My pregnancy was nearing its end, my belly swollen and heavy with the promise of new life. I moved differently now, my gait adjusted to accommodate the weight that pressed against my ribs and lower back, my hands constantly finding the roundness as if to reassure myself that all was well. The cubs were also approaching a year, four months away from the milestone that would mark them fully grown in the eyes of the tribe. And in two months, perhaps less if this child was eager, I would give birth to my new litter.
The winter had begun to soften at its edges, the snow still deep but the air carrying hints of the thaw to come. I walked to Rhonda’s home, my steps careful on the packed paths, my furs wrapped tight against the lingering cold. Her house was closer to mine than Layla’s, a convenience we had both appreciated during these months of shared pregnancy.
Both females were present when I arrived, their own bellies rounding with new life. Rhonda was newly pregnant with her sea lion mate’s child, her pregnancy just beginning to show beneath her tunic. Darius had been educating her on what to expect for a sea lion’s pup, and she had been educating us in turn.
"Eleven months," Rhonda said, shaking her head in wonder as we settled near her fire with cups of warm broth. "Can you imagine? Eleven months of this?"
"Sea lion females usually give birth to one pup," Darius added from where he sat nearby, carving something with careful attention. "Twins if they are lucky. And the pregnancy lasts about eleven to eleven and a half months."
I stared at her, my hand unconsciously finding my own belly. In my old world, humans took nine months for full term. Seven to eight months if they were premature. Six even if there were complications. Since coming here, my pregnancy lasted only 4 month, and this one will be the same since they are lion’s cub. So does that mean my pregnancy will depend on the species of the father? "Eleven months?" I said aloud, shaking my head. "That is so long."
"Every pregnancy is different," Layla said softly, her own hand on her stomach. This is her sixth pregnancy, a child with her newest mate the horse beast name Larry, and she glowed with the newness of it. "So far you have only carried lions. Who knows how long it will be with Soryn, or Caelion, or even Veylan?" she finished.
I laughed. "Let us get this pregnancy over with first before I get ahead of myself."
We talked then of other things, of names and preparations, of the coming spring. But the conversation kept circling back to the sea lions lagoon, to the waters that only froze at their edges during the depths of winter, leaving the center liquid and cold but still flowing, and to the caves that lined the shore where one could shelter from the biting wind.
"Darius has been getting to me about moving," Rhonda admitted, her eyes finding her mate with a mixture of exasperation and affection. "He says the babe would be safer there, that the warm waters would help with the birth."
"Are you planning to move?" I asked her.
"No," she said, but there was hesitation in her voice. "At least not yet. I have to speak to all my mates and see if they would mind it. I know at the end of the day it is really up to me, but I still would like to ask for their opinions since we are mates." She stirred her broth, watching the steam rise. "I am waiting for Thomas and Lark to come back first. But it would probably be after winter ends."
"I would really miss you," Layla said, her voice small.
"Me too," I agreed, reaching out to take Rhonda’s hand. "The village would not be the same without you."
"Nothing is set," Rhonda said quickly, squeezing my fingers. "But Darius says it is so beautiful there. I would love to visit once first before I make any decisions."
We talked a bit more, the afternoon slipping away from us in the comfortable way of women who have shared their secrets and their fears. Until Soryn came to get me.
He stood at the entrance, his human form silhouetted against the grey winter light, his emerald hair falling past his shoulders, his serpent eyes finding mine with an intensity that made my breath catch.
"It is getting late, Kyr," he said, his voice low and smooth. "Let us go home."
I looked at my handsome serpent mate, at the way his shirt clung to his lean muscles, at the sharp angles of his face that had somehow become precious to me. I put my hand in his, feeling the warmth of his palm, the subtle strength there.
"Thanks for coming to get me, Soryn," I said.
He smiled, and his handsome face made me feel other things, things that had been building low in my belly for days, perhaps weeks, heightened by the pregnancy hormones that seemed to have turned my desire into a constant, thrumming need.
Calm down, Kyr, I told myself. Do not be getting horny just from his face. You are heavy with pregnancy.
But then again, sex do help the baby come out easier when it was time. But I was horny, and so ready, and he was so beautiful, and I wanted him.
"Soryn," I said, stopping, turning to face him. My voice came out huskier than I intended. "Would you like to do it?"
He looked at me, his serpent eyes widening slightly, then darkening with understanding and desire. "Yes," he said, the word rough. "Of course. I will always want you." He stepped closer, his hands finding my waist, careful of my belly. "But are you sure? With the pregnancy so far along..."
"I’m sure...let’s hurry home." I grinned.
We walked hand in hand along the snow-packed pathway toward home, our breath misting in the cold air, my body still thrumming with need from the anticipation that had built during the walk. Soryn’s grip on my fingers was tight, almost desperate, and I could feel the tension coiling in him with every step.
When we entered our home, the warmth of the fire hit us like a wall, carrying with it the sounds of domestic life. Ravin sat near the flames, wrestling with Atlas, their golden bodies tumbling together in a mock battle that made the cub shriek with laughter. Leon was buried in furs with Ryder and Jasper, the two smaller cubs using him as a climbing wall while he pretended to be a mountain, his deep voice rumbling with playful growls. Caelion chased Chase around the perimeter of the room, the merman’s hands reaching, the cub darting away with gleeful shrieks. And Veylan stood at the cooking pit, stirring something in a clay pot that smelled of herbs and smoked meat, his silver eyes lifting to watch us enter.
They all looked up as we came in. I saw it in their faces, the moment they understood. The way Ravin’s eyes darkened, dropping to where Soryn’s hand held mine, the way Leon’s jaw tightened even as he continued to let the cubs climb on him. Caelion paused mid-chase, his expression falling for just a fraction before he schooled it into neutrality. And Veylan, his hand stilled on the stirring spoon, a pang of naked longing crossing his features before he turned back to his broth with determined focus.
I felt a twist of guilt, of love, of overwhelming desire for all of them. But tonight, it was Soryn. Tonight, I needed my serpent.
"Excuse us," Soryn said, his voice rougher than usual, and he pulled me toward his chamber without waiting for response.
We passed Veylan last, and I reached out, touched his arm. "Save some broth for me?"
He nodded, not meeting my eyes. "Always, Kyr."
Then we were in Soryn’s room, the door closing behind us with a solid thud that seemed to seal us away from the world.
It was intimate, dominated by a wooden platform piled high with furs and the scent of serpent; musky and wild and unmistakably Soryn. He turned to me the moment the door latched, his serpent eyes glowing in the dim light from the small oil lamp.
"Kyr," he breathed, and then he was on me.
His mouth crashed against mine, cool lips warming instantly, his tongue demanding entrance. I opened for him, moaning as he swept inside, tasting me, claiming me. His hands were everywhere, pulling at my winter furs, tossing them aside until I stood in only my thin makeshift bra and skirt, my pregnant belly round and obvious between us.
"So beautiful," he hissed against my throat, his lips finding the pulse there, sucking, marking. "So full of life. My mate. My female."
I needed him. The pregnancy had made me insatiable, my body craving touch, craving connection, craving the release only they could give me. I pushed at his shirt, frustrated by the layers, and he laughed, a low rumble, and helped me, stripping bare until he stood before me in all his lean, muscular glory, his cocks thick and heavy between his legs.
"Sit," I commanded, pointing to the edge of the bed. "I want to ride you."
His eyes flashed, emerald and predatory, and he obeyed, settling onto the furs, his legs spread, his cocks standing proud against his stomach. I climbed onto the platform with him, my belly making me awkward, but he helped me, his hands gentle on my hips, guiding me to straddle him.
I positioned myself above him, my skirt pushed up around my waist, my core hovering just above his twin lengths. Soryn was already hard, both of his serpent cocks standing proud and parallel, equally thick and demanding, a biology that had surprised me our first time together but had become a source of mind consuming pleasure since. But tonight, with my pregnancy so advanced, he was careful. He guided only one head to my entrance, the other pressed against my outer folds, hot and heavy and present but not entering.
I was already wet, had been wet since the walk home, and I sank down onto that single thick length with a cry that I muffled against his shoulder, feeling him fill me, stretch me, while the second cock rubbed against my sensitive nub with every movement.
"God," I gasped, feeling the fullness of him inside me and the pressure of his second shaft grinding against me with every roll of my hips, the dual sensation overwhelming, exquisite, almost too much and yet never enough.
"Yes," Soryn hissed, his head falling back, his hands gripping my hips to steady me. "Take me, Kyr. Just one tonight. I do not want to stretch you too much with the babe so heavy inside you."
I began to move, rolling my hips, finding a rhythm that worked around my belly, that ground me down onto the cock buried inside me while dragging my sensitive flesh against the second shaft pressed tight between us. His hands moved to support me, one spanning my back, the other finding my breast through my makeshift bra, then quickly pulled it off of me then pinching the sensitive nipple until I cried out.
"More," I begged, my voice breaking. "Soryn, please."
He growled, a sound more animal than man, and began to thrust up into me, meeting my movements with powerful snaps of his hips. The platform creaked beneath us, the furs bunching, and I didn’t care, couldn’t care, because he was hitting that perfect spot inside me while the second cock rubbed against my clit with every stroke, building pleasure like a storm about to break.
"Touch yourself," he commanded, his voice guttural. "Let me see you touch yourself while I fuck you."
I reached between us, found the sensitive nub above where his second shaft pressed against me, and circled it with my fingers while the first cock inside me moved in deep, devastating thrusts.
"Yes," he groaned, watching his serpent eyes fixed on the place where our bodies met, where one length disappeared inside me and the other lay trapped between us, slick with my arousal. "Yes, Kyr. Just like that. Feel me inside and out."
I rubbed myself in time with his thrusts, the dual sensation overwhelming, my head falling back, my hair cascading down my back. He took advantage of the exposed column of my throat, his mouth finding my skin, sucking, biting, his serpent tongue forked and clever flicking against my pulse.
"So close," I panted, my fingers moving faster, my hips grinding down onto him, feeling the thick ridge of the cock inside me dragging against my inner walls while the second shaft rubbed against my clit. "Soryn, I’m so close."
"Come for me," he demanded, his thrusts becoming erratic, losing rhythm as his own release approached, the cock inside me swelling, knotting slightly as serpent males did. "Come on my cock, Kyr. Let me feel you."
I shattered.
The orgasm crashed through me like a wave, starting where we joined and radiating outward until my toes curled and my vision went white. I cried out, loud and unrestrained, not caring who heard, and clenched around him, my body milking the single shaft buried deep inside me while my release slicked the second cock pressed between us.
Soryn followed me over the edge with a roar that was pure serpent, his hips snapping up one final time, burying himself to the hilt. I felt him pulse inside me, felt the heat of his release flooding me, and then the second cock jerked against my belly as he spent there as well, marking me with twin streams of his seed.
I collapsed forward onto his chest, gasping, trembling, utterly spent.
We stayed like that for long moments, joined, his arms wrapped around me, his hand stroking my back, my belly, my hair, his single shaft still twitching gently inside me, plugged tight by the swelling while the second lay hot and spent between us. The room was warm, scented with sex and love and the promise of sleep.
"Thank you," I whispered against his neck.
He laughed, the sound tired and satisfied, his forked tongue flicking against my ear. "Any time, my mate. Any time, although I wanted it as much as you did."
When we finally emerged, the hall was quiet. Veylan set a bowl of broth before me without comment, though his eyes held questions I answered with a soft, sated smile. Ravin caught my gaze from across the room and nodded, a silent acknowledgment. Leon winked. Caelion brought me a cup of water.
And I sat among them, sated and loved, surrounded by my family, and knew that I was the luckiest female in all of Askalda.