The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 226: His usual teasing energy was gone

Damar remained in his serpent form, but he didn’t hiss. He simply turned his head with an agonizing slowness, that made it seem like his time unconscious had gravelly weighed him down, his gaze lingering on my face for a long, quiet moment. There was a deep recognition in his eyes, but it was distant, as if he were looking at me from the other side of a frozen lake.

Then, his gaze drifted downward. He stared at my belly—at the way it had rounded and stretched since he had last seen me.

With a gentle, fluid grace, he leaned forward. His snout was cool and dry as he nudged the fabric of my tunic right where the cubs were most active. He stayed there, his weight a comforting pressure against my skin, as if he were listening. A sharp, distinct thump came from inside me—one of the babies kicking right against his nose.

Damar’s eyes narrowed slightly, a faint, golden light flickering in the emerald depths. He felt them.

I chuckled with a heavy breath and reached out my fingers trembling to stroke the top of his head. "We were waiting for you, Damar."

I thought he was finally awake... I thought he would finally come back and that the hibernation was over. I had no other thoughts than the relief that came with it, but unfortunately, the spark of consciousness was already fading.

The heavy, winter-born tiredness was pulling at him again, a heaviness he couldn’t fight. He let out a soft exhale, gave my belly one last, lingering nudge, and then slowly tucked his head back into the safety of his coils.

By the time I could breathe out the breath I was unconsciously holding, he had closed his eyes and fallen asleep.

I sat there, my hand still hovering in the air where he had been. The excitement that had surged through me moments ago turned into something heavy and bitter.

I felt a lump form in my throat, and I bit my lip to keep myself from sobbing. It was so brief. So teasingly short.

"He woke up," Fenric whispered, his hand resting on my shoulder. He wasn’t looking at me; he was looking at Damar with a new kind of respect. "He forced himself awake just to check on you, Arinya. Do you have any idea how much strength that takes for a serpent in deep snow? And yet he made it happen."

I know. I know how hard it is.

I swallowed hard, wiping a stray tear with the back of my hand. The bitterness was still there, but as I looked at the coils, I chose to embrace the small mercy I’d been given.

"I know," I breathed, leaning my head back against the scales. "At least he knows they’re almost here."

Noah sat down at my feet, his expression uncharacteristically soft but he did not say anything. It made my chest tighten.

His usual teasing energy was gone.

"He woke up, said his hello, and went back to sleep," Fenric said. "That’s so like the snake. Always doing whatever he wants."

"I think you’re the one who does that," I said and he laughed.

"You think so?"

I watched him laugh. When last had there been a sound of laughter in this cave?

It had been so grim, so suffocating and so heavy that they were walking on eggshells around me.

I don’t want the laughter to die down but I can’t exactly do anything about it.

I looked at my belly, feeling the cubs move around in the heat of the excitement. I grunted, as if they were kicking my guts.

These three were quite rowdy and probably grumpy too, that’s why I’ve been so grumpy.

"Settle down and don’t make things hard for your mommy," I whispered and they listened, settling down.

I let out a soft sigh.

The cave, once a sanctuary, was beginning to feel like a cage. The walls seemed to be inching even closer as the days kept going by.

And then, I could no longer move.

My legs were swollen, my skin felt too tight for my body, and the ’soup’ I had been managing to ingest was no longer just bland; it was repulsive.

I forced myself up and began to walk because even sitting made my but hurt and the cubs were more active then.

"Arinya, please, just sit down," Fenric pleaded, his eyes tracking me as I paced about for the hundredth time.

It was just a repetition of what I have been feeling wrong with me and my senses ever since a few weeks back.

The pain, the repulsion, the discomfort, and now even my legs were swollen. I had probably gained more weight too. Everything felt so wrong.

"I can’t! I feel like I’m suffocating in here," I snapped, my voice echoing too loudly off the stone. "It’s too quiet, it’s too dark, and I just—"

A sharp, jagged pain suddenly ripped through my abdomen, stopping me mid-sentence. It wasn’t like the dull cramps from before. This was a white-hot lightning bolt that sent me to my knees, my heavy belly weighing me down but luckily, it didn’t touch the floor.

That could’ve been bad.

"Little tiger!" Noah was there before I hit the ground, his face pale as he caught my weight.

I gasped for air, my hands clawing at his forearms. "Something... Something isn’t right. Isn’t it too early? They aren’t supposed to come for another few weeks, right?"

I didn’t know what was going on but I could definitely feel something going horribly wrong inside me.

The cubs were more frantic, and I felt a cramp, heavy cramps that were a hundred times more painful than a painful period cramp.

And I mean it, literally, because I used to have very bad period cramps that made me feel like I was dying.

And then, from behind I felt a thick liquid trickle down my thighs.

No, no, no, this can’t be happening. It can’t.