The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 227: Premature Labor

Why was this happening now? Isn’t it too soon?

I felt a surge and I held my breath hard.

Noah immediately rushed to my side and with Fenric, lifted me.

They placed me on the fur blanket and Fenric asked,

"Are the cubs coming out now?"

Noah sighed deeply.

It was too soon, his expression said.

It looked like the cabin fever I had developed from all my listless and restless behavior was inducing the delivery earlier than expected.

This was not good.

"Fenric, pile every blanket we have and place them next to her." He instructed as he took off his skirt, his jaw set in a line of terrifying resolve.

"Where are you going?" Fenric asked, immediately knowing he was about to bolt, and not just that, he was going to transform into his beast form.

"I’m the only one who knows the path ahead, and I happen to know a shortcut. If I don’t get a midwife here to help, we’re going to lose them..." His eyes narrowed. "All of them."

This news shocked Fenric to his bones and even me.

I was breaking out in cold sweat and my breathing was jagged.

"Watch the fire. Do not let her get cold. And then fill up on a lot of snow, so we can have enough water." He said and then came to kneel next to me. He held my hand, kissed it, and smiled. "I know you’re strong, just hang in there. Lie on your back and whatever you do, do not ’push’."

I understood what he meant and why he said that, but even if I do understand, I don’t think there was anything I could do if the cubs pressed on me harder to let them out.

I groaned.

"Just..." I breathed harshly. "Come back soon. Please."

I don’t think I can do this on my own. I... I’m scared.

I don’t want him to go, I don’t want to be alone... I don’t want to burden Fenric and I don’t want to think of what would happen if things weren’t wrong.

I was scared of all of it...

Why was it this difficult?

Couldn’t they have at least made the beastworld child bearing a lot safer and easier than that if normal humans?

How was this any different from the medical videos one watches online about a woman’s delivery process?

"I will come back as soon as I can," Noah said and then let go of my hand, but Fenric caught it.

"I’m sorry I can’t do more," Fenric said. "But I will stay by your side every step of the way."

He vanished into the white wall of the blizzard, leaving us in a silence that felt heavier than the mountain above us.

He was gone for long, and I’m not sure how long it’s been, but I found myself grunting in pain, passing out in sleep, and then waking up to more contracting pain.

It was hell.

The next few moments were a feverish blur. I drifted in and out of a haze of pain, clutching Fenric’s hand. He stayed by my side, his ruby eyes darting toward the entrance every time the wind howled. I felt like I was burning up and freezing all at once.

Finally, the hide blankets were thrown open. Noah stumbled in, caked in frost and gasping for air, but he wasn’t alone.

An older, stout woman with rabbit-like ears rushed to my side, her hands smelling of dried herbs and snow. Behind her, a girl with fox ears and a male with wolf ears stepped in. The three were of different species, but I could barely think past what I saw as my consciousness began to drift again, and my eyes were blurry from the sweat in my eyes.

"N-noah," I called, my voice weak and my breathing weak.

Seeing this, the stout woman hurried to my side. She was the midwife and didn’t waste time with pleasantries.

She knelt between my legs, her movements brisk and clinical. "I’ll need all the males to stand aside." She said, but Fenric growled defensively, not wanting to leave my side, especially not in the care of a stranger.

Even if they were the midwife.

Noah placed a hand on his shoulder and said,

"Get up! We can’t stay here."

"No, I have to be next to her." He insisted and Noah saw that no amount of words he said would help convince him.

"Alright, then I’ll stay too."

He hadn’t asked Fenric to leave just for the sake of privacy, but he knew this process, albeit only experienced it once, and gave up on the rest, but having to watch the process was torture.

Fenric wouldn’t leave just because he was scared of watching the process and so Noah crossed his heart and decided to stay as well.

Only the guard went out to make sure there were no attacks in such a vulnerable time.

"Quiet now, girl. Let’s see what we’re working with." The rabbit woman said.

I let out a ragged cry as she checked me, her finger searching for the position of the babies. She pulled back, her brow furrowed with a grim focus.

"The first one’s head is low, but you’re only at the start of your final week," she said, her voice like sandpaper. "This is a week too early, Ms. They’re trying to come out before their time. We have to work fast, or they’ll be too weak to handle the cold."

The news hit me like a physical blow. My heart hammered against my ribs as the fever made the cave walls spin.

Even if the inside was so warm, the cold had a way of seeping into the most vulnerable and right now, my cubs were the most vulnerable... And so was I.

"Noah," I rasped, reaching out blindly.

He caught my hand, his knuckles bruised and red from the race he had gone to and fro.

"I’m here, wife." He said. "And you don’t have to worry. She’s the best nurse in the valley nearby."

I nodded, gulping saliva down my dry throat.

"I don’t think I can hold it in anymore," I whispered. "I want them out of me, I can’t—" the contraction hit me again, stronger than before and I began to regret my own life. "Fuck!" I cursed.

Though I told myself I would refrain from using curse words, I doubt this was the time to worry about that.

Not when three lives... No four lives were on the line.