are no free rides. I should’ve done this a long time ago, but I wasn’t sure how receptive you would be to this kind of training.” He had his shield strapped to his arm. I clanged against it over and over again, pushing him back and using his own weight against him.
“I’m glad that you have finally seen the light. You’re never been the kind of father that would play make believe. You’ve always been about the real world and my imagination had only gotten in the way of life in general. You have shown remarkable resilience and I’ve seen you in sparring matches that have left your opponent lying there dazed.” I was only 18 and when mother died, it was very hard for my father to become the primary caregiver. He hired help to take care of me in my informative years. Gerald had been with us a long time, which was evident by the gray in his beard and his hair.
“If I had known that you were interested in any of this, I would have gladly taken you underneath my wing.” I wasn’t sure if I could believe him. I sensed that there was a change in the air. It was like this very thick tension. My father was saying one thing, but he obviously meant something else entirely. “Dragon shifters live amongst us during the day. We have no idea who they are, except for the one that has negotiated the contract on behalf of his people every 10 years. Drake Bergen is older than you think he is. He’s an experienced fighter. The gift of shifting into a dragon has given him an unfair advantage.”
The battle continued and it was mostly a battle of wills betwee
n a father and son. Neither one of us was willing to concede that the other was better. We fought like untamed Lions, breathing heavily and trying to find that opening that would finally make one of us stand over the other in victory. The gray clouds overshadowed the dragons in the distance. I don’t know if they were watching us, or just out doing their daily business.
I was tempted to tell father that he never showed me any kind of love after mother died. I was in touch with my feminine side. I wanted to talk about my feelings, but my father was closed off to anything of the sort. He thought that it was showing a weakness to admit that you had limitations. He had always told me that the best way to deal with anything was to push them deep down where they wouldn’t see the light of day.
“You know that I am getting stronger and that eventually I will beat you at your own game.” I didn’t want to believe it, but the smirk on his face indicated that he was playing with me like a cat does with a mouse. “I’m younger and that will be your ultimate undoing.” I was itching for the day that I could succeed that of my teacher.
“I have taught you well my son. I have taught you everything that you know.” With that, he kicked out and caught my knee, making me grimace and lower my shield. He had slipped through with the tip of his blade placed it up against my neck, cutting slightly and making me stare at him with anger and resentment. “Remember, I’ve taught you everything that you know, but I haven’t taught you everything that I know.” He lowered the blade, put his hand around my shoulder and began to laugh with obvious enjoyment at my expense.
“I didn’t…even see that coming.” I was hobbling slightly, but the strike against my knee was only meant for distraction and not to do any permanent harm. “I still…have a lot to learn, but I’m willing to put in the effort.” We were surrounded by those of the guard. They stood at attention, not interfering and allowing things to play out the way that they should.
