Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)-Chapter 388 - One Voice Shy Of A Pair

***[POV: Wolf Mom]***

We had been traveling for an hour and a half as I made sure to leave no straight lines and plenty of crossing, doubling-over scent paths. Using both my experience exploring out in nature, the system map to keep on overall track - and Kyrie occasionally guiding me through details of what was essentially her back yard.

> Because I was in too much of a panic to have us both take scent-blockers. And my child would not have been covered by that anyway. His milky scent might not be that strong, but why chance it? <

I spoke out in my mindscape. Talking to nobody, because Vrika... no, not now. Think about that later. When you have the emotional room.

The Alpha on my back also talked a few times more to ’no one’. Giving out orders and receiving bits of information. Apparently she’d found or already knew the details of the LTER station, because I was told a set of ’drones’ would be heading that way to scout out which wolves might be in that area.

Besides us.

Though I guess I’ve gotten us long gone from that place, through winding paths of hillside. Occasional gusts of wind and snow still whipped up the exposed ridges and forced me to shelter in the trees more than once as I turned my head.

Each time, she’d already been leaning and shielding my son from the chill with her own body. Both of them secure against my back with eyes rimmed orange and white fur spread further and further to insulate herself.

I may be the perfect temperature, but it still takes time for her own body to cycle the heat where she contacts me with the incoming cold. It’s certainly not a perfect arrangement, objectively. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

But subjectively... I could hear her occasionally murmur quiet reassurances to him. Soft voice, confident and lovely. Which I couldn’t do right now in this form.

When he started whining because it was past feeding time, as I felt the drive to stop running and deal with it stressing me out... she rest her forehead into the back of my neck. Described to me how she was letting it sooth itself by suckling on her knuckle.

And from the deepest reaches of the nineteen hells, that behavior was too much perfection.

⧖ ☾ ❄ ☽ ⧖

We were crossing a valley forty-five minutes later when I caught a scent on the freezing wind. I slowed and lifted my muzzle to get a better sniff... and Kyrie leaned up while petting my neck, angling to speak toward my twisting ear better.

"What is it, girl?"

I couldn’t respond in this form except with an offended bark. Nor could I buck her off of my back for that *stupid* playful wording that made me feel more like a pet or mount than I had this whole time.

But I could alter our course and head toward the scent. After a few minutes, Kyrie caught it too. Woodsmoke in this deep stretch of wilderness.

Werewolves, even in human form, have pretty close to the same olfactory capabilities as their alternate transformations. Judging by how much closer I had to get, I can assume that my senses in this ’blessed’ form are just a bit stronger.

> An advantage when hunting or when being hunted. <

"There shouldn’t be anyone out here. Wolves have no use for fire and people... if they’ve survived all this alone, they are very lucky."

I could hear the tone of her voice, urging us toward the source of it regardless of who they might be. However, it wasn’t just bowing to her need to check things out - some other instinct was pulling me forward.

Well, a few others...

A break so I can finally feed and stop this blasted, painful engorgement pressing down at my rear teats. Canids may have more of those than humans on average, but luckily werewolves in this world have a few key differences from normal beasts.

Animals, including humans, have separate... ’balloons’. Draining one does not have any effect on the pressure of the other. Which leads to a lopsided feeding because the child often decides on a favorite if you aren’t careful.

But we, that is, this body... has something of a common reservoir of tissue in all our forms that can feed down into both ducts. When I first felt it pulling *across* my chest, something about my fox-self thought it felt wrong, but my wolf... it had assured me things were alright.

> Vrika... <

Transforming into a beast for the first time since giving birth had been the strangest experience, even beyond the blessing changes. Feeling the milk-full tissue sliding down to settle closer to my hind legs.

Apparently those are the only two functional right now. Because of some sort of intentional ’involution’ on the other nipple ducts, due to our frequent transformations that shift organic matter.

Trying to squish that much produced milk back down... well, thankfully we don’t have to. But more importantly an even higher number of *irritated* points underneath my body as I ran would have driven me insane.

I already felt like snapping in some ways. Especially after that crummy Lunar Goddess just... just took... focus. Focus.

As we approached the base of a cliff face, I could almost smell the warm air. But it’s not all from any kind of fire. The entrance it is billowing out of was the same series of heated caves where I’d given birth.

I paused when I sighted that - and when the system map confirmed the linkage by placing a marker and naming it. The convenience of this being along my random path...

"Footprints. A lot of them. And a fairly small campfire. Probably just to keep animals away. We should make sure they are alright. If humans have been seeking shelter in the Silvertrap Caves, we need to know about it."

Nodding my massive head, I padded forward cautiously with ears pricked for any sound of danger. Humans out this far made so little sense. Unless they are perhaps hunters?

The cave opening was large enough to accommodate my enhanced form, though I had to duck my head slightly. Inside, the passage widened more and the temperature rose to a noticeable 66°F. The same geothermal warmth I might have relied on for helping my child, at one point in the plan.

> If the stupid conclave meeting hadn’t been in such close proximity. <

Silence to my snark. I whimper aloud, as much to do from the lack of my companion through these long, hard months... as the spike of worry when I hear the sound of too many people talking deep inside for my comfort.

My child is *not* going in there.