Page 41 of Bred By Fafnir

twenty-six

Fafnir

Lenora and her friend chat animatedly beside me, their voices chipper as always. Now that the worst of the winter is over, and the season of birth is looming, I can no longer justify denying my mate anything. Although this… this I do not enjoy. Ogarrex scowls at me, and I back at him, sitting across from one another at the Halthara. My little Valkyra has decided it’s important to not hide away, to show the people I’m stable. She’s scheming something far bigger, no doubt. I had managed three months of avoiding it. Three months of keeping my pretty mate hidden, safe in our home while her belly grew round.

My time has come.

I mustsocialize.

No less with a group of people who would sooner see me dead, not out of malice but self-preservation, because by allaccounts… I should not be as I am now. I should be a mindless beast, out to roam and maim until I am taken to the underside. I do not fault them for it. What is happening now defies everything. Helgoid has been under great pressure because of it. As much as I am thankful for her mercy, I’m bitter that I needed it at all. Breathing exercises do not help in matters of wounded pride, as bullheaded as that sounds. We’re here as we have been every other day of the past two weeks, and still, my people give us a wide berth. The males loom closer than females dare, as if to whisk my mate away at a moment’s notice. My Lenora is oblivious, wrapped up in the only female who will risk being close, Elat. The masses have begun to look at my mate as if she’s every bit as maddened as me.

A growl slips from my throat, making her cast me a warning glare. It’s all spit and fire, but I see the worry there. It is small, but it exists. The bigger she becomes, the more it grows with her, every bit a living and breathing being inside her as our kit. The healer gives her a while yet before we cross that bridge. I am keeping my promise; I am trying… some days it is harder than others.

But there is hope.

Perhaps I am not doomed after all. I feel it will be harder this way. To have my mind intact when I am cast away from them.

My eyes catch Ogarrex’s before he hardens himself and looks away. I keep my gaze trained on him, on his eyes, watching for the tendril of red. I am the oldest amongst the warriors, but he is close second. Where I served under Valhyr’s eye for sixteen, he served for five. More than was needed, but not quite an offensive number. He watches me, watches us. It is normal to be curious. I would be curious too, watching a highly feared warrior sitting what my mate callscrisscross applesauceon a fur and doingmindful meditation. All the while muttering nonsense things to myself.

I am calm.

I am safe.

I am in control.

My mate is safe.

I am home.

There is no danger.

This would not be a problem had he stayed outside as he was meant to, but my kindhearted Lenora had taken pity on him. He is inside, lurking and scowling, often now until one of us loses our temper and he heads back out to scowl and lurk there instead.

My mate has taken to calling him myfriend.

Another baffling theory on her part.

“Are you done with that?” He finally speaks, gesturing to my leftover lyran roll. I could say no and let it go to waste out of spite, like usual. I just grunt in my assent, tossing the damn thing at his head.

He stuffs it in his mouth immediately, his eyes lingering on the chittering females to my left. When he speaks next, his voice is muffled behind the food. “They done yet, you think?”

I try and fail to stifle my long-suffering sigh as I glance at them, both of their plates nearly untouched because Lenora is describing the entire plot of something calledHome Aloneto Elat. “Unlikely.”

A deep, bellowing roar leaves my throat, shaking the entire house. My fists are clenched, eyes swimming in red as I breathe through my nose, fighting the urge to smash the holocom in front of me. To his credit, the Kalzait doctor doesn’t flinch, his greenish iridescent wings matching the shade of his hair, giving only a slight shift behind him.

I don’t get a second to calm myself, to remember the tools to get past the bludgeoning rage swallowing my chest as Ogarrex barrels into the room. My eyes widen… for the first time, Iseeit.

Red.

Lenora pads into the room, walking right between us both, a worried expression on her face. When she reaches out, placing her hand over the brand on his chest, I snap. The doctor’s voice is lost to me as I snarl, launching myself up and ripping my mate away from the crazed male.

“Are you hurt, Lenora?”

She struggles where I’ve pinned her behind me. “Ugh, no let go!”

“Fafnir, you must calm. This is yourfriend, not an enemy.” The doctor reasons.

But Ogarrex and I are locked in, neither of us daring to move, knowing what it could mean, nobody wanting that.

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