Surviving Zombies Was Easier Than Raising Beast Cubs

Chapter 156: Chapter 156: The Babies Moved

Swanly was going to kill Miko.

Then Soren.

Then possibly herself.

"MAMA SLOW!"

"Miko!"

The smallest cub shrieked with laughter and shot around a cooking shelter.

His tiny black tail vanished behind the corner.

Swanly chased him.

Or tried to.

Three months ago, she could have caught him without thinking.

Now?

Her stomach was round.

Her breasts felt heavier.

Her hips had somehow become even more ridiculous.

And her body had decided running while pregnant was an insult punishable by immediate exhaustion.

"Miko, come here!"

"No!"

Kairo ran after his brother.

"Miko! Mama say stop!"

Nilo followed because apparently he had accepted his eternal role as the exhausted witness to family disaster.

Soren was already gone.

The coward.

He had laughed once.

Once.

Swanly had looked at him.

The great ruler of Riverbone had immediately decided he had urgent business elsewhere.

Kael had watched the entire thing from beside a drying rack.

He had not laughed.

Out loud.

Swanly had seen his shoulders move.

Traitor.

Eventually, she gave up.

She dropped onto a low stone near the planting rows and sucked in air.

"I hate all of you."

Miko peeked around a shelter.

"Mama tired?"

"No."

She was panting.

Sweat dampened the hair around her temples.

Her enormous white tail lay across the ground behind her like it had also given up.

Miko slowly emerged.

"You look tired."

Swanly pointed.

"Do not test me."

He disappeared again.

Kael approached.

A smile still threatened the corner of his mouth.

Swanly glared.

"You too."

"I said nothing."

"Your face did."

"My face is innocent."

"Your sons inherited lying from you."

"Our sons."

"Unfortunately."

Kael sat beside her.

Swanly leaned back on her palms and breathed.

For several minutes, everything settled.

The cubs returned to their game.

The breeze moved through the crops.

Somewhere farther away, stone struck stone as Tovan’s builders worked on another storage shelter.

Ironwood smelled of soil, smoke, drying herbs, fruit and roasted meat.

Peace.

Real peace.

Or something close enough to fool her body into relaxing.

Swanly rested one hand on her stomach.

Then froze.

Something moved.

She stopped breathing.

Kael immediately noticed.

"Swanly?"

She did not answer.

Her eyes widened.

For weeks, she had imagined things.

A flutter.

A strange little twitch.

A bubble somewhere inside her.

Every time, she had stopped.

Waited.

Then nothing.

She had started wondering whether her brain was simply desperate to feel the babies because everyone kept talking about them.

But this...

This was different.

Something pressed from inside.

Tiny.

Soft.

Unmistakable.

Swanly’s mouth opened.

"Oh."

Kael stood immediately.

"What?"

She grabbed his wrist.

Kael startled.

"Swanly?"

"Wait."

She pulled his hand onto the side of her stomach.

"Here."

His entire body went still.

"What happened?"

"Just wait."

Kael stared at her.

Swanly stared at her stomach.

Nothing.

Her heart started racing.

"Come on."

Kael’s brows tightened.

"What are we waiting for?"

"I think..."

Then it happened.

A tiny movement pressed beneath his palm.

Kael stopped breathing.

Swanly gasped.

"There!"

His golden eyes dropped.

Another movement.

Stronger.

His fingers spread over the curve of her stomach.

For several seconds, Kael looked as though someone had struck him directly through the chest.

The babies were not his.

That fact had hurt him for months.

Every change in Swanly’s body had reminded him.

The new scent.

The growing stomach.

Soren’s unbearable satisfaction.

Another male’s young growing inside the female Kael had once imagined carrying only his children.

But this?

This was not Soren.

Not mating marks.

Not rivalry.

Not loss.

Something tiny had just moved against his hand.

A baby.

Alive.

Inside Swanly.

Kael’s throat moved.

Again.

A small kick pressed into his palm.

His face broke.

Not dramatically.

Worse.

Quietly.

His eyes softened so completely Swanly’s chest tightened.

"Kael..."

He swallowed.

"They moved."

Swanly laughed.

A wet, startled laugh.

"I know."

His thumb moved over her stomach.

"They really moved."

"I know!"

And suddenly she was laughing harder.

Because holy shit.

There were actually babies inside her.

Not an announcement.

Not a system scan.

Not a scent.

Not people constantly feeding her and telling her to rest.

Little lives.

Moving.

Inside her.

Swanly’s eyes burned.

"What the fuck?"

Kael looked at her.

She laughed through the tears.

"There are actually babies in there."

His mouth twitched.

"That is generally what pregnancy means."

"Shut up."

A tiny kick came again.

Swanly gasped.

"MOTHERFUCKER!"

Kael blinked.

She stared down at her stomach.

"Did one of you just kick me?"

"MAMA?"

Three black heads appeared.

Swanly looked up.

Miko’s eyes widened.

"Mama fighting babies?"

"No!"

The cubs rushed over.

Kairo looked worried.

"What happen?"

Swanly grinned.

"They moved."

Silence.

Three little faces went blank.

Nilo’s ears rose.

"Babies?"

"Yes."

Miko’s mouth fell open.

"Inside?"

Swanly stared.

"Where else would they be?"

Miko looked genuinely uncertain.

Kairo shoved him aside.

"Can touch?"

His voice became unexpectedly small.

Swanly’s heart melted.

"Yes."

All three immediately crowded her.

"Wait!"

They froze.

Her eyes went directly to Miko.

"You."

Miko pointed at himself.

"Miko?"

"Yes. Gentle."

He looked deeply offended.

"When Miko not gentle?"

Every adult within hearing distance turned toward him.

Miko looked around.

"What?"

Kairo whispered:

"Yesterday."

Nilo added:

"This morning."

Kael:

"Ten breaths ago."

Miko’s face fell.

Swanly bit her lip to stop laughing.

"Just be gentle."

He nodded solemnly.

"Very gentle."

Kairo went first.

He placed both tiny hands against one side of her stomach.

Nothing happened.

His brows pulled together.

"Baby?"

"Wait."

Nilo touched the other side.

Miko hovered anxiously.

"Move."

"No pushing."

"I not!"

"Your hand is already moving."

Miko snatched it back.

They waited.

Then...

Tap.

Kairo gasped.

His entire face transformed.

"BABY!"

Nilo’s mouth opened.

Another tiny movement touched his palm.

His normally calm eyes became enormous.

"It touched me."

"It kicked," Swanly corrected.

"It touched."

Fine.

He could have that.

Miko began bouncing.

"My turn! My turn! My turn!"

Swanly caught his hand before he slapped her stomach in excitement.

"Gentle!"

"Gentle!"

She placed his palm carefully against the curve.

Miko stopped moving.

Completely.

Everyone waited.

Nothing.

His face slowly fell.

"Baby no like Miko?"

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