Lane went to sit with Morgulon for a while after that, staring at the warm heap of werewolf babies. Greg’s two were laying side by side right now. Lane wondered when she should say something. Soon. Maybe in the morning, once the healers got here?

Provided Nathan survived that long. If he were awake, she’d show him his nieces right now, so he could – would get to see them. But it was probably a good thing that the doctors kept him under.

Lane rubbed her face. Outside in the courtyard, she could hear that a few soldiers were drinking to the fact that they were still alive, but more seemed to be spread around the many infirmaries, sitting with their comrades.

At some point, Lane fell asleep, and a few hours later – way too soon – she was woken when someone stepped into Morgulon’s little nursery with a torch, started to scream, and ran out again.

“What is wrong with you?” someone else hissed, and the screaming stopped abruptly.

“Werewolf, werewolf, werewolf,” the first voice shrieked.

Women’s voices, Lane noticed groggily.

“Seriously? Yes, our bodyguard on the way here was a werewolf!”

“Baby werewolves!”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

Lane had sat up by the time two people walked back in, two older women in the white garb that the nuns of the salvation effort and hospitals wore.

“What time is it?” Lane asked them, as they stared at Morgulon and her litter.

“Apologies, miss,” one of the two said. “It must be about four in the morning. We just got here, to help the wounded. My sister here must have taken the wrong door.”

“It’s all right.” Lane stifled a yawn. “I’ll come with you, it’s just the next door.”

Lane couldn’t help but smile with relief when she entered the room where Nathan lay and spotted at least three healers, already busy with the wounded. David was fighting off another nun, trying to convince her that he was fine and failing. He did look bad. Lane hadn’t realized how much of the blood that he had been covered in was actually his own.

The nun started cutting off his jacket without heeding his protests. It was ruined anyway. Something had burned away a large swath in the back. The injury underneath stretched all the way up to David’s neck.

“You know, there’s no point in playing the hero,” Andrew jabbed. “The men all worship the ground you walk on anyway.”

Andrew’s face and voice were still way too tense for Lane’s liking.

“How is Nathan?” she asked.

Andrew grimaced. “Alive,” he said. “And he’s going to remain alive, the healer is fairly certain. Or rather – the Rot isn’t going to kill him.”

“But?” Lane asked, because she could hear it in Andrew’s voice that there was still some issue.

Andrew pulled the covers away, revealing one of Nathan’s feet. It took Lane a second to process that the other one was missing.

“We’ll have to see what Nathan does to himself, once he wakes,” Andrew said softly. “We hadn’t realized that something had gotten through his boots,” he added. “The Rot had already eaten through most of his foot, there was nothing for the healer to do but take it off.”

“You think Nathan won’t take it well.”

Andrew gave her a wry look. “Nathan loves to run,” he just said.

Lane sat down next to Nathan’s bed. “Did you guys sleep at all?” she asked.

“Some,” Andrew said. “Until the first healers showed up, about an hour ago.”

“Greg’s not around?”

“He should be around somewhere,” Andrew yawned. “Went with this Rust fellow, to help bring in some nuns from the hospital at Breachpoint, but since those are here now, I guess he’s back, too.”

Greg did indeed show up a little later. He too took one look at Nathan’s amputated foot and groaned.

“I should have come here straight away,” he muttered, looking embarrassed. “But I needed to check on Bernadette, too.”

“It’s fine,” Andrew yawned.

“None of this is fine!”

Greg gesticulated towards Nathan, and Andrew grimaced, nodding.

Lane didn’t quite understand their worry. Nathan would live, surely that was the important thing? She knew at least one man who had lost a leg and had been riding just fine with his peg leg for years after, so Nathan would be even able to continue hunting – if he ever wanted too.

But of course, she didn’t know Nathan all that well.

Lane leaned back against the wall, right next to Greg, watching the nun bare David’s whole upper body, revealing more injuries. At least David’s flesh wasn’t rotting.

Fenn was already trotting over to look at it.

“It’s fine,” David grumbled. “Seriously. There’s a lot of people here who’re worse off.”

“David,” Andrew interrupted. “Let them have a look. No one needs another idiot to get sick just cause he doesn’t want to get checked over.”

David glared at him, but he finally stopped arguing and let Fenn wash some of the bigger scrapes.

“Why aren’t his injuries rotting?” Greg asked.

“Probably because he’s mostly fine – all over, I mean,” Andrew said. “The weaker someone is, the faster it takes hold. I got some scratches, too,” he added. “They didn’t fester, either. Yet, I mean. Fenn washed them, too, so I’ll hope it’ll be all right.”

“Has Fenn gotten any rest?” Greg asked.

“No more than you,” Andrew said. “Go get some sleep, then you can take over for him in the morning.”

Greg nodded and closed his eyes.

It was a weird night, Lane thought. She was still tired to the bone, but at the same time too wired to go back to sleep. So she just sat there, while nearly everyone else was dozing, watching the healers. At first, they were hesitant to use magic to heal anything but the most life-threatening injuries. Soon, however, they realized that they just had to be sure that one of the elder werewolves was close by. All four of the ones who had come with Greg were resting in one of the different infirmaries of the keep, so that wasn’t difficult.

Nathan opened his eyes a couple of times, and once mumbled something unintelligible, but he never really regained consciousness. Lane chewed on the inside of her cheek. She wanted to tell David about Morgulon’s young, and that Greg was the father, but she should probably wait for Greg to wake up for that.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

It didn’t feel right to wait. There hadn’t been a good time, but she still felt like she should have said something as soon as she knew.

She must have dozed off eventually. She woke up because Nathan was moving. Before she could say anything, he had pushed himself up on his elbows. He dropped back, groaning softly, and gently touching the deep wound at his left side, but then struggled to push himself into a sitting position.

“Don’t,” Lane said quietly, but when Nathan wouldn’t stop struggling, she hurried over to help him sit.

Then he folded his legs underneath himself.

Lane could tell from the way he froze when he realized that something was wrong. He just sat there, motionless.

When she was certain that he wouldn’t just keel over, Lane let go of him and shook David awake.

Nathan pushed the blanket away and was staring at the place where his foot should have been. The healers had wrapped up the stump in some clean bandages, which were already showing stains.

Lane had no idea what to say, and apparently, neither had David. They both just sat there while Nathan very slowly reached out with one hand, to touch what was left of his leg. He didn’t move for a small eternity.

“I’m sorry, Nathan,” David finally said.

There was no reaction. Eventually, Nathan blinked, looking around the room. His gaze focused on Greg. “I don’t suppose a werewolf bite will fix this, will it?” he said quietly.

“The injury was caused by the Rot,” David said. “No, I’m afraid that even a werewolf bite wouldn’t fix that.”

“The Rot didn’t get me that badly. You shouldn’t have allowed this.”

To Lane’s surprise, David got up instead of giving an answer and offered Nathan a hand. Nathan accepted it without hesitation. Lane wanted to point out that he was still injured and should be resting, but David already pulled Nathan up.

Lane shuddered when the younger brother reflexively tried to catch his balance using a limb that wasn’t there anymore. David gave him only a second to get his bearings before he started to tow him across the room over to where one of the dead bodies lay. The Rot had eaten away the soldier’s hand and part of the arm.

“That’s what your foot looked like,” David said.

He let his brother stare for a few seconds, but didn’t wait for Nathan to say anything. Instead, he just dragged him back to his sleeping place. Nathan let himself fall back gracelessly, barely catching his fall before his head hit the ground. Then he pulled the blanket over himself and turned his back on them.

David rubbed his face and shook his head. With one hand, he gently reached for the burn at his back, before settling down on the ground, laying on his front and pushing himself up on his forearms.

“Get some sleep,” he told Lane, before resting his face on his hands.

Greg woke around noon. Nathan was staring at him when he opened his eyes. His brother was sitting up, which was more than Greg had expected, even though Nathan was leaning against a bale of straw someone had dragged in. When he looked around, he realized that David, Andrew, and Lane were also staring at him.

“What?” he asked, yawning. “Stop looking at me like that. You’re making me nervous. Don’t tell me there’s any more bad news.”

“Not exactly,” Andrew said finally.

“Not exactly is not exactly reassuring.”

“I’ll be right back,” Lane said. She had walked past him before Greg managed to sit up.

“Oh, come on,” he grumbled.

Nathan’s eyes were hollow, like he was just barely interested, or maybe like he had just nowhere else to stare. David looked tense. Only Andrew looked like there might be a joke in this somewhere.

Lane returned just a moment later, carrying something in both arms. Greg frowned when she kneeled down in front of him, and he realized she was cradling a sleeping baby, wrapped loosely in a blanket. A baby with brown skin, not as dark as his own, but much darker than even the skin of people from Valoir itself. Before he could make sense of what was going on, she placed the sleeping child in his arms. The kid didn’t open her eyes when he almost dropped it, but made an unhappy little sound.

“She’s yours,” Lane said.

“My what?” Greg asked.

“Your daughter, idiot,” David grumbled. “Yours and Morgulon’s.”

“My what?” Greg repeated. “No way! You never said...”

He stared down at the little girl, who was blinking back at him from huge brown eyes. Human eyes. Like his own. There was no sign that she wasn’t fully human. No resemblance of Morgulon, either, as far as he could see. Her face still had that crumpled look of a very newly born child.

“No way,” he repeated softly.

But here was a child with brown skin and soft black down on her head.

“Wait. You said there’d be several cubs. How many...?”

How many children did he have?

“Two are yours,” Lane said. “Two girls. Congratulations, I suppose.”

The baby in his arms moved and Greg reflexively cradled her closer. He still couldn’t quite grasp the idea that he was supposed to be a father – that Morgulon was the mother. That he and Morgulon had a child. Children. And he couldn’t remember any of it.

Greg pressed his lips together. He couldn’t remember any of it. But that made him the only one, didn’t it?

“You knew this was a possibility, didn’t you?” he asked, looking from David to deLande. The two of them didn’t look shocked at all. More resigned.

David rested his forehead in one hand, his elbow based on one knee. “Morgulon could guess on which full moon it happened,” he admitted, just as Greg was about to demand an answer. “You were all working at the railway towards Mannin then.”

“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” Greg asked.

David sighed. “I didn’t think the timing she proposed was possible, because Morgulon also said that every time she transformed she risked a miscarriage, and she did this really slow transformation for Audenne in Deva. But I guess she was lucky there. It also didn’t seem like a good idea to distract you with that before you went to find other elders. And then there was a battle to fight. And here we are.”

“Are you going to tell Thoko?” Andrew asked before Greg could say anything more.

The question made Greg flinch so hard the girl in his arms cried out softly. “No!” he said quickly.

But that was stupid, wasn’t it? There was no way Thoko could miss the colour of his daughters’ skin. Greg gently stroked the soft hair on her head.

Two daughters.

Greg managed to get his feet under himself and stand up without jostling the child any further. “Morgulon is right next door with the others, right?” he asked.

He needed to see his other daughter, too.

He paused against his will when he reached the door to Morgulon’s chamber. He could see her inside, sleeping. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make his feet move across the threshold. He took a step backwards, just to see if that worked.

Apparently, she just didn’t want to be woken up. Too bad for her.

He rapped his knuckles against the wood of the doorframe. He had to knock twice before the she-wolf finally opened her eyes. As soon as she focused on him, he stumbled forward without meaning to, pulled by her will.

When Morgulon spoke to him, it wasn’t something he heard, not really. Nor did her voice just appear inside his head, like he had read in books. It wasn’t just body language, either. It felt rather as if she told the wolf-part of his mind, not him directly. Still, she got her point across.

How’d you get in here, Morgulon wanted to know when he stopped in front of her, staring at the baby in his arms.

“I didn’t,” Greg said. “Lane brought her next door to show her to me.”

Morgulon clearly didn’t like that.

“Look, I’m here to bring her back. And I’d like to see my other daughter. Did you give them names yet?”

Morgulon shook her head. She did move a little so he could see the other four babies.

Put her down, she demanded. She’ll get cold.

“She’s fine,” Greg said, but he kneeled down carefully in front of the giant she-wolf. He placed his daughter next to her sister and stroked both of their heads gently.

What was Morgulon going to do next? Where would she go with the little ones?

Your brother said we could come to your family’s home, Morgulon informed him as if she had read his mind. Maybe she had.

“David told you that?” Greg asked back. “When did you tell him that I was one of the fathers?”

Possible fathers.

“I think I’m more than just a possible father.”

You are now. Morgulon shifted around when one of the babies started crying, to lick the boy’s head. It was full moon, she continued. I didn’t know who the father was. Fathers were.

“Right,” Greg muttered. “But why did you – you chose full moon, didn’t you? If you had just wanted to have children, you could have picked any other night. Maybe ask us if we even wanted to have children.”

Morgulon looked at him as if that was a stupid question.

You’re too human, she told him after a moment. You wouldn’t understand this.

There was an edge to her thoughts, bordering on disdain.

Maybe in a few years, she added. If you ever learn to heed your other half. Some of us never do, unfortunately. It might be easier to live among them that way, Greg, but if you only ever act human, you are denying yourself half your strength. Half your knowledge.

“Right. Thanks a lot for that cryptic advice. You’re worse than David, you know that? He never tells me everything, either.”

Morgulon seemed to smile at that.

Greg shook his head. There was no point in arguing with her. “I want to see them,” he said instead. “I mean, I want to see my daughters grow up. Not just visit them once a year.”

Morgulon shrugged. Greg thought she seemed a little surprised by that demand, but didn’t outright deny it.

I suppose that’ll depend on your family, she finally said. If your brother keeps his promise, I do not see why not.

Greg frowned. Morgulon was clearly conflicted about David, both unsure if he would be true to his word and worried about his abilities as a hunter. But also hopeful that he could help them.

The way she thought of him made it sound like he was a lot more powerful than Greg thought him to be.

Ask him, Morgulon said.

“I will,” he said. “Can I name them?”

Fine. But we will rest now.