Page 48 of Bred By Fafnir

The healer places a hand on the cord, testing to see if it’s still pulsing before gesturing for me to sever it. A lump thickens in my throat as I bend my head, taking the length and nicking it with the tip of my horn. The look in my mate’s eyes is my undoing. I go back to them, pressing kisses to them both before her eyes widen helplessly. “He won’t latch.”

The healer, an older female chuckles. “Give him a moment. He only just arrived.”

I translate, kicking myself for not having noticed my mate’s distress. Soon enough, Helgoid arrives. I watch her in a maternal light I barely recognize as she pinches the top of my mate’s breast, helping her get our son to latch, he does.

The prideful, relieved smile Lenora gives me as she gestures for me to sit with them is like cold water on a festering burn.

“Our Hatheus,” she announces, and my dam nearly stumbles to the ground next to us.

My mate came up with a cross between our sires' names. Mine, Hathorex, and hers, Thaddeus.

“It is a strong name for a strong boy.” The elder remarks. She lingers for a while, ensuring my mate wants for nothing before leaving us alone. When she walks into the grand hall, the sound of cheering can be heard throughout the village.

We laugh at that.

“Do you want to hold him?”

I hesitate, my chest aching with how badly I want exactly that.

“You will not hurt him, Faf. Stop being silly and come here.”

I obey her, taking him like one would the webbing of a spider, wishing not to disrupt it.

“Support his neck.”

He is so tiny in my arms, fitting in just the palm of my hand. He is perfect, every bit as perfect as his mother. I decide then… Valhyr himself could not separate me from either of them.

thirty

Lenora

The next week is a flurry of activity, a few harsh learning curves, tons of black tar baby shit and exhausted, sleepless nights. I sit on the bed, slowly folding our freshly laundered clothes to put in our bags in the birthing room of the Halthara. Fafnir snores on the couch in the corner of the room, Hatheus snuggled in the crook of his enormous arm. I have not seen his mother since the day I gave birth, so, when a soft knock comes from the door, my anxiety spikes and my mate jerks. A snarl leaves his throat, his hooves crashing to the ground so loudly I wince before he settles, reassuring himself he hasn’t dropped our son. I give him a raised brow and an annoyed look before my eyes widen on his mother, looking every bit as worn and tired as me.

The way she stares at the two of them with such love and pride nearly makes me forget about my greasy hair, the fact that I haven’t changed my shirt in two days, and that I’m in need of a diaper change.

Okay, not quite a diaper, but close enough.

I look like a gross mess, but she doesn’t seem to mind as she crosses further into the room. “You two are heading home today. I don’t assume I can convince you to stay another week… just to be sure?”

I glance at Faf with a pleading look. I want to go home; it’s great here, but I’m growing weary of the constant visitors. He shakes his head. “We live close enough to get to the healer, should any complications arise. Lenora and Hatheus have a clean bill of health.”

There is a fat, lingering kind of silence that comes next. Neither of them moves, a stalemate of biblical proportions, until I can’t take it any longer and clear my throat.

My giant speaks first. “You were away.”

She was?

My head snaps between the two when Hatheus decides to fuss. When Helgoid steps forward, a silent request in her eyes, I nod at Fafnir to hand over our son. Which he does with the utmost care. It is quite endearing to see him as every bit the doting newborn father I suspected he would be. Ogarrex was confused by his continued presence after the birth. Even more so when Fafnir explained to him his duties as a mate did not end with his fated female. Ever the introspective type, the older male stood gruffly in the corner of the room for a while before leaving silently. He's returned a few times since to do the same. He’s the only male that’s been allowed back without my mate going half mad again. I think that says quite a bit, although they still both deny being even remotely fond of one another.

She turns to me, rocking and cooing at the baby.

Or kit, as they call him.

His tiny little tail makes to curl over her arm, and the older woman melts before my eyes, her true exhaustion showing as the remaining icy exterior fades away. “I held counsel with the village elders. It was received… not as horribly as I had hoped. Naturally, the females listened better than the males, but I was forthcoming with the tools and techniques outlined in your research, should they wish to partake in private.”

Tears well in my eyes as my heart pounds in my chest.

“When I returned, we held a meeting here as well… with all the information and the testimony from the doctor and Ogarrex, we have agreed it is unreasonable for Fafnir to be sent to wander. A few males even expressed interest to Ogarrex about receiving his help. It is assumed they will sign up for the doctor’s study.”

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