Chapter Twenty One: The New Addition

Dae-rí chuckled softly as Rennon and the two youngsters came tentatively into the clearing, as Jaskierr squirmed deeper into her arms, searching for his food insistently. The small cub chirped and wailed in a pitiful manner as she gently set him next to his mother's large head, letting her charge bond with the infant in her remaining time on the planet. Dae-rí felt in her bones that Mum was only holding on until her cub was safe. Her life force was barely a flicker in the great beast's breast, her licks to her mewling child weary and sorrowful.

"It's alright, Renny," Dae-rí called softly, grabbing some of the scraps of deer carcass lying in a corner of the cave. Mum had already known she wasn't going to live much longer, it seemed to the Alpha, by the careful preservation of the easily digestible entrails. "Fennis, Dylin, come meet Jaskierr."