Free Web NovelChapter 42: Chapter 42: The cubs transformed?!
Swanly woke up because something wet slid straight inside her nose.
For one breath, her soul almost left her body.
A tiny tongue was in her nose.
Not on her nose.
In her nose.
Swanly’s whole body locked so hard even her tail went stiff.
Then a tiny finger pushed into her other nostril.
Her eyes flew open.
Three small faces stared down at her.
They had soft black hair, shiny golden eyes and tiny serious mouths that looked too much like Kael’s when he was pretending not to be worried.
Swanly stared back at them.
Her mind went empty.
Then it came back screaming.
The smallest had his tongue in her nose.
The second had his finger in her nose.
The eldest sat beside them with a very clean face that clearly said he had done nothing.
Swanly grabbed the smallest and second by their soft hair before her brain could stop her hand.
She lifted them away gently but firmly.
Both little boys blinked at her in great shock.
Swanly wiped her nose with the back of her hand and almost lost her mind.
"What is wrong with the three of you?"
The eldest blinked with innocent golden eyes.
"Me no do."
Swanly looked at him.
He looked back with the face of a tiny male who had already learned survival.
Then Swanly looked at all three again.
Tiny hands.
Tiny legs.
Tiny faces.
Soft black hair.
Small panther ears twitching on top of their heads.
Little black tails behind them.
Her mouth slowly opened.
"You transformed."
The smallest smiled with wet pride.
"Mama nose."
Swanly pressed her fingers between her brows.
"That is not the important part."
Kael’s voice came from nearby.
"They changed this morning."
Swanly turned so fast her hair slipped over her shoulder.
Kael was near the fire with a small piece of meat roasting on a stick, and his golden eyes were soft in a way that made her chest ache.
He had seen it.
She had slept through it.
Swanly pointed at the babies.
"They transformed in front of you."
Kael nodded.
Swanly stared at him.
"I missed it."
The three cubs heard the sadness in her voice and immediately became alarmed.
The eldest crawled closer.
"Mama see."
The second nodded very hard.
"See again."
The smallest clapped his small hands.
"Again again."
Then all three changed.
One moment three tiny boys sat on the fur bed.
The next moment three tiny black panther cubs tumbled over each other.
Swanly gasped.
Before she could even touch them, they changed back again with a soft ripple of beast power.
Three little boys appeared in a pile.
The smallest fell on his back and laughed.
Swanly pressed both hands over her mouth.
They changed again.
One moment three tiny boys.
The next, three round, fluffy black panther cubs tumbling over each other in a pile of paws and squeaks.
Then back to three chubby little boys in a giggling heap.
The smallest rolled onto his back, kicking his tiny legs in the air with pure joy, his black tail still flicking excitedly. "Again again Mama! Look look!"
The second cub-boy got dizzy, swayed, then flopped face-first into Swanly’s lap with a soft "oof" and hugged her thigh like it was his personal pillow. "Mama soft."
The eldest tried so hard to look dignified but his little ears kept twitching and his tail wagged so fast it was basically a blur. He puffed out his tiny chest. "I big now. See Mama? Big boy."
Then he immediately lost balance and face-planted gently into her stomach.
Swanly made a broken noise and clutched all three of them at once.
They kept transforming because it was so fun!
Tiny cubs.
Then tiny boys.
Then tiny cubs.
Then tiny boys.
The second got dizzy and leaned into the eldest. frёewebnoѵēl.com
The eldest tried to stand proudly and almost fell.
The smallest rolled sideways and kicked both legs in the air.
Swanly made a sound she did not recognize.
It was not a laugh.
It was not a cry.
It was something between a mother seeing heaven and a woman losing her last piece of sanity.
"You are too cute."
The smallest immediately crawled toward her.
Then he reached for her nose again.
Swanly caught his wrist.
"No."
He blinked.
"No nose."
His lower lip pushed out.
Swanly narrowed her eyes.
"Do not pout at me after licking the inside of my nose and promise not to do i again."
The smallest looked at her with bright golden eyes.
"Okay Mama."
He was lying.
Swanly knew he was lying.
His small face was too sweet and his eyes were too shiny.
He was absolutely going to do it again.
Something inside Swanly broke.
She grabbed all three and yanked them into a desperate, crushing hug against her chest.
The cubs squealed in delight, high-pitched and tiny enough to make her heart feel like it was going to burst. freёwebnoѵel.com
"Mama hug!" the smallest cheered, immediately trying to climb her like a tree.
He planted wet baby kisses all over her chin, his little hands squishing her cheeks. "Mama pretty. Mama best. Mama mine."
The second buried his face in her neck, nuzzling her with soft black hair and making the tiniest happy humming sound. "Warm Mama. Love Mama."
The eldest wrapped his short little arms around her waist as best he could and pressed his cheek to her heart. "No sad Mama. We big now. Protect Mama."
Swanly felt her soul actually ascending.
"My babies are human shaped now," she whispered, voice cracking.
The eldest giggled and pushed at her chin.
The second hid his face against her shoulder.
The smallest grabbed her cheeks with both hands and tried to kiss her back.
His kiss was mostly wet.
Swanly did not care.
She kissed the eldest’s round little cheek again and again, kissed the second’s forehead until he giggled, then attacked the smallest’s entire face with kisses until he shrieked with laughter and kicked his feet wildly.
"You are so cute I’m going to explode," she whispered.
She hugged them tighter until all three wriggled like fish.
"I’m going to eat you. I’m actually going to eat you. All three of you. Raw. With extra kisses."
The smallest gasped in pure delight. "Eat me Mama! Nom nom!"
"Ugh i think I’m going to be sick because of how cute my babies are"
The eldest looked worried.
"Mama sick?"
"No baby."
She kissed his nose.
"Mama is being attacked by cuteness."
The cubs did not understand.
They only knew Mama was laughing.
So they laughed too.
Kael watched them from beside the fire.
Kael watched them with his heart so full it hurt. His three sons — soft, loud, clumsy, perfect — climbing all over their mother like she was the center of the universe. Swanly’s laughter filled the cave, bright and real. For the first time in a long time, Kael felt something dangerously close to peace.
His chest clenched.
For a moment, the cave was not strange.
It was not Soren’s cave.
It was not Riverbone.
It was not the place where his body had been crushed and his pride had nearly died.
It was only Swanly holding their sons like they were treasures.
His female was laughing.
His cubs were laughing.
His family looked whole.
Kael’s throat tightened so badly he had to look down at the meat.
From the far corner, Soren watched in his full snake form.
His white coils lay against the stone, his upper body still and pale in the shadow.
No one noticed him at first.
He had been silent for too long.
His eyes stayed on Swanly.
She laughed with her whole face.
Her white ears trembled.
Her tail curled around the cubs each time one tried to crawl away.
The sight should not have done anything to him.
It did.
Something cold inside him shifted.
No one knew he had tapped a little power into the cubs during the night.
No one knew that his broken core had burned when he did it.
No one knew that the three little panthers had been slow to transform because their bodies were weak from hunger and fear.
He had only given them a push.
That was all.
He had not done it for them.
He had done it because their mother would be easier to move if her cubs were stronger.
That was what he told himself.
Then Swanly laughed again and kissed the smallest until the little boy shrieked.
Soren’s tail tightened against the stone.
Seeing her happy made him want more.
That annoyed him.
Kael felt the stare.
He lifted his head and looked straight at Soren.
The warmth in Kael’s eyes vanished.
