The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 229: I told them not to wake you

I woke up slowly, my body feeling like it had been taken apart and put back together by someone who didn’t quite know where all the pieces went. I was heavy, sore, and profoundly empty in a way that made me feel lightheaded.

’Where am I?’ I was still a bit hazy and the previous day had vanished from my memory.

I couldn’t even recall what I had done before going to bed, when I felt it.

A small, wet, tugging sensation against my skin.

I blinked my eyes open, and the dim orange glow of the embers on the ceiling reminded me I was in a cave. Ugh. Were we still here? I felt like I had slept through an episode, but guess not.

But that was the least of my concerns as there was some funny business going on on my chest.

My breasts felt tight and achy, but the discomfort was covered by the soft, warm weight pressing against my chest.

Looking down, my breath hitched.

Now I remember what I had done. I no longer had my big rounded belly that made me heavy and caused me discomfort.

I... I had given birth.

To three cuties at that.

On my chest were three tiny cubs nestled against me. They looked so fresh out of the oven, which is my womb, warm and pink-skinned with a little bit fuzzy along their backs.

It was probably only just yesterday since I let them out, so they hadn’t opened their eyes yet. Their little faces were wrinkled like dried plums—but they were cute and they were perfect.

The first two—the one with a black and white stripe that reminded me a lot of Fenric and the other that had mostly black patches—were already drifting off into a milk-drunk stupor, their tiny chests rising and falling in sync.

But the third one, the last little girl with a mainly white patch, was still working, her small mouth latched onto my nipple with a surprisingly fierce determination.

Watching how she sucked and how the sensation filled me, I smiled warmly. Just... What is this feeling?

"She’s a hungry one, that one," a soft voice whispered.

I tilted my head back to see the rabbit midwife sitting by the fire, mashing some roots in a bowl. Ah, so that’s where the scent of herbs came from.

Elara, the fox girl who had come with her, was nearby, folding clean hides like a professional.

"I told them not to wake you," the midwife said, glancing over with a knowing smile. "You looked like you could sleep for a hundred years due to the exhaustion. I figured it was better to let them find their breakfast while you dreamed. The other two have already had their fill."

I looked back at the cubs. The boy, with his faint tiger stripes, was tucked under my left arm, his tiny paw twitching in his sleep. The other girl was curled against my side. They were so small. So fragile.

"Where are Noah and Fenric?" I croaked, my voice sounding like I’d swallowed sandpaper.

"Outside," the midwife replied. "Said something about ’securing the perimeter,’ though I think they just needed to scream into the wind because they were so overwhelmed. They’ve been hovering over you like two nervous hens all morning."

I shifted slightly, wincing at the pull in my abdomen. I dropped my hand, only to feel soft scales. I instinctively looked and saw Damar.

He was still in his beast form, but he had moved. He was no longer a tight, defensive coil. He had stretched out, his massive silver body forming a protective ring around the edge of our bedding. He was still in that deep, winter slumber, but his head was resting just inches from my hip.

I was glad. Glad that he woke himself up just to help me finish the process.

I stroked him a bit and then turned to look at the girl still sucking. She was so cute. She was the last that came out after many struggles.

"Hi there little one," I whispered, looking softly at her and the others. My eyes grew glossy with tears—this time, happy ones—and then they dropped down my face, leaking out and splashing onto the fur wrap. "I’m your mom. And you... You’re finally here."

There was no amount of words I could use to describe the happiness in me. It was so complex. After months of battling, and expecting and crying and screaming and just staying silent... After months of an endless circle like that, I had finally seen what I was fighting for.

What my struggle begot. What cute adorable cubs had been growing in me, kicking and playing, using my organs as footstools.

I laughed amidst those tears.

It was a joy I could not explain no matter how deeply I thought about it. The happiness that filled me when they sucked, snuggled and slept... So this was motherhood.

My own mother must’ve felt this way when she had me in her arms, when I sucked her breast and made her feel like I was all that mattered in that little moment.

The cave felt different now. It wasn’t just a closing wall that suffocated me anymore. It had become a nursery.

The winter was still out there, cold and unforgiving, but in about a week or two, it would let out and give way to spring.

I closed my eyes again, not to sleep, but just to feel the warmth of three heartbeats against mine.

"You must be tired, but aftercare is still important." The midwife said, coming closer with the herbs she had ground.

There were two herb concoctions—one she wanted me to drink since my insides were a mess, and the other was to apply... down there.

I bit down on my lip, trying not to hiss and wake my babies as she applied the herb down there.

It stung and hurt, but I had to bear with it.

I drank the herb and then my eyes widened. Weren’t these spices?

I finished it in one gulp and then looked at the midwife,

"You... Who are you? And where did you come from?"

"Hm? I am a healer that specializes with female delivery. I come from the West way tribe." She said, looking at me oddly as if I should’ve known this.

But how could I?

The only rabbits I know were the cute scary cats at the edge we had crossed into. And I was very sure this rabbit did not belong to that tribe.

There was even a fox girl and a wolf male. Did they come from a tribe that cohabits with other species?

"My queen, surely it can’t be that you do not know of our tribe, do you?"

I tilted my head. What was more shocking than her expecting me to know her tribe, which I am very much hearing for the first time ever, was the title, ’Queen’.

"What did you just call me? I’m not a queen." I said but she looked even more confused.

She looked back at Elara and then back to me.

"Surely, if you are the king’s rightful mate, then you certainly are our queen,"

Hol up! You lost me there?

What king?