Chapter 42

T he room I woke up next in was warm. Thick furs rumpled beneath me as I shifted to sit up. My aches had aches. My skin was sticky with something I had to wonder if it was a salve or saliva? Perhaps he had healing spit?

One look down at my leg and I relaxed. Bandaged up with some sort of green, pasty goop, the source of the stickiness, I couldn't tell how bad it was. I wasn't ready for it yet.

Noting my clothes were missing, nothing but the furs covering me in the empty room I found myself in, I snatched a fur to me.

Smoothing a hand down my side, finding much the same goop and paste stuck to my side, I winced at the lingering pain as I moved.

It wasn't going to kill me any moment bad but it wasn't pleasant either.

My eyes widened and I glanced down at the sharp pains pricking my chest. My breasts were engorged and aching horribly. I mean, they'd hurt earlier but nothing in comparison to the toxic sludge chugging through my veins. Now I was left with body aches, breasts bursting like I'm a stand in wet nurse, and my sex throbbing like it might force itself inside out if I don't satisfy the lady beast soon.

Ignoring all of that for the moment, I spied the hunched figure watching me from the shadows. Those purple eyes literally glowed.

A soft series of grunts left him as he stared at me from his corner. "No touch," he grumbled, his voice deeper than usual.

"It's from the bite, I know," I muttered, wincing as I rolled to my feet. Clutching a pelt to my chest tight, I made to stand but quickly collapsed where I stood.

"Weak," he grunted out from his corner. "Rest."

"Do you have any food lying around here?" I asked.

One of the basketballs strapped to my chest decided that was a great time to spring a leak. With a mortified groan, I scrubbed at my face.

"Food not make better," he muttered, his voice soft, low, almost a whisper.

"I know what'll make it better, but my mates aren't here right now," I pointed out. Scrubbing at my face harder, I sighed. "Where are we, by the way?"

"Cave," he grunted out.

Awesome. Super helpful.

"What was your name again?" I mumbled.

He let out another grunt but didn't answer.

Right. Whatever. "Thanks," I mumbled, because he'd totally saved my bacon.

Thinking of that warm water, I used the wall to stand. This meant dropping the blanket fur, but seeing as he'd already seen the goods, I chose not to fall flat on my face again over any sense of modesty I didn't currently possess.

"Got a bathroom around here?" My gaze lifted briefly to search out his. The paste goop pulled as I walked. Every step was excruciating. I shouldn't be moving. I should be resting. Peekaboo wasn't wrong. "‘Kay. Find it on my own," I muttered. "Don't mind me…"

I made it as far as the hall all by my lonesome before I was gritting my teeth to put weight on my bad leg, one foot in front of the other, tears welling.

With something like a harrumph, I heard him come up behind me. Carefully, gentle as can be, even as annoyed as he sounded, he scooped me up and walked me to his equivalent of a cave bathroom. Basically, it was a hole dug in the ground in a similar fashion to a Lo denaii outdoor outhouse, but the throne was made of a weird, very dark blue clay.

Hovering, he held me over the commode, and showed me the bowl, water, and leaves he uses to rinse. Once I was done with that, he sat me down on a small groove cut out in the wall like a chair outside of the bathroom and grabbed a clay bowl to fill it with water and grab a clump of oblong shaped berries to crush them, rub them into my hands until they were covered with the blue fruits' orangey pulp, to rinse them.

"I think I need to soak in the water again," I admitted as the aches started to build up once more, trumping the uncontrollable horndoggedness threatening to possess me if I didn't flick the bean soon. My mouth watered as I caught a whiff of his earthy musk this close. Something was very wrong with me. That should not be happening.

When he went to help me up and his hand brushed my side, I nearly cried out, wildly jerking away.

Staring down at me as I curled up on the floor, he grimaced like he'd expected as much and wasn't happy about it.

"Something's wrong with me," I mumbled, curling up into a ball. I was dying from Krampus venom, that's what.

When he went to touch me, I jerked away from him. His touch was electric. The scent of him, the feel, it made me want to curl into his lap, rub all over him and beg him to screw me brainless.

I balked at that fuckery. What was wrong with me?! I had my own village of men I loved and wanted to be with! Why would I risk fucking around and finding out with yet another one?!

"Help," he growled out, frowning at my stubborn hide.

"I'm fine. It'll pass," I mumbled, hunching into a tight ball.

"No fine. No pass." Scowling down at me, four of his hands waved at me.

"I just need a minute," I snapped without realizing it.

"No fine," he snarled at me, but shot up and stormed from the room.

Left to my own devices, I spent the next several hours vacillating between rocking curled up in a ball, growling at myself as I tried to relieve the pressure in my breasts to no avail, and castigating myself for pissing off my only hope in any of this bullshit.

Writhing on the cave floor beneath me, I was wracked with pain and mindless with need. It hurt doubly in two oddly excruciating, punishing ways.

Sweat rolled down my neck, my back. My skin felt hot. Too hot.

Unable to put any pressure on my leg, I limped my way out of the room. Somehow I managed to find my way towards a snow packed entrance.

Peekaboo sat huddled in a corner, the hot springs pool in this room giving off enough heat to warm it.

I barely took note of him as I began grabbing handfuls of snow to press it against my heated flesh.

The instant relief I was going for was not to be had. Instead, sharp, shooting pains shot up my hands and anywhere I placed snow on my heated flesh. Cold snow on my overheated body, bad idea.

Collapsing to the ground with a harsh cry, I curled my arms around my middle, tucking my hands under my arms. Teeth chattering, shaking uncontrollably, I moaned piteously.

It hurt. It all hurt. Everything hurt. I just wanted this to end.

"Make it stop," I mumbled as I squeezed my eyes shut tight. "Please, just make it stop." I felt like I was dying. I was quite certain of the fact.

The rustle of fur drawing closer had me cracking an aching eyelid open long enough to spy my cave companion dropping down to the ground, a fuzzy blur of purple and grey prowling my way. The sound of him sniffing the air, that odd clicking purr stuttering in and out, pricked my ears.

The lightest touch brushed my foot. It jerked automatically.

Forcing my eyes open past the blinding pain, I relaxed when I realized he was leaning down, bent over my calf, giving it a curious sniff.

"It's inf-f-fected, isn't it?" I managed to stutter out. It was getting harder and harder to talk. Lifting my hand towards my face to brush the hair plastered to my skin out of my eyes, I blanched at the blurry black spidering marks I could make out going down my arm.

Oh god. This was bad. So damn bad.

"I- I need you to do something for me," I croaked out hoarsely. "At my village, the Lo denaii village, do you know where that is?"

Glancing up sharply from where he was sniffing my wound, he made a growl of a grumbling noise and then nodded shortly.

"Well, I need you to find my mates and-" I was going to send him in search of each and every one of them? I'd be lucky if they didn't tear him apart trying to accomplish that feat, if they were that far gone with grief— I wasn't a dummy and Peekaboo didn't deserve that. Change of game plan. "Uh, just look f-f-for Celuk. He lives in the house on the hill, it's really big, hard to miss. I need you to find him and- and tell him, I'm sorry, Fuzzsticles— he'll know it's from me if you say that, okay, and tell him I love them, and I'm sorry, and to please tell the others, even- even Rek, that I loved them, too? Can you do that for me?" I pleaded softly.

I had no idea how much time I had left but I wanted this promise from him before I couldn't ask for anything else.

"Buu fix. No leave," he grunted out, like I was being silly or something and not seeing with my own two messed up eyeballs the sludge filling my veins as we speak.

"Promise me." Holding out my pinky, I waited for him to lift his hand curiously as if to mimic the gesture, to hook my pinky with his. "It's a pact, a promise. You can't go back on it," I warned.

"Buu know pink-kneed pomsis," he grunted out.

"You do?" I blurted, staring at him in shock.

He gave a curt nod.

"How? Who taught you?" I wondered aloud. What village had he wandered away from? I'd never seen a purple and grey Lo denaii before. I was pretty sure I'd remember something like that.

"Dace," he grunted out softly as he ducked his head and crawled his way up behind me. The position struck me as submissive, just shy of belly crawling, asking for permission to be where he was headed. I had to remind myself I was fucked up on pain of every flavor and my vision was screwed. Who the hell knew what he was actually doing or looking like.

He was so warm, I found myself inching towards him as he moved in closer and began sniffing at the wounds on my back.

"Is Dace- Are they- H-how do you know Dace?" I settled on, closing my eyes as he poked and prodded at my back wounds.

"In caves," he grunted out.

"Y-you found a human in the caves? Or another beast that knows English?" I guessed.

"Dace find Buu in Buu' caves," he grunted out, moving in closer, and closer, until his fur was brushing my back and the heat radiating off of him started to seep into my bones.

The chattering and shivering eased slightly, but the mountain of pain remained.

"Dace not Buu mate," he rumbled out softly.

He'd peeled away the paste goop covering my injuries, leaving them open to the air.

"Hot," he grunted out as he pressed his nose to my nape.

I shivered and resisted the urge to press back against him. I wanted to feel a connection. The idea of dying alone terrified me.

"Will- Will you- Hold me, please?" I whispered through dry, cracked lips.

My nose burned, throat raw, joints so achy I didn't dare move. My eyes felt like they were on fire, to the point I could no longer hold them open. It was getting progressively worse, fast.

Several sets of thick arms came around me, until he was cuddled right up against my back.

It felt so good I melted against him with a soft sigh.

"S'okay," he murmured, rumbling it right into my ear. "Be ‘kay," he purred as one of his legs slid between my thighs and he parted them, holding them open.

His fingers lightly began to knead, claws pricking as he went. One hand was on my thigh, two others hugging me massaging my stomach. Another set drew low on my belly, making my stomach do horrible flip flops. The last pair of hands, one cupped my throat, the other combing through my hair with his claws.

"Be ‘kay," he purred one last time, before his grip tightened, his hands pinned me in place, and I felt the brush of thick fangs along my throat, right before he sank them deep.

A sharp cry left me as they dug in deeper and deeper. The odd sound, the feeling of my flesh breaking as he struck fast, the guttural noise he made, I couldn't get it out of my head. I shivered in its wake as molten heat, like he was pumping his furnace-like warmth right into me, followed.

Unlike the Krampus bite, this wasn't a sexual heat but more of a comforting warmth that filled me as it spread. That warmth replaced the pain of the Krampus venom, until I was one huge, jellied mess and all that was left was the residual soreness of the pain and that raging lust the pain had tempered.

Soon that's all there was, warmth and want.

Purring against my back, he pulled his fangs free. "S'okay," he crooned, over and over. His death grip on me loosened but his hands remained.

The hands low on my belly slid lower, gently brushing the top of my mons, experimentally at first, testing the waters, before boldly brushing my sex.

A soft whimper of a noise left me.

The hand at my throat began to massage it. The hands on my belly stilled and then began to slide up my chest, until they were cupping my aching breasts possessively. A growl tore from his throat as he spread his fingers, my nipples slipped between them, and he pinched them lightly. Something thick and wriggling nudged my sex then, dipping in teasingly before slipping right in, and then he clamped my nipples between his fingers.

Pleasure mixed with pain. I cried out at the exquisite torment and my hips bucked.

Claws pricked my throat as that thickness stretching my sheath pulled free.

Something long and even thicker slapped wetly to the underside of my thigh. As I squirmed in place, it slid, hot and wet, like a tongue eager to taste, along the inside of my thigh, gliding upwards.

Fire licked at me in its wake. I was shaking so badly I could barely hold still as it rasped along my labia.

With a soft grunt, his hips shifted and his prehensile friend rubbed along my folds, brushed my clit.

My hands found purchase, one clasping the hand at my throat to dig in as I scrambled to get a gander at what he was packing, what the hell that thing was doing to me as I writhed and moaned, and my other hand dug into the fingers of the hand digging into my thigh, forcing it open to him so he could play.

"Ah- God- Fuck me already!" I cried out, giving up trying to hold still to buck and growl, like the half feral shebeast I felt like.

With a guttural snarl, his grip grew bruising, the fangs digging into my flesh pulled free to then slam into my shoulder and bury so deep I screamed, and that tongue-like prehensile appendage torture teasing me to death pulled back to slide right up to my honey hole, press into my channel, and ram home.

Tearing his fangs free, he roared as the thickness threatening to tear me in two, swollen to the point my pussy lips were straining to contain it, drove even deeper and then began to undulate.

My climax didn't wash over me, it tore through me. It was too much. I couldn't take it. I grew dizzy with the rush of it as I was swept away in the torrent. Lost in a sea of orgasmic euphoria, I jerked and cried out but he held me perfectly still. It kept coming and coming. It wouldn't stop— a never ending barrage of pleasure assailed me.

His click-purr was going full force as he gave it all up to me. Warm wetness began to seep from the seal his cock had formed, there was just that much. It was starting to form a pool beneath us as he undulated deep inside of me and my channel milked him. With a soft growl, he dipped his head and began to lap at the bite marks he'd left behind.

When he'd satisfied himself cleaning that wound, he moved onto the rest lower on my back.

The first swipe of his long, thick tongue rasping across the bite the Krampus had left and I cried out and thrashed.

A sharp hiss left him as my sheath squeezed him even tighter than before and I came anew. It felt so fucking good I forgot how to breathe.

Again , I mentally begged. Yet at the same time, the sane part of me was bellowing, Enough! I can't take any more!

He did it again, and I cried out harder, louder, and his hiss this time bordered on a pained groan, but he did it again, all the same.

And again. And again.

By the time he'd satisfied his need to make my lady parts attempt to crush his manhood to death, I'd screamed my throat raw, left mewling and panting unintelligibly as he brought me to the brink again and again and I was left no other choice but to take it.

When he'd finally had enough, he slumped against me and his arms fell lax.

Our bodies, still joined intimately, continued to twitch and throb and give it their all as we laid there, spent, replete, drained the fuck dry.

Half rolled atop me, his big body was squashing mine into the cave floor, and of course right into the wet spot.

A groan left me as the position squished my tits. My still aching tits.

By some acrobatic feat of what the fuck, he lifted up angled my leg over his, somehow managing to still keep us joined, so that he was now facing me, atop me as he rolled me to my back.

With a groan, he bent his back, dropped down atop me, dipped his head, and cupped one of my breasts to bring it to his mouth.

All the while, I sat there stunned, speechless, trying to figure out the mechanics of it all— was his peen upside down now? It certainly hadn't done any rolling along with him, crammed deep inside — and the additional bend in his back allowing his large frame to practically fold in half— how the hell was that even possible?!

I had to remind myself he wasn't exactly a human or creature of Earth and couldn't be held to those standards.

A clicking purr rattled his chest as one of his thumbs brushed across my nipple. His warm breath blew across the tip, before closing around it.

It felt so good I couldn't hold still. He had to pin me down to keep me from mauling him.

With a growl that segued into a moan, his hips began to move as he took long, drugging pulls at my breast.

The relief wasn't instant but the slowly-releasing pressure as he took turns suckling these puppies, full to bursting, and the climax he swiftly dragged out of me, had me slumping back down to the cave floor knowing I was in good hands.

My hands fell to his head, careful of his horns, and I found myself absently petting him.

As the rush of it all slowly ebbed, reality came crashing down on me like a hammer.

I'd just taken a male who was not my mate, circumstances be damned.

Bile rose in my throat and nausea threatened.

I'd gone nuts on Rek for bringing a human to the village, one he claims he was actually saving if I'd just given him the chance to explain. I'd thought he'd cheated and I'd lost it.

Now… I'm actually stepping out on my mates… I'm the cheater. I hadn't even gotten a chance to say my piece with Tor or Celuk, and I'm bed hopping with my rescuer?

Before I'd even realized it, my chest was hitching and tears were streaming down my face.

How could I ever expect them to take me back when I couldn't even be faithful to them? One Krampus bite and I was willing to do anyone, anything, to make it stop.

Thick fingers smoothed up my back. Feeling him pull back as I started to lose it, I could make out two bright purple splotches studying me.

Thick thumbs brushed the emotions leaking from my eyes away.

Something between a clicking, churring purr rumbled out of him and he gathered me to him.

Leaning into the comfort he offered, I just opened my mouth and all of my sins came spilling out. Pouring my heart out to him, my fears, worries, my faults, I focused on the wild thundering of the double beats in his chest.

Soft hum-rumbles left him as I laid it all out there.

Talking until there was nothing left to tell, I fell asleep like that, clinging to him for comfort as he soothingly rubbed my back and comfortingly rumbled at me.

When I next opened my eyes, I was alone, in the furs I'd woken up to before, but there was an empty pile of furs close by, near a warm springs pool giving off enough heat to keep the cave room cozy comfortable, in a different room than the last one I'd conked out in.

A groan left me as I sat up. I was so sore I could barely move but beyond grateful to be alive.

Buu came into the room then, a torn up, worn backpack he must have gotten from this Dace he knows in his hands, walking it over to the abandoned furs nearby to sit on them and start unpacking his pack.

Without a word or a single look my way, he made quick work of grinding some odd looking grains, cracking open several different fruit and or veggies, I had no idea what they were or where they'd come from, and using leaves to tightly wrap the odd, thick paste in fat leaves, he used a woven basket with string attached to place the leaves wrapped paste in them and lower them into the bubbling pool.

Glancing from him to the leaves, I swallowed thickly. "How- How long was I out?"

Sparing a short glance my way, he grunted. It was another minute before he answered by lifting up two fingers.

It clicked then, that not only was my vision much improved, but that he had two clawed thumbs on each hand, like a koala.

"Two what? Two hours? That's it?" I mumbled quietly to myself.

"Two sleeps," he frowningly corrected. Gaze narrowing, he stared at the bubbling water like it owed him money.

Feeling like I'd fucked up but not knowing how to go about correcting it, or necessarily what it was I'd done, I took a deep breath and focused on my hands clenched in my lap.

Two days? Two whole damn days?!

"Did I… hurt you while I was sleeping?" Had I slapped him or something while snug away in snoozeville? Said something nasty? He was almost angry. Or maybe hurt? It was hard to tell.

Buu, as he called himself, wasn't giving me much to go on but for the silent treatment and keeping far the hell away from me like I had cooties.

His frown turned into a scowl as he lifted his darkening gaze to meet mine.

At the confusion swimming in my expression, he rumbled, "Just sleep. Sleep long time. Bring you Buu's cave. Buu hope make warm wake- wake up."

"Joanie," I mumbled, the first to break eye contact. "My- That's my name. Uh…my mates, most of them just call me Jo or Jojo," I admitted with a shrug. "It's easier."

He gave a grunt of acknowledgement but left it at that.

"You, uh, you can call me whichever you like," I added into the silence that dragged out.

Peekaboo didn't care to comment or grunt, just steal peeks at me as his expression swung from curious to annoyed, and back right around to pissed at me like I'd peed in his Cheerios.

Wrapping a pelt around me, my gaze darted around. "Where's the bathroom?"

Buu glanced up at me sharply when I stood. His large body tensed, all four sets of arms flexing. I could have sworn he'd only had three before? Man, were my blurry eyeballs taking me on a trip.

Standing abruptly, he gestured for me to go forward, barking which way I should go as he led me around. He kept a safe distance from me as he escorted through the cave catacombs. I had no idea how I was going to remember my way back down here but I'd get lost before I'd ask Mr. Short And Distant With Me for help back to that other cave room again.

"I think I can take it from here," I lied.

My begrudging tour guide left me with a short, parting grumble.

Everything was pretty self-explanatory from there and I wasn't so far gone I didn't recall my first lesson in cave evacuating. Clay commode top, a water source close by, lumpy looking odd ball of… soap? near a bowl of ready to use water, soap berry things, and a cloth to dry my hands. My leaf toilet paper educational training was burned into my brain. A giant furry blur miming wiping his ass, waiting until I did the same to let that shit go—kinda hard to forget. No surprises for me here.

Business taken care off, heading into the hall, expecting to be taking the mission back to Buu's cave room solo, no sooner had I stepped out, I ran right into him.

Grunting on impact, I groaned as I flopped back and my tailbone took the brunt of my fall.

Buu let out a noise that sounded like all the air in his body had left him.

Clutching my ass cheeks, I rolled to my side with a grimace. "Oh my god, I think I broke my butt!"

Buu dropped down next to me and grabbed one of my ass cheeks as if to give my claim a check.

"My tailbone, not my fat ass!" I corrected as I swatted his hand away.

The hurt look on his face as he curled his hand to his chest as if I'd given it a full force swat, was killing me more than my aching ass bone.

"What the heck is going on?" I demanded to know, fighting the grimace threatening to break free. Because that's who I am, Bulldozer Joanie, not even remotely subtle.

Grumpy Boo just stared down at me, blinking rapidly while his gaze darted from my butt to my face. His visible confusion would have been oddly endearing if I wasn't so frustrated. "Joalee thinks break butts bones," he grunted out. His worried stare had me doing a double take.

"Not with me. I know what's wrong with my stupid butt. I meant with you," I muttered, rolling to my hands and feet to slowly push to my feet. Ugh. I was gonna be feelin' that one for a while. Owie. Ouchie. Ow.

"Buu butt bones not broken. Buu no fall," he grumbled, as if my line of questioning was ridiculous.

"No! Not with your ass! With you! You've been acting odd since I woke up!" I didn't mean to snap at him and regretted it instantly but the words were already out of my mouth before I could decide not to say them, and his reaction was immediate.

The hurt that flashed across his face, there and gone just as fast, was undeniable.

"No thing wrong with Buu!" he practically bellowed at me. "No thing wrong!"

Huffing and puffing, he snarled, stomped his foot, and then whirled around and stormed away from me. Watching him disappear around a corner, his fur standing on end, hell bent on getting the feck away from me, I gaped at his retreating back.

"I- I don't think anything's wrong with you," I called after him. "I meant what's wrong that you're acting so strangely towards me!"

Left to find my way back on my own, by the time I'd managed to stumble my way towards anything I recognized, the day had gone, I was a thousand percent sure, I was hungry, tired, my butt ached something fierce, and fuck me I had to pee again.

That snowy entrance to the cave, all caved in with snow, was the first thing with any familiarity I spied. I knew I was in the right spot because the wet spot we'd made was still there, frozen to the cave floor.

My nose crinkled and I made a face as I limped past it.

Leaning against a wall, I scrubbed my hands down my face. It was cold in here, more so than the rest of this place, but I'd be damned if I was going to hobble down the hall so Buu could glare at me from across the pelts, just for a bit of warmth. I'd rather freeze to death.

Clutching the pelt wrapped around me, I sank to the floor, curling my legs up to wrap them in it as well, and rested my head against hard cave wall.

The more I thought of what might have put him off with me, the more my mind kept going back to the other night.

I'd been so upset at the idea of being unfaithful to my mates afterward, I hadn't paid much attention to his reactions, feelings, about everything, otherwise.

Fuck, I'd begged him to help me make it stop.

My throat grew tight and my grip on the pelt tightened. Shit. Had he felt forced into it?

Then I'd blubbered all over the place afterward. Like that's not confusing as fuck?

Just thinking about all of this had tears welling in my eyes, my stomach instantly churning.

Fearing I might throw up, I inched closer to the snowed in entrance.

Luckily for me, my stomach was empty, leaving me dry heaving my heart out.

When the worst of it was over, I stumbled back to my spot to curl up on my side and place my face on the cool cave floor.

My mind was spinning. I couldn't get my heart to chill the fuck out. It thundered in my chest as what ifs swirled in my head.

No clue how long I laid there like that, I forced myself to my feet and trudged my way down the hall when my teeth started to chatter.

I felt sick all over again as I entered the room he'd put the pelts he'd offered me to use in. Finding him absent, I moved quickly, grabbing up the pelts to drag the heavy bundle down the hall until I found the room he'd placed me in first.

It wasn't nearly as warm as his room but it wasn't icicles forming on my nose cold like the entrance either.

Huddling down in the pelts, I tried not to let the intrusive thoughts win as I struggled to sleep.

Sleep eluded me, all the same.

After what felt like an eternity, I found myself lightly dozing off. It was better than nothing, I guess.

"Joalee?!"

Buu's frantic call snapped me out of it. My eyes snapped open. I listened for a minute, yawned, and stared off blankly at a wall.

One peek around told me next to nothing.

I assumed it was nightfall as the glowing stuff on the walls were at their brightest and the natural lighting coming in from somewhere high up in the cave ceilings was practically nonexistent.

"JOALIE?!!" Buu howled.

My first thought was, he's hurt.

"Joalee?!" he cried out louder. This shout sounded even more panicked than the last.

Shit. Something was seriously wrong.

Popping up, taking several pelts with me, I took off after the sound of his voice, achy ass be damned.

"Peekaboo?" I blurted absently, ignoring the harsher bits of the cave floor it was easier to avoid bashing my feet on if I wasn't running full tilt.

Buu spun around frantically. He was near the entrance to those salt pools.

"What's wrong?!" I called after him as he started down a short tunnelway.

Popping back out, his large, purple eyes were practically bugging, all four sets of arms flapping about him uselessly. My boy was having himself a moment.

Was it, like, a critter skittering by? Was that it? Some kind of icky cave vermin? A very large bug? Was he one of those really big, strong, buff guys that ran screaming like a girl at the sight of a creepy crawly? Kinda weird phobia for a cave guy to have but okay.

"Joalee!" he barked.

I was prepared for him to rush over to me. The grabbing me up to clamp me against him like a huggy fur-ipede, I was not.

"Are you okay?" I mumbled into his furry chest. "What happened?"

"Sick?" he asked, then jerked me back to sniff at my face. "Sick?" he repeated, cupping my face in his upper hands to peer down into my flushed face. "Sick?" he asked yet again.

He was squishing my cheeks so hard my lips were forced into a fishy mouthed pinch. Despite how stupid I must look, I blurted, "Are you mad at me because of what happened at the cave entrance?" Forcing the words out past numb lips, I garbled it all out in one long string of gobbledygook. "Do you- Did you feel like you had no choice with- with what we did?" My throat worked, tears welling as my face grew hot and my stomach roiled. "Because if you did and that's why you were so upset with me, I- I had no idea and I'm so- I'm so sorry. I wasn't- I didn't-" I choked on every other word but kept going. By the time I was done I couldn't make out his face through the tears I was blinking away.

Thick thumbs brushed at the wetness trailing down my cheeks as his death grip on my face eased.

Clearing his throat several times, he croaked out, "No mad Joalee."

"Yes, you were. Don't lie to me," I burst out. My hand curled around his and I tried to tug them free but it was no use.

"Jo- Joalee no want Buu."

When I froze, frowned, and my lips parted, he crushed me to him with a pained groan. "No want hurt mates. No want Buu." Jerking me back using all four sets of arms, he dipped his tall frame and leaned in to nuzzle the top of my head. "Hurt? Buu hurt Joalee? Buu try be careful. No want hurt Joalee."

"I'm not hurt. You didn't hurt me," I whispered as he inhaled deeply at my hairline to nuzzle his way down my face.

"Joalee stays with Buu ‘til snowies block cave gone," he rumbled as he brushed his fangs along my nape.

I shivered and my grip on his arms, blunt nails already digging in, tightened.

One of his hands slid down my shoulder. I yelped and jerked back.

Buu set me down like I was on fire. He hugged the wall as he stared at me, wide-eyed. He was such a big guy, staring down at me worriedly, freaked out he'd hurt the little human, it was kinda comical.

"My scar," I murmured, trying to ignore the good-feels shivers sending my skin prickling in gooseflesh that single touch along my scars had incited.

Fuck, they were sensitive.

"Hurts?" he asked, canting his head, craning to look at what I was gaping at.

The feeling of all that puckered flesh was ugly, just awful. Pulling my hand back to study it, I had to wonder if my face matched. Where my skin had been tinged with black, threading throughout the veins, it was now the brightest, faintly glowing blue.

Lifting my arm, I gaped at all the blue shooting through the once inky black spidery veins in my upper arm. I was covered in it.

Buu's gums were blue, his tongue. I'd noticed it the other night. His teeth had a natural blue hint to the white.

Turning my attention to Buu in wonder, I blurted, "You saved me. I- I mean, you saved my life."

Buu worried his lower lip with his fangs. It made the blue tint of his fangs even more obvious. "Joalee not sad Buu claim Joalee? Sad mates not want Joalee no more? Buu help. Make Joalee better."

Claimed. I had a moment of pause at that, but I shook it off quickly. "I don't know if they'll still want me," I admitted honestly.

Those stunning purple eyes, lavender shot through with violet and royal purple, dragged down my length, lingering on my stomach. "Mates want Joalee, know Joalee has bebeh?" he rumbled out softly.

My hands slid to my stomach and my gaze dropped down to it. "My what?" I spluttered. I could scarcely believe it. Was he saying- Am I- I'm- "A baby," I breathed.

"Joalee bebeh," he repeated. Kneeling in front of me, he gently moved my hands out of the way to bury his face in my stomach. His happy rumble made me wish I could purr as he confirmed, "Smell it. Joalee bebeh."

"Just the one?" I croaked out.

Lifting his head to eye me as I valiantly tried to wipe all the tears in my eyes away, his brow crinkled but he nodded. "Joalee want more? Buu try to put more," he soothingly offered as he stood and curled me into his arms.

A startled laugh left me. "I'm happy with just the one at a time, but thank you." More happy laughter left me.

"No more sick?" he asked.

"I'm not feeling sick anymore," I confirmed.

Scooping me up into his arms, a click-purr left him as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He'd claimed me and now I was pregnant. That was the fastest "I do" I'd ever been part of. That was saying something considering I'd been chilling in Yeti country for quite some time now.

"How did you know I was sick? It was mostly dry heaving," I pointed out.

Buu just tapped his nose. My nose wrinkled at the idea of having a nose that strong. I mean, they could tell so soon after a Yetified conception, of course they have a crazy sniffer for other stuff.

He wasn't so different from a Lo denaii. It was kind of hard not to note similarities and differences.

"Joalee need food," he grunted out, taking me not to my designated room but his.

Once there, he set me down on my feet, grunted for me to stay put, and rushed right out of the room.

Waiting for him to get back, I noticed the basket full of leaves wrapped paste had been pulled free of the water and now sat next to it.

Buu came rushing back into the room to set my pelts in their previous spot.

I didn't say anything, just let him do as he would. Encouraging me to take my spot, he grabbed the basket and retook his own place. Pulling leaf paste packets out, he unwrapped one and handed it to me.

The paste had puffed up, the consistency similar to corn masa.

I loved tamales. One bite and I had to state that the masa-like texture was where the similarities ended.

Dense, sweet, a little grainy, like spongy corn bread with a coffee cake and bread pudding kinda flavor, it was really good but definitely not a tamale.

One thing it was, was really filling. One piece and I was pleasantly full. It was the lembas bread of Lo denaii food.

Could I even call it Lo denaii cuisine, I wondered, studying my companion. The more I studied him, the less and less he reminded me of a Lo denaii.

His nose was small, a little snubbed tip, the nostrils a soft, dark grey like his lips, with a little bisecting line down the middle. His ears had thick tufts at the ends a soft, cotton candy purple, a backwards looking second set of ears set behind the first, swiveling independently for that full surround sound effect. That swishing sound along his fur was a tail that was thick and hairless more than halfway down it, the tip a surprisingly soft pinkish, light purple color.

I blinked as he caught me staring at it and the hairless tip retracted into the rest of it.

The look he gave me was apologetic, which confused the crap out of me.

Was he not supposed to share that with me? Was it rude that I'd looked at it while it was extruded? Didn't he say he'd claimed me? Did mates not do that? I was so confused but loath to ask. This wasn't like dealing with one of my Lo denaii males and I was weirdly hesitant to rock the boat. Buu was a whole other can of worms. He was super sensitive and so cautious.

As if the tail thing had never happened, and I dipped my chin towards him. "Thank you. This is really good." Folding my leaves, I glanced around at where to put them.

Buu held out his hand for them and placed them in the now empty basket. His clicking purr had gone wild at my words. Staring down at his food, that naked tail tip slipped free as his tail lifted and began to happily swish back and forth along his back. A small, fang peeking grin tugged at his mouth as he took a big bite of his paste bread.

Stealing a peek at me to find me staring at him, he froze, mid-chew.

"Thank you. For everything." I smiled at him then, so widely it flashed my teeth, unable to contain it.

Buu bared his teeth back, though it looked more aggressive than a smile. With a growl in his throat, he tossed his bread aside and launched himself at me.

I barely had time to blink and he had me beneath him, hovering atop me like he didn't know where to start.

"What just happened?" I whispered.

Buu blinked, shook his head, and let out a chuff of a noise of surprise. With a forehead nuzzle that felt apologetic, he climbed off of me and quickly retreated to his spot on his pelts.

"Buu forget," he blurted, looking sheepish. "Think Joalee bare teeth mean want Buu to mount. Joalee not- not like Buu."

Ohhh. Uh- Whoops. "I- Well- I'm sorry for the mix up, Buu-Kehr-bear," I said on a laugh. "I'll try to be more careful with my, erm, teeth flashing."

Picking his food back up, he fiddled with a leaf end and peeked up at me shyly. "Buu like Joalee bares teeth. Like Joalee's teeth." Another quick peek. "Like silly namings for Buu-Kehr."

"Do you?"

His lips tipped up, a fangless smile, and he nodded.

"I like your silly name for me, too," I murmured back as my smile grew lopsided.

"Goot. Buu no know how say right any the ways," he told me, dead serious.

My laughter confused him but that was okay. I told myself I'd tell him later, when he was in a more relaxed mood.

Not only had I stumbled onto my new mate, my very last and final mate to an already overflowing pack, but now I found myself pregnant.

In a very short time, things had gone from dire and horror movie to just shy of a fairytale.

But I wasn't stupid.

This bubble I was in with Buu-Kehr, snowed in deep in a cave, soon that bubble was going to burst. Would he want to hang around when it all came crashing down? When that bubble burst, was he going to be here in the aftermath of it all? For me? For our baby?

My baby… My god, I'm going to be a mom!

"Smell nice. What think ‘bout?" Buu grunted out suddenly.

"The baby," I told him with a dreamy sigh.

"Bebeh need name." He watched me like he was afraid I might disappear at any moment— protectively, covetously. It was the same way I felt about the baby already and I've only known about it for what feels like two seconds.

"I don't exactly have any I'm in love with," I admitted.

"Joalee think goot name. Haves time," he said with a shrug.

"Don't you want a say?" I asked curiously.

He blinked down at me like my question had thrown him. "Buu no carry baby, push out. Buu no' get to name." His upper hand lifted and he flicked it at my stomach. "Joalee name."

Grinning, unable to help it, laughter escaped me. "So… I'm carrying it, doing all the work, so I get to name it, is that right? I'm the boss bitch of this baby business?"

"Jes," he answered without preamble, though he frowned at my wording.

"Hah!" I couldn't help but grin like a loon at that. "I think I'm going to like being snowed in with you, Peekaboo."

Buu's click-purr cranked up to eleven as he rocked a little where he sat, his tail flicking away happily, pinkish purple hairless tip on full display.

The rest of our evening was spent idly chatting about everything and nothing, and when it was time to sleep Buu made no move to make the moves on me.

Curling up in his furs, he wished me a good night and did this low, nasally humming thing that dimmed the splatter paint on the walls, got himself all nice and comfy, and then dropped right off to sleep.

No idea what I was supposed to expect, I squirmed in place, restless, and feeling a bit awkward.

Laying there in my separate pelt bed, glancing over his way in befuddlement, I wondered if this was what being mated to him was going to be like. That whole baring teeth to be mounted- smile mix up had me questioning if he was really into me, thought he was doing what was expected of him, or if the majority of his excitement about all of this was because we'd made a baby.

Biting at my lip, I told myself I was being silly. This was all so new, so different, I was already a pile of emotions and this just got chucked on top. Everything was new and we were basically aliens to one another. It would take time and a whole lot of adjustments.

We'll figure it out, I told myself, struggling to play the optimist when everythig was a big steaming pile of I-don't-even-pretend-to-fucking-know.

We'd get to know each other, learn each other's ways, our quirks. Soon enough the snow would thaw and we could head off to the village together. If everything worked out and I wasn't crowned Queen Asshole, we could raise our baby amongst my found family and he could be a part of that family too.

Swallowing past the lump forming in my throat, I forced myself to take several deep, even breaths. My fingers drifted over my scarred cheek, hovering but never touching, bringing my glowing blue veined hand better into light. I practically glowed in the dark!

Squeezing my eyes shut tight, I trembled a little in trepidation at the idea of a reunion, fearing the worst but hoping for the best.

It's going to be fine, I told myself. It will all be fine. Everything is going to all work out.