"I’m fine," she murmured, though her words came out slurred at the edges, her fennec ears drooping so low they nearly touched her jaw. "I just need to sleep. Someone needs to be with the cubs."
"We’ve got them." Victor’s hand curled around her shoulder, gentle despite the iron beneath it. "Sleep, little fox. We’ll handle this."
She wanted to argue. She wanted to hold all four of them until her arms gave out from the effort. But her body had already made the decision for her, eyelids drooping, the room tilting soft and slow like she was underwater.
Hands, many hands, careful and impossibly gentle, began lifting the cubs from her one by one. The wolf cub went first, plucked into Ivan’s massive arms with a whimper of protest. Then the purple-scaled boy, who fussed the moment he lost contact with her skin, little claws grasping at nothing.
"No!" Felicity tried to reach for them, her arm heavy as lead. "Don’t.."
"They’re not going anywhere far, little girl," Ivan said, voice a low rumble meant to soothe, already bouncing the wolf cub against his broad chest. "Just to their crib. You need rest."
The eagle girl went last, pulled from her arms with the gentlest care Damien’s claws could manage, tucked instantly against his chest where his cool scales seemed to calm her fussing almost immediately. The panther cub, still gripping his sister’s tail even as they were separated, let out a wail of outrage that startled Felicity fully awake for one panicked heartbeat.
"Easy," Exile murmured, coils shifting as he gathered the wailing cub against the warm plane of his torso, one broad hand cupping the small head. The boy’s cries hitched, then softened as Exile began the slow, practised sway that came so naturally to him.
Voss was already moving, stripping soiled linens, gathering cloths, his motions economical and quick, clearing the space of the mess of birth with the same efficiency he brought to everything.
"I’ll check the grounds," Damien said, passing the eagle cub off to Ivan’s other arm with a reluctance Felicity could feel even through her exhaustion, some tightness in the way his claws lingered a moment too long against the small feathered ears. "Make sure nothing’s slipped through while we were... occupied."
He was gone before she could tell him to be careful, his tall form dissolving into the dark hallway.
"Come on, little fox." Victor’s arms slid beneath her, lifting her from the birthing bed as if she weighed nothing at all, and the motion made her stomach lurch pleasantly, made her curl instinctively into the heat of his chest. "Let’s get you somewhere clean and somewhere you can actually sleep."
Dimitri appeared at her other side, quiet for once, his red eyes tracking her face with an intensity that didn’t match his usual teasing drawl. "I’ve got the door, big man. Lead the way."
She caught the last sight of the nursery as Victor carried her past it—Ivan and Exile lowering all five cubs into one wide crib together, swaddled bundles arranged like a litter of pups, tiny hands already finding each other in sleep even as their cries dwindled into hiccupping whimpers of protest.
"Mine," she thought she heard herself murmur against Victor’s shoulder, though she couldn’t be sure if she said it aloud or only felt it, bone-deep, absolute.
"Yours," Victor agreed, low and rough, carrying her into the next room where the sheets were cool and unstained and smelled of lavender instead of sweat and blood. "All of it, all of them and all of us now sleep."
She didn’t remember being laid down, and she didn’t remember being washed or remember Dimitri’s weight settling carefully and warm along her back, or Victor’s wings folding down like a canopy over the both of them, blotting out the low light of the room. She was already asleep before her head found the pillow, five small heartbeats still echoing faintly in her chest even as her own slowed into the deep, dreamless rhythm of true rest.
Morning came in the sound of crying.
Felicity’s eyes snapped open before her body caught up, the fog of exhaustion still thick in her limbs, but the wailing cut through it like nothing else could—thin, warbling cries layered over each other from somewhere down the hall. She was halfway to sitting up before two hands closed around her, pulling her back down against warmth.
"Shhh, Fel." Dimitri’s voice, rough with sleep, his nose pressed into the curve of her shoulder. "It’s okay. They’re okay. The others have them."
"But they’re crying." She pushed against his arm, weak as a kitten, her body refusing to cooperate with the urgency screaming through her chest.
"They’ll bring them to you. Two at a time, yeah? Just breathe." His arm stayed heavy across her waist, an anchor
she couldn’t fight even if she’d wanted to.
She turned her head instead, found Victor’s blood-red eyes already open and watching her from the other side of the bed, wings loosely draped over both of them like a second blanket. She reached for him without thinking, palm flat against his jaw, and he turned into the touch before she could pull away.
"Good morning, little fox."
She huffed something that might have been a laugh and leaned up to press her lips to his, then to Dimitri’s, quick and soft, a wordless thank-you for the hands that had held her down when her own body would have betrayed her.
The door opened before she could say anything else. Ivan filled the frame first, one massive arm curled around a squirming bundle of purple scales, his golden eyes soft in a way that didn’t match the size of him at all. Voss came behind, quieter, carrying the second bundle with the same careful precision he brought to everything, small feathered wings twitching against the blanket wrapped around her.
The moment the cubs caught her scent, both of them lost whatever fragile calm they’d been holding onto. The wail that came out of the little eagle girl was pure outrage, hiccupping and sharp, and the snake cub joined a half-second later, his small mouth opening on a cry that shook his whole tiny body.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter