The Ultimate Litter: A Beast World System Tale novel Chapter 314

Chapter 314 Of Course

Finished

The situation was clear enough to Claire without anyone spelling it out. It seemed Tyne was about to find herself a new beast mate.

When the fox clan fell, Tyne’s only remaining beast mate had been a deer clan beastfolk named Kaleb, and the grief of that loss had stayed with her for a long time.

Claire had worried she’d never fully pull herself back together, but clearly that concern had been unnecessary all along.

Just then, a beastfolk came tearing through the air toward them. “Hurry! Dr. Black says the eggs are hatching right now!” he shouted before he’d even fully landed.

The words hadn’t finished leaving his mouth before every muscle in Claire’s body pulled taut. She shot glance at Zane.

Zane was the fastest among them. He understood at once, shifted into his massive silver wolf form, and crouched low in front of her.

a

Claire scrambled up onto his back as fast as she could, and Davy reached out to give her a gentle boost to help her settle.

“Aurora, I’ll meet you there,” Claire said, and Zane was already moving, streaking toward Corvin’s tree house at a dead run.

Claire’s nerves stretched so tight they nearly snapped. The anxious energy thrumming through her felt no different from the day she’d given birth herself.

At that same moment, far away in the depths of the Sacred Grounds, Rufus’ heart lurched without warning, a strange, electric tension flooding through him from head to toe.

The feeling was unlike anything he’d encountered before. Not even the most fearsome savage beasts had ever wrung this kind of sensation out of him.

“Something feels off,” Rufus muttered, bewildered. “Like something important is happening right now. Could Claire be going into labor? No, that can’t be right. By my count, she’s still got a good few days to go.”

He swept a glance at the savage beasts closing in around him again: a saber-toothed tiger with tusks stretching over three feet long, a black bear radiating unbridled fury, and a centipede coiling over sixty feet from head to tail.

He shook out his numbing hands, gripped his bloodstained/sword, and charged straight back in.

Up at the crown of Corvin’s great tree, a cluster of beastfolk already stood gathered around the nest. The chief held position at the very front, his face tight with barely contained tension as he stared down into it.

Zane carried Claire up in a few swift bounds and they took their place at the rim, just in time to see the eggs in the center of the nest, the ones marked with vivid red flame patterns, begin to tremble. A series of sharp,, rhythmic cracks split the air as tiny beaks worked frantically at the shells from within.

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Chapter 314 Of Course

Finishea

“The babies are pecking through!” Claire whispered, then immediately slapped her own hand over her mouth, terrified of startling them.

A small red beak broke through a jagged split in one shell. The shell cracked clean in two, and a golden hatchling covered in flame patterns blinked open its eyes for the very first time.

Three legs supported its tiny body, and it pulled itself upright immediately, though walking clearly hadn’t come packaged with the instinct to stand. Its left leg went after its right, the middle leg tangled with the left, and it toppled over into the soft, downy lining of the nest.

Claire felt her heart melt completely.

What an adorable Sunfire Raven!

She reached out to right the little creature, but Corvin’s wing rose and blocked her hand.

His voice came out low and cool, leaving no room for argument. “Let him stand on his own. That’s the first lesson every eagle clan beastfolk must learn the moment they enter this world.”

Claire’s chest ached at the sight, but she knew Corvin was right. She swallowed the impulse to help, gripped the rim of the nest with both hands, and quietly cheered the little one on in her heart.

“After several more attempts, the Sunfire Raven finally took its first successful step.

Then it turned, without so much as a glance at Claire, and went straight for Corvin.

Every bit of warmth in Claire’s chest deflated instantly, and she suddenly felt very much like the odd one

out.

Another shell split apart, a sharp crack ringing out as something new broke into the world. This one was another Sunfire Raven hatchling.

Claire’s hope surged right back, and she spread her arms open wide.

“Come here, little one. I’m right here!” she cooed softly.

The second hatchling shook its damp little head, gave Claire one brief, unimpressed look, and waddled straight into Corvin’s arms.

Corvin folded both wings around the pair of younglings and let his body heat dry their still-damp down. Then he raised his head and looked at Claire, and something that looked unmistakably like smugness glinted in those crow-dark eyes of his.

Claire’s outstretched hands drifted back together and scratched awkwardly against each other. A thought started nagging at her.

Are these even my eggs? They only have eyes for Corvin. Why won’t they come to me?

Pome’s voice rose gently in her mind. “Master, Corvin was the one who incubated these eggs, so naturally they feel closest to him right now. Don’t worry. A little time together will fix everything. Nothing changes the fact that you’re their mother.”

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