Page 41 of Monstrous Baby
She’d been sleeping soundly when I left five minutes ago to prepare the smoothie. I didn’t hear her usual sounds of merriment when she saw me, not even a hint of her breathing. Though I didn’t have Rizan’s sensitive hearing apparatus. No matter. She loved to play hide and seek. Usually I wouldn’t cheat and locate her position on the grid, but given the lateness of the hour, I sought her on our network.
Nothing. I couldn’t find a trace of her in the entire house.
Still not concerned—not exactly—I touched my tongue to the crib mattress where she’d been lying just a few moments ago. It was still several degrees warmer from her body heat. It was difficult to trace her activities when she was in the room every single day, muddled up with all of us in and out, touching everything. But she’d touched the rail just a few moments ago. The freshest layer of her scent hovered in the air, sprinkled across the floor, to the window.
Theopenwindow.
My sensors shriveled up like the driest sands in the Sahara. Frantic, I touched my tongue to the window and outside as far as possible, verifying her recent passage. Outside. The youngling had passed through the window while unattended.
:Rizan, can you pick up Akylla’s signature from the air?:
He startled at my sudden question. Circling above the surrounding jungle, he dipped a wing and spun quickly toward the house. I couldn’t hear his echolocation pinging off the structure and surrounding terrain but I saw the map drop onto the grid. All of our locations were clearly marked inside the house—except hers.:I’ve been in the air for the last hour, constantly scanning the entire property. I haven’t seen anything moving on the ground other than wildlife.:
Outside on the green expanse surrounding the house, Axxol shifted into his BGR+ and sniffed the air.:Red, we have an emergency.:
Dread quickened my ponderous steps through the house, making my way outside to stand beneath Akylla’s window. Natalie would never forgive me. If something happened to her youngling because of my inattention…
I’d keep on walking. Right into the ocean. Let the waters cover me for all time for breaking her pure heart with grief.
“Akylla!” Natalie cried loudly enough for my inferior ears to hear. She leaned out the window, her gaze frantic. “Whathappened?” Her tone rose higher, approaching a frequency I’d never registered from our human mate.“Did they take her?”
Shifted into his raptor, Kroktl leaped out of the window. Nose tipped to the night sky, he breathed deeply, his jaws cracked to expose all his sensors.:No ozone. Could someone jump to our location without?—?:
:No fucking way,:Axxol retorted.
:Negative,:Rizan confirmed.:I would have picked them up even if Big Rig was out cold. Nothing has crossed into our territory.:
:Then she’s here.:Kroktl turned to his mate and brushed her cheek with his. She didn’t recoil from his beast.:She’s playing. She doesn’t understand the danger we’re in. I’ll find her, baby. I promise. I can see through anything, remember?:
Rizan darted toward the rocky shoreline.:I’m picking up movement that might be her.:
Kroktl let out a short bark of agreement and sprinted after him.:The rest of you keep our mate safe. I’ll be back with our youngling shortly.:
Snryx wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. Even Axxol didn’t chafe at taking orders. Someone needed to guard the nest if Kroktl was gone, and who better than our alpha? Certainly not me. Not when I’d been the one to allow the youngling to escape my notice. I couldn’t bear to look at Natalie.
:I’m sure the little menace is fine,:Axxol said gruffly, whether to me or Natalie, I wasn’t sure.
She sniffed softly and my tongue curled up tighter inside my mouth. She wept. Because of me.
“It’s not your fault,” she said. “And she’s not a menace.”
Axxol snorted but wisely didn’t contradict the menace’s mother.
“Lohr, it’s not your fault.”
My head hung lower.:It is. I was guarding her.:
“She went from asleep to hanging off the ceiling fan without any of us noticing,” Natalie reminded me. “I was there. I missed it too. She’s not a little baby any longer. It’s going to be harder to keep track of her. Though I don’t understand why she’s not on the grid if she’s physically here.”
A raptor roar tore through the night—a shout of victory and confirmation.:It’s her. She’s fine.:
Through Krotkl’s eyes, we were all able to pinpoint the youngling’s location. A sudden burst of energy and frequency sparkled across the grid, and Akylla’s presence popped back up for all of us. Her glee at successfully hiding. The hunt for her, the best game in the world. Seeing her father racing toward her as his Tri-R stirred something in her. Molecules began to shift and rearrange themselves.
Her first shift into dynos came effortlessly, as it should. Outside under the stars in the wild.
Natalie sucked in a shaky breath. “Oh. My baby. Look at her.”
Kroktl scanned her for us, providing a detailed view of his youngling’s shifted appearance. Powerful raptor thighs and head, certainly, with similar red eyes and markings as her sire. Yet her body was shaped differently. Rounded. Parting open down her back to spread into hard shelled wings.
