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Though I’d initially panicked about getting pregnant, I remembered that I last had my period two weeks ago, so I was well past my ovulation stage. This gave me comfort, but I needed to develop another plan to get away soon before it came around again, because Rowe was clearly on a mission.
The men looked at each other for a long minute, like they were having a silent conversation, before the one holding a gun at me lowered it slowly and smiled at me. “Yeah. We heard of you guys. Thank fuck you’re alive!” He held out a hand to me. “C’mon, sweetheart. Let’s get you out of here, huh? Bet you’re hungry, too. We’ll take you back home.”
I smiled at him, my lips closed, but I could feel my cheeks practically crack with how big it had spread upon my face, and I nodded fervently. “Kayd, chomm. Kayd jugra Rowe.” He blinked, his eyes widening for just a moment, before he pulled me into his chest, a deep rumble, not unlike a purr, vibrating from the back of his throat. “Kayd jugra Rowe,” he breathed.
I’m sure to them, to see the dismemberment of an animal, the rest of it left to waste, was abhorrent. They didn’t understand it. Why would you hunt it down just to do this and not use the rest? It was vile. But… they didn’t look surprised. As bewildered as they looked, it was more like they were just failing to understand the purpose. I had a feeling they’d seen this sort of thing before.
“Suuuuuhn!” Haara rumbled a little more gently, mimicking my vocals with much more precision than Rowe had. I looked at her and nodded enthusiastically, “Yes, that’s right! You got it!” Haara glowed, giving Rowe what appeared to be a look of obvious superiority and smugness.
“Traitor!” I pointed at her as he headed towards our tunnel. When I looked to Bhee for assistance, she just smiled knowingly, like she knew exactly what we were going to be doing, and waved casually as though to say she would just catch me later when we were through. “Judas!” I added, gesturing her way dramatically. Beside them, Khraa guffawed, his tenor-like rumbling laugh spreading through the others as they joined him. Even the corners of Rull’s mouth twitched in amusement as he watched the proceedings.
On my stomach, I desperately latched my fingertips over a groove in the rock and clung on as hard as I could, but with a simple tug, Rowe pried me free and dragged me into his little tunnel. “No!” I shouted, glaring the others down as they continued to watch; their amusement only heightened at this point. Rull was letting out a deep, rumbling laugh while I’m pretty sure Khraa and Haara had tears streaming down their faces from laughing so hard.
I fully expected him to take me to our tunnel, but to my surprise, he moved the opposite way. He snapped to Woke and Grar, the sound I knew to be ‘furs’ the only word I caught. At once, Woke grabbed a spare hide from the pile in the corner, ones we’d just cleaned in the pool and left to dry in the sun last week, and brought it over to the back wall, the one covered in their artwork, and spread it flat. Seeing that, and the fact that Rowe was heading right for it suddenly had me clutching him hard as a sinking suspicion pooled in the pit of my stomach. “Rowe?” I asked, my voice filled with
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Rowe’s dark gaze flickered down to my stomach and back to my face, his brows raised as if in question, and he looked so damned innocent, like a freaking puppy dog, despite what he’d just done that any resolve I’d had before crumbled like a damn cookie. “Oh, fine!” I sighed, exasperated. “You want a baby? Okay then, Muscles. We’ll have a baby! But you’re helping with all of it… capiche?”
When we made it back to our home, where Haara, Khraa, and Jhaa were waiting, Shmyll bounded forward to them, excitedly prattling on to them before pointing at my stomach, crying, “Gweebruh! Gweebruh!” Haara was so overjoyed that she nearly upended the medicinal bowls she’d been working on, shoved Khraa out of the way, and bounded over to Rowe and me to congratulate us.
Rowe moved like I’d never seen him. He was lightning fast, whirling on the spot as he swung his fists at anyone close. He latched onto one of the others, the one with the permanent mean scowl on his face who took Shmyll, his teeth sinking into the side of his throat. There was a screech, a gurgle, and when he ripped his head away, a chunk of flesh came with him, and his opponent dropped to the ground, grasping hopelessly at the gushing of blood.
I recognized Grar and Woke at once, and to my shock, it was Woke who went for the monstrous one. His face was set with such frightful fortitude, that for the first time, he actually looked terrifying. He threw himself at the beast’s backside and, climbing up to his shoulders, began beating his head with a stone.