Chapter 23

(Two Weeks Later)

Despite being very far away from home, Queen Artemis and her family were blissfully happy now that they no longer had to worry about the Tiger Queen and her armies. First Wolf Prince Oliver was appointed Tiger King until his first of three sons came of age to take over the throne. The Second Wolf Prince returned to the Bear Kingdom with his father in law and promised to return with the rest of his family once the winter season is over. The Wolf King went back to the Wolf Kingdom to continue restoring everything back to its former glory. Then the Ape King returned back to the Ape Kingdom to go back into hiding. Things were calm and steady and Artemis didn't feel overwhelmed with chaos. Right now Queen Artemis was sitting next to her King Consort Bowen going back and forth with him about whether or not he can get out of bed. Since they were far away from home a group of Beastmen got together to help Danny and Apollo build temporary cabins to stay in. The Beastmen also built themselves a place to stay so that they could be close to the Queen of the White Wolf Kingdom. They had a small little camping village going and Bowen was starting to feel restless to get back outside. "You really don't need to go outside anyways. The weather is cold for just a few more weeks before the snow starts to melt and the leaves start to grow back on the trees." Artemis said to Bowen, folding her arms on her chest. "BeastMEN are bred to be warm no matter the weather so that we can still hunt and protect our females. I need some physical activity to gain my strength back!" Bowen pleaded. "No physical activity! Too bad you almost lost a foot and wing or else I'd give you physical activity alright!" Artemis said frustrated "NO! Definitely not that physical activity! I just want to get up and move around more than going to the bathroom." Bowen responded quickly . "My Queen, forgive me but are you in heat?" Apollo asked her, trying not to laugh. He had been sitting in the corner laughing and teasing Artemis all morning. "Apollo, if you don't go home! We will fight!" Artemis threatened. Apollo loved to pull Artemis' tail like any other twin brother would and he ran away laughing successfully getting on her nerves. "You know he only teases you." Bowen said sticking up for Apollo. "Bowen, don't defend him! You're getting on my nerves too! I don't want you out of bed!" Artemis said firmly standing up.

Danny casually walked into Bowen's room carrying The Little Princess Winter in his arms. "My Queen, I think you should go a little easy on him. Bo has been well behaved for you and the doctors these past two weeks" Danny said, joining into the bickering. "What do you know! You're carrying around someone who already knows how to walk on her own two feet now" Artemis accused, pointing at the Little Princess. "Well she just learned how to walk. That doesn't mean she's an expert!" Danny said in defense. Artemis threw her hands up one last time before storming out of the room. "Do you think maybe she is going into heat?" Bowen asked innocently Danny only chuckled in response. "Maybe mommy is just hungry?" Danny asked the Little Princess who nodded excitedly. "Either way it goes. You have got to finally get better so she can feel better. Our Queen is so tense." Danny said to Bowen who let out a deep sigh and shook his head. "Where is Thomas?" Bowen asked Danny. "With The Little Princes' doing some exercises. They are getting bigger everyday now that they have been hunting rats and rabbits on their own." Danny told him proudly "Aww man. I wish I was out there to see them!" Bowen said disappointed. "Hey. Just get up and go out there. Show her you're okay" Danny said, shrugging his shoulders. Bowen thought about it for a moment and then flipped his fur covers off of him. "Here goes nothing." Bowen said, standing up slowly. "There we go. Now watch this!" Danny said, stepping back and setting the Little Princess down. "Go to Bo!" Danny encouraged her. "Come on, you can do it!" Bowen encouraged holding his arms out to her. The Little Princess was small, chubby and full of smiles. She took one step and looked back up at Bowen who wiggled his fingers gesturing for her to come forward and she did. She began tapping her little feet on the floor one by one until she walked right into Bowens arms. "You did it Princess! Good job!" He praised hugging her as she clapped and giggled. Let's go see how your brothers are doing" Bowen said, setting the Little Princess back on the floor so they could walk side by side. Bowen and the Little Princess walked down the hall to the Little Princes' room with Danny following behind. "Okay now let's see how high you can jump!" A voice said. Ezekiel was in the room in full human form showing the Cubs how high he could jump. "Ezee!" the Little Princess chimed, letting go of Bowen's hand and running at the young Snake Beastman. "Princess Winter!!" He said, excitedly opening his arms for her. "The little Princess has grown very fond of her adoptive brother!" Thomas said, sitting in the corner in his Ape form. "This one has got all of us wrapped around her finger except for the women. I don't understand" Danny said, watching her laugh and play with Ezekiel. "Maybe it's another female thing," Bowen shrugged. Danny burst out laughing thinking of how worked up Artemis was telling Bowen not to get out of bed.

Artemis was paying the men no mind. She was currently sitting at the table inside Kasper's cabin with Jenny and Little Wen. Jenny was spewing her annoyance with Apollo after waiting for Little Wen to vent her anger with Kasper as well. The men were all on a roll today apparently. "Apollo asked me if I was in heat," Artemis said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not in heat. I think maybe I'm just hungry. And Apollo is just being annoying." She added. "Those clams you always have the men get and boil are so good, can you have them do that again please!" Jenny begged Artemis. "I don't know. It's still cold and icy out. They're gonna think they can make up for their smart mouths. We'll have a lot of food!" Artemis said, thinking it through. "Gee are we really thinking about guilt tripping our mates into going ice fishing?" Little Wen asked, snickering. "I really don't know!" Artemis chuckled. Then she just started laughing uncontrollably. "That is a very funny idea though!" Jenny said, laughing uncontrollably too. "What if we're not in heat but pregnant!" Little Wen said, almost whispering and changing the direction of the conversation. Jenny and Artemis stopped laughing and looked over at little Wen who was looking back at them frightened. "Ok hear me out. I basically help Bowen keep track of all of our health. I'm like a female doctor. Technically we should have been in heat a week after the naming ceremony but Bowen has been in bed recovering so he hasn't been able to care for us…" Little Wen said. "Are you sure? We can't be that far along?" Jenny asked, placing her hand on her stomach. "I bet Bowen is well enough now to tell for sure, the beastmen heal quickly", Little Wen said, shrugging. "So then I'm having bear cubs?" Jenny asked, rubbing her stomach some more. "I last mated with Thomas. Could I be carrying Ape cubs?" Artemis asked, looking down at her stomach. "I think me and Kasper are finally having our Wolf cubs now!" Little Wen said, rubbing her stomach as well. "I guess it is plausible since none of us has started to go into heat yet" Artemis said sitting back in her chair. "This is awesome! We have to go find our mates!" Little Wen said, jumping up. "We'll really get seafood now!" Jenny said, clapping. "Oh brother!" Artemis said, putting her hand on her forehead. "What's all of the commotion going on in here?" Kasper said walking into his cabin and seeing the three women all worked up. "I think we're all pregnant!" Little Wen said, jumping into his arms. "What, pregnant?" Kasper asked. "We need Bowen or Grandpa John to tell us for sure but I think we're all two weeks pregnant!" She told him. "Wow, that's fantastic. I'm going to be a father?" Kasper asked her, "Let's go see Bowen, he is up playing with the Princes!" Kasper said "I bet he got up as soon as I left telling him to stay in bed!" Artemis accused him. "He will be fine. Go easy on him, Artie. Let's go little ones" Kasper said to the three females as if they were cubs.

Back inside Artemis' cabin all three of her mates and even Apollo were rolling around on the floor tussling with all of the cubs. "Now you know these cabins are not big enough for all of this rolling around!" Artemis scolded. "These cabins won't be big enough at all. We're all gonna need bigger spaces!" Kasper announced. "We're just entertaining them," Apollo said defensively. "Hey I think you're gonna be an uncle again!" Kasper said to Apollo. "What?" Apollo asked dumbstruck. "Who's pregnant?" Bowen asked seriously. "We all are!" Little Wen said to him excitedly. "I think we have Ape cubs, Bear cubs, and Wolf cubs on the way!" she said. "Oh boy. Papa is gonna be especially happy, he's gonna get more great grandchildren to play around with!" Apollo said smiling. "Let me check you out," Bowen said, standing up and grabbing Artemis. Bowen looked her over from head to toe and asked her a few personal questions. He had her lay down so that he could gently feel around her stomach. Finally after five minutes he looked over at everyone and smiled. "I'd say Little Wende is right. Two or three weeks along!" He announced. "Ohh this is great. I knew that was the reason why all three of us wanted some boiled seafood!" Jenny said, jumping up and down. "I can get you some seafood!" Apollo said excitedly "of course you will honey. I'm hungry!" Jenny said smiling. Artemis laughed out loud remembering their moment in Kasper's cabin. "Yeah. We are really hungry for some seafood" Artemis admitted. "We'll get you all some seafood." All of the men said standing up straight. "Draco and Theo are already looking for meat so the rest of us can go ice fishing!" Danny said "Can you really do it?" Artemis asked sweetly. "I will swim the frozen ocean for sharks if you'd asked me to, my Queen!" Danny said to her. "Start a fire to get warm and comfortable with the cubs my love. We'll be back!" Danny said gathering his hunting tools. "Be careful and don't take long!" Artemis said, grabbing him and kissing him. "I will get you and our cubs plenty of food. Stay warm while we're gone!" Thomas said, rubbing Artemis' stomach. "You stay safe too!" Artemis said lovingly to Thomas. "You make sure you all get back safely. It's still cold!" Artemis said, grabbing Bowen. "Don't exert yourself too much Bo. We don't know for sure if you're better or not or if you have poison in your system" Artemis said to Bowen. "Of course. And young Ezekiel makes sure to check for poison every day. He says I'm clean. Besides, I'll always watch over them!" Bowen said, kissing Artemis' forehead. Artemis lit a nice fire in her fireplace and huddled up with her cubs under thick huge furs. Jenny and Little Wen huddled with their cubs and some furs too. The little room was very small but they all enjoyed being this close and sharing warmth. "Our men are the best!" Jenny sat back and smiled. "I can't believe we're gonna have another litter already!" Artemis said to them. "We are already great mothers. I don't mind having more cubs" Jenny replied. The three women rubbed their stomachs and daydreamed about their new additions until the men came back with all of the food.

Theo and Draco found some potatoes and other vegetables along with a few boars to make some pork steaks out of. Danny's hunting party came back with fishing nets and baskets full of different fish and seafood. There were huge Prawns, squids, clams and scallops and lobsters. They even caught a huge tuna shark too. The men cleaned, seasoned and cooked all of the food and let the females dig in while Thomas, Danny and Apollo focused on feeding the cubs. "These cabins are too small for us. It's time to make our way back home!" Apollo announced. "We could, we're all expecting more cubs now." Bowen said. "Artemis is Queen of the White Wolf Kingdom now. I think it's best we start moving out of the Wolf Kingdom. Give our people a place to start their new lives" Danny said. "Danny and Bowen are right. Is this a good place to start?" Artemis asked. "It could be. We could go back home to get you through your pregnancies. By the time you give birth the weather will have warmed up for sure. We could build our very own castle!" Bowen said "This land has been used up enough to start building on it now actually" Danny said. "New castle. New Kingdom. Bigger family. Am I a lucky Queen or what?" Artemis asked everybody. "You are blessed!" Danny replied.