page6 (1/1)

A helpless giggle escapes“better” than so ever Of course, giggling makeswhen you're pregnant

Dagesh is patient, though, helping irls clean the dishes and change into their pajamas, still on their best behavior If I wasn't sothe as bait reat today Nor, and the occasional hair pulling Today they've been angels

"Do not worry,"a kiss over et coive the to her" He rubs his lips over my knuckles, a promise in his eyes Oh yeah, thenant I am

With that, he sirls "It is late, and fierce little huntresses need their sleep Come Your father will tell you the story your mother promised, yes? And then you will sleep"

I've never seen the girls scramble into bed so quickly Aainst reat care into their sleeping nook He kisses their two bright heads, sits down next to theainst the floor

"When I was a young hunter, I thought I would always be alone," he begins, his voice a soothing ruo Myafter I was born, when the brutal season did not provide enough gathe tie when he died—and for many turns of the seasons, I had no one I lived with the un and tracking and surviving I did not dare to hope for more"

His tail flicks lightly against the floor

"And then one day, my chief Vektal returned to our cave with a scrawny fe to his back and said that his female had companions in need of rescue…"

I settle in to listen to his story, but my mind can't help but fill in the blanks, the parts that he leaves out, all the filthy, wonderful, sordid bits…

2

Eight Years Ago

DAGESH

I stand near the entrance to the hue cave and try not to be obvious as , especially since it seeainst my leathers, oblivious to the tears of the fee sleep to find themselves in a neorld If Vektal's new mate Shorshie is to be believed, the land they co

Even , they will resonate the moment they receive khuis At least one of thee to rubat all of us suspiciously I think he suspects ill carry off the females and make him look bad in front of his new mate

I cannot carry off my feether, their scents inter, and it is impossible to tell which one my khui has decided is s of the strange cave that the female Shorshie says was part of a cave that fell from the sky It looks like no cave I know of, the walls a flat, dark gray I have never seen in nature The interior of the cave smells odd, too, as odd as the flat walls and square shape Shorshie told Vektal that other peoples—strange-looking peoples—made this cave with their hands, but I do not believe this is true

A cave is found It is not made like a spear or a basket

Despite all this strangeness, I resonated the moment the scent of the females brushed my nose I clutch uard the entrance to the cave The cave is set below the snow, buried deep, and the entrance is on the top instead of on the side I a to ensure that no metlaks drop inside and scare the females who are huddled on the other side of the square cave near a fire