Carter was here nice and early to try and wedge his way into Silas' life again.
I kept by the gate of the fence so he couldn't even think about walking into territory that wasn't his.
I had my children to think about. If I just let him waltz in here and I lost the last of them, it would all be over.
Silas wouldn't have a reason to stay. He had already made moves to try and damage our next chance at being parents. He didn't want them, but he didn't have a choice. It had to happen.
"It's been a while" Carter grinned and greeted Silas with a handshake before pulling him into a hug that had him retreating quickly when his hand found the hunch on Silas' back.
I grinned at his confusion and glowed with pride that my plan was working.
"W-What the hell?" he peered at it when Silas stepped back.
"Long story. I'll tell you on the way" Silas muttered back with a glance to me.
Carter's eyes followed and he nodded lightly to me. Instead of leaving the nervous acknowledgement there, he retreated to his ute to pull something from the front seat.
The smell hit me before I could register what it was.
Flowers?
"I'm really sorry about what happened" his voice dropped to me when he offered them "really. It's hard to lose anyone, especially your own children."
I didn't take the bouquet snuggled in their cellophane. The card at the top was even in a plain envelope that read 'sorry for your loss.'
It punched me in the gut. Seeing the flowers and being reminded of the ones currently planted behind me as a memorial just made it all too real.
I was being punished again for how I had failed my family.
"I want the pretty flowers" Maisie poked her head around me and reached her hand upwards for them.
Carter's smile was wide when he spotted my little girl.
"Oh! This isn't the little one I saw that time!" he giggled to Silas, bending to her level "another girl?"
"Four girls and a boy" he told him "Maisie, Ethel, Astrid, and Avery."
Great. Now he knew exactly how many he could pick off if he decided to make his light gimmicks serious. He could even use their names against them too.
I checked on Ethel keeping to my right. The last time this bastard had seen her was when he had been fucking Silas on my fence. And Silas had been loving it too. He said he was doing it to get a rise out of me, but I knew he wanted every part of that betrayal to happen.
What would stop it when they left together then?
"So, which one is this?" he smiled to Maisie.
I let my lip peel back into a silent snarl at Silas and moved to block Maisie with my leg.
Carter tracked his eyes up me, cleared his throat, and straightened.
"Take your damn eyes off her" I hissed to his smile that quickly slipped.
I would have absolutely abused the fucker if I didn't have my children to think about. Maisie was particularly sensitive to anything violent and I didn't want to make her lose her trust in me before I took them hunting.
Carter glanced again, then leant over to place the flowers on the fence post.
"We should get the things in the back" Silas spoke up now to make Carter focus on his instead "its a long trip."
I moved to let Silas pass and pressed a firm hand on Carter's chest to stop him from following.
"I don't know who you think you are, but you are nothing to Silas or our children" I snarled at him, keeping my voice quiet "got it? You keep their names out of your fucking mouth, you keep your disgusting eyes off them, and you sure as hell keep your hands away from all of them. If I so much as smell you on him..." I jerked Carter towards me and leant close to his ear "...i'll slit your throat and tear out your heart with my bare, fucking hands."
I tightened the grip on his shirt and felt his heart hammer in response right below my fist. He grew breathless and swallowed, nodding.
"Sweetie, go play with the pretty flowers" I told Maisie without looking to her, stretching out one of my arms to snatch up the bouquet, pull out the card, and hold them down for her.
Maisie squealed in delight, catching Carter's eye again, before running off.
"I don't need your sympathies" I shoved the card to his chest I released "and I sure as hell don't need you here."
"Yeah!" Avery flared up "you stay away from our dad, you motherfucker!"
I smirked, keeping my eyes on Carter.
Good boy. He was understanding already.
"Avery!" Silas scolded while struggling with parts of disassembled bed "language!"
I glared to Carter, snapping my fingers and gesturing to the fence line.
"Try it" I pointed to him before backing up to heave the slabs of wood out of Silas' arms and into my own.
I had all eyes on me now. I could see Avery watching me in awe when I easily carried the wood to the fence, roughly pushed past Carter, and slid it into the back of his ute.
I puffed myself out at how easy the task was that Silas struggled with. If anything, he should be admiring my strength right now.
But he wasn't. Silas leant against the house outside the fence where Carter was, rolling his eyes at me.
"Just ignore him" Silas muttered to Carter who was already out of my way when I powered back towards the house and into the bedroom where the beds were piled against the wall.
It was so empty now. Only two bunks left out of a room that had been so crowded it was hard to move in to wish every child goodnight.
This didn't feel right. It was too quiet. There was too much missing here.
"Dad?" Avery's voice meekly piped up.
"Yeah?" I snapped myself from my turmoil to put all of my arms to use gathering the wood.
"Dad didn't like me swearing" he glanced up at me, playing with his fingers "but you swear all the time. I thought I was doing a good job being tough like you."
I smiled to him and leant over, careful not to hit Avery with the bundled bed poking out at all angles.
"I thought you did a great job standing up to him" I whispered to see Avery's gaped smile spread "he won't even come inside because of you. You are keeping everyone safe, just like your Dad."
"Really?" he breathed excitedly.
I chuckled and gestured for him to come closer.
"Just don't go swearing in front of your other Dad" I smiled, my voice barely above a whisper "he doesn't like it when kids use adult words."
Avery's brow furrowed as he thought.
"But...you do?"
I should have seen that backfire on me.
I let out a noise as I expressed my conflict.
"In the right circumstances" I decided, turning to the pile still against the walls to distract him "want to help me out?"
Avery wouldn't say no to that. He was always so eager to please me.
He rushed over and flipped forward his own arms to try and bulk them like mine.
He managed to get two boards that all four arms struggled with when he stumbled his way over to me in determination.
"You good?" I chuckled at his little body swamped by his load.
He nodded, staggering past me.
I followed, letting Avery lead triumphantly.
"Do you...? " Silas began in concern.
"I'm good, Dad!" he blew out his words on each breath "I've got this!"
He dropped one side so he could throw the other into the ute. I watched him proudly when he slid up the other and dusted off his hands like he hadn't been struggling the whole time.
Throwing my load in easily, Avery was already eagerly rushing off to grab more.
Ethel was with Maisie by the flowers to help her try to plant the ones she hadn't mangled from the bouquet.
Maisie chomped on a large daffodil while helping her sister try to stand up the flowers for her.
Ethel shrugged to me when I passed, seeing Avery paused by the pile in the bedroom.
"Do you think Knox will be upset we threw his bed away?" he mumbled, looking up to me with a grimace "Cora kept things in her mattress too. She'd be sad if we threw those out."
"I... I'm sure Dad got those out already" I tried to smile back while eyeing them leant up against the wall.
How had he done all this by himself?
"You said Knox would come back. He'll remember if his things are missing."
I sighed, bending to his level and placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Knox won't physically be back, only his spirit, remember? The new Knox won't even remember what the old Knox had or did or said. It'll be a whole new baby with his soul inside."
Avery's face hardened at me and he folded his arms.
"I don't want it then" he huffed back "I want Knox and Sadie and Remi and even Parsley to be back. I want them all back."
His voice cracked then whimpered.
Pulling him against me, I let my knees sink into the floor while I held my sobbing son against me.
"I want them back, Daddy" he whined.
"I want them back too" I choked out, fighting the tears while resting my head on top of his "we just have to keep them alive inside us, ok? All we can do is remember them."
"Uncle Reid deserved to die."
"Hey" I growled and pulled Avery from me to scowl at his sobbing face "I know it was a terrible thing that he did, but Uncle Reid was just defending what was his. It doesn't make it OK by any means, but he didn't deserve to die; it's just what happened. If someone came near this house with you children here, you better believe I would do the same thing he did to protect you kids."
"E-even if it's someone you know?"
"Even if it's someone I know" I nodded back "I love you with all of my heart, Avery; your sisters and father too. I'd do anything to keep all of you safe. One day, when you have children of your own, you'll understand the lengths you'd go to to protect them."
He sobbed, letting me pull him in again.
"I love you" I stroked his head to try and calm his shuddering body against mine "always."
"I-I love you too, Dad" he muffled against me "I-I'm s-sorry."
I saw movement from the corner of my eye and turned towards it to see Ethel and Astrid standing there.
"Did you want help?" Astrid offered, tears in her eyes too "Dad says he wants to get going."
What was the rush? Was he struggling with the sight of the beds dismantled and dumped as much as the rest of us?
Moving them out of sight wouldn't fix that. It would only shift the pain.
"Are you ok? Want to keep helping me?" I whispered to Avery clinging to me.
"I-I'm good" he breathed deeply and let it go "I c-can do it."
He let me release him so he could dry his eyes on his shirt and immediately head for the boards he struggled more with.
"Here" I smiled at his determination to keep up his strong facade, lifting the board up to snuggle under his gripping arms.
"I'll get the big one" Ethel offered.
"I'll take the long one" Astrid piped up.
Watching my children leave with their pieces, I found that Maisie was nowhere in sight.
"She's with Dad" Astrid spoke up when she saw me looking around the room in case she had slipped in "and the man."
I heard the sourness on her voice and hardened at how easily Maisie had been tempted to danger.
I always had to keep an eye on her. She was a wanderer and had no sense of preservation. A free-spirit Silas called it.
Heaving up as much as i could, I let my children lead the way to the ute so I could loom behind them, fixing my eyes on Carter as I approached the fence line.
Maisie was with Silas, clinging to his pants while he talked with Carter. Her fingers gripped onto his finger he offered her, feeling the texture with glee.
The smile Carter had disappeared as soon as our eyes met. He couldn't tear himself from Maisie without startling her, so he remained trapped in her exploring grip.
Avery looked to me before glaring at Carter on his way back into the house.
Ethel was already waiting by the fence for me, her eyes darting between both her father's and Carter.
"Maisie" Astrid tapped her hand holding onto Silas "come on. Let's go get ready to go out."
I saw Maisie smile and instantly let go of Carter so Astrid could lead her back where it was safe.
Now it was just him I had to worry about.
Silas sighed at me when I stood beside them to cut their conversation short.
"Everything is in" I told him when he turned to me "the kids are ready to learn how to kill something."
I loved the look on Carter's face on my emphasis. I grinned, drinking in his fear.
What an absolute pushover. Silas wouldn't see anything in him now that I had him shaking any time he even looked at me.
"Don't be a dick" Silas grumbled back and shot me a glare in warning before kissing me quickly "I'll be back soon."
Carter saw he wasn't needed here and left us to head to his ute. I watched him secure the back then shuffle for the driver's side.
I rested my hands around Silas who was uncomfortable with my touch.
"Since when did you teach our kids to hate everyone?" Silas frowned to me.
I smirked to Carter's face in the rear view mirror, then softened down at Silas.
"Not everyone, just him. They need to learn to defend what is theirs. I'm teaching them to hunt, just like you wanted."
"What is t...." he repeated and sighed in defeat "...right. I didn't mean you had to harass him. Carter is a good guy. He's only here to help."
"Help himself, more like" I grumbled and pulled Silas closer "I don't want you getting any ideas. You need to be careful."
"Because I have a massive hunchback of damn eggs under my skin?" he huffed back, pushing me away.
I could feel my blood boiling at his defensive stance with me. He didn't act this way with Carter, that was for sure. He let him do and say whatever he wanted. He was casual around him; the way he had been when we had first met.
I grabbed Silas' throat to gently tilt his head up to look at me with those narrowed, fiery eyes.
"So much as touch him and I'll feel it. I'll come over there to tear your little fuck buddy apart so slowly he'll feel every bone breaking as he dies" I warned Silas "I will protect you and I will keep him away from our babies, you have my word. I want to see them unharmed when you come back."
"Or what?" Silas spat back to me "you'll kill me too? String me up like one of your catches and use me as some disgusting hollowed-out nest?"
Fuck, he was hot when he was fired up. I heard the hate in his voice but my body drank it up and wanted to be drowned in more. Having someone much smaller and weaker than me fight back was such a turn-on, especially if I could have him begging me to punish him again like before.
I wanted to teach him he couldn't speak to me that way. Fuck him until he couldn't walk or even think about anything else than me.
Where had those moments gone? If I didn't have the kids to think about, I would have taken Silas right now. Carter could watch helplessly while I reminded Silas who was his mate. Maybe I could even teach Carter where his place was? He had been Reid's plaything once too.
Fighting for Silas was half the fun. Reid always bowed underneath me, but Carter wasn't one to back down. I hated how sure of himself he was and how certain he was that Silas would go crawling back to him when I wasn't around.
"I'll do what I have to to make sure our children are safe" I warned him.
"You're disgusting" Silas slapped my hand from his throat "I don't want to see you right now."
He stormed to the car and I followed, seeing our children were watching from inside the fence.
I grabbed Silas' hand when he reached for the car handle and turned him back towards me.
"Don't do anything to them" I softened my voice but kept my stare hard "we've only got so many chances."
"I didn't want them to begin with" he whimpered to me as I released him so he could wipe his eyes "you forced this on me, I had no say in it."
I stepped back so Silas could climb up into the seat and lean forwards so he didn't crush his back.
"Stay safe" I whispered up to his face refusing to look at me.
"Let's go" Silas turned to Carter, winding up his window to block me out.
The ute shuddered and peeled along the path through the trees. I saw the brake lights illuminate around the trunks as he carefully navigated the rocking car on the makeshift road.
Anger radiated through me watching Carter creeping further away with Silas. Now that his intentions were clear, I held no hope that my babies would return alive by the time Silas came back.
He'd let Carter fuck him as some sort of twisted revenge, destroy our babies in spite, and relish in how much it killed me that another chance had gone wasted.
I had risked my damn life giving him these chances and he was just throwing them away like it hadn't been payed for in my blood. I had sacrificed my own sight for these children he didn't even want to see be born.
I should just find another female that would co-operate and happily birth as many as was needed to keep the bloodline strong.
I was stupid for falling for such a resistant human. I'd been so lured by the temptation of an exciting fuck I had to fight for that I had been caught up in my own webs.
I wasn't going to let Silas slip away that easily. We were mated and I was his, whether he liked it or not.
"Kids" I growled to them as I started to split my Skin "let's go hunting."
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Thundering feet around me made me swell with pride that I had four dependant lives looking to me for guidance.
I felt every muscle knot in anticipation as I led my babies further from home and deeper into the woods on the trail where small kills would be.
I had to get them prepared and ready for life outside my offerings. Once they were sixteen, they had to be fully capable of searching for families of their own and catching their own kills. Silas wouldn't agree to turn them out into the wild, but he had to also remember that our children weren't the human ones he pretended they were. It was for their survival.
Ethel wasn't far from her Spores; a few years at the most. She needed to be ready for when they came and what it would mean for her.
I hadn't seen it happen to my sisters who were cannibalized far too young to help the rest of us survive, but from what I had seen in my mother during the seasons, it would cloud her brain with only thoughts of pumping out as many children as possible.
It was particularly helpful to keep us fed in harder times. Things were different now; more prosperous. Ethel wouldn't need to sacrifice anyone just to make sure she was fed.
"Keep close" I warned my children fanned out around me "and stay quiet."
I did a quick head count, thankful Maisie hadn't wandered off yet, and powered on.
God help anything who dared to fuck with my babies.
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I kept my eyes peeled for any disturbances as I led onwards through familiar territory.
I recognized the pathway snaking through the forestry, and where it would eventually clear to the left to where the boardwalk ended.
I saw some trees still bared the charcoal up their trucks from where the fire had ripped through so long ago. Most were renewed with fresh bark and foliage growing and spreading further than before.
I stopped at a cluster of trees touched by the sunlight from the flower field ahead.
"I met your father here" I peered up at the trees where Reid's nest had been suspended "your uncle and I kept him safe when he needed us."
"How long ago was that?" Astrid asked, coming to my side so she could squint up at the trees too "I don't see anything?"
"You won't" I laughed at her "a long time before any of you were even born. Things were different back then."
The sex had been so wild too. Carter had also been a problem when we were younger. He was a pest I couldn't chase away or beat into submission.
"I had my nest in this field" I turned to it and led the way to the sunlight "the prey here was very good."
Mainly rabbits and giant variants, but I wasn't going for anything larger. I needed to start my children small before working up to things more ambitious.
Stepping out into the field flooded me with emotions from the past.
There was no sign of a fire ever teari g through this place. The flowers were as beautiful as ever, gently swaying in the breeze.
"You always need to be alert in places like this" I warned my children when I carefully picked my way through the flowers "with everything so overgrown, its hard to tell if anything else is here or has claimed the area."
Surely, something else would have turned my old nest into its home? It was deep, hoarded with treasures, and nestled amongst the abundance of food. It was perfect.
I saw white fur clinging to the flowers closer to the location. Amongst the tangled flowers was patches where others had been gnawed right down to the dirt.
Perfect. A herbivore.
"Stay low when you approach the den" I whispered while changing my position "approach from the side, never the front."
I saw Ethel take the left while Astrid and Avery stayed with me to the right.
Checking the area, I saw Maisie was still near the front of the field, preoccupied in nestling into the flowers she smothered into her fur with glee.
I straightened, clicking angrily for her to join us.
It would give away our position, but she had to learn these things.
Maisie heard me and bounded over to rub herself along my legs to try and smear the flowers into them.
I hissed and snapped my mandibles into her neck to make her lower herself down and wait for my release.
It was tough love, but for her own good. I couldn't lose another child in such a preventable way.
"Stay and listen, Maisie" I warned her when I pulled free "you need to know this."
She whimpered, remaining in the flowers to where her glistening eyes peered up at me in betrayal.
"If this was a carnivore, we'd be dead" I huffed to the others waiting for me "but, because we are dealing with a prey animal, they tend to freeze rather than attack."
I crept forward, lowering as I went.
I still loomed over the flowers, but it was the premise of the action I was teaching.
"Nice and low" I praised the others "nice and quiet."
Ethel blended right in with her flowering markings on her petaled body. She was made for this type of environment and thrived in it.
Astrid wasn't so lucky. Although she had light fur that mimicked the opposite of mine, her arms and legs were pitch black with loops breaking up the fur to her joints. It wasn't anything I or her mother possessed, and I put it down to a mutation in her genes causing her patterns to display this unusually. Her birthmark was black too, making her stalking face easy to see around the flowers.
Avery, the poor thing, was just like me. There was no hiding the black fur and juvenile pulsing blue rings trying to stay low in flowers so colourful and vivid. Out of the children he had no advantage in being the first to come anywhere near the prey.
I checked Maisie to see she had lifted from her cower to creep over towards Ethel and follow her lead.
She was an Orchid Spider, like her sister, but had also lucked-out in the gene pool.
Her fur, slightly lighter than my pitch blackness, had bright golden circles peppered up her limbs that were spotted black. She was also the only one of her siblings to have red eyes.
In trying to breathe life into as many children as possible, my own genes had doomed the remaining few.
I couldn't think about that now. They needed to eat.
I crept closer, using my arms to test the dirt when I neared the mouth of the nest. The vibrations would help keep the animal startled, but also act as an extension if it suddenly got cocky enough to lunge.
Better an arm than a face.
Halting, everyone followed suit. I moved around to the opening, leaping out to block the way to what was inside.
On a bed of ripped white fur was seven quivering, curled babies with their eyes firmly shut.
None had their own fur yet, but were big enough to be the size of a basketball each.
They looked like possums but gigantic...
Oh, fuck. I knew where the parent was then.
Spinning around, I lunged at what had been hiding in plain sight.
The mother, growing flowers from dirt of the field on her back, towered over me. Her eyes were beady and black, her plucked white fur across her chest and bushy tail bristled upwards in defense.
Although she had massive teeth bared, I knew these creatures didn't attack. I had come across them as a child myself, chased by another protective parent much small ler than this one. My mother was the one to save me from the tiny beast and reward me with its body.
I was going to do the same with this creature.
Lunging for the stomping paw, I scurried my way around the leg and snatched to the fold of the arm.
The giant shook itself to make me dig into the rolling fur desperately. It's teeth couldn't reach back far enough and scraped it's shoulder pitifully.
With it muddled on trying to reach me, I used the lapse in time to stab my way upwards to the nape of the neck and plunge my mandible in.
The giant screeched and collapsed to the dirt to try and crush me off its body. I tore at the skin to rip up a flap of the fur that gushed blood beneath me.
The giant slammed again, throwing me from it.
I had to immobilize it and quickly. I couldn't have it crushing my own children or deciding to target them instead.
"Stay where you are!" I snapped to them before rushing and stabbing a path back for the throat to pierce the flapping flesh.
The giant screeched once more, writhing in the air on its hind legs until it fell backwards.
With its belly exposed, I scurried onto it and tore at the patched skin beneath the ribcage. With the little arms unable to swat me off, I burrowed into the thin flesh to have it stripped as well.
It was easier now that the creature was bleeding out on its back. It couldn't get to its legs despite trying to roll and recover. It just writhed in the flowers in some feeble attempt to rock me loose as I tore off the skin, devouring it.
All of my anger went into killing the creature slowly. My helplessness with Silas, my absolute rage at Carter, my despair for my children, my sadness, bitterness and resentment for how easily everything was being snatched from under my nose; my frustration for the way things used to be in simpler times.
I absolutely massacred that creature and didn't stop plunging until it slowly gave up its life to me. Coated in blood and dripping from the slivers of skin clinging to my body, I triumphantly stood atop the lumbering corpse and called for my children to enjoy the feast.
I swelled when they scampered over and were all able to take a section that didn't hinder the other. They gobbled greedily, snarling and snapping their way through the jerking body presented to them.
"We'll take the little ones too" I climbed down to guard the area as they ate "make your own kills and savour them. Don't waste their lives to starvation."
With no mother, those seven would just rot away. We were doing them and us justice by putting their lives to something beneficial.
After eating their fill, I would gorge myself then stake out the next area to give the children a chance to redeem themselves. Things had taken an unexpected turn there, and I had stepped in to protect them once more, without giving any of them a chance to take the creature for themselves.
There were plenty more chances before Silas came home. I'd have to boast about my successful kill of a giant; really make him see how much better I was for him than that useless human his eye wandered to.
I smiled to myself while watching my children drown themselves in blood and guts as they ravaged the beast hungrily.
Maybe I could teach them how to hunt a human next time?
One could only wish...
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