Bearfoot and Pregnant(9)

Talen squeezed his jaw. The desire to argue over whatever anyone was saying stuck in the back of his throat. Instead, he nodded and gulped down his wine. “Go ahead.”

“You have to understand that your clan has gone through significant changes in the past few years,” Alyx started. “Your parents died. You took over. The business with the cabins has grown immensely, which, congratulations are in serious order,” he remarked. “You’ve done something no one else has thought to and kept our natural resources from being exploited.”

“Thanks.” Talen wasn’t used to praise. He had a job he liked within his clan and he did it. Whether it was carving furniture or fixing problems between his people, he knew he was a born leader. “I still don’t understand what the problem is within the clan that nobody is telling me.”

Alyx frowned. “Have you spoken to your females? Some of them are showing signs of being frustrated over their inability to mate the males they want.”

Talen shook his head. “I haven’t had a single one approach me about mating anyone.” He leaned back in his seat, pressing his back into the cushion. “You already know how mating works so I won’t give you the run down. Whoever they feel is the one, nobody can interfere with that.”

“Right.”

“That’s why we found this concerning when we got multiple reports of you stopping matings in your clan.”

“What?” He frowned. “I have no idea where that’s coming from. Nobody, young or old has requested my interference with mating. That’s not how we operate.”

“I’ll take it with a grain of salt that someone is just looking for trouble then,” Alyx said and glanced at Karel. “Clearly there is something we don’t know and I’m sure Talen will now make sure he finds out what is truly happening.”

Talen drank more wine. “I’ve been busy trying to control my younger brother so I may have missed someone needing my help.”

“What’s wrong with Paxten?” Karel stood and refilled his wine, doing the same for Talen and Alyx.

“He’s always been spoiled and feels I’m getting into his business. He doesn’t want to make an attempt to learn to be the leader our clan needs. When it comes to our business, he has made no real strides in helping expand our unique cabins.”

“I understand Vander Kasval wants you to create some hunting lodges for his people.” Alyx named their Galaxa neighbors. “Vander is a good man. The problems with the neighbors to their west side means they train and hunt a lot more than we do.”

“They’re not shifters,” Karel supplied with a laugh. “My mate calls them real aliens.”

“Aliens?” Talen frowned. “I don’t understand what that means. Don’t earthlings consider aliens to be little green men? Galaxa warriors are not little or green.”

Karel nodded. “Exactly. She doesn’t know how there’s a planet with giant warriors. According to her, our people are the shifter aliens and Galaxans are alien warriors.”

“Kasval has offered something interesting, and I’m definitely considering it.” Talen knew that opening his business into taking on the neighboring clients would spur his clan’s stability and allow them to see how prosperous things were.

“He is going to be here later at some point. You might want to talk with him in person,” Alyx suggested.

A soft knock sounded at the door and a palace worker entered, holding the baby boys.

“Ah, there they are,” Alyx said with pride as he stood. “Come meet the boys, Aahron and Aden.”

Talen stood and took one of the babies offered by the woman while Alyx took the other. He glanced at the baby’s caramel skin and big blue eyes. The baby sucked on a plastic piece of something and made sighing noises. Talen fell in love. A quick glance and he realized both boys looked exactly the same.

“You’re holding Aden,” Karel supplied, as if realizing Tal was wondering which baby he had.

“I notice their different scents, but physically, how can you tell?” he asked.

“Karel has found a distinctive birth mark on the tip of Aden’s right earlobe. One Aahron doesn’t have and so it makes it easier for those who are not shifter to tell them apart.”

Of course. Since each child had his own scent, it was pretty easy for shifters to differentiate one from the other. Humans probably didn’t have that.





SEVEN



Cassie held baby Avery in her arms and didn’t want to let her go. Ever. She wondered if she could take her back to Earth without getting arrested. Probably not a good idea.