Chapter 85: Chapter 83: New Reality, New Mate

Something wet drenches my head. A rainstorm. Olive oil from a jar. Something. Naturally, it makes me shake off my sleep.

I open my eyes to a pink, slobbery thing. It takes my sleepy brain a few seconds to identify it. A wet tongue.

[That better be you, Lightning.]

[Who else?]

The purr soothes me down to my bones. [You finally woke up.]

[ME? You are the one who slept for three days. I think.]

System? Did I sleep for three days?

[3.2, actually, if we are being precise.]

I stretch, feeling simultaneously alive and in no hurry to get up. My vision expands to include Lightning. She is the world’s prettiest sight to wake up to.

And she’s all mine.

Her smile is warm and soft, and she nuzzles me. [Sorry, but I was getting bored waiting for you to wake up. Even the humans are restless. Gussie has visited and brought us treats.]

The smell of crunchy exotic fruits makes this an even better wake-up call. I stretch, my front paws out on the cushions and my furry behind in the air, and stand up, shaking. A pile of heaven awaits. Crunchy fruits for me and a pile of meat. Crumbs remain on Lightning’s side, and when she nuzzles me, again she leaves a smear of fruit juice on my nose.

[So.] I tap into the bond. [How do you feel?]

She burps. [Stuffed. I did manage to save some for you. And Gussie and the others want to see you when you’re up and around.]

I feel shy. [I mean since…since…everything.]

[I’m not sure. I don’t feel different. I feel relaxed. Not pregnant.]

I growl. [I’m not sure you can feel that right away. But I’ve never been pregnant. Or taken a mate. Obviously. I’ve never even been in the vicinity of–]

[Oh hush. Eat your food.]

Already, she’s ordering me around as if we’ve been together for years. I love it. My Lightning is nothing if not fierce.

The food tastes better even than the first meal I had when I reincarnated. My appetite is sharper, my tastes heightened. I enjoy everything more.

She is so easy, nonchalant. I’m the one that feels emotional over our bonding. Of the two of us, Lightning has it all together. She’s even “the older woman” and more powerful than I. And yet I have more knowledge than she has in some areas. We truly are well matched.

[Lightning?]

[Yes?]

[Did Lord Lammermoor come?]

[Now, don’t ask silly questions. Of course he did. Gussie told me. He hasn’t been here to see us because he wanted to wait until we were both awake.]

[And bathed?]

The minute I say that, I know I’ve committed a major faux pas. Lightning’s eyes pop like an anime character’s. [WHAT? You really are from the jungle.]

[Yes, so?]

Actually, I’m technically not, but she doesn’t need to know that. I’m from the city. But when it comes to the beast taming world, I might as well be from the jungle, ignorantly hunting and falling into hunters’ pits, stumbling about just trying to get through each day without injuring myself. A simulation is not reality.

Lightning shakes her head. [Do animals wash off in the jungle when they mate?]

[No.]

It seems like the right answer.

She grins, all teeth. [Everyone needs to smell the scent of me on you and you on me. That is how they know our mating took place, beyond what our tamers sensed. Humans have limited noses, but elves do not.]

Lord Lammermoor. Of course. He would need to smell us scent-marking each other. We have permanently marked each other n a way that bathing can’t erase. Especially if it lingers in our fur. In a way, this is like showing off your wedding rings or changing your last name. Everyone must see that we belong to each other. Hans and Kaline can feel it, of course…

[So, no washing.]

She bumps me with her nose. [Enough with the washing!] But it is affectionate, and half exasperated. [You want to get rid of my scent that badly?]

Oh no. I really am hopeless with girls. Why would I want to wash this one off me when I want to roar from the rooftops that she is mine?

I lick her, covering her in my scent and rubbing up against her. [Of course not. I must not be thinking clearly.]

[Mating will do that.]

I roar with laughter at her cheeky quip. Lightning is silly in a way that I never appreciated before.

Oh, System?

[Quit while you’re ahead.]

Thanks for the tip.

[You’re welcome. Just enjoy this. It has certainly been so long in coming.]

Is she pregnant?

System pauses. Waits. The silence is deafening.

[Do you want to know? She doesn’t even know. If I give you information now, what will you do with it? Say you had a Divine Vision?]

Not a bad idea, but System is right. I couldn’t explain where i acquired my information.

[ don’t want to know yet. But tell me this. When do we find out?

[It should be soon. When they take Lightning to Master Taba and to one of the Lammermoors’ elf healers that traveled with Lord Lammermoor, you will find out. Oh, check your stats.]

Really?

[Achievement Unlocked: Take a Mate +30 XP Plus Automatic Bonus, New Skill: Procreation]

Yahoo!

[Name: [Blaze]

[Class: [Journeyman]

[Race: [Common Tiger

[Level: 4/10 [XP 0/100 STATUS: Full

[HP: 6/6 [MP: 0/0 [Stamina 100/100

[Strength: 40

[Defense: 34

[Magic: 30

[Resistance: 25

[Speed: 39

[Charisma: 52

[Luck: 41

[Skills

: [Bite (Attack Skill] [Pounce (Attack Skill)] [Sprint (Skill)] [Camouflage (Skilll) [Escape Power (Skill){Divine Vision/(Skill)[Telepathy](Skill)[Procreation (Skill)[Super Jump (Skill)]

Lightning must have more skills too!

[Name: [Lightning]

[Class: [Journeyman]

[Race: [Common Tiger]

[Level: 4/10 [XP 0/100 STATUS: Full

[HP: 6/6 [MP: 0/0 [Stamina 100/100

[Strength: 40

[Defense: 34

[Magic: 34

[Resistance: 24

[Speed: 38

[Charisma: 56

[Luck: 40

[Skills: [Bite (Attack Skill] [Pounce (Attack Skill)] [Sprint (Skill)] [Camouflage (Skill) [Escape Power (Skill) [Telepathy(Skill)]

Lightning leveled up too? Wow. But how did she acquire my powers?

[You are bonded, silly. It transfers.]

I look seriously at Lightning. [I am happy. I hope you know that.]

She gives a sweet little “mrrrp” in reply. [I do. But you take so long to realize things. I don’t care, though. I have the prize I want, and that is everything.]

Prize? A memory shakes loose out of the fog. Kaline and Hans discussing the tournament.

[Lightning, now that we’ve eaten, there’s something I need to say.]

She washes some food off her fur, fluffing it out. [Anything.]

[You could be pregnant with cubs right away.]

I don’t want to beat around the bush. She has to know. I want to share everything with her, except who I truly am. I can’t. She’d think she bonded with a madman, er, beast.

Lightning angles her head in a slight slant. [Well, I know that.]

[So, that’s three months of being pregnant, and the tournament is in a month. I don’t know that anyone will want to risk the health of the cubs.]

I hold my breath.

Her golden eyes never stray from my face. Even with the bond, she is an enigma. Will she scratch my eyes out or roll over and expose her belly or something in-between?

[Do you want me to compete?]

Ooof. That question hits me in the heart.

[More than anything. You’ve trained for this ever since Hans tamed you. But I don’t want to lose you or the cubs.]

Again, her stillness drives me out of my mind, past all reason. Will;l she just not be so opaque?

[We do not know that I am pregnant.]

Well, that clears up a lot.

[The healers are going to examine us to verify the bond and the scent.] I point out the obvious. [Logically, that would be the time to find out if you are pregnant. But I am a worrier. I need to know if you are pregnant. Because those cubs are everything.]

My ferocity takes me by surprise. This has struck such a deep nerve. Maybe because I put off having a family or even getting married when I was a human. And when I was dying, in that vision of the hospital that I saw, Amber was sobbing. She looked wrecked. I don’t want to endure that with Lightning.

[I don’t want to die either.]

Lightning’s simple words pierce my gloom. [Really?]

She rubs noses with me. [That dragon, Fyrefernes, turned bitter because his master pushed him, and pushed him away, and worse. And then his master became that scorpion horror. They lost sight of everything important. That dragon acted like the worst kind of human. I want a nice long life with you and our cubs and our tamer families. If I am pregnant, I will stay with the family in their box at the arena, and you had better not get killed when competing. I want you to compete. For us. For our cubs.]

I am a puddle right now. I love my mate. She is the best.

Kaline’s smiling freckled face peeks into our tent. “Oh good, you’re both up. Lord Lammermoor wants to see you!”

Humans! Always messing up critical moments.

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