Stallion Mage: A Horse Shifter Mpreg Romance (COMPLETE)

Confessions In The Dark

After they had wiped away traces of their seed, Laren and Alvarr lay face to face on the leader's pallet. Laren shook his head. "I don't know what to say." His voice was hushed, but Alvarr could hear the joy in it.

"There's nothing to say," Alvarr said. "We are mates. It is not unusual to join with one's mate."

"But how do you know?" Laren asked.

The mage closed his eyes, picturing the images that Elder Mastok showed him over the past few weeks. But the truth was, he had been wise in the ways of Nature before he had begun his formal study. "I listen," he said finally. "I obey Nature, I let myself be guided. And I have discovered things..."

Was now the time to bring up Larea and her stallion, and her foal?  Or his own foal?  His hand crept to his stomach.

"Does something pain you?" Laren asked, his hands going to Alvarr's bare back. "Did you exert yourself too much?"

Alvarr hid a smile. Already, he sounded overprotective. It's time to tell him. "I'm fine, Laren," he said. "And..." he reached his awareness down to his stomach. A glow of energy answered, and this time,  the mage could tell that his foal was female. "She is fine, too," he murmured. And a mage, I'm sure of it.

Alvarr could hear Laren's confused frown in his voice. "Who is fine? Who is she? We don't have any mares here." His hand reached up to the mage's forehead to check for fever.

Alvarr drew Laren up to sit next to him. "Laren, I need to tell you something. I've been hiding it from you for..." The mage thought back and realized that it might have been more than one full season. If he had gotten with foal at the Time of Mating, that was the end the summer, and now, it was already into winter.

His heart gave a great galloping beat. His foal... his filly... his daughter could be born in less than three seasons, and how was that going to happen?

He shook his head and ran his hands through his hair. Suddenly, it had all become more real. I'm going to have a daughter. A mage daughter. He drew in a great shuddering breath.

"What is wrong, Alvarr?" The leader gripped his waist and pulled the mage into his side.

The mage tried to calm himself for his mate's sake, but his voice trembled. "You're not going to believe me," he said. "I know it." He pulled at his hair, sweat starting to spring around his hairline from nerves.

"Stop it," Laren said, pulling his hands away from his head. "Just tell me, whatever it is. I promise, I'll believe you. I've never known you to lie."

"Yes, but this is so..." The mage clutched his mate's strong hands for support. "Laren, I am..." The words with foal would not come out of his throat. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He couldn't stop thinking about the possibility of being separated from his daughter, now that he knew. What is wrong with me?

"The Elders," Laren said anxiously. "Can they help? If... I cannot? Are you well, or are you... not?"

"Yes!" Alvarr stood up and pulled his mate off the pallet with a grip that belied his smaller size. "That's it. We must go to the Elders." He sobbed with relief. "I don't know why I'm so upset, Laren. It's not bad news. I'm well, I'm very well, it's just..."

Laren gathered him up close in a hug, letting his presence and smell calm the mage. "It's a hard time," he said. "I, too, despair sometimes. If it weren't for you, I would not be able to hold the tribe together."

"Really?" Alvarr sniffed and dashed tears from his eyes. But I've done almost nothing to help, except for the grass.

Laren stroked his back. "Really. And I thank Nature that you are so healthy. It does me good to see you, somehow radiant, even though times are so hard."