Chapter 47

A loud crunch had me snuffling awake. Glancing around, I was confused for a solid minute until I recalled just where I was.

Sitting up, I blinked and frowned. Wow. Not an ache to be had. Not one single one. Curling my feet up as I sat up, dragging the furs tucked in around me up along with me, I blinked down at the furs.

"She wake." Tor grunted out. There was a difference between Jeh-kal, Hyde, and Tor's grumbling voices. I was starting to pick up on it more easily now.

Sunlight had lightened the makeshift tent. Squinting, I glanced up towards the pointed tippy top but quickly had to look away. Too bright. How did I manage to sleep through that? Man, I was wiped out.

"What time is it?" I called out hoarsely, feeling around for my clothes from last night.

It was so weird, fully expecting to be so sore you can barely walk but you're not. In fact, I felt oddly refreshed.

Not even a hint of morning sickness. So weird.

Tor popped his head into the tent, got one look at me, and dropped to the ground to crawl towards me. His rumbling purr and that look in his eye had me putting a hand out to halt his advance. "Hold your horses there, big guns. I'm still sleep-loopy, I need to pee, and Bump demands sustenance." My stomach began to growl as if to give proof.

With a grunt, he reached behind him and brought a bowl shaped, carved gourd closer to me.

"Uhm… thanks?" What the hell was this for?

"For pees," he said simply. "Too snowy walk behind trees."

Eyeing him, he gave up on holding it out to me and set it off to the side of me but close enough by. "Jo use peed pot ‘tween sleeps," he said with a shrug.

A small laugh left me. "No, I didn't," I got out on a startled cackle.

When he cocked his head to stare at me curiously, a frown marred my brow.

"What do you mean I used it between sleeps? I had one sleep, this one, last night."

"My Jo tired. Long sleeps. Say, ugh, needs to pee, but Celuk say snowies too much. Not safe. Snow ‘lanches. Snow drops. Jo sleepy pees in this." He jerked a finger to the bowl.

Glancing from me to the bowl, my eyes widened in realization. Those odd dreams I'd had, there and forgotten just as fast, revolving around water and needing to pee, they were real?

"How the fuck long was I out?" I squawked.

Tor held up two fingers. "Almosts this many."

"Two days?! You mean to tell me I was out, but for pee breaks, for almost two days?!!" I burst out.

"Jo need sleeps. Tired," Tor rumbled reasonably.

Slapping my hands about the tent floor, I muttered, "Has Buu found us yet? Is he here now? How bad is it snowing? I- Damn it. Where the hell are my clothes?"

"Clothes sticky. Tor try to fix. Snowies freeze Jo clothes." Tor grimaced guiltily. "Celuk bring things for our Jo. Celuk fix. Tor fix Jo clothes from Buu-mate, no longer frozen."

Disappearing back out of the tent as that all sank in, my gaze kept going to the pelts covering me. I lifted them each up and gave them a sniff one by one. My mating pelts. They'd carried them all this way with them on the off chance of finding me? And Celuk had even brought me clothes?

The sniffles hit me, unbidden.

A low growl issued outside of the tent as I frantically swiped at my eyes but the sniffles just grew louder. Fuck you, pregnancy hormones.

Celuk lifted the flap of the tent and slipped inside. "My Jo? What wrong? Why cry?"

My hands lifted in a fuck if I know gesture and I shook my head. The persistent leakage continued.

Taking me into his arms, he dragged the pelts up my body along with. "Why cry, my Jo? No cry. ‘Kay. No cry." Before I knew it, he was nuzzling the top of my head and softly rocking me. "Tor fix Jo' Buu-mate clothes," he assured me. "Celuk bring warm things for my Jo. No cry. Be warm."

"It's not that," I blubbered.

About to tell him this shit was out of my control, blame the hormones, Celuk lifted his head and snarled in the direction of the tent flap. "You tell? Why tell? Celuk say, no tell!"

Frowning, following his gaze, I mumbled, "Tell me what?"

"What thing Tor not say? Tor not say any the things ‘Luk say not tell," Tor grumbled back.

"What are you talking about? What aren't you telling me?!!" Wriggling out of Celuk's arms, I gave him a look. "Tell me! What aren't you telling me?!"

Celuk looked like he'd like to kick his own ass as a scowl stole over his face.

"Is it Buu?" I blurted. "Have you seen him? Is he hiding nearby? Maybe he's nervous about coming closer, like he's unsure or-"

"Jo…" Celuk glanced away as he cleared his throat.

"What? Tell me." Frowning up at him, I pleaded with my eyes. What the fuck was going on?!

Taking a deep breath, Celuk met my gaze as he informed me, "Smell beast by camp. Smell like Jo mate on Jo smells."

"And?" There was a big old but in there, bigger than Odix's bootylicious rump.

"They not here now," he said finally.

"They left?" I sputtered. "No, that- No. That can't be right. He wouldn't leave me." My fingers were buried in Celuk's chest fur, absently kneading his upper chest. "When? I don't- That doesn't make any sense!"

"Not smell near anymore," he confirmed.

"Since when, though?" My heart raced as fast as my mind.

"First night," he admitted softly.

"Did you- Did you try and scare him off?" I blurted, struggling to understand.

Celuk shook his head. "No do that my Jo. Jo ‘tached her Buu. Buu help my Jo. Celuk want meet Buu," he admitted.

"Why- I don't- Why did he leave us?" I cried.

Celuk's expression softened and he urged me back into his embrace. Humming softly in his throat, he ran a hand up my back, the other smoothing over my baby bump.

"I don't understand," I mumbled miserably into his chest as I wrapped my arms around his waist. "Why did he leave us?"

"Celuk sorry. Look for Buu for Jo, after Jo home, safe, and Rek-" Celuk stopped himself short.

Lifting my head, my frown was back as I stared at him. "And Rek, what?"

Tor let out a stream of growl-speak that sounded an awful lot like a mouthful of expletives to me.

Celuk sighed and closed his eyes. "Not want Jo worry," he grumbled, sounding surlier than ever.

"Well, it's too late for that." My finger lifted to poke him in the chest as I glared up at him. "Spill the beans, fuzzsticles, what's wrong with Rek?"

Celuk's lips tipped up at the corners briefly at the use of my silly nickname for him. They fell just as quickly. "Rek sick," he said finally.

Before he could elaborate and I realized what the fuck I was doing, I'd grabbed his fur in a death grip and the shake I tried to give him shook me instead of his solid as a rock ass. "Sick? Sick how?!"

Celuk's hands slid over mine and started to smooth up and down the backs of them. Entwining our fingers, he pried my hands free to nuzzle his face into the palm of my left hand. "No want Jo worry. Bring Jo home to Rek, Rek get better."

If he brings me home, Rek will magically be better? Is he for real? "On what fucking planet?!"

"Planet Rek gets sick missing him's Jojomine," Celuk replied softly.

"He- He has some kind of broken heart syndrome or something going on, is that what you're saying? My not being there had him tumble down some rabbit hole of sad-sickness? And he'll get better when we're reunited?"

Celuk nodded.

"Why haven't I heard of this before?!!" I burst out. Eyeing him, I quietly wondered why Rek was afflicted with this mate-gone heart-sick sickness stuff and he and Tor seemed hearty and whole.

"Is… Is everyone else okay?" I ventured to ask. My gaze darted away as I slid my hands out of his hold and let them fall to my lap. Fiddling with my fingers in my lap, I bit at my lip. "Are- Uhm, is everyone else okay? No one else got sick?"

Cupping my face, Celuk forced me to face him or risk mushing my face painfully. This was not an if I choose option. It was a look at me, woman , kinda deal. His thumb brushed along the side of my mouth. "No one ‘kay, Jo go missing. No lose hope. Always look. Celuk look ‘til Celuk die," he swore. "Rek not take Jo gone goot. Want to look, look, look, all the times, not come back to village. Get weak, no sleep, no eat, just go, go, go, look for our Jo. Rek forget be strong for Jo, take care of Rek for Jo. Carr-ree worry for Rek. Say Rek like her brother. Rek wastes way, she say. No listen to Kirch. No listen no one. Angry all times. Cry all sleeps. Celuk know my Jo no like come home, her Rek gone. Carr-ree say, Rek Celuk's now, too. Celuk Jo's, Rek Jo's. All same." Leaning in, he bussed his forehead with mine. "Celuk take care of my Jo's Rek. Him not die, but him need Jo."

Realizing I was trembling, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Is he- Is someone with him now?"

Celuk nodded.

"How bad is it?" I asked as I pulled back and scrambled to get myself in order to get the fuck out of here.

Buu was here, he'd found me, but he'd left, for whatever fucking reason. He'd willingly left. Rek was sick and he needed me. If Buu was the intrepid wilderness guru he presented himself as, he'd find me if he really wanted to. He'd found me at our campsite, had he not?

I wasn't going to dwell on Buu's decision to leave a moment further. If he found me, I'd deal with it then. I was worried if I thought about it too long, I might have to consider the possibility he'd brought me out of the cave and left me like he had with the intention of tricking me into leaving me, and I really didn't want to even considerate it.

Forcing down the heartache of yet again feeling duped, dumped, ditched, abandoned for whatever fucking reason, wasn't nearly as simple as it sounded, but I put all of my focus on Rek and getting back home to him.

If Rek died because we dilly-dallied waiting for Buu to come back- No. Wasn't even going to entertain the idea, not even for a moment.

As much as I didn't want to face any of it, the facts were just that. Rek was sick and needed me. Buu had found me and then left me. The decision to leave was a no brainer.

"I need clothes!" I muttered under my breath, scrambling around for something to cover my nudity besides pelts.

Celuk stood with me. Turning me to face him, he bent and kissed me. When I would have pulled back, he snarled softly and followed after me.

"What in the world are you doing?" I mumbled against his mouth. "We need to get the fuck outta here and get home!"

"Kiss my Jo," he said simply, as if that wasn't obvious enough.

Pulling back to eye me, he grunted, frowned, and dove back in, again and again for sweet, curl your toes kiss after kiss, until I was dizzy with them and my lips were makeout-session puffy. Nodding, like that's exactly what he wanted, a dopey-eyed mate wobbling where I stood, he left me standing there, wonky-kneed and kissed senseless-lightheaded, to dip out of the tent for a moment, then return with a bundle in his arms.

Gently tugging the pelts clenched in my hands free, he stole kisses as he helped me dress. "Where did you get this?" I breathed, staring down at the prettiest beadwork dancing along the hem of a long, to-die-for, absolutely gorgeous dress-like top.

"Make," he grunted out softly.

"When?" I burst out.

Hesitating to answer, he rumbled out finally, "Rek has the night scares. Celuk stay with Rek nights, Celuk not out look for Jo. Odix, Gopher, Tor, help. Rek need things do. Teach Rek things, distract. Learn the things for our Jo." Dipping to help me into my pants, he tied them loosely, gave Bump a short nuzzle that melted my heart, and glanced up at me. Fingering the hem of the top, he held it up to me. "Celuk start, Rek finish."

"Rek helped make this?" I blurted. Trying to imagine him having the patience for the intricate patterns and these teeny tiny beads, consider my mind blown. "Was it under threat of death?"

Celuk grinned as he stood. "Rek learns," he admitted with a soft chuckle. "Not always want learn but Rek learns."

"I'd pay to see that," I muttered, chuckling along with him.

As I braved the world outside of this tiny little tent, I felt more useless than back in the caves with Buu. Nobody let me do anything, and they honestly didn't really need my help.

Tor had breakfast waiting for me near the fire when I popped out of the tent. As I ate, they packed up all of our things in no time, their tear down time worth taking note of. By the time they were done, they ended up waiting on me to finish eating to go.

"I feel like a slug dragging along with a bunch of… I dunno, what's a fast bug?" I muttered.

We'd been trekking for a few hours now. I'd forgone a lunch break. I didn't want to waste anymore time. We stopped far too often for me to use the little wilderness girls' room as it was.

All those aches and pains I was absent of this morning? They were back and screaming at me tenfold.

I had a horrible ache in my back and lower belly that just wouldn't quit but I refused to be the holdup any more than possible. Holding my belly, I focused on breathing.

It wasn't until I had a few sharp pains that I asked for a break.

As was customary, someone handed a water skin over to me, I took a long swig, then toddled off to find a place to mark my territory, har-har.

As I went to jerk my pants back up, finished with my business, a few red spots on the inside of my pants had my heart stopping, to start pounding a mile a minute.

Walking back over to Celuk and Tor, Celuk glanced up from whatever Tor was saying that had him smiling, to stare at me curiously. The smile starting to tip his lips dropped at the look on my face.

"I'm- I'm-" I couldn't spit the fucking words out. "I've had weird pains," I admitted. "I just- I noticed- I'm spotting."

When they both stared at me blankly, I blurted, trying not to sound as panicked as I felt as I joined them to slump down beside Celuk on the ground, "Blood. I'm spotting, in my fucking pants." Sitting there trying to breathe, it took me a minute to realize I was basically force-breathing-hyperventilating.

Celuk tucked me into his side. Growling something sharply at Tor, Snow Patrol came over, crawling towards me, and sniffed at me. Glancing to Celuk, he spoke in their language.

"I'm scared," I whispered, darting a glance between them worriedly. Gesturing between them, I told them, "That's just making it worse. I have no idea if you're telling each other I'm being silly or if you're super worried and don't want me to know you're super worried."

"We carry," Celuk told me. "Jo no walk no more. Baby and Jo be safe."

"Can you two handle taking turns carrying me all the way back home?" I wondered aloud.

My question was met with happy purr-rumbles.

"Stupid question," I muttered. "You two could probably tag team dragging home a hippo for funsies if you wanted."

"What hip-doe?" Tor asked.

Celuk's gaze narrowed on me as he rumbled something at Tor that had him scowling down at me along with him.

"What?" My finger waggled between them. Oh, what I wouldn't do to have my claws back. Ugh. "Don't be looking at me like that, all sour lemon pucker faced and grumpy." Folding my arms over my chest with a harrumph, I huffed and puffed and finally mumble-muttered under my breath, "I said what I said."

"Jo's Baby like hippo," Celuk rumbled out finally.

Rolling my eyes, I sighed noisily. "I didn't say I was a hippo, quit giving me the god damn stink eye, Big Business," I grumbled at Tor, who was looking wholly unhappy that I'd even dared to hint at any kind of comparison.

"My Jo bootiful," Tor grumbled down at me.

Opening my mouth to call bullshit, I got one look at the fierceness in his eyes, the truth of his words for him, and whatever protective barrier I was going to try and put up died in my throat. Maybe I hadn't felt like he thought me the most gorgeous thing as he'd gaped at my scars, but how much of that was the shock of the fact? If big guns over there said I was beautiful to him, who the fuck was I to argue with him about it?

Standing, picking imaginary lint off my pelt cape, I waved my hand at him vaguely. "Bruiser has to carry me first." Glancing Celuk's way, I gave him a commiserating look.

Celuk's lips twitched and his eyes danced.

"It's the least he can do, you know, considering he helped the least." My smirk was as put on as my snark filled sass fest. "Gotta pull his weight around here." A blustery sigh left me.

Celuk coughed to cover up a laugh.

Tor looked about to argue, flustered, blustering, until Celuk said something to him that must have made him realize that despite how I'd phrased it, I'd just said in my oh so very snarky, emotionally constipated way that I wanted him to carry me first. "Tor bad, bad male. Help more, next time. Carry my Jo first," he agreed quickly.

A sharp bark of laughter left Celuk. Stealing a kiss from me, he picked me up and handed me off to Tor. Tor grinned, stole a quick kiss for himself, and situated me in his arms.

Walking my fingers up his shoulder, then his throat, I tickled the shell of his ear.

His ear twitched but he didn't otherwise flinch. I was scared and trying not to panic. Pestering the un-pesterable was feeling like a worthy challenge.

Tor in a good mood, I discovered, was impossible to pick at. With his mate in his arms, headed home, there was no way I was getting through this rhino of a male's thick skin.

"I miss your horns," I admitted absently, speaking without thought.

Stopping, he rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck. Before my eyes, he shifted, a massive set of horns sprouting up from his head. Jeh-kal stared down at me. "Goot?" he rumbled out softly, his purr thick in his voice.

"Goot," I mock rumbled back, getting a chuckle out of Celuk for my efforts.

Jeh-kal let out a soft grunt and we were off once more.

"I'm curious to know… Which came first, Tor, Hyde, Jeh-kal or it's always been a party of three in there?" My hand waved near his head.

"Hyde not always here." Tor jerked his shoulder and dipped his head towards it, as if to motion to his head. "Tor first. First in head." Adjusting his hold on me, he barked something at Celuk that had him jogging off ahead. "Hold," the massive male grumbled.

"Hold onto- Whaah!"

Curling me closely to his chest, he took off like a shot.

"So we're going to run home now, then?" I gasped out, grabbing onto the first thing my hands found to dig in.

Getting a grunt from him instead of an answer, I took it as a yes.

True to his grunt, insert har-har bah dum tss here, he pretty much ran the rest of the way home.

I was convinced he was a machine, stopping only for pregnancy pee breaks, a short snack or water break, or because I made some sort of noise that had him convinced I might be in distress.

Jeh-kal was a bit of a mate hog, greedily insisting on keeping me all to himself. I'd offered to walk short jaunts, and Celuk had grumbled at him about taking a break, but the stubborn butt would not be deterred. He was nuttier than a bag of mixed nuts, but I couldn't deny that ol' pitter-patter of my heart at his adamancy.

How his arms hadn't fallen off and he'd managed not to trip over his big ol' clawed feet and accidentally dump me was nothing short of a miracle. He ran too fast for me to keep up, the landscape a blur as he sped by. Hours of this. Hours and hours. The male was a freaking machine.

Despite the fact that I was essentially the sack of potatoes he was lugging around, it was a long, trying, tiring day.

Last I recalled before I dozed off, it was dark, late, our last break hours ago.

Celuk had taken off a bit ahead of us again. I'd barely been keeping my eyes open, I was puffy again, and starting to feel irrationally grumpy.

It might have had to do with the sudden bout of pregnancy pukes after our last stop to eat, the worsening of it as we tried to continue on and the slightest jostling had me scrambling to be let down to rush off and purge whatever was left in my stomach. It might have just been everything all at once.

My mid-day pukes had slowed our journey down majorly. I felt like such a pain in the ass, despite how sweet and caring, how accommodating my rescue party was being.

When I opened my eyes again, I was still pressed tightly to Jeh-kal's chest. The pelt I was wrapped in was pulled over my head far enough I didn't notice the light at first.

"How close are we now?" I mumbled, squirming in place.

Jeh-kal rumbled something out, the sound loud with my ear pressed to his chest.

"I just want to ask her a few questions is all. I'm not going to otherwise inconvenience her, you have my word. You said she said she'd been spotting and kinda achy and," pausing to lower her voice, she continued, "in the family way. I'm not gonna pester her. I want to make sure mama and baby are okay."

Jeh-kal made a deep, rumbling noise when a hand pressed to my shoulder.

"Give minutes, my Rothy. Him needs minutes," a deep voice rumbled.

"I'm trying! It's butt cold out here and we've been going back and forth for nearly-"

"We're home?" I breathed. Popping up and yanking my hood off to spy Celuk's kin gathered around us near Dorothy's back door, I found myself gaping in shock. When?! How?!

I could have heard a pin drop, it suddenly grew so quiet.

My face. It was my fucking face again, wasn't it? I was so god damn happy to be alive, to have survived, just to fucking finally be here, my face was the last god damn thing on my mind. Apparently, it was the first thing everyone saw so, yeah.

Reaching out to give Jeh-kal's fur a tug when he bared his teeth, snapped something at everyone, and every beast present suddenly grew very interested in the snowy ground, the moonlit sky, basically anywhere but the mangled ruins of half of my mug, he muffled his grumble, mashed the feral baring of his teeth at them, and dropped his gaze to meet mine.

"It's okay, muscles. It's a bit much to take in at first. It's a shock," I muttered softly. "They've probably got a lot of questions, and I-"

"Jo no like stare," he grumbled churlishly, bristling as he shifted in place.

Patting his chest, I leaned forward to place a kiss over his heart. "I think we can offer them a little bit of grace on this one, huh?"

"My Jo bootiful," he garbled out gutturally, cuddling me closer for a minute longer before dipping to slowly set me on my feet.

Honestly, there were more than a few beastly peepers stuck on my hooded cape as I slid the pelt wrapped around me off my shoulders, exposing it. The rest of my clothes were soggy and stuffed inside Tor's pack. It probably smelled odd to them too if the noses lifting for a short sniff were anything to go by.

"It's dead, the Krampus, if you were all wondering," I muttered uneasily. My hands swung nervously at my sides.

Dorothy shoved off Mosoau's staying hand and came at me at a run. "I can't believe you're here," she choked out as she enveloped me in a hug. Her voice caught, and naturally my eyes started to tear up.

"Believe me, me neither." Hugging her back, I gave her a little squeeze that made her laugh.

Pulling back, she laughed as we sniffled at the same time and began to wipe our eyes. "I'm so damn glad to see you, hun," she got out between poorly muffled sniffles.

"You have no idea how happy I am to be back." Taking Jeh-kal's hand in mine, I brought it around me to settle his arm over the top of my shoulders. The action seemed to mollify him. He was no longer snarling at everyone to back the fuck off.

"Be nice," I whispered through the side of my mouth as I patted his hand, "this is family."

Jeh-kal's unhappy rumble sputtered out at my words.

Celuk's deep voice rumbled off to my right. Boxing me in as he came up on us, he moved in and stood close to us without pushing Jeh-kal out. My hand slid over to his and my fingers wiggled, brushing his fur. Celuk automatically took my hand in his, lifted it to his face, and brushed the backs of my knuckles along the side of it, then placed a soft kiss to the flat of my hand.

"Tired. Need see Rek," Celuk rumbled out brusquely.

Dorothy glanced from Jeh-kal and Celuk, waiting for them to slowly release me to wrap an arm around me, announced that I needed a minute, and led me up the steps and into the house.

"Let's get you washed up, fed, and looked at. How are you feeling? Celuk said you got a bit of the tummy flops. I've got just the thing for that. Bread? Crackers? Celuk popped in about an hour before you and updated us on your condition. I've been preparing things the second I heard. Cramping? Often? Spotting still going on? From the sounds of it, you might've overdone it some. Keep you off your feet for a while, keep an eye on things, you know?"

"Doro, I don't know if I've ever told you this," pausing as she led me down the hall and my mates dogged our steps, I tackled her in a bear hug, "but I fucking love you, woman."

Dorothy lost it then. A soft sob left her as her breathing hitched. "So damn glad to see you… So damn glad. And, Jo? I fucking love you, too."