Odix gave Rek a look that saidtake that, she loves poof and floof.
I had to bite my lip to keep myself from laughing out loud at this ridiculousness.
Feeling eyes on me, I glanced up, staring into Kehlor’s surprised face.
With a half shrug, I let go of my lip, the corners of my mouth tugging up.
But for that small twitch of his lips hinting at shared amusement at Rek’s expense, his expression gave nothing away.
“Whoa, Kehlly-Ro, what’s up with the bundle you’re smugglin’? Is that a lady friend, I see? Pshaw, and he insisted he didn’t want a mate! Doth some fuzzy protesteth too much? Methinks so,” the woman that made her way through the crowd of males tittered, her words trailing off into anI told you sosing-song.
It wasn’t the woman that really caught my notice, not at first— I mean I did notice her, she was kinda hard to miss— there was just a whole lot going on and I was in fight mode— as I turned my head to look, or the other women that quickly joined her like some kind of close knit posse, it was the babies they carried. Sweet little bundles of furred fluff, they looked like miniatures of the beasts around us.
Offering the woman her due, there was her quirky fashion choices, a clash of color from head to toe, like a rainbow barfed on her, decked out in jewels fit for royalty, the strange, glowing markings on her skin and the massive scar on her face, it was the words that popped out of her mouth, sassy, brassy, my kind of smart-assy, that demanded attention above all else.
My gaze darted from Kehlor to the females curiously.
“They’re really cute, aren’t they?” a small woman wearing a beanie a bit too big for her with short blonde hair peeking squeaked out. Her voice reminded me of a cartoon mouse.
My brow puckered into a frown.
“This lot is all mine,” the main speaking woman with darker hair and the scar piped up with a proud grin. I had trouble figuring out as she gestured with her bright pink painted nails if she meant the men, the babies, or all of the above.
Not Kehlor from the way he stiffened. This knowledge eased my mind. Were I of sound mind maybe that would bother me a bit but not in this moment— if anything I found it comforting, calming. No one was trying to lay claim to him. It satisfied that growly part of me that wasn’t fond of the idea of sharing something I felt was mine. He was my lifeline in all of this crazy.
I wasn’t the kinda person that you ate their food without checking with them first unless you wanted a fight. My folks being the same way, I’d just assumed it a family quirk. Maybe it was a species thing?
“I hers. She mine, my Jojoknee,” Rek cut in quickly, then pulled her close to nuzzle her, then the baby in her arms. “Babies,” he pointed out three little ones, “these mine too.” Taking the baby from the blonde woman that had started to fuss and growl adorably, he grinned as he held up a robust looking little fuzzball. “Him loud, big,” he stated proudly.
Oh, they were totally cute.
My gaze darted from the babies to their parents. If a fuzzball and a human made another fuzzball, then how did my dad come to be so… hair-less, and what about me? I’ve seen plenty of baby pictures of myself and I certainly didn’t look like that. I’d looked like a plain old human baby with dark hair.
“Want see?” the grey-blue eyed, serious male offered.
Without waiting for an answer, he took the baby the dark haired woman standing behind Jo was carrying, cuddling it close to him to walk over to us.
My gaze darted to Kehlor’s for confirmation. When he grunted in what I took as the affirmative, I leaned a little away from him to have a peek at the little one.
“Baby girl,” the grey-blue eyed male told me.
“Kehlor female, her name Poo-dense,” Rek offered.
With a long look over the grey-blue eyed male’s shoulder at Rek, I brought my gaze back to the baby. She was adorable, fuzzy little cherub cheeks, a button nose. The rest of her was hard to see wrapped up as it was, but she was precious.
“It Pah-ru,” Gofur corrected.
“You not say it right neither,” Rek grumbled.
“Not call her Poo,” Gofur argued.
“Prudence,” I mumbled under my breath, softly so as not to disturb the little one.
“Purr-roo,” Kehlor muttered under his breath, giving my name a go. I rather liked the way he mangled it. It was close to the way Birch used to.
With a shrug, I muttered, “Purr-roo is better than the alternative. I’ll roll with Purr-roo.”
“Purr-roo… different? Not human?” the grey-blue eye male asked. It was then I realized as he’d moved in closer, he’d been sniffing at me, discreetly enough I hadn’t picked up on it. Sneaky, this one.
