Nikolai’s Wolf: Chapter Ten

Shannon had spent the last hour being poked and prodded by Alex and now sat in his office waiting for the results of her tests. She knew what they would reveal. Both she and her wolf were losing their collective minds.

A whole month had passed since the night of the hunt, and she still couldn’t remember what happened after she’d run from Rory. Neither Alex nor Carol would tell her who’d found her. Hell, she’d even asked Kiesha. They were mum on the subject, saying it was better she remembered on her own.

She rose and began to pace. Something had happened to her that night. Shannon could tell it by the looks the others exchanged whenever she brought up the subject. Her body felt different and her sleep patterns were off.

At first she’d attributed it to the stress of being in new surroundings. She’d literally started over—a new pack, new clients, new home. She was simply having problems adjusting.

But that didn’t explain the dreams. Sexual dreams so intense she woke aching and needy, feeling unfulfilled. She never saw the face of her dream lover, and was never allowed to touch him. In the dream she could only lie immobile while he pleasured her body to the point of madness. It was these nighttime fantasies which had convinced her she was prematurely heading into a second heat cycle.

Then she’d begun losing control of her wolf while she slept. Too many nights she’d awakened in the midst of a shift. Something she hadn’t done since puberty. It was embarrassing. It was scary and it had been going on too long. This last thing had been the final straw. She’d cornered Alex at the pack’s welcome party he and Kiesha had thrown for her and Mary Elizabeth, Kiesha’s best friend who’d also recently moved to Refuge, and admitted she needed help.

Tired of pacing, Shannon sat and had picked up a health and fitness magazine to leaf through when Alex breezed in. He dropped into the chair behind his desk and tossed her chart on top. “Have you ever heard of a condition called polycythemia vera?”

“No. What is it? Is this poly whatever you called it what’s wrong with me?” She was vaguely alarmed, and she didn’t even know what it was yet.

Alex explained. “PV is a blood disorder in which the body produces too many red blood cells, thickening your blood. It’s extremely rare, but it explains a lot of the symptoms you are experiencing.”

“Are you sure? I mean, if it’s so rare, how would I have it?” This was not what she’d been expecting. Shape-shifters didn’t get sick. Their rapid healing prevented everything from paper cuts to the common cold.

Alex rocked back in his chair. “I’m not a hundred percent sure. I would need to run more tests. Your red blood cell count is higher than normal, which caused your blood to thicken. I noticed it when I drew blood. In conjunction with your other symptoms, and after a little research, this is the diagnosis I settled on.”

“So I have PV and that explains the problems I’m having,” she slowly repeated, trying to let it sink in that she wasn’t actually crazy. There was a medical explanation for what was going on inside her body.

“Not entirely. This is only a part of it. It would explain the tingling in your legs, itchy skin, and your lack of sleep. Insomnia wouldn’t normally be a major issue, not in its milder stages like what you have, but there are complications. Something has thrown your body into a second heat. You’re not mistaken. You are going into heat, and that’s going to create a problem.”

“Ya think?” Once a year was bad enough. Twice was mind-boggling.

“There’s more. Do you take birth control of any kind?” Alex looked downright grim as he asked the question. She suddenly had a bad feeling about where this was headed.

Many she-wolves took birth control to regulate their heat. That was when a female was most vulnerable. The instinct to mate and reproduce could have her, literally, acting like a bitch in heat, accepting any and all comers.

“Yes, I’m on the Pill.”

“You have to come off them.”

Her mouth dropped open, and she bit back the urge to rail at him. Did he understand what he was asking her to do? “Alex, you know I can’t do that, especially not now.” If she did, she might as well lie down in the street naked and hang a sign around her neck that said FUCK ME.

Alex appeared apologetic but resolute. “Shannon, I’m sorry, but you really don’t have a choice in the matter. I hate to sound melodramatic. It really is a choice between your virtue and your life. With the extra blood your body is producing, the Pill can dramatically increase your chances of forming a blood clot, which I don’t have to tell you is deadly. That’s not a chance I’m willing to take with your life. You need to come off the Pill and any other natural substances you’re taking. All of them have the same threat potential.”

“But…but…” She had never gone through the heat without some type of buffer and didn’t know how. Only mated females who were ready to conceive went without medication. “If I can’t control the heat, I could end up pregnant and mated to any wolf cunning enough to get to me, whether I want to be or not.”

“I know the risk, but would death be preferable? I don’t want your choices taken away from you any more than you do. This is serious business. Look, this is the problem: The thickening blood in your veins, the hormones in your birth control pills, and the surging hormones in your body caused by the heat all exponentially increase the likelihood of blood clots forming in your body. I can’t control the PV because there is no treatment or cure. All we can do is monitor it and take measures as needed. I can’t stop the heat because I don’t know what’s causing it. Of the three, the only factor in this equation under our power to regulate is the birth control pills you take. Anything we can do to decrease the potential for clotting needs to be done.”

Desperately she asked, “Is there anything you can do about the pack? Make the unmated males leave me alone or something?”

He looked at her sorrowfully and shook his head. “Under normal circumstances, I could try, but your season is scheduled to hit its peak during the week of the blue moon.”

She stared at him as the implications set in.

Oh shit!

A blue moon was a second full moon falling within the same month. It only happened once every two years. Weak shifters had little to no control over their beasts during a regular full moon. Blue moons were worse because they triggered a sexual frenzy. Males referred to the week of the blue moon as the fuckfest because the urge to mate was all-consuming. Everyone was affected, even the alphas. There were always more pregnancies after a blue moon phase.

Alex tried to reassure her. “It will be all right, Shannon. We’ll figure something out, okay? I promise. In the meantime, let me give you something to help you sleep at night.”

“Thanks, Alex,” she said as she took the bottle of pills. “I appreciate your help. Do me a favor. Don’t say anything to anyone about this, please?”

“I couldn’t. It would violate doctor-patient confidentiality. Try not to worry. The last thing you need right now is stress. At least now you know you’re not going crazy.” He smiled, but it wasn’t much of one. Shannon could tell he was worried.

“I think I would prefer crazy. I’d probably handle it better. See you later. Thanks for the sleeping pills.”

Shannon left Alex’s office and sat in the truck, trying to get herself together. Think, Shannon, think. This is no time to panic. She had a brain. She was an intelligent woman. There had to be something she could do.

What was that serenity prayer? Something about not worrying about the things she can’t change. To focus on what she could. All right, what about this messed-up situation did she have power over?

She couldn’t do anything about her blood. Ditto the heat. The PV whatever took away any control she might have had over it. If she didn’t want to jump on the first penis she saw, she was going to have to make it difficult for the penises to get to her.

Leaving was out of the question. Shape-shifters were everywhere, and the last thing she wanted to do was be surprised by some out-of-area wolf-shifter. What she needed was a way to keep the males from getting to her. She might not be able to govern them, but she could limit or prevent their access to her body.

Realizing she was on to something, Shannon let that thought play out in her mind as she backed out of the parking lot and drove to the house she was still trying to think of as home. If she could make it difficult enough to get to her, she might just make it out of this heat unmated and in one piece. She needed a secure place, like a panic room, ’cause Lord knew she was going to be in a panic when the blue moon rose.

Alex wouldn’t mind her making changes to his house. He’d probably help out if she told him what she was about to do. Now she needed to find a room that suited her purpose. Thank God she’d spent many of her teenage years helping Rory with his construction business. Every bit of knowledge she’d gained was going to come in handy.