The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe

Chapter 345: Damar wouldn’t want me to be sad over it

As we walked back toward the tent, the midnight air was cool, but the heat coming off the three men walking with me was unmistakable.

Noah stayed close to my left, his arm occasionally brushing mine, while Fenric walked on my right, his eyes scanning the shadows with a sharp, protective intensity.

Thalor followed a step behind, his eyes fixed unmistakably on the back of my head.

When we reached the flap of the tent, I stopped and turned to them.

"Okay," I whispered, my voice dropping as the reality of the sleeping arrangement hit me. "No kicking. No ’accidental’ rolling over. And if I wake up to a wrestling match, all of you are sleeping outside tomorrow. Do I make myself clear?"

Noah grinned, already taking off his vest tunic with a wink. "Don’t worry, little tiger. We’ll be on our best behavior. Right, boys?"

Fenric just grunted, peeling back the flap to let me in first, while Thalor lingered at the entrance, looking at the land-structure with a curious, slightly nervous expression.

"It is... stable?" Thalor asked softly.

"It survived a snake, a wolf, and a tiger for a while, Thalor," I said, reaching back to grab his webbed hand and pulling him inside. "A fish taking the place of the snake isn’t going to bring it down."

But it is going to crumble if the snake comes back. So, best be done with the palace before then. Welp.

I walked in and found my babies fast asleep.

I watched the way their chest rose and fell as they slept with a familiar warmth spreading through me.

My babies were practically dead to the world, their tiny paws twitching occasionally in their dreams.

But lately, their naps had been getting longer and deeper—a heavy, transformative sort of sleep. It made my heart skip a beat.

I had asked one of the mothers about how their pups transform and if they’ll know beforehand, and she told me something about a long sleeping period.

The pups would have such a prolonged period of rest while their bodies were redirecting all that energy inward.

I placed my hand over my mouth in awe.

It seems my cubs are preparing for their first major shift.

Soon, these furred little bodies would be trading paws for tiny hands and soft skin.

My heart swelled; I wasn’t ready for them to grow up so fast, but I was dying to see their human faces. Squeeze their little cheeks and hold their little hands.

The thought of this suddenly left my heart hollow.

Damar would not be here to watch the first shift.

It weighed on me for a second that even Thalor, cautiously standing at the entrance, noticed it, but I clapped my cheeks.

Let’s cheer up. Damar wouldn’t want me to be sad over it.

The tent felt even smaller as the three men filed in behind me.

"They’re still in the deep sleep," Fenric whispered, his red eyes softening instantly as he looked at the cubs.

He stepped around them with a precision that only a seasoned warrior—and a doting father-figure—could manage.

"I feel like they’ll shift soon, Arinya. I can feel the change in the air." He said, and I pursed my lips.

"I know," I said and finally let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding.

I breathed, carefully adjusting the furs near the babies so they wouldn’t be shoved around during the coming hustle and bustle.

Noah was already taking off the rest of his things, moving silently in a way that completely contradicted his earlier rowdiness.

He claimed his usual spot, but paused, looking at the layout. Thalor stood near the entrance, looking a bit like a pillar of salt, unsure where his limbs were supposed to go in this tangle of furs and family.

"Don’t just stand there, Fish," Noah muttered, though there was less bite in it now. "If you’re going to be part of the pile, get in here."

I sat in the middle, the familiar ’command center’ of the sleeping arrangement. To my right, Fenric settled in, his large frame providing a solid, warm wall of protection. To my left, Noah sprawled out, immediately hooking a possessive arm over my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder.

"Easy," I warned, though I leaned back into him.

"But I haven’t done anything yet, Arinya." He purred into my skin.

I looked at Thalor. He cautiously moved forward, sinking onto the furs at the foot of the pile. He looked at my feet, then at the space next to Fenric.

"You’re overthinking it," I said, reaching out to pat the space by my legs. "Just lie down. Fenric doesn’t bite unless I tell him to."

Fenric gave a low, rumbling hum of agreement, though his eyes remained fixed on the tent flap, his internal compass always set to be on the lookout even in sleep.

Thalor finally lay down, his body cool but radiating that strange, deep-sea vibration. He didn’t try to crowd me, but his hand found my ankle—the one with his mark—and his fingers rested there gently, as if making sure I wouldn’t suddenly disappear in his sleep.

"This is... different," Thalor whispered into the dark.

"Get used to it," Noah grumbled, his voice thick with sleep. "It’s crowded, it’s noisy, and someone—usually Fenric—snores like a landslide. But it’s home."

"I do not snore," Fenric countered calmly.

I closed my eyes, surrounded by the breathing of my mates and the quiet sighs of my growing babies. The drama of the marking and the looming threat of a triple rut felt miles away. For now, in the quiet of the midnight hour, we were just a family.

"Go to sleep, all of you," I murmured, my eyes slowly closing in sleep. "Tomorrow is going to be a very long day."

Just about two hours to Dawn, six pairs of tiny paws stepped all over the pile of adult bodies and found their way by my side, using their small, cute nose to sniff out my breast.

They nudged, requesting a refill, and a hand pulled down my top to let them feed.

Noah was fast asleep, so it wasn’t him. And I could still feel Thalor’s hand around my ankle, so it wasn’t him either.

Then, it was Fenric.

He knew right away that the cubs needed to suck. Maybe it was because they had stepped all over him the most, and he was used to this pattern.

But then again, why did it feel like he was staring at me? I didn’t open my eyes, but I could feel his gaze.

Just as the cubs fell asleep sucking, he shifted their mouths from my nipples and, instead of pulling my top up, he leaned his body back and...yeah, you guessed it, he sucked on it.

How do I know this?

Because at that moment, I opened my eyes. I watched him sucking, but he had no idea, convinced I was asleep. I tried my best not to make a sound, but... just how long had he been waiting to do something like this?

Was he doing it in his sleep?

Ah, I don’t know anymore. I closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep again and pretend none of this was going on, but the pressure from his sucking felt very different from the cubs tucked at my side, so it was hard to ignore it.

Instinctively, I reached my hand out and hugged his head. I felt him freeze up, probably thinking he had been caught, but I didn’t say a word.

My silence was like a silent go-ahead, and he continued what he was doing.

Crazy. Really crazy.