Beauty and The Beasts: Rain

37. Cold

Just a quick note.  In the beginning of the story, I referred to cold season as snowy season.  I will alway refer to it as cold season and will eventually edit the earlier chapters to reflect that.  Enjoy.

     They couldn't remove the spider, much to Brice's horror. The male was stronger than both of them and they failed. It didn't help that Rain had to fight the cold and laughter at the same time. The smile on her face wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

     Brice was extremely uncomfortable and torn. On one hand, he wanted to rip the male off of him and throw him into the fire pit if he likes warmth so much. On the other, Rain was enjoying herself enough to smile and laugh. He didn't want to take that away from her, but lamented as to why her amusement had to come at his expense.

    They settled for coaxing the male awake by sitting in front of their fire. Harvey chose that time to return and questioned his eyes. Brice gave him the deadliest look he could muster and it got Rain suppressing another round of laughter. Harvey decided to enjoy his mate's good mood and honor Brice by never bring this up in the future.

     Once the spider came to and loosened his grip, Brice flew out of his embrace. Rain covered her mouth again and Harvey did too. The disoriented male didn't understand what what going on, but huddled as close to the fire as possible.

     "Hmm." The spider male hummed to himself. He enjoyed this warmth, even if it was a little too hot.

     The first snow began as they sat around the fire. Third returned later to find Harvey and Rain cuddling by the fire with a uptight Brice sending glares at a ball shaped, nude spider male. Third's jaw dropped at the bizarre sight.

     Third tried to ask Brice about what happened, but he wouldn't speak to him. Brice had always been friendly towards him, so why was he ignoring him now? Third harassed Brice and Rain until he was sent flying away. The spider male only moved in a circular motion, attempting to warm both his back and front. He acted oblivious to everyone around him and seemed to be enjoying himself.

     They eventually interrogated the male and learned that spiders do experience something like hibernation. If they didn't see him for a while, that would be the reason. Once he was warm enough the male went back to his hole in the ground.

     Rain was able to force herself to stay awake for some time, so long as she didn't go out into the cold and kept her temperature up. Brice and Third hunted on rotation. Harvey would stay home and keep Rain warm.

     At some point Rain stopped fighting sleep and went into her cold season slumber. The other males diligently took care of the household and made sure Rain never got too cold. Winston visited very rarely now and Brice or Third would gather information since they knew Rain would want it when she wakes up.

     Rain slept soundly as the world around her became covered in white. Blissfully unaware of the chaos occurring in the city. The three males of this unusual family discussed in hushed voices about the current events.

     "Why now though?" Harvey pondered out loud. "It's only halfway through the cold season. A lot of beasts will be hibernating."

     "Because a lot of beasts are hibernating, defenses are weaker." Brice answered.

     "Still, for three tribes to be hit already." Harvey mused, trying to come up with the answer.

     "That is a lot. I don't like how they were all tribes that were relatively close to us." Brice's forehead was creased in thought as he absentmindedly rubbed his stubble.