Chapter 51
Slack jawed, the man led Natalie and the two wargs back further into the church. He still had not said a word about the giant canines, but he was not even worried about that. 'She had said that she had supplies to share, so where were they? She did not have any bags on herself, nor did her companions have any packs themselves.' He wondered to himself. Too afraid to confront her when those giant predators were flanking her, he led the way quietly. When they finally got to the kitchen, there were two people who were cleaning the dishes from this morning as best they could. The lack of any running water made it difficult, but they managed. Nat walked over to one of the large and empty counters and proceeded to get supplies unloaded. Bottled water, bandages, simple meds, and a variety of medical tools came out onto the counter from the mouths of wolves. The three onlookers were flabbergasted at the sight. Wolves kept leaving and entering her body, bringing supplies galore out. At this sight, the man had to speak up, "How are you doing this?"
"When that green wave came by, everything changed. You can bond with animals, and they can do so much more than they used to. They are smarter, more dexterous, and possibly stronger than before." Nat replied, not even focusing on him and just organizing the canines helping out. They had moved over to another counter now and were just unloading food.
"So that means Fred wasn't crazy." He muttered to himself. His eyes widened in realization, "Could any animal do what you are doing right now?" At her affirmation, he ran out of the room. Confused, Nat shrugged and finished organizing the supplies the wolves were bringing out to share with this group of survivors. Just a few minutes after she finished, the man ran back in dragging someone in with him. This one seemed to be a little younger, but the part that stood out to Nat the most was the green mist coming off him. It was much stronger than Gertrude's had been after she got her tabby in. Did that mean there was more creatures inside? Or just bigger?
After a small discussion, she could not get to a conclusive answer. For the guy had bonded with his cattle, but had been unable to with his horses. That, and the man felt terrified of Nat the entire time. Apparently, she gave off the same vibe to him as Sol and Luna did. Knowing that she now was being looked at as a dangerous predator, she felt slightly chagrined. So that was why the cows from before were afraid of her. Her very being was being seen as similar to the wolves. They shared information back and forth, but there was not much that he knew that Nat did not. He had been surprised to know about being able to duplicate items, making barricades or managing supplies much easier. The relief and joy in the faces of everyone who was listening was bright. The one thing he did know about was pregnancy relating directly to bonded animals. One of his cattle had been pregnant before bonding with him a week ago, and the timeline for how pregnant she was close. Apparently, out of the 280 average days of pregnancy, the cow had been at around 260 days at the time of bonding. The surprising part, was that just five days after bonding she had given birth. As soon as the calf had been born, he claimed to have already felt a bond with the newborn babe.
As a vet, this intrigued Nat. The timeline for the pregnancy sped up four times while bonded in the Soulscape, which matched with the healing increase she had seen on Bryden and Kali. Did that mean that if any of her bonded wolves got pregnant, that they only would be pregnant for two weeks instead of the two months? That mixed with the immediate bonding made it interesting. Did the four times apply to their age as well? Making a mental note to check for signs of age later, she thanked Fred for his info. She could see that they were all still cautious of a woman with an army of canines inside of her, and she wanted to get back on the road. Bidding the group good bye and good luck, she headed back out the church, warm and prepared.
On the way out, she made sure to break every frozen goblin outside. While they currently posed no threat, she wanted to be sure that they would not just warm up and go back to attacking people if they were still fine. Once that was done, they made their way back to the highway. Luna took point this time, as a way of balancing the workload between the two. As she walked between her two large pack members, she could not help but imagine what their pups would look like. Would they be huge? Would they be extra fluffy? So many questions surrounded this, which led to a whole other fun debate with the canines still in the Soulscape. This time, it was between every female of the pack. Emily seemed extra excited that she could still have pups while bonded. Seeka seemed curious to more than anyone expected, especially when she revealed that she had been eyeing up the malnourished shepherd. While his recovery was faster, Nat warned her not to push anything yet, as he was still needing his energy to heal. Hearing that as the only reason, to hold back, Emily quickly left them all behind and dragged Bryden into the forest, away from the eyes of the pups.
Seeing that, Shadow and Ash followed suit and disappeared into a different area. The watching females giggled to themselves at their antics, especially Maia and Kali. They remembered their time of young love before fondly, but neither had anymore wish to have pups again any time soon. Nat did her best not to look into the Soulscape while they walked, as she wanted to make sure to give the two couples their privacy. Seeka on the other hand just got more meat and brought it over to the shepherd. He hadn't been out since the bonding, but also had not had the energy or want to converse. Therefore, she did not want to attempt to give him a name, as he probably still wanted to go by the one marked on the collar he still wore. One of the last mementos he had of his previous family.
Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Jake, Viktor, Nikolas, Saganatsu, Eeleater, Zmal, Lachlan, Coen, Adam, John, Ty, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times. Our next goal on Patreon will be getting up to 25 patrons, which I will then open up an official discord for everyone to come and discuss the story in and hang out!