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To absolutely nobody’s surprise, it emerged that I was pregnant when Azlan deposed Kain the mad king. In the months that followed, I bore Azlan not one son but two, their names Gregory Tonka and Robert Rex. They have Azlan’s golden pelts and eyes, and my tendency to go their own way. They keep us very busy, and Nyan and Skol prove to be doting uncles to the pair of them.
Another baby follows, a daughter. By this time, three years have passed, and Kain remains in the dungeon. Azlan chooses not to speak to his brother, and he has the rug of his father interred properly and with more respect than the monster was ever due.
I visit Kain from time to time, never with the babies, but just to see how he is doing. I do not agree with this incarceration. I think he needs help, but Azlan will not permit him to be freed. He claims Kain is not mad, but an evil genius, and every time I am caught visiting him I pay the price.
Azlan will not kill him, and he will not send him into exile. Kain remains the monster in the depths, a darkness that lingers in the light of our new lives as the first family of Shattered Gulch.
Ten years later…
Our twins are having a discussion with one another about the family, running through all the relations they have.
“Skol, and Nyan…” Gregory counts on his paw fingers. Our children have turned out to be a delightful mix of Leonid and human, my sweet fuzzy babies. They are smart and they are gorgeous and they are more loved than I can express. They play from time to time with their namesakes, Tonka and Rex, who are one year older and still bonded with me, and I with them. The Den is full of babies, laughter, and love.
“Nyan’s funny,” Robert grins. “Skol is always so serious.”
“We don’t talk to Uncle Kain, because Uncle Kain killed and stuffed Granddad Leonidas,” Gregory says.
He is not supposed to know about Uncle Kain, but rumors of the brother in the dungeon, of course, persist.
“Cool!” Robert exclaims.
I’m about to explain that it is not cool to kill your father and stuff him, when I’m interrupted by our youngest, Lillian. She has come in from the stronghold grounds with a new friend. This is not uncommon. She makes friends easily with anything that cannot speak.
What she has today has large ears, a pointy snout, haphazardly arranged sharp teeth, and a long segmented tail.
“Mom! She followed me home. Can I keep her?”
“You already have three pet Grumblers, Lillian.”
“I know, but she’s so cute!”
She holds the baby Growler up between her chubby little paws. It’s not wild like the ones I was used to back on the asteroid.
Growlers have become endemic in Shattered Gulch now, thanks to me. They’ve become popular pets, in large part because someone started a rumor that they were the preferred pet of the alpha female.
I relent immediately. I used to hate Growlers, but now they remind me of home. Speaking of home…
“You can keep her, but I need you to put her in the enclosure with the others, because we’re going on vacation, remember?”
All three children let out roars of happiness.
Azlan strides into the room and is immediately mobbed by the children, including Lillian and her new pet Grumbler. He laughs and picks them up in his arms all at once. I smile at the sight as I sit with Buttface in my lap, stroking his sleek fur as I watch my mate in his proudest and most important role yet: father.
“Is everybody ready? We’re going on holiday to the asteroid!”
“YES!” The kids chorus the word all together and pile out the door and into the ship with big bags of completely unnecessary items they will inevitably lose or leave behind on the asteroid. This is the same vessel Azlan transported me in the first day we met, the same vessel I first came to the Leonid world on, and the same vessel he used to save me from the consequences of my own actions.
“And you?” Azlan flickers a sexy alpha wink at me as I stand up, Buttface under my arm.
“More than ready,” I smile.
We go to the asteroid several times a year. I believe it is important that our children understand their human origins as much as their Leonid realities, and enjoy the simplicity in which I was raised. Seeing them play in the fields, rivers, and streams I played in as a girl gives me a sense of full circle completion, a proper happily ever after.
* * *
Anote from Loki…
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