Chapter 185: No More Cubs

Calis had gathered the entire pack, and everyone was filled with both curiosity and unease.

He rarely called everyone together unless something significant had happened or was about to.

And it was strange for the alpha to do this shortly after Tera had left.

Girruk stood behind his father, his body filled with a tension that had been building for days.

His punishment had only recently ended, and the endless perimeter runs had left his legs aching.

His resentment for Calis had also increased.

Why did this male get to lead just because his father had been the former alpha?

Calis’ father had fought and killed another wolf for the position, and then handed the title to his son like it was an inheritance rather than something that should be earned.

And Girruk’s own father, who had been friends with the previous alpha, had helped Calis, devoting years to help train the young wolf after his father’s passing.

But now this handed-down leader was making decisions that could destroy everything the wolves had built so far.

Girruk wished he was stronger. He would have taken the title from Calis already.

Greymaw, for his part, was barely containing his satisfaction.

Calis had called this gathering after the shiftless female had left. The timing was perfect.

This meant Calis had finally seen reason and understood that the female had overstepped.

She had filled the pack with strange ideas that had no place in their traditions.

He did not like how Calis was letting it all happen, but he was pleased the male was going to set things right.

He would tell the pack that while the female’s help with water and the pen had been appreciated, her involvement would end here. They did not need outsiders telling them how to live. They would thank her for her service and politely inform her not to return.

"After the pregnant females have delivered their cubs, there will be no more mating for a year."

The words sat in the air, and for a breath, no one moved.

Then the meaning sank in.

"WHAT?!"

Voices exploded from every direction.

"No mating?!"

"For how long?!"

"Does that not mean that there would no more cubs?!"

Calis continued over the noise. "For one full year. Possibly two. No female in this pack will carry a cub during that time."

The second wave of outrage hit harder than the first.

Several of the younger males who had been warming to Tera’s ideas over the past week were now staring at their alpha with open-mouthed horror.

One of them looked down at his own crotch as if Calis had personally threatened it.

One male in the back whispered, "For how LONG?" with the horrified tone of someone who had just been told the sun was being turned off.

The females were not outraged.

They were confused.

They looked at each other, trying to understand what had prompted this. Faelynn’s hand had drifted to her swollen belly, and her crimson eyes were fixed on her brother with an intensity that was trying to read what was underneath.

But the elders reacted the most violently.

The ones who had been quietly warming to Tera over the past week snapped back into rigid opposition as if the softening had never happened.

"This is madness!" one elder snarled.

"Our numbers are already low! If you stop having cubs now—"

"Who put this idea in your head?!" another demanded, and the question landed with the weight of an accusation that everyone already knew the answer to.

The clearing went quiet for one beat.

Then Greymaw answered in an icy tone, "The shiftless female."

He could not believe he had expected sense from Calis.

The wolf was smarter than this!

Greymaw stepped forward, angry.

"She has been here for barely more than one full turn of the moon, and she has already poisoned your mind against the very practices that have kept this pack alive. What do you mean the females should stop having cubs?!"

Several wolves growled in agreement.

Another elder pointed a gnarled finger at the space where the portal had been that morning.

"That female left, and the first thing our alpha does is tell us to stop reproducing! Does no one else see what is happening here?!"

The murmuring grew louder and angrier, and Calis could feel the tide turning against him.

His crimson eyes burned, and when he spoke, his voice cut through everything.

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone was silenced, only for it to be broken by a small cub in the back row who had chosen this exact moment to loudly announce, "Papa, I need to pee."

The male quickly clamped a hand over the cub’s mouth.

Calis glared at them, furious. "LISTEN before you say any more rubbish."

Several wolves flinched.

"I did not come to this decision for no reason." Calis glared across the pack. "I have made my decision, and I am ashamed I did not notice sooner."

Calis looked at the females.

They looked back at him, still confused.

"Aia."

The young wolf female startled at being addressed directly.

"Yes?"

"You told Tera that you have had aches in your body, and that they have been growing worse over time."

Aia’s face shifted. Her hand moved unconsciously to her lower back, pressing against the spot that had been hurting for months.

"It is just soreness—"

"Is it the same soreness you had after your first cub?"

Aia opened her mouth to say yes, then stopped.

Her brow creased.

"No," she admitted slowly. "After my first, it went away. But after the second and third... it stayed. And it has been getting worse since the fourth."

The clearing was very quiet now.

Calis turned to the rest of the females, asking about how their bodies had been feeling recently, and his anger dampened to a painful sorrow as he realised they had kept a lot of things from him.

A quiet murmur passed through the pack.

A few of the young wolves started to feel guilty, partly for what they were putting the females through and for even doubting Tera.

How foolish of them, after the miracles she had first shown them when she had come to their pack.

Their females had been experiencing constant aches, fatigue, and dizziness that wouldn’t go away.

They didn’t know the females’ bodies were recovering less and less between each pregnancy. They had simply thought that was what happened once having cubs.

Calis’ hands were trembling at his sides, but his voice remained steady.

"The Dow clan leader explained to me what happens to a female’s body when she carries cub after cub without rest."

He looked across the pack.

"Each pregnancy drains our females. Especially when they have never had time to heal between cubs. Each pregnancy is putting them in danger."

Aia’s hand pressed harder against her back, and the look on her face was no longer confused.

Realisation dawned on the females’ faces too.

One female quietly touched her own lower back.

Faelynn’s hand tightened on her belly.

Flora whispered, "Mine never went away after the second either..."

Calis’ full attention shifted to the elders.

"I would like to know. Why are there no female elders? The pack used to have more females from what I remember as a cub. Where are they now?"

The elders seemed uneasy, but no one answered him.

"Our mothers. Our grandmothers. The females who raised us and carried us in their bellies while walking through hostile territory." Calis’ voice had dropped low. "Where are they?"

Greymaw fumed, especially when he noticed no other elder was speaking up. Some of them were even thinking about this nonsense?!

"I remember many females dying in their sleep. SAY SOMETHING!" Calis roared.

"You are wrong. You were just a cub, what do you know?" one of the elders spat out. "Many of them were killed off by corrupted beasts, and even more of us died crossing the wilderness—"

Calis snapped. "What pregnant female is meant to be crossing the wilderness in the first place—"

Greymaw cut him off. "It was early, and they were strong. We still paused whenever cubs were delivered and—"

"Do not play smart with me," Calis growled, a dangerous glow in his eyes as he stepped closer. "Did most of them not die in their sleep, regardless? While carrying cubs?"

Greymaw was losing ground, and he knew it. But he did not back down.

Calis was not making sense.

Many beasts dropped off and died for one reason or the other. It had nothing to do with bearing cubs.

Putting a pause on their numbers would be the death of their tribe, and this male wanted to lead them to their graves.

Where did he ever go wrong?!

"You cannot know that." The old wolf stepped forward. His voice was strained, as if he was trying to reach the real Calis, not the wolf the female had dipped her grimy hands in to influence.

"Females have always had aches during pregnancy. It is normal. It is part of bearing cubs. We have lived long enough to see it. If there was an elder female here, she would explain it to you. The previous females died from illnesses and attacks. That was all. You are twisting reality because of what that female has told you!"

The younger males hesitated at Greymaw’s words, uncertain.

Even Aia was rethinking things.

She had experienced the same aches during her first pregnancy, hadn’t she? Maybe it really was normal...

"I had pains too," she said quietly. "Even during my first—"

"EXACTLY!" Greymaw seized on it, pointing at her. "Even the first pregnancy carries pain! It has always been this way! The female is exaggerating a natural—"

But before he could finish, the other females turned on her and the elder simultaneously.