The Twins Take Over Ch. 10

Rebecca hadn't felt this nervous since...well, she wasn't sure. So much had happened in the last forty eight hours, she really couldn't say how nervous she was in comparison to the last two days. But now she sat in her little paper gown, waiting for Doctor Majors to start the test. What was it he'd called it? A "salping" something. She looked around at the hospital room that looked like every other she'd been in during her life except for the giant machine that took up most of the center of the room.

The drive to San Francisco from the Jensen Pack Compound in Danville had taken about an hour. Just enough time for her to get nervous all over again. The panther that she was learning to live with was supremely unconcerned about the whole thing. As always in the last thirty six hours or so, she was insistent that this was silly. Of course she would have cubs.

Trey paced the waiting room like an expectant father. If they were at the pack hospital he'd be in the room with her, but human hospitals had their rules and regulations. He didn't like them. Troy watched him, head moving side to side like he was at a tennis match.

"Bro, you're going to wear a hole in that carpet if you don't stop soon. Logan will be in there with her. She'll be fine, it's just a test." Troy rolled his eyes when he heard the low growl at the mention of their own newest pack doctor. "Knock it off, you can trust Logan, you know it."

"Bet you wouldn't say that if it were your mate in there." Trey stared at his twin, daring him to deny it.

Troy couldn't and sighed, putting an arm around Danielle and pulling her close. Trey was right, he'd be acting the same way. Danielle rested her head on her mate's shoulder and let out a quiet purr.

The procedure room door opened and Dr. Jordan Majors and Logan walked in wearing blue scrubs. They both were smiling and joking as they breezed in. Anneke was right behind them. Rebecca had been relieved when Anneke assured her that no matter what, she would be here with her. Axel hadn't been happy about his new mate leaving the compound, but it had only taken her a minute to remind him if it wasn't for Rebecca, the two of them may have never mated. They owed her and the Baxter pack everything.

"Ah Rebecca, as beautiful as always. In fact, maybe even more beautiful than the first time I saw you. When was that, two days ago? Your panther has added a certain quality that is irresistible." Jordan Majors was a flirt and without her mate here, he didn't mind letting her know it. "At least for a little while I don't have to worry about being gutted." He smiled at her as he slapped Logan on the back. Logan shook his head and gave a small laugh. He'd seen it many times. Once Jordan had almost been ripped to shreds by a jealous Alpha who overheard his remarks and barged into the room while his mate was giving birth. When he arrived he saw the Doctor between his mate's spread legs and almost sent the him through a plate glass window before she had calmed him.

"Thank goodness for hospital rules or I'd be in big trouble right now I know." Jordan flashed another toothy grin and began readying the equipment. "Now, let me explain what we're going to do." He pointed to the large machine Rebecca hadn't been able to avoid in the middle of the room. "A fluoroscope has an x-ray source and a screen and you'll be in the middle of it. We'll be watching from a monitor where we can see the images immediately. Now, to do the Hysterosalpingography..." He looked at the blank look on his patient's face.

"A what?" Rebecca couldn't even say the word, much less remember it.

"Hysterosalpingography. Basically we're going to inject a dye through your cervix and"...Logan pointed to the screen at the other end of the room behind a barrier..."we'll be watching from over there. The dye will outline the uterus and hopefully the fallopian tubes. The procedure you had several years ago is sometimes reversible. We'll have somewhat of an idea after the dye test. If it is reversible, then Jordan will attempt an appropriate procedure, and we'll hope your panther doesn't try to heal in the middle of the surgery." Logan looked at Rebecca's confused face and smiled. "He's going to give it his best Rebecca."

Rebecca returned his smile. "I know, I trust both of you. Let's get this thing going. Trey might tear apart the waiting room if we take too long." She sent a quick message to her mate through their bond to let him know they were starting. "I love you Trey, and I'll be fine, don't worry bout me, OK?" She waited for a moment until he answered, sending his love and strength and a promise to keep from destroying the hospital. She grinned and looked at Anneke. "Ready."

Anneke smiled at her new friend and helped her get comfortable on the table. Comfortable really wasn't the right word for it, maybe tolerable was better. "You'll need to put your feet in the stirrups for this part. After Dr. Majors injects the dye we'll have you scoot down into position between the x-ray unit and the screen. It shouldn't take too long for the test. Then we'll go from there." Anneke nodded to the doctors who took their positions at her feet while Anneke stood next to Rebecca and reached out for her hand. Rebecca grabbed it, holding on tight. For a moment she forgot her own new strength and apologized when she realized how tight she was holding her. Anneke leaned down to whisper in her ear. "It's OK Rebecca, I can take it. I am a Werewolf you know." The two women laughed at that one.

"Here we go. There may be a little discomfort as I inject the dye. Just don't bite me. We don't know what that panther saliva does to a regular Werewolf yet." Dr. Majors' familiar grin looked over Rebecca's knees for just a moment before he ducked back down between her legs to finish the introduction of the dye.

Rebecca could hear the smack to the head that Logan gave his friend for that last comment. She could tell they'd been friends for a long time. It was hard for her to remember that in the case of Werewolves a long time could mean five or six hundred years. Her mind wandered for a moment, wondering if she could put up with Danielle for five hundred years. She loved her to death but she really was a blond sometimes, even if she did have brown hair. She felt Trey's thoughts in her head, asking if she wanted him to relay the message to her friend. "Hell no!" was the only answer she gave him.

"You may feel some cramping. If you do, just squeeze Anneke's hand tighter. She can take it, she's an Alpha now." Dr. Majors winked at Anneke who gave him a laugh in response. In just a few minutes it was over. "OK, done." Jordan rolled his chair away from the table. "Anneke will stay here with you while we go look at the screen. Don't worry if we start making strange sounds. Doctors do that sometimes." He patted Rebecca's arm as he walked by. He called back over his shoulder, "Try not to move."

Rebecca motioned to Anneke to lean in closer and whispered. "He's kind of a strange one isn't he?"

Anneke giggled. "Yes, he is. He's much different than the doctor we used to have. He really needs to learn to be careful with the flirting though. Axel will go through the roof if he forgets around him." Anneke sighed. "I wish he'd find a mate but we have so few unmated females, it'll be centuries before we have enough for the males that are left."

"What? What happened to the females?" Rebecca saw the shadow come over Anneke's face and knew there was more to this.

"We'll talk about it later. Right now let's focus on you." The new Alpha smiled down at her friend. She could hear the doctors muttering to each other. They were trying to keep quiet but she could hear every word.

"We're almost done. Just have to hold still a little bit longer." Logan's voice called out from behind the screen. "You're doing great Rebecca."

"You better hurry Doctors. Trey is about to break the door down." Rebecca could feel him in the hallway. His frustration with their forced separation was obvious. It was one thing during a battle, another when there were no distractions. He wouldn't feel calm until she was in his arms. She sent him every bit of reassurance she could and prayed it would be enough to keep him from losing control. She'd have to have a long talk with him after this.

Dr. Majors called out. "Done, you can get up now." The doctors walked back into view and both were grinning like Cheshire Cats. They waited until Anneke had helped Rebecca into a sitting position. "Logan, why don't you let her mate in before he causes a ruckus out there. I'd hate to have to explain the damage to the hospital administrator."

Logan barely got the door open before Trey was inside. He covered the floor in a flash and had an arm around Rebecca while his eyes traveled head to toe making sure she was OK. His wolf was circling, not at all happy about two males being near his mate. At least Logan was mated and a member of their pack. But the other one, he didn't understand why his human half was holding him back.

Trey leaned down and kissed Rebecca lightly on the forehead and sat down next to her on the table. He wanted to hold her close and kick them out of the room but for now, he'd have to wait. He pulled her close. "So? What next?" He looked from one doctor to the other. They were both smiling. A good sign.

Jordan pulled up a stool and sat down. He slapped his hands on his knees and took a breath. "Well, it looks like Rebecca's panther took care of things for us. Luckily, the procedure she had years ago didn't destroy the fallopian tubes, just scarred them. So when she was changed, the scarring dissolved. The tubes are clear, and you shouldn't have any problems with getting pregnant. Go forth and multiply." He had a grin from ear to ear. He stood up and moved slowly towards the pair, holding out his hand to Trey who grasped it firmly. "Good luck to both of you. I'm sorry you came all this way and went through hell, and you didn't even need me."

"Doctor, if we hadn't come here, I wouldn't have been allowed to become a panther. Who knows if the Werewolf would have healed the same way. And besides, Rolf would still be here. It was all for the best I think. Don't you?" Rebecca squeezed Trey's hand and smiled brightly at the love of her life. Who knew she could feel this way about someone so quickly. She didn't regret anything they'd been through. It just made them closer. "Now, can we get out of here since I'm healed?"

----------------------------

Axel had given Alistair and Rhys full access to the pack's records, such as they were. It was obvious when Leif had died. The once meticulous records and logs were replaced by unintelligible chicken scratch. The pack genealogist had been one of those killed when Rolf took over. Since then no one had kept any accounting of births, deaths, or matings. Rhys was appalled by the absolute disarray. Record keeping was so important to a small pack, and this was a travesty.

Rhys pushed a jumble of papers away and stood up. "What a mess. It looks like someone took some of the older records and ripped them out of their bound volumes." He turned to a window and stood watching the pack members out in the compound. "Alistair, have you noticed there are no young cubs?" He turned to look at his friend who was still sitting and leafing through the old Alpha's last journal. "Halle seems to be one of the youngest, and she's almost eighteen. What do you make of that?"

Alistair stopped reading and leaned back. "I'd noticed that too. I was going to ask Axel about it after we got done here."

"Ask me what?" The new Alpha walked into what was now his office and plopped down in his old seat, to the right of the desk. He sat there for a moment before he noticed the amused looks from the older Weres and realized his mistake. He grinned, stood up, and sat down carefully in the desk chair, his chair. He slid his hands on the well worn leather arms. Leif Jensen had sat at this desk for over one hundred and fifty years. For a time that seat to the right had belonged to Axel's father. He stopped his wandering thoughts and looked up again. "Ask me what gentlemen? I'll tell you anything I know."

"Where are the cubs?" Alistair asked softly.

Axel's face darkened and his eyes flashed for a moment. He took a moment to gather himself together before answering. "There hasn't been a cub born in this pack in sixteen years. When Rolf brought Jordan here, we thought it was to investigate that very problem, but he just wanted to sire cubs himself and didn't care about anyone else."

"Sixteen years?" Rhys was shocked. He stepped up to the desk again and rustled through some of the documents, picking up random pedigrees. What was your pack genealogist doing all those years? Was he paying attention? He could have contacted the Council for assistance. Do you know why he didn't?"

"How could the Council have helped? We thought maybe we had some kind of disease. Can the Council help us now?"

"Your pack is much more inbred than is considered acceptable. I think your wolves know and that's why the females aren't conceiving." Rhys hadn't seen this happen to a pack in over three hundred years. That pack had been disbanded and it's members dispersed between several distant packs.

"Is it too late to fix? Or is my pack going to die out?" Axel couldn't believe this. He thought it was Rolf that had caused all their pack's problems but it wasn't. They'd been through hell in the last four years, and for what? So they could disappear? "We hardly have any females anymore. Rolf killed most of the unmated female Betas and all but about ten unmated male Betas. And others just disappeared. I was never sure if he killed them or they escaped."

Axel closed his eyes and pictured his Anneke. Would they be able to have cubs? The thought had never come to him before now. His wolf snorted. Anneke sensed his fears and her wolf assured them both they would be fine.

Alistair smiled. "I think Rhys and I can give you a few ideas. Rhys?" Alistair looked at his friend who still stared at the papers in his hands.

"In the past, when a pack had some incident that caused them to lose too many members, the Alpha was given a choice. He could disband his pack and they would find homes with other packs willing to take them in, or accept new members who wanted to join them. Introducing new blood lines is always good for a pack. This pack has kept to it's own for far too long." He saw the strained look on Axel's face and had a good idea of what he was thinking.

"However, in your case Alpha, your parents moved here before you were born from a pack in Canada. There had been a falling out between your father and the Alpha, your mother's father. They decided to leave, and Leif accepted them here. You and Anneke are not related at all within the last five generations on this pedigree. So you'll be fine. I'm sure you won't have any problem siring cubs. And when your sister finds a mate she won't have a problem either." Rhys watched as Axel's face relaxed, that is until he came to the idea of his sister finding a mate.

"Halle's too young to mate." Axel looked out the window and saw her chatting with Kent. He'd been watching her like a hawk since Axel had told him to guard her during yesterday's incident. He hadn't stopped yet. Axel closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "I forgot, she'll be eighteen in less than a week. And I have a feeling Kent already knows she's his mate." He really couldn't ask for a better mate for her. Kent was his second and a good wolf, strong, brave, loyal. They'd be a good match. He had to remind himself to think like an Alpha, not a big brother.

"Are there any others in our pack that aren't inbred?" He sighed when he saw Rhys slowly shake his head. "Then I will take acceptable wolves into my pack. Do I have the right to deny entry to any I don't trust?"

"Of course you do. And we will only suggest it to those that would be an asset." Alistair was happy to be able to help the young Alpha build a strong pack. "We have another possibility. There are more Vlkolak females that are as yet unmated. We can ask those staying with the Baxter Pack if any would like to relocate to California. We can bring them here and see if any of your males are interested. They are all meant to be Were mates, they just need to find the right ones." Alistair thought this could work out perfectly for everyone. He had been thinking of sending the females to the packs that had more males than females. This pack was the perfect one to start with. They needed outside blood anyway.

"Since the Jensen pack originated in Norway and the Vlkolak in Hungary we won't have to worry about any inbreeding factor at all." Rhys couldn't stop perusing the so-called pack records. "This is such a mess. Axel, can you think of anyone who would make a good pack Genealogist that I can train for you?"

"Halle. She loves this kind of thing. She's always making lists of everything. I think the job would suit her."

"Then Halle it shall be. I'd like to have my mate join me here. Would that be acceptable? Maybe she could bring some of the Vlkolak females with her. She's very close to those that were rescued from Gary."

"Of course Sir, that would be wonderful." Axel was grateful to the head of the Council and the Archivist for taking such a personal interest in the rejuvenation of his pack. They certainly would have been well within their rights to force him to disband, so this couldn't be any better. "Let me know when you want to begin. I'll tell her she has a new job."

Rhys laughed. "Let's give things a little while to settle down around here. I'll contact Katy and tell her to pack our things. We'll be staying on here for a little while I think. Alistair, maybe Katy and Jenna can speak with the females and decide who to send here?"

"That would be perfect. They'll choose well I'm sure." The mention of Jenna's name affected Alistair in a way he hadn't known was possible just a short time ago. His whole body responded to the sound of her name, like she was standing beside him. He could almost feel the touch of her hand on his, hear the sound of her voice. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He'd be home soon enough.

A knock on the door got everyone's attention. Axel shouted "Come in."

Carr breezed through the door with a smile on his face. "Just wanted to let everyone know Rebecca is fine. The test shows she is normal and can have cubs. They're on their way back to the compound. Of course I'm sure Axel already knew." Carr turned to the new Alpha and gave him a friendly smile.

Axel looked a little embarrassed. "I didn't want to say anything. It's your pack's business, not mine."

"You handled it just fine Axel." Carr liked Axel. He had a good attitude about things. He wasn't arrogant at all. He thought he'd make a fine Alpha. And Anneke would certainly be an excellent Alpha Bitch. She'd been raised by her father to know everything about this pack. But that put her at a slight advantage over Axel. Usually a pack Alpha knew who would succeed him, or at least had a good idea, and spent a lot of time preparing the wolf for the job. Carr's father had spent years teaching him what he needed to know to be a good, strong, and fair Alpha. Axel had been a lower ranking Beta until Rolf decimated the ranks.

"How are you doing Axel? I mean, how are you feeling about all of this?" Carr hoped he wouldn't feel self conscious about answering truthfully.

Axel looked at the faces watching him. He was in a room with two of the most important Werewolves on the continent, and an Alpha he had grown to greatly respect and admire in the last twenty four hours. "A little overwhelmed to be honest. So much has happened. My father said he'd help me with some of the nuts and bolts about this pack. But it's been a long time since he was Leif's second. A lot has changed. Anneke has an amazing amount of knowledge about the pack, but there are things I know she can't help me with."