Chapter 81
Savage
“There, there, sweet baby,” I coo at Toastie.
He’s the wombat joey I was taking care of as ordered by the council all the way back when Damien Agnis tried to be headmaster of the academy.
That didn’t last long, and neither did my moment as father to Toastie, but I do miss him.
Lyle decided that since I might cause trouble while I waited for my regina, I might as well help Zookeeper Rick with the pups.
“You’re doing a great job, Savage,” Rick says, chuckling as Toastie guzzles down his bottle. It has a really long teat on it, and I wonder if mummy wombat nipples are that long too. Seems a bit dangerous if you ask me.
“I got really good at it, Rick!” I say. “Also, I look after my regina really well, so that’s given me a lot of important skills, you know.”
“I bet it has,” he says, nodding while he puts a kangaroo joey back into his pouch to sleep. “Reginas can be a right handful.”
“Not mine,” I say proudly, handing Toastie back to him. “She’s so perfect.”
He nods like he knows what I mean. “All creatures are perfect in their own way.”
“Except Titus,” I say quickly. “He needed to die for sure.”
Zookeeper Rick tries to think of something to say, but honestly, it’s better not to say anything at all in situations like this. I’m about to tell him so when I feel her as she crosses the boundary into the academy.
I spring to my feet like a kangaroo, and Zookeeper Rick jumps back in surprise.
I grab his shoulders and shake him like a tree.
“She’s back!” There’s nothing else left to do except run out the door of the wildlife centre at the back of the Academy.
“I’ll come for a feed later!” I shout over my shoulder.
I sprint around the buildings at the side of the school to the front, where I scan the sky for a sign of her. She likes to do a lap of the grounds every time she returns from somewhere so she can check everything is safe. She’s amazing like that.
Finally, I spot her in eagle form, massive wings spread out as she glides along the academy wall. I jump in the air and wave both arms at her. “Regina!”
Everyone needs to know she’s back. “Lyle!” I shout into our group chat. “Where are you? Our regina’s back!”
“Coming,” he says quickly, probably stuck in a class.
I don’t even care where Scythe and Xander are, all I know is that I’m sprinting across the field to the wedge-tailed eagle now touching down on the grass. She gives a sharp cry, and it makes my legs pump faster.
Aurelia shifts into human form, and it’s always so fun to see her human face pop out and her beak shrink away, except now she’s smiling and crying, which is very confusing.
Now I’m smiling and crying too. “Regina!” I shout again.
She tests her legs, moving forward slowly before she starts running towards me, but I’m faster and barrelling into her. I scoop her up, and she laughs and sobs as I spin her around in the air. Her breasts bounce in my face, and I quickly release her so I can kiss her mouth a hundred times.
“I love you,” I say. “I missed you, and everything is always shit without you.” Suddenly I remember some things and hold her out at arm’s length to check her body.
“Is your vagina okay?” I widen my eyes as I look at her pussy area.
I drop to my knees to take a better look.
That bastard was in there a rudely long time.
“Savage!” Lyle’s angry voice flies across the field. “That’s a private activity!”
I kiss those sore lips anyway. “I’m going to carry you now because you’ve been through the wars.” To Lyle, I privately say. “Her pussy is sore, dammit! You don’t know anything!”
Lyle growls as he reaches us, tugging at the tie at his neck. “Regina, are you alright?” He reaches for her, and I let them kiss while I scowl.
My regina sighs, wiping at her cheeks as she inhales Lyle’s scent. “Not really.”
“Good girl for being so honest,” Lyle says. “Now, take my jacket and let’s get you inside.”
We carefully put Aurelia inside Lyle’s suit jacket, and I try not to look at her red-rimmed eyes or the dark circles, or listen to the growling of her belly. “She’s not injured,” I tell Lyle. “But she’s hungry.”
“I’m going to ask her if she wants a medical exam later on, but it’s not the right time. I’ll wash her hair first. I think she’s dehydrated.”
“I’m going to find Henry.” Xander’s voice is strained in my head, and I don’t know why. “She’ll want to know everything, but don’t overwhelm her, Savage.”
“I won’t!” I cry. But I’ve said it out loud, and Aurelia smiles weakly at me where she’s being carried like a bride in Lyle’s arms.
“Are you guys talking about me?” she says softly.
“Only good things,” I reassure her. “Everyone keeps telling me off for some reason. Like I’m the problem, you know?”
“Where’s that dragon-sized worm?” I ask the group chat. “What if he comes after her right away?”
“He won’t,” Scythe says. “Aurelia made sure of that.”
I look at my regina again, but her eyes are on her fingers where she clutches them together. The backs of my eyes burn like a basilisk’s, and I want to kill the fuckers that caused this. Instead, we get Aurelia upstairs and take care of her.
She is teary when we bathe her, so we sit her in the bathtub.
Her hardworking legs are a bit weak today, and Xander sends his power into them, making her sigh and close her lids.
Little tears slip out from under her eyes, and Scythe, who puts himself on the other side of Xander, kisses them away.
I’m pretty sure he’s collecting them for himself, but he’s looking bright from his trip to the ocean, but all our faces are hard with worry.
I know my regina is so tired because she hasn’t asked about Yeti and the Devi pack yet, and everyone jumps when she starts sleeping in the tub.
Lyle quickly washes her hair, and we rinse her and get her right out to dry.
She can barely stand up, and Lyle has to levitate her so we can dry all her parts and then put her pyjamas on.
“You need to drink water, regina,” Scythe says as we tuck her into bed. “Otherwise I’m arranging for an IV.”
She grumbles in a cutesy way while I carefully rub moisturiser into her forehead but when Lyle presses the straw up to her lips, she drinks the whole thing down. “Tired,” she whispers.
“Food and loving,” I say, tucking myself in next to her. “And then you’ll be bouncing up and down again.”
She nods tiredly as Xander hurries out to get proper food from the kitchens.
My poor chompy sleeps the whole day away and wakes up in the middle of the night, starving for food. Xander puts all the food we have on a tray and brings it to her in bed, and she downs every piece of meat and vegetable, then asks for pasta.
When she gets up to pee, we find a dark spot underneath her.
Scythe almost leaps over me to sniff it, but we quickly realise she’s not hurt, but just on her period again.
She sighs dramatically, and we all go into the bathroom together.
I bring the pads because I’m the pad monitor.
Scythe gets his box of painkillers, and Xander is on wheat bag duty.
Once we’ve got her set up, she tears her T-shirt off and sleeps on my chest with only her knickers on, which is just brilliant for me.
We all sleep until morning after that, except Xander, who has been patrolling every night with Beak and the new guards we’ve brought in.
Mace has been creepily quiet, and it’s put everyone on guard.
Somewhere in the night, my regina whispers, “I love you.”
I don’t know who she’s talking to, but I’ll take every gift she gives me. “I’ve always loved you, regina. From the first day I met you in Halfeather’s dungeon.”
“I’m scared,” she whispers. “And tired. I think I’ve had enough, Savage.”
Her cheek is so soft beneath my thumb, and I look down at her face, pointed downwards. She’s taken too much on her shoulders. “It’s not fair, regina,” I whisper. “But we’re gonna fix it if that’s the last thing we do.”
“That’s what I’m worried about.”