Chapter 182: Ronan
The atmosphere outside grew tense as Sunnie’s cries filled the air. Everyone was worried, concerned that delivering like this might not be safe.
But they still waited patiently outside, waiting for the delivery to take place. While they waited, Maren went to sit down with her father. She held onto his fingers with her tiny hands from time to time, anxious to take a peek and see.
But they didn’t let her in at all. No one wanted the little chaotic child cluelessly running around in the cave room.
As they stood outside worrying about Sunnie, who was screaming and crying inside, they suddenly heard another cry.
It didn’t belong to Sunnie at all. It was smaller and more tender. The cry clearly belonged to a baby, and it didn’t take them long to realize that Sunnie had finally given birth.
Immediately, they all stood in shock, staring toward the cave.
"Baby..." Maren had a bright smile on her face. She could tell that her mother had delivered another cub and wanted to rush in, but Azure held her back.
Everyone was relieved. Even Karl and Zayn, though they didn’t want to show it. At least it was a safe delivery—the cub was out.
After a while, one of the women came out of the cave with a warm smile on her face. She stared at Luka, who was still pacing around anxiously. "You can go in and see your little one."
Luka didn’t hesitate. He instantly made his way into the cave like a child going in to see their new favorite toy.
As soon as Luka got in, his heart melted at the scene before him. He saw Sunnie sitting on the animal skin clothes, the women surrounding her with smiles. In Sunnie’s arms was the little one.
The little bear cub. Luka melted at the sight of the tiny creature—tiny eyes, tiny fists and claws, small tender bear ears twitching, chubby cheeks. It looked so small that Luka didn’t even know how to approach it; he was scared he might hurt it if he got closer.
He watched as the baby was wrapped in fur blankets and yawned. He melted at the scene. He couldn’t believe that the little one was his. It was his cub. Immediately, hot tears began running down his cheeks.
He didn’t even know when they came out, but the women were surprised to see the huge bear beastman crying.
They stared at each other and immediately giggled in amusement at the sight of him crying.
Sunnie held the cub softly as she stared at him. "Are you crying?" she teased.
But Luka immediately wiped his eyes and shook his head. "No! I’m not," he insisted, cleaning his eyes while Sunnie smiled, teasing him further.
"I guess that’s going to be the first impression of our little one for their father. Their big baby father," she teased as Luka came to kneel down closer to them.
"I’m not crying..." He insisted. "Something got into my eyes..." He stared at the little one.
He was so tiny and frail-looking that Luka didn’t even know how to touch him. He feared he would harm him if he did. "It’s so little..."
Sunnie smiled as she stretched out the baby. "Want to try carrying him?"
Luka immediately shook his head. "No, I don’t think I’m ready... I can’t hold it yet..." He wiped his hands on his loincloth. "I think I’ll harm it."
Sunnie smiled. "What are you talking about? Just hold it as softly as possible. It’s your cub, so you should get to hold it." She insisted.
Luka hesitated, staring at the little cub, who was looking at him with glittering brown eyes. The cub had already stopped crying and was just gazing at him as though it could understand what was happening around it.
Luka wiped his hands again on his clothes before summoning the courage to carry the cub. He stretched out his hands as Sunnie slowly handed the cub to him.
As soon as he held the cub, he felt the warmth of the little one melt through him. The cub was so soft and tiny that he felt like he might drop it at any moment. At first he was scared, but as he stared at its face, he melted even more.
The cub was so tiny and adorable, its eyes flickering at him, which made Luka smile back at the little one.
Sunnie looked at them with a warm smile as she said, "He looks so much like you."
"A he?" Luka asked without looking up; he still had his eyes fixed on the little one.
Elza nodded. "Yes. It’s a male cub."
Luka continued smiling while staring at the cub like a precious treasure.
"He has your pretty eyes, then," Luka said to Sunnie, still staring at the cub.
"What do we call him?" Luka immediately asked, as though he had been waiting for this moment for ages. He held the little boy firmly in his arms while he looked up at her. "What name have you thought of?"
Sunnie smiled as she stared at him. "I think you should do that. Why don’t you name him?"
Luka shook his head. "No, I want you to. I want you to give him a name." He smiled.
Sunnie smiled as she stared down at the little cub in his arms. She slowly raised her finger and caressed the cub’s soft cheek with it as she said, "Is that so? Then I guess I’ll give you a name this time."
She smiled as she said after a moment of thought, "Then we can call him... Ronan."
The women all smiled warmly at the moment as Luka stared down at the little one, running his fingers through his soft cheeks. He was being careful not to hurt the tender face as he said, "Hear that...? From now henceforth, you have a name. A pretty name given to you by your mama—Ronan."