Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)-Chapter 381 - Turned Around: Words & Actions

Chapter 381: Chapter 381 - Turned Around: Words & Actions
After pushing Kyrie to lap the sugary sweet water while holding her head up to the bowl, hours more passed as I tended to her... and the pup. The first nursing I stayed separated entirely, but hearing her whine...
> Laying on this white wolf as my son feeds on milk feels far too intimate. <
Throughout that, I was checking both of them with | Matron’s Monitor | regularly. As callous as it may have been in the moment, I’m honesty still grateful that I did not use it on her immediately.
I was already panicked. Seeing her condition listed as *anything* worse than [Severely Weakened] like the first time I did it would not have made me work to help her any more clearheaded.
It was obvious that she was in a ’hypothermia’ state. I’d done my research on potential problems after | Survivor’s Wisdom + | allowed me to guess that cold would be the key factor because I was morbidly curious about what the humans would be dealing with.
Near dawn was when the transformation finally came. Bones shifted and fur receded, until the woman I’d tried so hard not to think about for a month - except that single night of the birth - was wrapped in my arms, under the blankets.
When her eyes opened into mine, I decided it would be wise to go busy myself elsewhere. My wolf made a complex growl that somehow felt like eyes rolling, just before my hand stilled on an MRE package.
> Look, I haven’t eaten yet this morning. I am not just hiding in the container to avoid her. <
My hearing picked up her rough voice as she whispered my name. I tore open the packet immediately at the sound - and regretted it. The one I picked up was so much better if heated first!
"Citra."
Scratchy, determined, and... begging. My feet moved and slammed the packet on a table as I passed. Getting close but refusing to meet her eyes, barely showing any haughtiness in my command.
"Save your strength. You’ve not recovered yet."
"I’ve been searching almost since you left the caves...."
"Then you’re either an incredibly persistent or incredibly foolish wolf. No, both. You’ve always been both."
A weak laugh escaped her, before she winced. I suddenly feel completely inept, not knowing what to do. Her muscles were still too exhausted to be seizing like that.
"Luca said the same thing when I took off."
"There’s no way he said the exact same thing."
"Stubborn idiot is close enough."
My lip quivers and my eye twitches before I turn my back. I can’t stand seeing her look up at me from under the blankets like that.
> Like nothing else matters except that I am here. <
"...Is... how is everyone?"
"Safe. At the tower with others who chose shelter."
"You said you’ve been searching, how would you know?"
Another groan and chuckle. It makes me hug myself while taking steps over toward my son. Like it was simply time to check on him instead of just... just needing the distance.
"I have my ways, Princess. For what it’s worth, they think I’m mad."
"They’re right. What exactly did you expect to find, Kyrie? What did you hope to accomplish by nearly killing yourself in that blizzard?"
Oh, look, my bravery returned so quickly. Because I’m not looking at her or because I’m looking at him? Or because I’m scolding her over something I care about.
"You know why I came."
"Do I? Because from where I’m standing, all I’ve done is cause you trouble and still you’re here. I refused the bond you believe we should have every step of the way. I brought the Duskpaw and rogue problem with Chad to your territory. I complicated things with a pregnancy I never told you about-"
"You didn’t have to say it. I understood. All of it clicked the moment I saw you down there."
My teeth clenched hard, another of those partial shifts that my wolf has nothing to do with turning them sharp. I pull the clawed fingers away from the soft fur in the basket and spin on her.
"Why? Why claim us as yours, like you did at the conclave? To stake your territory against Jace?"
"Is that what you think?"
Kyrie managed to sit fully upright, the blanket falling to her waist. Even wounded and exhausted, she carried herself with dignity. With a ring of orange glow around the brown.
Wolf unsealed and... controlled. The exact opposite of me. Healthy, sealing everything important, and pretending I’m controlling any of this.
"I see you as Citra Lomdi. Learning what that means as I go along, I’ve always lent respect when I have a cool head."
"How noble of you."
"Thank you. That means a lot from royalty."
Not rising to my weak rebuttal, she even turns it around on me. Why is her head working so damned fast... she should be... weaker still. So I can win... what am I winning?
> Is this even an argument? <
"If I had more time I might have done something differently. But in front of that crowd, claiming you both publicly was the quickest way to buy time. And I searched this long because I couldn’t bear the thought of you out here alone."
I watched as she shifted the covers away, then backed away like she was a threat and bumped into the table behind me when she crawled forward for a moment. My eyes quickly ticked toward my son, seeing that it didn’t even budge him.
Then my face moves back to see her standing, unsteady.
Stepping once, boldly. Falling, quickly. Right into my arms.
Because I surged forward again, just like every time she has been hurt. All but when it was more important to save the child.
My knees burn from the sudden friction as I try to untangle them from under us. I thought I’d make it that way by sliding in time, but I ended up having to lean back completely to stop her momentum.
Kyrie’s forehead bounced off of my neck in the impact... and since she is on top of me, I feel slightly defenseless. Even though I have to be the stronger of us here right now, my body instead feels like jelly when she pushed up shakily and looks at my face.
"It’s a choice I’d make over again, because I love you."
"...I left without even saying goodbye, why would you-"
It turns out I was right. To feel too cornered to move. Because the next thing I know, I’m being kissed. Softly, restrained, barely with any great passion or energy. Essentially just a tap of dry plump skin against mine.
But in my years as a fox shifter, I was always too prepared. In all the places I’ve kissed on a body - during the fun and intimate moments - and in these past months in this werewolf body...
> Yes, I’m saying it’s *basically* my first human kiss that actually romantically *counts*, shut up! So what? Helene has kissed before! The memories are unpleasant but there! <
"Didn’t say that I chose to love you, Princess. Whether or not you or I accept it won’t change it."
The confession, repeated again, hung in the air like snow drifting on a warm updraft.
Which is to say, my own slow, hot breath that says nothing back.
Though my fingernails clawing softly at her back might be more honest.