Three of them.
Uhai had known his adventurous ways with women would have the chance of bearing offspring. He had also known the chances of him ever raising children with the fact he hardly met women more than once was slim.
But what had the gods chosen for him? A life of wandering and giving love to all who would receive it was what he'd had in mind.
He had never had the idea cross his mind that someday, a leopardess he had shared a night with would cross his path again, heavy with cubs that were his own. But when he saw her in that state, stressed with the inability to hunt with the weight of their night together, he had made his decision.
The decision to stay by her side and help raise their children.
Of course, there was no commitment between the two of them. What had been a one time thing would remain as such. But he would protect the offspring that she carried, genetically linking the two of them.
As time would pass, he would watch her grow larger and smile to himself, curious of what number of paws would be accommodating her swelling bodice. He would watched for an hour or so as she slept to just see a glimpse of movement under the surface of her skin, of the cubs that sought freedom like their dear father did.
It wasn't long until the time of birth, and he would be there to see it happen.
And he would be proud.
It was now that he sat there, staring down at the three little squirming cubs he had helped to bring into this world. There were two girls that he would have to spoil with every waking moment, and a little boy that he would teach all that he could of watching out for his sisters.
Even as squirming little cubs, their eyes shut to the world and squeals muffled and small, he was having his fair share of trouble keeping them together.
They were already trying to leave the nest!
He watched with admiring eyes, until a thought crossed his mind. They would need names, wouldn't they?
It was here that he would frown. He may be their father, but did he bear any right to naming them? A fling is a fling, in his eyes. No amount of saying 'free love' made it any less of one. He didn't think himself the proper one to name them. It should be their mother, the one who went through so much more than he had for them to exist.
He left them to her and went to the mouth of the cave they had taken as shelter, absorbing all that there was to see with guilt. They wouldn't see all that there was, for a while. But the moment they could, he would share every minute of it with them.
A deep breath took in the scents on the air, the dark fur absorbed all that the light could give.
A squeak at his tail and he looked up.
One of the cubs had found it's way across the floor, and for that, Uhai's eyes widened. Wow.
He glanced over at the resting leopardess and quickly picked the cub up, placing it back at her side.
The way she looked, stresses finished for the day, reminded him of his own past. His nose wrinkled in distaste.
His own parents had been elitists, believing that only pure cheetahs were worthy to live on the savannah. He could recall the days spent huddling next to his mother, a lone cub, but she would give him no warmth because he had spoken against her beliefs. He had always been against those beliefs, but it wouldn't be until he was old enough to leave her side that he would see just how horrid of a woman she was. An adult cheetah, a mother even!
He had woken early from his sleep to find her missing, and quickly bolted upright, wondering if the lions she despised so much had made a meal of her. He peered from the soft grasses of his bed and found her flaunting herself before a trio of lions, who cheered and admired her while just behind them, near their fresh catch, his father would be robbing them of meat. Uhai had been horrified. If his pure-blooded mother could lower herself to being a distraction just for food, how could she call herself the best creature on the savannah, unable to catch her OWN meal and the dinner of her son? The hurt had stung him more than her angry voice ever had, and that had been the night he would leave her, hoping to forget her teachings.
He would live out the rest of his life showing love to all the gods had created, even to bury those he had taken as a meal in respect for what they gave him, so that he may live on with their passing. He knew that all did not believe in this same respect, and he would bury what he came across that had been left in the sun.
Even now, as he looked towards the future he had all the intention of raising with their leopardess mother, he hoped they could grow to love as he has, without the overbearing and choking atmosphere that he had hoped to leave behind him.
A tiny squeak later, and he was assured. No, they would be just fine. He would see to that with every breath in his body. But first... he thought quietly, tiptoeing away from the now sleeping figures, they would need food. As he headed away from their hiding place, golden eyes searched for something as close as possible. He was a new father, after all. He was going to wind up suffering from separation anxiety if he was gone too long from them.
Well, so much for being a cool dad. Overbearing was more his style, in this situation.
[Word Count: 1004]
