Chapter 66: Welcome To Motherhood
The heat lasted four days.
By the end of it, the two strong beast males who had entered that shelter were not the same males who emerged.
Xavi could barely lift his arms above his head. His legs felt like they had been filled with river stones, and his back cracked in three places when he tried to stand. He had hunted, fought, and survived the Collapse itself, and yet a shiftless female who weighed less than one of his thighs had reduced him to a hobbling, exhausted mess.
Ermin was somehow worse. He could barely walk, and his tail dragged on the floor behind him as he didn’t have the energy to lift it.
Tera, meanwhile, slept peacefully at the end of it.
Xavi and Ermin had taken turns. Sometimes together. Sometimes alone with her while the other collapsed outside the shelter to recover.
There had been small breaks in between and naps, but Tera had been insatiable.
The heat had turned the woman who needed help lifting bundles of sticks into a creature of terrifying stamina and single-minded focus. She had demanded more when both males were gasping for air. She had woken them from exhausted sleep by climbing on top of them. She had, at one point, apparently bitten Xavi’s ear hard enough to leave a mark because he wasn’t waking up fast enough.
[This system would like to formally document the following:]
[Heat Duration: 4 days, 3 hours, 17 minutes]
[Total mating sessions: This system lost count after 23]
[ʘ‿ʘ]
[Xavi’s stamina reserves: Depleted]
[Ermin’s stamina reserves: Obliterated]
[Host’s stamina during heat: Unexplainable and frankly concerning]
[(⊙_⊙)]
When the heat finally broke on the fourth evening, Tera had fallen asleep so deeply that both males had genuinely panicked.
And she wouldn’t wake up no matter how much they pressed.
Even though they felt relieved that she looked so relaxed in her sleep and she was breathing, it did not stop their worry.
All through their initial attempts to wake her up, they were obviously unaware of the floating screen that displayed Host was simply experiencing "a recovery shutdown."
What followed was a caretaking period.
They had washed her and swatted her in a bundle of fur to make her as comfortable as possible while they returned to the settlement. Every clan member sheepishly acted like they hadn’t heard the quiet, and sometimes loud, signs of mating from a short distance away.
A lot of them had done a very good job at hiding their horror at just how long it had gone, while they had had to convince their cubs of a funny-sounding new animal roaming the area.
Though they were more distracted by how tired their leader and the panther looked.
As for Feron, he had regained consciousness earlier with a splitting headache, a cracked rib from his collision with the tree, and absolutely no memory of being launched out of a shelter by a heat-crazed female.
When the other males told him what had happened, he refused to believe it.
The clan oddly took care of themselves during those few days and managed on their own.
Yara had been monitoring the farm closely with another female.
"The green things are very tall now!" she had announced proudly to anyone who would listen.
Unfortunately, "very tall" was the extent of her agricultural knowledge. And Xavi who had come to monitor things at first, stood at the edge of the farm, staring at the plants with the intense focus of someone who knew something was supposed to happen next but could not for the life of him figure out what.
Xavi had hunted aggressively that second day, dragging back enough meat to feed the clan for days. Hides and fur would also be prepared from the game, and despite not voicing out their thoughts, the meat was mostly for Tera.
Both males carried a quiet, unspoken hope in their chests that neither dared to voice.
Tera might be having their cubs soon after this, especially with how vigorously she had drained their seed, which had taken them the whole first day to replenish.
Both were excited, hoping Tera had their cub instead.
Ermin’s hope was quieter and far more complicated.
The idea of Tera carrying his child would have disturbed him not long ago, but when he pictured a cub with pink hair and her sharp eyes, or maybe his ears and her ridiculous courage, his chest did not tighten with dread.
He felt warm inside.
By the evening of the second day, Tera finally stirred.
She first noticed how she was wrapped in warm furs and how clean she was.
Her body ached so satisfyingly that it felt like she had been thoroughly massaged by angels.
She stretched, and her entire body sang.
’Oh.’ A slow smile spread across her face as she felt giddy, reminiscing about what had happened.
Her pussy felt sore, but in a good way.
’I needed that so much.’
[Good evening, Host!]
[This system is relieved to report that Host has regained consciousness after approximately 46 hours of recovery sleep]
’Forty-six HOURS?!’
[Host’s body required extensive recovery time]
[This is unsurprising given the... vigour... of the preceding days]
[ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡ]
[This system stopped counting for its own mental health]
Tera shook her head and relaxed, embracing the warm fur.
She wasn’t going to let the system disrupt her waking moment.
[On a more serious note]
[This system would like to confirm:]
[Is Host back to normal?]
[(·•᷄ࡇ•᷅ )]
[Because during the heat, Host displayed behavioural patterns that this system found... alarming]
Tera grunted, not interested in getting more information. The only relevant thing she could remember was swatting out an annoying fly before Ermin came in.
’Mind your own business.’
[That is impossible!]
[This system has seen things it cannot unsee!]
[(ᗒᗩᗕ)]
[But this system is glad Host is herself again]
[The heat version of Host was... formidable]
[And terrifying]
’Let me restttttt.’
[Relationship updates!]
[Xavi’s Favourability: 73% → 78%]
[Status: Registered Mate]
[Xavi and Host have imprinted on each other during mating]
Tera’s chest fluttered, remembering that moment with a sweet fondness. It had been so hot too... She squirmed underneath the fur, her cheeks starting to sting from smiling too much.
Another stupid, giddy smile spread across her face, and she didn’t even try to stop it.
[Ermin’s Favourability: 42% → 50%]
Tera felt happy. Ermin didn’t hate her anymore.
Tera sat in the warmth of the furs, smiling like a fool, her body sore in the best possible way and her heart so full she thought it might burst.
Everything was finally—
[Ding!]
[Biological scan complete]
[Host has achieved conception!]
Tera went still.
"What?"
[ ಠ ͜ʖ ಠ ]
[Why are you acting so surprised when—]
[=͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪‧̣̥̇)]
Tera sprang upright.
’Wait, what is that look?!’