Hideaway Strath I’ll shoulder the load, and I’ll swallow the shame

Arturo welcomes to the press of her body against his, relishing in her soft curves and touch. She is a welcome distracted, he thinks again. With her heat cycle ended the feral drive is gone no longer plaguing his gestures, his affection. Arturo still desires her. He still seeks the familiar comfort of her arms just as he does Lotte’s. Hemlock brings him joy: just as Lotte does and just as it’d been with Lotte his feelings for the flame kissed woman that nuzzles him beneath the chin is wholly unexpected but it has him locked in it’s gravity. And he hardly minds. Her words cause his ears to perk as he contemplates them, analyzes them, speaking of it being too early and herds. “You’re pregnant.” Not spoken as a question but as an assumption based on her words. Without waiting for her confirmation for a question he didn’t really ask he assumes it is so and despite his worries he is filled with a swelling joy that constricts in his throat. He doesn’t regret them. He certainly doesn’t regret her. He just regrets the run of bad luck they’ve had lately, but he latches onto the knowledge that life grows within her womb and thinks that it has to be good luck. A sign that good times are not far off. Of course, he expected that his seed would take: he is far from infertile, after all but he relishes her pregnancy as a miracle because he needs it.

“So we stock our caches to the brim before winter hits.” If he has to go out and hunt all by his self he will see it done. “We’ll survive it. We always do.” Life was nothing without the bad times to propel them forward, to make them stronger. It was exhausting, yes, but new determination blazes within the twin sun gaze of the coy-wolf gangster. He circles her slowly and seeks to lightly press his nose to her flank where life now grows. “Hemlock,” He broaches, seeking to shift from their morbid conversation and their worries. They should be celebrating, after all. “I would like them to be Fearghal’s. Or Kali-Fearghal's, Fearghal-Kali's …if you prefer. I just …I want to be their father. I want them to know their siblings.” He remembers having told her that he would not interfere if she didn’t want him in their life in that way …but he can’t imagine not being a father. “Be Lotte and I’s mate. Join us, in our love, in our life.” It is a question as he asks it: she is able to refuse if she wishes; but Arturo not-so-secretly hopes she does not decline.