Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 22
22
"Mateo!"
Ander dropped her to her feet and spun around, and for a moment all four of them stared at each other, frozen in place like a bunch of children playing musical statues.
The party was still going on outside. She could see the twins over Mateo's shoulder, trying to teach Mellah a complicated dance move while Sorrin looked on, scratching his head.
"Shut the damn door!" she said, amazed that she could have gone from blissful serenity to outright fury in a single second.
Mateo slipped inside, jerked Nilia in after him, and slammed the door behind his back, leaning against it with his arms splayed out as if worried that someone might try to break it down.
"Gods almighty, I meant go outside, then shut the damn door!"
He shook his head so fast his ears slapped against his temples. Nilia simply stood there, apparently dead to the world and everything in it.
Kiana was more than angry. She felt violated. This moment she had stressed and fretted over had unexpectedly turned out to be one of the happiest of her life, and they just barged in without a thought! It was- was- It was rude! That's what it was! Just plain rude! "Dammit, get the hell out! Just bugger off an-"
Ander put his hand on her shoulder, and that was enough to calm her down. A little bit, at least. He cleared his throat and, in a voice much calmer than anything she could have managed in her state, he simply asked, "Is there something you want?"
"Something we want?" Mateo seemed far edgier than usual. His fur was standing up in untidy spikes all over his body, right down to the tip of his tail. "For your information, we came to talk to you about - you know what? Never mind, it can wait. What's this I heard about a 'child'?"
Oh dear gods he heard that, he knows, he knows, we're all sunk!
Kiana tried her very best not to let the panic seep into her voice. "Now, Mateo, there is no need to go flying off the handle."
"Oh, I'm flying off the handle, all right. But by all means, try to stop me, I beg you. Set my mind at ease so I don't go flying off that handle! Tell me that the 'child' you talked about is just some hypothetical tot in a distant future, or a metaphor, or even some fictional character in a crappy novel you're penning together, just anything other than a literal child growing inside your literal body right literally now!"
Mateo used to have a way of sneaking peeks at her chest and tail when he thought she wasn't looking, lecherous glances that made her feel all icky and gross, but she would have gladly preferred any of those to the horrified way he was staring at her stomach right now, making her feel totally naked.
She covered her belly and turned towards Ander, pressing her body against his side in an attempt to cover her shame and draw comfort at the same time.
"By the gods, it's true, isn't it?" Mateo said. "You're...?"
It was too late to lie, and even if it wasn't, she was so tired of hiding. She had stepped over that threshold with the determination in her heart to move forward in life, to face any obstacles head-on and bear any consequences her actions might bring. So she nodded. "Yes. I am."
For a moment Mateo looked just like the drunken Fox who had gone flying out of Othello's bar: his eyes wide and his mouth open in a silent scream. He raised his hands in the air and said. "How... could you be... so... STUPID!?" He swung his arms down again, as if in an attempt to physically throw his words at them. "By my oath, Kiana, do your parents even know!?"
That stung much worse than being called stupid. "No," she admitted. "But if you have any respect left for me, you'll stay quiet about this until I can tell them myself."
Nilia continued her thousand yard stare while Mateo paced back and forth, banging his knuckles against his forehead. "I just can't get over how stupid you are! The both of you! I mean, what were you thinking!?"
It was getting harder for Kiana to keep her tears back. She had been crying just a few minutes ago out of gratitude and joy. For those tears to suddenly be transformed into a sign of shame was something she desperately didn't want to happen. She clutched Ander's clothes, and he gently squeezed her shoulder. It was a small gesture, but it made her feel a little better.
"Listen, Mateo," he said. "I don't care what you call me, but if you insult Kiana one more time, I won't hesitate to throw you out of my home. Do you understand?"
Mateo waved it away. "I promised my mother I'd try to be nicer to you, and I have, but this time I have to speak my mind."
"This time?" Kiana said, incredulous. "You always speak your mind, you jackass!"
"Well this time it's particularly warranted!"
"No! You have no right to lecture me like this, like you're so superior! Not after I went out of my way to drag you out of the gutter, you damn souse!"
"A hangover goes away after a single day, but what you've got right there is going to stay with you for a lifetime! Think about that!"
Kiana didn't have any snappy retorts for that one.
"You two should have known better! That's what really bothers me! After the living hell my mother went through you should have known something like this could happen! Didn't her story mean anything to you!? Or were you just so blinded by passion that nothing else mattered!?"
"For your information, we didn't know any better," Kiana said. "Ander and I were together before all that."
Mateo frowned. "But that doesn't make any sense. Wonderful wonderful Ander came barging into our home the same day he had to go back to his tribe. If you two were together before then, then that means..." He started to count the days on his fingers, and the more fingers he dropped, the wider his eyes became. "Oh my gods, Kiana, really!? You jumped into bed with a Wolf you've known less than a week!?"
"It- It wasn't like that! Don't -"
Mateo held up his hand. "Oh, I'm sorry, how terribly rude of me. I was completely mistaken. You're not stupid at all. You're just a great big giant SLUT!!"
Everything stopped dead for a moment. There were no sounds except for the soft crackle of the fire, but Kiana already knew. She could tell by the way Ander's grip suddenly tightened on her shoulder.
Mateo really, really shouldn't have said that...
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