Chapter 36
Tuvo
Hattie hadn’t turned off her ovulation.
He had planted his seed inside her.
Multiple times.
Tuvo was losing his mind. He had no idea if she was pregnant yet, and he was filled with equally powerful but absolutely conflicting feelings.
The painful, desperate yearning for his pup to grow in her belly. He wanted to watch her figure get curvier, to change. He wanted to put his hands on her belly and feel their pup moving. He wanted to see her building a nest and feeding her in it while she nursed their youngling.
But as much as he wanted that, he was terrified of having to watch her go through childbirth.
While intellectually he knew that Hattie wouldn’t face the same, specific circumstances that forced Peony to give natural birth, he couldn’t banish those memories from his mind.
How small Peony was. Gripping Atem so hard, she bruised his hand.
Screaming. Roaring. Letting out guttural battle cries as her body worked to expand down to the bone in order to expel the pup she had spent so long growing.
Her blood when Scarlet was forced to cut into her to free him.
The way she had just flopped back, sweaty and pale and exhausted, once he was pulled out.
He couldn’t imagine being there, watching Hattie suffer the same. For marks on end. It would destroy him to hear her screaming in agony.
And no amount of logic telling him that she would not go through her labor the same way could allay those fears.
They itched under his skin, making his stomach churn. Terrifying him with the possibilities. Because if Peony’s labor and birth were textbook and completely normal, then what were all the things that could go wrong?
He didn’t know if it would be worse to know or not. He did know that not knowing was torture.
And yet, despite those terrors clawing at his mind and heart, he still couldn’t stop this wondrous, beautiful, aching hope from rising in his belly. Like a hard stone, impossible to break, weathering the storm of emotions without chipping or cracking.
His eyes kept traveling to her. Keeping track of her as she moved about the village, chatting with Belmira and the other friends she had made. He kept looking at her belly, as though he might be able to see something.
What if she was pregnant? How could he survive her labor?
What if she wasn’t? How could he fuck her again and risk getting her pregnant?
After she told him yesterday, he had been unable to speak.
Barely able to think. She seemed to understand because she had just smiled and told him to take his time as she continued to stroke back his hair and hold onto him.
Even laying down, his body almost completely covering hers, she still gave the best hugs.
The next day, he had to start training the males in weapon use. Inacio didn’t like the guns, but he agreed that they needed something to deal with the Three Rings. But Tuvo could already see him planning to get rid of them the first moment it was safe.
Basic weapon care and knowledge were the most important part of learning.
Tuvo was going through rules of weapon use, using the strange language they had developed that was part Portuguese, part English, and part non-verbal.
But it was hard to focus on that when those thoughts and feelings and fears kept coming back and he had to check on Hattie again.
She looked so happy. So sweet. Laughing and chatting and moving.
In between teaching them and tracking her, Tuvo tried to calm his turbulent emotions. He knew it was a pointless endeavor. Until he had Hattie somewhere he knew was safe, he was not going to be able to calm down and face the future.
For now, it was enough to try to figure out what he was going to do next.
He was standing over the males, watching them taking apart and putting their weapons back together and then loading them. Only occasionally checking on Hattie. She seemed to realize what he needed because she made sure to stay in his sight.
Or maybe, she was keeping him in hers.
He liked that thought. That she was so eager to rely on him. To keep him near.
Precious adassi. She needed a better den to nest in.
“Tuvo.”
Inacio’s voice drew his attention back onto the males. They had finished their task and were looking up at him expectantly.
He couldn’t help but train them in the military style. A weapon was a weapon, even if it was super old fashioned. He would teach them how to use a sharpened stick if that was what he had. They were doing a great job of going along with him though. Eager to protect their home.
He quickly inspected their weapons then ordered them to break them down again. He wanted them to be comfortable with the tools. To know them well.
As they were doing that, he looked at the older male also watching them.
“Inacio?”
“Hm?” His little human brow tuft went up curiously.
“What bear?”
“Bear?” Inacio looked confused about the seemingly sudden question. “Bear is beast. Big. Gr!” He curled his hands like they were claws. Seeming to confirm Hattie’s explanation.
Tuvo still felt suspicious somehow.
But that thought quickly fell to the wayside when, with a cry, two males came running out of the trees, rushing their way. They were two of the males Inacio had set to scout the surrounding area to keep watch for the Three Rings.
They ran right up to them. One folded, hands to his knees, breathing fast. The other panted as he rushed through an explanation. He spoke only in Portuguese and too quickly for Tuvo to understand, so he just waited until Inacio turned to translate.
“Tres Argolas. On tree.” He pointed.
Three rings carved on a tree. Just like at the crash site. A directional sign for the group to follow to their target. No doubt, it was a death sentence around here. The bloodless cheeks of the males that had come running spoke to their terror of seeing such a thing.
But Tuvo knew that sign now. It was certainly evocative. A calling card.
Dramatic.
“It time,” he declared, looking at his little army. It wasn’t much, but they were good males with a great deal of motivation. Sometimes, that was all it took. “Go!”
Roaring, they jumped to their feet. They beat their fists to their chests in the domini salute before turning to run off. They all had jobs to complete. They had practiced this, drilled it, and they rushed to their positions like a well-trained military.
Tuvo smirked, proud as he walked towards Hattie.
She and the other females hadn’t missed the way the males had suddenly roared and moved. They knew what it must mean. Even if they didn’t, it was the job of two of the males to make sure that those not fighting were put into hiding safely.
Hattie set aside the knife she had been using to chop vegetables and approached him, brow already drawn in worry.
“Be easy, kyrya,” he said, putting his arms around her. “I’ll be okay.”
“You’re going up against a gang of armed human traffickers with a dagger.” She touched the hilt of the alien knife at his waist.
Tuvo couldn’t use the guns. He had tried.
Now that he had a chance to investigate them without being shot at, he had attempted to fit one into his hand.
His smallest finger could fit through the protective ring covering the trigger, but it was tight and too easy for him to accidentally pull it.
And doing it that way meant holding the gun awkwardly anyway.
Those weapons would be less than useless in his hands – they would be actively detrimental. So, he had surrendered the one he tried to one of the males and taken the dagger instead. But he offered it back to her now.
“Take it,” he ordered, holding it out for her. “Use it to protect yourself.”
She frowned, staring at the dagger, but didn’t reach for it. “But you don’t have any other weapons. I can’t.”
“I have ten other weapons. Twelve if you count my fangs. Take it.” He pressed it on her until she finally gave in and clutched it close. “I’ll feel better knowing you have this. Keep it close. Don’t hesitate to use it if you have to.”
Hattie was going to be hiding with the others. Where he knew she would be safe. But he would rather her have the dagger, just in case.
“Are they coming now?” She asked, shivering with fear. And he hated those males for it. Even if they hadn’t tried to hurt her, he would have made them pay for making her feel unsafe. No one had the right to make his female feel unsafe.
“They found the marks on the trees,” he explained. “I’m not going to wait until they come to us. I’m hunting them down first.”
“How very domini of you,” she said, smiling weakly. “You’ll be careful though, right? You won’t do anything too dangerous?”
Be careful? In battle? She was asking for the impossible from him. But even knowing that, he couldn’t deny her anything.
“I’ll be cautious,” he said, figuring that was as close as he could get to careful. “Don’t worry about me. These males are not military trained.”
“But they’re, like, uber bad guys! The kind of guys that trade in human flesh. Guys like that don’t have a heart. They don’t understand fair play or basic morality. Who knows what they’ll do?”
Tuvo smirked. “I could tell you stories of my time in service, but I would rather not. I don’t want to burden you with those stories. Not when I know you won’t enjoy them.”
“I want to know about your entire past,” she protested. “Even the bad parts. That’s what it means to be…”
Her voice trailed off and he cocked his head curiously. “To be what?”
She bit her lip, hesitating, before softly saying, “Can I ask you something?”
“Always.”
“What are we?”
His head cocked curiously. “In what context?” The question made no sense to him.
Her brows furrowed and his gut clenched. He had something wrong again.
“I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “Don’t be sorry.”
“Tell me what I said. I… I know I’m stupid. I don’t mean to be. Just tell me what I said wrong.”