Ch 8 Enter the Birdie Badboy

Mwezi woke the next morning to a beautiful soreness between her legs but it made getting up difficult. "Good morning my beautiful mate."Paka said as he kissed her cheek. "Wait, let me help." he said as he rolled over and pulled a mason jar off one of the makeshift shelves. "I had the doctor make a healing salve for you since I knew it could leave you sore afterwards." he said with a smile as he began to rub the salve on her, between her legs. 'My Paka. So thoughtful.' she thought to herself. "Thank you Paka. I appreciate it and your thoughtfulness." she said with a warm smile. Paka blushed slightly and nodded with a proud smile. "Anything for my mate." he replied and kissed her forehead.

They played lazy for some time while they let the salve work and help her. "Once we get you home I'll give us a bath and then apply more salve." he said as he began to pack up small items in a bag he used to bring everything over. "I'll carry you so you don't have to sit on my back and hurt yourself more." he said with a smile as she wrapped herself in the blanket, her clothes tattered and strewn about. She nodded, "Better not drop me! Imagine what could happen if I was carrying your pups!" she joked and he gasped with realization.

He dropped to his knees in front of her and nuzzled his face to her belly muttering apologies to possibly imagine babies for something he hadn't even done. Mwezi couldn't contain her giggle and wondered what their kids would look like. Then her heart dropped. What if they couldn't have kids? What if they couldn't shift because of her? Paka seemed to sense her panic because he shook her by her shoulders when she didn't react to him calling her name. "Mwezi!" he yelled as her eyes finally snapped to him and a tear slid down her cheek.

" My beautiful mate, what's wrong? Are you hurting? Do you regret last night?" he asked, his own fears welling up. She quickly shook her head and he wiped her tears. "What's wrong my love?" he asked and she sighed. "You know I'm not, yanno, from here and I'm worried. What if they kids can't shift because of me or we can't have kids?" she confessed as the tears fell in streams. Paka pulled her close and held her tight. Even if they can't shift, our pups are still our pups and will be loved regardless. As long as you and they are happy I could care less. And if we cant have our own I'm sure there are plenty of homeless pups we can still shower with love.' he said cupping her face and making her look at him in the eyes.

"This is a time for celebration and happiness. As long as I am with you and caring for you I am happy. No more sad tears Mwezi. We will make it work." he said and kissed her on the lips. She let a soft giggle and nodded before he tore some of the blanket and used it to wipe her nose like she was a child. "Thank you." she whispered looking down ashamed. "Anything for you." he replied in the same whisper as he kissed her head and then rested their foreheads together. "Let's go home, yeah?" he asked and she nodded, throwing her arms into the air.

He smiled and scooped her up bridal style as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Once he was sure she was secured he jumped out of the tree and began their run back home. It didn't take as long as she thought it would on his two feet vs four. She started recognizing their surroundings fairly soon but there was a group of bird cries overhead as a flock of eagles circled her and Paka. Paka looked at her with a shaky smile. "Don't worry, I got you." he assured her and began to pick up the pace. "Paka, just shift. It's okay, I can handle it." she said and he reluctantly nodded as the birds cried out again

He put her down and gave her the bag to allow him to shift as the birds dove through the canopy. Paka partially shifted, his eyes going full cat and his claws extending with his canines. Some of the birds landed on large branches overhead and others landed on the floor, shifting back into their human forms. "Weeeelllll welly well, what do we have here? A newly mated couple by the smells of it." the man she assumed the leader was. "What do you want feather brain?" Mwezi snapped, already annoyed with the entire situation. "Ohhh she's a spicy one I see. I love that in a woman, yanno." he said, stepping closer before Paka stepped in front of her.

"What do you want?" Paka hissed. "Well my name is Amir and these are my jolly band of misfits." he informed them, waving his hand around to motion to the other birds. She realized most of them were just wearing various fur skirts but Amir had a vest on with the collar popped high like some school thug in an anime. "We were just passing by since we heard ol' prince, who would make a nice rug, established a new facet of his family's kingdom. What I didn't know is they had such beautiful females here already." Amir informed them. "That's cute and all but seeing as how we're in the middle of the woods you can check out my mates kingdom further along that way.�� Mwezi spat, pointing back towards the village.

"Ohhhh ho boy we got a princess!" Amir said with a laugh as the others joined in. Paka pulled Mwezi behind him as she let out a deep breath. She had a very bad feeling about the situation and grabbed onto Paka. "You need to go. The rest of my mates are expecting us back. You're not welcome here." Mwezi said deadly calm. "What!? I thought this was the land of the misfits boss." one of the others said, making them laugh. "Listen if you don't wanna be dipped in ya unborn babies, coated in flour and breading and then fried, I suggest you get the entire FUCK off our land!" Mwezi snapped as Paka shifted.

She leaned into his ear, praising the lord that he was so tall. "You have a disadvantage because he can fly. Wait for him to press you and when he's blinded, catch him." she suggested and he growled in agreement. "Yanno I wonder just how much your worth to that prince of yours to be honest. Perhaps we should find out?" he asked as he took his vest off and Mwezi noticed the four marks on the sides of his arms, two on one side and two on the other.

Patting the bag around her body, Mwezi remembered the mason jars she was carrying. She pulled two out and wrapped the string used to hang them around her hands so she had the best grip. "Alright hand her over so we can get back home. I'm bored now." Amir said, waving Mwezi over. She threw him a disgusted glare before spitting at his feet. "Fuck you. Pay me bitch." she spat, clenching her fist around the ropes.

Amir snapped his fingers and two of the birds that never shifted back dove for Paka. He waited till they were almost right on him and jumped back causing them to fly into one another. Two more dove for Mwezi who crushed low and swung up with the mason jars, hitting them both on the bottom of their beaks and shattering the bottom half of the jars. "God ahead. Make my fucking day. Paka made quick work of the four birds, tearing off their wings instead of killing them so they could never fly again.

"Now why the fuck would you go and do that!?" Amir screamed as the rest of the birds, including him, shifted. Amir was a good two feet taller than Paka, so he was naturally overall bigger. Mwezi crouched with her back to Paka's side waiting for the inevitable. Amir screeched so loud Mwezi had to cover her ears that she swore were now bleeding. The birds all attacked at once pecking at Paka with their beaks and scratching at him with their talons. Much to Mwezi's cries and protest he covered her body with his to protect her as he attempted to swat at the birds, catching some of them before his wounds became too great and he passed out nearly crushing Mwezi beneath him.

She could hear the cracks as some of the leftover bird shifters shifted back,while the others used their talons to roll Paka off Mwezi. She was a sobbing mess once she saw Paka covered in would and how much blood he had truly lost and was losing. She screamed a blood curdling scream as Amir approached her to pull her away. "All he had to do was give you up." Tayir said with a look of glee in his eyes. "But now we can have you all to ourselves, or maybe give you back if your prince pays up. Maaaybe." Amir said sadistically.

Mwezi screamed and grabbed the top of one of her mason jars and jabbed the broken bottle into Amir's rib change so hard he fell over.She followed his body with her own putting her full weight on him, reveling in the feeling of the jar sliding further into his body. The last thing she remembers before blacking out in rage is another bird cry much like Amir's as she was snatched by talons that quickly took off into the sky not even giving her time to send a backwards glance to her mate.

Mwezi didn't know how long it had been since she had passed out. When she came to the room was dark, her only light source was a dying fire. She shot up off the bed in a seated position and immediately regretted her decision as her ribs started to hurt from where the bird grabbed her she assumed. She was unfamiliar with the room she was in, the bed wasn't hers, the furniture she could make out definitely wasn't hers. Where was she? Where's Paka?!

"PAKA!?" she screamed out as a wave of emotion ran over her again. She sloppily climbed out of bed, nearly falling forward on her face as she untangled herself from the sheets. As she stood up she heard footsteps running towards the door to her room and she panicked, looking around for a weapon. In The corner of the room was a light enough chair, she hobbled her way over to it, stubbing her toe in the process and grabbed onto the chair. Just as the door opened she lobbed the wooden seat blindly over to hear a string of profanities as it broke against whomever she hit.

"Mwezi it's me!" Kai cried out and he held his hand to his now bleeding head. Mwezi hiccuped into hysteria again as she tripped over her own feet and fell into Kai's warm body and open arms letting her tears fall. Kai's mother had run into the room followed closely by his father who helped him with his wounds as Kai's mother explained what happened. Mwezi was indeed grabbed by a bird whose name was Tayir. The brother to Amir and apparently and he wasn't too keen on the idea of kidnapping innocent people for a payday. Especially when it came down to nearly murdering their mate. No one deserved that kind of pain. Tayir couldn't imagine the pain of seeing his mate murdered in front of him for vice versa and he hadn't even found one yet.

"So Tayir knew his brother was going to attack you all and came to let Kai know before double back around to try and help. He's only a level three shifter so he wouldn't be able to take on his brother and the crew alone." Kai's mother filled in the last missing bits. "Okay but where's Paka?" Mwezi asked with a sad yet serious tone. "Here baby." Kai's mom replied innocently as she gently opened a door to what looked like an old school medical room. There was a doctor re-dressing Paka's wounds and adding some kind of mud like paste to them.

"Oh God" Mwezi whisper-cried as she weakly ran to Paka's bedside. She cried for what felt like hours into the bed sheets and held onto Paka's hand. At some point Kai came in with food for her and sat her on his lap so he could hand feed her. She had no energy or desire to feed herself.Once he was sure she was 'okay' he left her to have some more alone time with Paka. At some point she fell asleep but woke up to Nyoka making a makeshift bed with his tail and coiled around her. She had to admit it was more comfortable than the chair and leaning over on the bed.

She looked over at Nyoka to thank him but realized he was sleeping as well. She caressed his face gently with the backs of her fingers and noticed the scratches and marks on his body. Come to think of it she remembered Kai having some as well. Very carefully Mwezi managed to slip from Nyoka's hold without waking him. She kissed both him and Paka on their foreheads and slipped out the room. She heard voices bouncing along the halls and followed them to what seemed like a large study with Kai, his father and some other men looking down at a map.

Mwezi didn't want to be rude so she turned to step away but Kai called out to her. "Mwezi, you can come in." he said softly as he walked out the door and held his hand out to her. The massive fireplace in the room lit up his chocolate skin and she could see the marks, cuts and gashes in his skin, some that would probably scar, adding to his collection. Mwezi couldn't bring herself to ask what happened, the idea of any of them in pain or hurt bothered her on the deepest level. She caressed some of the area around a bandaged wound and tried not to cry again, she was sure she was out of tears by now.

"It's alright my love." Kai said grabbing her hand and kissing the backs of her fingers. Tyir got to us just in time. We made him bring you here while the rest of us took care of Amir and his men." Kai said, trying to reassure her. At the mention of his name Mwezi's body shook with rage and hate. "Did you kill him?" she spat, not mad at Kai but at the man, men who hurt her mates. She had accepted the reality as much. These men were just as much hers as she was theirs, periot. Kai looked to his father warily and his father nodded his head to him. "No, we kept him and some of his men alive for aggressive questioning." Kai said and Mwezi nodded.

"I want in." Mwezi said, giving no room for argument. Kai went to rebut anyway but his father stopped him by calling out Kai's name and shaking his head. "She will be your queen when your mother and I step down. She needs to be able to stand by your side in and out of the battle field. She's proven the former in her fight with Paka against Amir." Kai's father said and Kai nodded. "Once we're finished with them, I'm sure mother can find you some more mason jars." Kai said with a smirk as the other men in the room laughed out loud. All but one standing in the back.

He was tall and muscular but lean, meant for a healthy mix of power and speed. His skin was pale but clear and flawless. Mwezi was jealous, her morning routine took at least an hour and she would put money one him just waking up and splashing some stream water on his face. It was unfair. His down brown, nearly black hair was shorter on the sides and longer on the top. It was styled in a simple swoosh to the side. She also noticed the kinds of golden brown highlights that seemed unnatural but she realized it may have to do with his animal form.

She could see his three marks, clear as day, on his neck. Two on one side and one on the other. The asymmetry of it all bothered her on a primal level. "Ah hello Princess." he said nervously, his eyes darting around the room to everything and everyone but her. He rubbed the back of his neck as his anxiety ticked up a few notches and waited for Mwezi to respond. "Look at me." Mwezi ordered deathly calm. He hesitated for a moment but did as she 'asked'. What he did not expect was the sad softness in her eyes. "Tayir I presume?" she asked and Tayir nodded.

Mwezi walked up to him and hugged him. She knew it was probably taboo, seeing as how she had a few mates already but she didn't know how else to thank this man. "Thank you." she said with a sniffle. "Thank you for saving me and Paka." she assed and squeezed him a bit harder as he returned the hug. Tayir was shocked. He'd never gotten any type of attention from women let alone a hug. They either knew who he was and didn't want to associate with him because he was trouble or preferred his brother Amir since Amir was the leader.

Tayir felt his face grow warm as he looked up to Kai over her head. Kai lifted a question brown and Kai's father wore a knowing smile. Before Kai could say anything, Māui walked in sporting the same kind of wounds Kai, Nyoka and Paka had. "Māui!" Mwezi squealed and ran over to him to give him a hug as well. Māui wasn't sure how to react at first but managed to realize he should hug back before making things awkward. Mwezi pulled back and noticed the wounds on him and pouted.

"You helped too?" She asked and Māui nodded. "Of course," he replied plainly and Kai's father chuckled. Tayir and Māui shared a look of understanding and everyone focused on Mwezi when her stomach let itself be known that it was empty and angry. "Well shit." she muttered and everyone laughed. "I'll have the maids start dinner if your mother hasn't already." Kai's father said. "I'll get Nyoka!" Mwezi announced as she skipped out the room excited to be home and safe.