58 - Little Bear Cubs (2.26k words)

I've assisted many young girls during childbirth, but never had I helped a girl deliver little bears. I wasn't sure what the rules were in this case, but I've asked a few females with bear cubs how they managed, and the responses have all been the same: We just did.A healer would only be required if they were giving birth to a girl. Boys were the easier delivery. It was usually a simple and fast process.I held a moist meatball coated with a translucent layer. I didn't mind that it was dirty and carefully peeled the outer layer. The little bear's fur was fine and soft, with spots of reddish skin. It was a little bigger than my palm."Munch..."The little guy opened his eyes. They were a little cloudy, and his body was a little wet, but he was still very cute. His head turned, his nose sniffing as he looked for his momma.I placed the little guy onto the animal skin on the ground and wiped away the remaining placenta with a soft piece of cloth. The little guy was trembling and shaking a little. I rubbed his stomach with the towel, and he made a sound like "munch munch."Bai was resting against Parker's arms. She was soaked, and there was a pool of water on the ground. Her face was pale, her hair was matted with sweat, and she looked completely exhausted. "Ahh!" she screamed in pain."There's still one left," said Parker in distress as he gently stroked Bai's tummy.Bai gritted her teeth and clenched Parker's hand. The second one was slightly bigger than the first, but still came out of the womb without much resistance. It was also covered in a thick layer of fluid.Parker sighed with relief and looked at the scene with a smile, his eyes red and teary."Quickly, let me have a look," Bai managed to get out between breaths.I held the two little bears wrapped in animal skin and carefully placed them beside their mother.When Bai heard their sounds, she finally relaxed. She laughed and cried simultaneously, holding both babies in her arms and hugging them tightly, "Be good, you two. Mummy is right here. We've been waiting for so long to meet you. It's a pity your father isn't here. He'd be overjoyed.""Qingqing, I'm also their father!" Parker's voice was hoarse and trembled a little, "I'll take good care of them as if they're my own."Bai nodded, tears running down her cheeks.I cleaned Bai first, then the room. After the baby bears were fed, I put them back in their baskets and tucked them in.Parker might be picking fights with everyone daily, but he was not afraid to step up when it was time to take care of his family.His eyes were moist, and he gently stroked the fur on the little guys' heads. They were already sleeping, with their eyes closed, and their little snouts were slightly open.Bai, however, was still awake. "Thank you."I nodded and patted her hand, "Get some rest. I'll come back and bring some porridge for you later."· · ─────── · ⊱❈⊰· ─────── · ·I walked out of the room and saw both Skaris and Muir waiting for me in the hallway.My eyes felt hot, and I quickly closed them.Muir snatched the basin with dirty water and towels from me and said with a frown, "Let me do it. You go take a rest."I nodded in agreement, following them as we headed toward the kitchen.Maybe I should have been harsher in rejecting them and not allowing Vick to influence my decisions so much.Muir and Curtis loved Bai in the novel, didn't they? Would they be happier if she ended up with either one of them?I would never know because of these damned spousal imprints.Why would beastmen bind themselves so strongly to one person for life?Why did they love so unconditionally, so obsessively?There was a sense of freedom but also a sense of confinement. They wouldn't leave me. No matter how crazy I behaved, they would still stick to me as if I were their lifeline.What a bunch of silly men...I didn't know where to start. Part of me felt for them, wanting them to be happy and all, yet I also had a strange desire to torment them for settling for less when they could have had so much more with both Bai and Nivi.I gave Muir's butt a cheeky slap, and his whole body jerked in surprise, and I was satisfied.He turned his head, glaring at me with his prideful eyes as I continued to grope him."You've got such a nice ass. So firm and round, it's great. I could touch it all day," I praised.Muir turned around and continued to walk forward, his movements stiff."Why are you ignoring me?" I asked, "Did I go too far?""I don't care what you do," Muir said, his words tumbling out in a rush, "It doesn't bother me.""Really?" I asked again, giving him another little smack, "You're not mad? Or do you like it?""I mean... It's not a big deal," he mumbled, "Do whatever you want."Skaris matched my tempo, his tail swaying left and right, brushing against my leg.I smacked Skaris' butt too, and he froze, his tail shooting straight up."You like it?""I do," Skaris answered honestly, "You can do it anytime, Dear. I like it."I stopped, and both glanced in my direction as if asking why I stopped. I shrugged and continued walking to the kitchen to cook some porridge.Where was the fun in groping them if they were just going to accept it so easily? I was doing it to annoy them, but now I was the only one feeling annoyed.It really made me think of doing some unholy things to them, like tying them up and teasing them until they couldn't take it anymore, or forcing them to their knees and making them beg, or...Whatever, I was fine with just thinking about it for now, and let them off the hook.I got to know that having sex for the sake of pleasure was wrong, or at least not a regular practice in this world. Most beastmen didn't mate with their females when they didn't have to because the loss of their semen would tamper with their progress on gaining more stripes.Curtis and Vick didn't give a damn about this practice. They even told Muir to make out with me at least once a day during their absence, which was practically what they'd been doing from the very beginning ─ injecting my brain with a dose of good chemicals through sexual stimulation.Have I mentioned that they were a bunch of idiots?Curtis, who could ejaculate twice as much compared to a regular beastman, lost so much semen that he was not making any progress at all. He was stuck with four stripes when he should have already reached his fifth rank with all the training he went through. It was good he was in hibernation and allowed his two little groin snakes to recharge.Muir would always try to hold back while getting me off and would feel frustrated every time he'd end up ejaculating instead of stopping himself. He wanted to reach the fifth rank faster than Curtis after all.Skaris was the only smart one among the bunch and would only allow himself to ejaculate once every twenty days. He even made a stone calendar, where he would make a line each day until there were twenty. On normal days, he would stop midway through whatever we were doing and jump onto the snow outside to cool off, then come back just to be kicked toward the fireplace by me.As for Vick, his severe case of blue balls probably made him not want to see me for a while. He was still busy with the canal and the mermen, and I hadn't seen him since the last time I left him.I suggested celibacy to Muir, but he didn't listen and said he would rather be stuck at the current rank than do that.I knew his feelings were real, and he had a hard time resisting me, but it was no longer fun when you know you are the cause of his progress being hindered.So, I did the only thing I could ─ I started to wear more clothes at night, stopped initiating any sort of sex, and made both Muir and Skaris sleep in the study room.I would still wake up with them cuddling to me in the morning, and they would always be half-hard and dripping, poking me in the ass and belly while still sleeping. They would always be embarrassed when their bodies betrayed them, and I could barely stand the cuteness and just had to tease them a little like the meanie that I was.So, if anyone thought our sex life would be different from before, then yes. The frustration became even greater, but it was a good kind of frustration. The kind that would make your toes curl and your blood boil and arouse the senses.· · ─────── · ⊱❈⊰· ─────── · ·During the winter, the fickle weather kept most of us holed up indoors.Bai had long recovered and began to build snowmen and igloos with Parker when there was a light snowfall.Her cubs were still too small to walk or run. They would either be on my lap playing with me or on the floor, rolling around or chewing on their paws, their chubby bodies bouncing whenever they rolled.It was a very cold day when Skaris informed me that we had some visitors. I placed the two bear cubs inside a basket and hurried outside.When I saw the wolf beastman with silver-blue hair carrying an unconscious girl, my feet stopped moving."Please, help Rosa! The Tiger King and Queen have both died, and a group of beastmen is trying to kill us. I've managed to escape with her, but please help her. Her life is in danger!" Bart cried out, his voice cracking.I had no reason to refuse and invited them inside, leading them toward the great hall, "Where are the rest of your female's mates?"The wolf beastman shook his head, "They stalled the group to give us a chance to escape.""Place her down," I instructed him, and the wolf beastman slowly laid the girl onto the ground."She's going to die, right?" Bart looked at me, his eyes bloodshot.I didn't reply and continued to work. She wasn't wounded and looked to be unconscious, not dead, "What truly happened?"Bart wiped the tears off his face and said with a trembling voice, "She thought that it was Winston who killed the tiger king and the queen, and that it was him who set up the plan to take over the Tiger Kingdom, so she summoned the rest of the kings and ordered the arrest of the tiger beastman. After some investigation, it turned out that the one who truly killed the king and the queen were actually Rosa's suitors. Their claw marks matched the ones on their bodies. The Ape King wanted to imprison her and give her a fair trial, but Rosa couldn't take it and tried to escape.""So you are here to seek refuge, not medical aid, is that it?" I asked him, knowing the answer already.Skaris mentioned that the Ape King visited us during my absence a few times, particularly asking about Curtis. I told Skaris to tell everyone, who asked about our whereabouts, that we went to look for a new place to settle down because we thought the Beast City was no longer safe.Bart looked at the ground, clenching his fists before nodding.Vick and his extrovert side... He was able to form good relationships with Bart, and now look where it has gotten us. We've avoided the troublesome Rosa, but now her troubles were coming to us."You can't stay here," I said, popping a clear crystal inside Rosa's mouth, "You've left your traces, and if they come looking for you, I'll be implicated. Change into your wolf form and leave.""But, Rosa," Bart hesitated."I can't let your female near my cub. We both know that she is too dangerous," I said, wrapping Rosa in several layers of fur blankets and ropes, tightly tying her under his stomach like a baby.I then packed some food and water for both of them and asked him to try changing his form back and forth so he could slip her on without untying the knots whenever he needed a break, "I plan to visit the canal's construction tomorrow. Take Rosa with you, and go there. Vick should be somewhere close by. I'll catch up with you after," I threw a crystal in his direction, "Now go, I'll buy you some time."Bart caught the crystal with his teeth and ran out.╔═══ Author's note ════╗The fact about beastmen not liking to waste their semen because it could tamper with their ranking is true. Harvey mentioned it in the novel. 🤣 I added this fact to our Beastpedia.I've made a mistake with the amount of Tony's stripes. Instead of zero, he should have had two stripes. I rewrote the mistakes in the affected chapters. As of now, he has three stripes on his chest.╚════════════════╝