Chapter 127: The Thing That Came Home
"I’m pregnant."
The words reached Swanly’s mouth.
Then stopped.
Kael stood at the entrance of the cave, staring at her.
"What?"
Swanly blinked.
"Nothing."
His golden eyes narrowed.
"You look worried."
"I always look worried."
"No."
He stepped closer.
Swanly sighed.
Fine.
She turned fully toward him.
"I think I’m pregnant."
Silence.
The words hung between them like a blade.
Swanly watched his face carefully.
Nothing.
No growl.
No anger.
Not even surprise.
Kael stood still for a long moment.
Then he stepped closer, close enough that she could feel the heat of his body.
His large hand rose and cupped her face, his thumb brushing slowly beneath her eye.
The touch was gentle.
Almost reverent.
"Okay," he said quietly.
Swanly’s throat tightened.
She stared at him.
"Okay?"
His other hand settled on her waist, his fingers spreading over the soft curve of her stomach as if he could already feel something growing there.
The contact made her breath catch.
His palm was warm, rough from fighting, and he kept it there longer than he needed to.
"Are you hungry?"
Her mouth slowly opened.
"What?"
"You have been eating more."
"That is not the point!"
Kael’s thumb brushed beneath her eye again.
"And you look tired. I should have noticed sooner."
"Kael."
"Yes?"
"You are not mad?"
His hand stopped moving against her cheek for the smallest heartbeat.
So small she almost missed it.
Just long enough for her to feel the crack.
Then he continued stroking her skin, slower this time, like he was memorizing the shape of her face.
"Why would I be mad?"
Swanly searched his face.
"The baby..."
"I know."
"It might..."
Her throat tightened.
She could not finish.
Soren.
Kael understood anyway.
His eyes lowered.
"What is done is done."
His voice remained calm.
Too calm.
"My female is pregnant," he said. "Then my responsibility is to make sure she eats, sleeps, and does not run toward monsters while carrying a cub."
Swanly’s chest hurt.
She leaned into his palm, searching his eyes.
The golden color looked darker than usual.
There was love there.
So much love it almost hurt to look at.
But underneath it sat something raw and carefully buried.
"You make that sound very simple," she whispered.
"It is."
"No, it isn’t."
Kael smiled.
It was soft.
Too soft.
The kind of smile people used when they wanted a conversation to die peacefully.
His thumb brushed her lower lip.
The touch lingered.
Soft.
Intimate.
His eyes dropped to her mouth for a second before he forced them back up.
"You are still mine."
His voice stayed steady, but the hand on her waist tightened just slightly, as if he was holding onto her.
"The young... will be ours."
The word ours came out quieter than the rest.
"Kael..."
His golden eyes flickered.
She wanted to explain.
The pollen.
Soren.
The mating mark.
How none of it had happened the way she would ever have chosen for something so important to happen.
How she still did not even know how she felt.
How terrified she was that Kael was quietly bleeding beside her while pretending he had already accepted everything.
"About what happened..."
Kael removed his hand.
"If you are hungry, I will bring meat."
There.
Again.
He turned away.
Swanly’s ears lowered.
"I’m not hungry yet."
"I can bring fruit."
"Kael."
"Or fish."
"I said I’m not hungry."
He stopped.
Swanly stared at his back.
"You keep doing that."
His shoulders tightened.
"Doing what?"
"Avoiding me."
Kael did not answer.
Then a scream ripped through Ironwood Basin.
Both of them snapped toward the entrance.
Kael shifted instantly.
Black fur swallowed his body.
Swanly’s bow appeared in her hand.
They ran.
...
Outside, five tiny disasters had been enjoying the greatest afternoon of their lives.
Mud.
Lots of it.
Kairo had built something he insisted was a defensive wall.
It was four lumps of mud.
Lumi kicked one over.
Kairo gasped.
"You break fort!"
"It ugly fort!"
"It protect!"
"From what?"
Kairo pointed toward absolutely nothing.
"Danger."
Nilo sat nearby carefully shaping mud into small balls.
Tavi copied him.
Miko was lying directly inside a puddle.
Tilla stared at him from beneath a fruit tree.
"Miko."
He froze.
"Why are you in the mud?"
"Not mud."
Tilla looked at the brown water covering him from ears to feet.
"What is it?"
Miko thought.
"Bath."
Several nearby females laughed.
Mora stood with the other guards while more cubs played around the spring.
Nobody was worried.
For almost a week, nothing had attacked them.
Maybe Ironwood Basin really was safe.
Then Miko saw the footprint.
Another one.
Huge.
Pressed deep into the mud beyond the children’s play area.
He crawled out of his puddle.
Nilo noticed immediately.
"Miko."
Miko ignored him.
He placed one tiny foot inside the enormous track.
His entire body fit inside one claw mark.
His eyes widened.
"Big."
Kairo ran over.
"Come back."
"Look!"
"We saw big foot before."
"This new."
Lumi approached.
Her rabbit ears twitched.
"Very big."
Tavi immediately moved behind Nilo.
The forest went quiet.
Far beyond them, something stood between the trees.
It had returned several minutes earlier.
Returned home.
And found strangers everywhere.
Stone shelters occupied.
Water disturbed.
Smoke rising.
Small two-legged creatures walking through its resting grounds.
It did not understand.
So it watched.
Then it saw the cubs.
Tiny.
Noisy.
Covered in mud.
One threw mud at another.
The smallest fell over and laughed.
The enormous creature slowly lowered its head.
Interesting.
They were not frightening.
Actually...
They were very small.
Very soft-looking.
It wanted to approach.
It took one step.
Stopped.
The little creatures might run.
It did not want them to run.
One of them had long white ears.
Another had black round ears.
The smallest was almost completely brown from mud.
The creature lowered itself farther behind the trees.
Perhaps if it became smaller?
It could not become smaller.
Unfortunate.
Miko turned.
His smile disappeared.
Two enormous eyes stared down at him through the branches.
He slowly raised his head.
And raised it.
And raised it.
The creature was enormous.
Bigger than Raku.
Bigger than Soren’s snake form.
Its head alone looked large enough to swallow their entire cub cave.
It stared at him.
Miko stared back.
The creature carefully lifted one claw.
It wanted to touch the strange little muddy thing.
Miko inhaled.
Kairo grabbed his arm.
"Miko?"
The claw moved closer.
Miko opened his mouth.
And unleashed the full power of his legendary battle scream.
"MONSTEEEEER!"
...
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