NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 20.2 The Beast Unleashed
Rick was in a bit of a daze.
The past month had flown by in a blur. Even amidst all the training and managing their extremely busy household, he had remained comfortably numb ever since he had proposed to his fiancé.
Fiancé.
That word still caused the corners of his lips to quirk upward into a goofy grin every time it flashed within his thoughts. He had just barely turned nineteen years old and he was already engaged, owned a home, and had a child on the way. He was living the dream that many in his generation thought was impossible. Sure, he had done things slightly out of the preferred order, but the point remained.
The more rational part of his brain told him that this was supposed to feel overwhelming and that something should be going wrong any second. The other, far louder voice in his head told him to relax and simply enjoy the moment.
For what felt like the first time in his life, he was happy.
This wasn’t the type of shallow, fleeting sort of joy that came from those rare moments where Rick felt like he belonged in his old world. No, this was the bone deep sigh of utter contentment mostly found in fairy tales. The ones that end with ‘And they lived happily ever after’.
He let out a snort. Soon reality would come crashing back down and life will no longer be quite so rose tinted. But even then, Rick had a feeling that his darkest days were mostly behind him. Even parenthood didn’t seem quite so daunting as returning to his old life.
“Awww… Why’d ya stop?” Tyr whined from atop his lap.
Rick snapped out of his musings and resumed raking his fingers through the elf’s auburn mane. She let out a deep purr of satisfaction and nuzzled deeper into her favorite resting spot. The way she laid her head atop him, the rest of her massive body draped all over their soft couch, made her seem more like a great cat than a noble elf warrior. All she was really missing was a tail to sway lazily back and forth from behind her wide rump and the image would be complete.
None of them knew what to expect with the pregnancy, not even Tyr herself. Based off of the limited knowledge Rick had from the various women in his family and Tyr’s recollection of how her aunt Kar’a acted when she had Tyr’s cousin in her belly, the general assumption was close to ‘The most bloodthirsty and unpredictable creature imaginable’.
It wasn’t a huge stretch of the imagination either. The story went that Tyr’s aunt had launched a campaign of terror throughout the elven settlement, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. The only thing that remotely calmed the rampaging elf were liberal expeditions out into the forest to hunt the most terrifying predators she could find. The whole elven forest collectively rejoiced when the woman finally gave birth and started to calm back down. Well… as calm as any forest elf could get anyways.
Tyr herself, by virtue of her upbringing, had proven to be more than a little bloodthirsty when it came to hunting monsters. Plus, she was easily the most unpredictable member of the party. Of that there was no doubt in anyone’s minds. But rather than those traits being amplified, Tyr did not in fact turn into a being of chaos and terror.
No, as the days wore on and her belly swelled further out with new life, the amazonian elf had slowly transformed into what Rick could only describe as… a cuddleslut.
At nearly every hour of the day, Tyr would be draped like an oversized cloak over someone and nuzzle her face against them with the intensity of a needy kitten. Rick and Sade were her favorite people to snuggle up against, but Lilie was a close second. Daniela and Rayna were tied for third, with the rest of the bandits mostly safe from her cuddly wrath. That is… with the exception of Kitten.
The poor girl had unfortunately found herself the prime target for the wild elf’s more primal instincts. While the incidents were rare, Rick had occasionally spied the pregnant woman stalking the young shaytoni as she ran about the mansion, completely unaware she was being hunted. Within the hour, he would hear a loud yelp and he would find the girl trapped in Tyr’s strong embrace while the large woman would stroke her hair and coo softly.
All attempts to avoid the wild mother-to-be only seemed to stoke Tyr’s competitive instincts even further. Rick felt the girl’s pain deeply, as someone who had previously been on the receiving end of the elf’s antics. He asked her and Rayna if he should try to curb this behavior but both waved him off. Kitten herself was more annoyed at how easily she kept being caught and vowed to finally become uncatchable. The former bandit leader merely laughed and considered the whole thing a great form of training, seeing how determined Kitten was at improving her skills.
Rick could only shrug in response. As long as they were fine with it and nobody got hurt.
He heard a soft knock at the door. Looking up he saw Daniela walk into the room.
“Hola.” She waved in greeting.
“How’s it going?” He asked back.
“I just wanted to let you know that I’ve finished installing the last few wards around the house.” She declared proudly. “Even I would have a hard time breaking into the place now!”
They both chuckled and she plopped her petite rear on the sofa next to where he sat. She had changed quite noticeably since their return from the mines. After Sade fulfilled her promise to the blond woman, she had invested her coital energy in a way Rick would have never suspected.
Her height had dropped from a hundred and forty-two centimeters to one hundred thirty-seven. That made the dwarf almost exactly four and a half feet tall, which was just under the average for women of her tribe. She had also spent some energy to narrow her shoulders and waist, slightly nullifying the traditional dwarven stockiness. Her arms and legs had also lost some of their bulk. They were all worried that reducing the size of her muscles would cause her strength score to decrease. Thankfully, the magic of intimancy merely made them more dense rather than losing any actual mass, so her score remained unaffected. If it wasn’t for the unusually large chest and extremely toned body, Daniela would appear more like a human child than a fully grown dwarven woman.
She sighed contentedly at a job well done then looked down to Rick’s lap. “I still can’t get used to her acting like this.” She said while gesturing to the blissed out Tyr. “It’s like watching a leona cuddle up to a conejo.”
Rick let out a mild snort of amusement. “I was actually thinking the exact same thing before you walked in. Well… minus comparing myself to a rabbit.” He added before going right back to scratching the lioness in question. She let out a great purr of contentment that even caused his own chest to vibrate.
Daniela snorted as well. “With the way you fight? I stand by my words.”
“Meh. Fair enough.” He conceded. It stung his pride a bit to be likened to a prey animal. But even he had to admit that the description was apt, especially when compared to the stalwart tenacity of Lilie or the utter brutality of Tyr’s preferred fighting style.
“How are things in the city?” He asked in an attempt to change the subject.
Daniela’s expression sobered immediately. “Not bad, but certainly getting worse. Sade was right, someone’s stirring la olla and focusing everyone’s anger towards mages.”
“Ya find a few of the buggers?”
Both Rick and Daniela jumped slightly at Tyr’s words. They had nearly forgotten she was in the room with them.
“N-no.” The blond woman said once she recovered enough to speak. “Whoever it is, they are hiding their tracks really well.”
Tyr huffed in annoyance. “I’ll find ‘em. Nobody threatens the safety of my family.”
Rick petted the growling woman to help calm her down. “I know you will. But for right now, let’s have you focused on protecting the little one inside you. Things aren’t so bad that we are in immediate danger from an angry mob.”
She sighed from where she lay. “I know. It’s just this whole situation feels like the beginning of these stories I used ta hear as a wee lass. About the times kingdoms suddenly decided ta wipe my people out from their forest.”
Rick froze, gears in his head turning, pieces of a puzzle coming together. “Are you saying that anger and unrest leads to discrimination, which eventually leads to outright war?”
She looked up at him curiously. “Aye. This happen on yer old world?”
“More than I would like to admit.” He confirmed. “Although, I’m not sure why someone would go to all the effort to label mages as an enemy. It’s not like they are a privileged class or are exclusive to only a few tribes.”
“I’ll talk to some of my contacts at the docs. Hopefully they can help us find whoever is stoking the flames before things reach a tipping point.” Daniela said with a sigh.
“Thank you Daniela. I’m not sure what we can do with the information, but knowledge is far better than ignorance.” Rick said and tapped Tyr gently on the head. “Can I get up now? My legs are falling asleep.”
He made to move but the warrior’s bulky arms wrapped around his waist in a fierce hug. Tyr looked up to him with misty eyes and let out a keening whine. The look was so pitiful that Rick almost burst into laughter.
“No, down girl!” He chuckled good naturedly. “I need to go down to the kitchen and prepare dinner before the others get back.”
She whined again but reluctantly released him from her iron grip. He quickly slipped out and dashed towards the door, just in case she suddenly changed her mind. Looking behind him, he saw Tyr moping on the couch. Her eyes met his for a brief moment before they zeroed in on the other person in the room, and a grin slowly bloomed across her face.
Sensing the danger, Daniela eyed the elf warily. “Now Tyr, there’s no need for you to- WHAAAAA!!!”
Faster than Rick could even perceive, Tyr lept from her prone position on the couch and flew at the dwarf, sending both women and the chair beneath them tumbling over backwards and out of sight. Sensing his moment to leave, Rick dashed out the door towards the kitchens.
As he swiftly walked away, he could still hear Daniela’s cries echo down the hall. “Someone, anyone, help! Cuddle alert, cuddle alert!”
