Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)-Chapter 389 - Warm Lights In The Cold Dark

"Let me go first. Here."

Sliding carefully from my back and opening the pouch on her stomach, Kyrie hands me the wiggling and whining clump of dark fur. My teeth gently grip the loose scruff of skin at the back of its neck and it calms down quickly.

I believe they call it ’dorsal immobility’. I remember hating it as a kit - and as a young adult fox. Because it was always done to keep me in line.

I’d probably hate it now, too, but luckily I’m the biggest one here. And no one is getting jaws around my neck.

"A human looking woman will be less alarming. I’ll be right back. Keep safe."

But she does get both her arms around it. Which wasn’t half bad - though I could do without her rubbing her face so hard in my fur. Because it makes me almost as worried for her safety as I was for my son.

Absolutely not whining softly as she steps away and I’m left... almost alone again, I circle and lay feet against the stone wall before arranging my son to nurse. Logic tells me that I should just... change back.

I’m sure I’ll be able to become this big again. To keep carrying them both to safety. However, I’ve been scared to do so. Scared to stop being a wolf under my own powers of shifting and admit that the spirit that used to be contracted to me left of its own accord.

> If you can call it that. Tempted by the request from its divine mother. Being filial, protective, and brave. The impressions it left behind were of trust and love and future. <

Yet, I’d rather have distrust and bickering in my heart in the present than to feel like the slab of | Guardian’s Composure | is missing its wolf shaped statue. Sitting in this spot on my own isn’t the same.

Voices echoed in reality. The murmur of conversation and the occasional laugh or cough. Until I heard her voice call out - and everything fell silent except for the sound of eager nursing.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Who’s there? Are you alone?"

A man eventually returned. Not brash, but assertive. The same as her. Who must not have went as far away as I thought. My head turns and I see that she remained in line of sight.

"My name is Kyrie Voss. I’m passing through with my family. We smelled your fire."

> Didn’t even miss a beat when she said it. <

I picture the howls of approval that my wolf would have mirrored to how she acts. And of course, the next thing I know my soul produces the large white wolf plush.

Lying the other way without facing it inside, as if I can pretend I’m not the one who made it show up... I instead gaze at the glowing orange moat. From which a whole garden of marigolds have been slowly sprouting out.

Slowly covering the icy night tundra that has been my inner world for the last hours. Growing roots, digging in. Though maybe all of this has been the truth all along and everything else was self-delusion.

> ...Ouch. His little teeth do not hurt any less in this form, when they tear away... <

Footsteps and light came from the path deeper in. Bouncing like that of a lantern and too wide to be a flashlight. A man with what might be called a fine beard eventually makes himself visible.

"Voss...? The billionaire from the city?"

"Among other things."

With his attention on the white haired CEO, he is a bit too far to notice me, yet. He even lowers his lantern and raises his open hand to shake. Extra trusting.

"Tom Harding. Former park ranger. We have a camp set up in the closest large chamber. Seventeen of us here now taking shelter from... this. You said... family? If you’re looking for a space for tonight, you’re welcome to join us."

"Thank you. However, I’m not sure we would be welcome. You’d find my partner and her son to be unusual."

"Unusual how? Where are they, anyway, still out- WHAT THE HELL?!"

An expected result of him raising and pointing the lightsource toward the entrance. There is basically nothing I can truly do at this size to appear non-threatening. So I just huff and stay prepared to shield my child from potential gunshots.

> Not that I think Kyrie would stand idly by, but... <

"She won’t harm you."

Conditional agreement, with that statement. I *would* harm him to keep him from harming others. At least the three of us.

"That tail. It’s a wolf? I thought it was a bear for a second..."

His voice shook and he was definitely two steps further back than a moment ago. Yet, he recovered surprisingly quickly to ask something extra accurate. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Is she a werewolf? I’ve never seen one, but my grandad... he told stories. About meetings at the solstice. Groups moving out in large numbers to these cave systems."

Well, I guess it stands to reason that a population as large as Vossden would have noticed a hundred Omegas or more filing to the cave region every year to test their luck. Or prove their worthiness, however they wanted to look at it.

"You’re right. We both are. But we mean no harm. Believe me, if we did we wouldn’t have announced ourselves first before coming inside."

> Is what she admitted intended to make wary friends or make enemies wary? <

Being so forthright is certainly not the sort of politicking I’m used to. I guess she always has been more truthful than most that I had met in my own world.

But that’s not exactly the highest bar to jump over in a kingdom of Foxes, with representatives coming to deal with our kind.

"Come on, then. The others should meet you."

"She’s nursing at the moment. Do you mind if-"

I bark sharply when what she says sunk in. Was there really a reason to let them all know?! I may be vain and may not mind being stared at, usually. Biological matters may be what they are.

> That is still no reason to potentially get a cave full of people interested in watching me clean my son! <

"...We’re going to finish with that, maybe twenty minutes, and then we’ll come inside. Okay?"

"O-okay. I’ll... I’ll go tell them what is going on and then wait in the passage."

Hm. Well at least the bark will make his story more believable. I heard a few frightened screeches deeper inside.

Oops.