Gnoll/hyena boy x female reader - Part Six (sfw) (Patreon)

This has more of the feel of an epilogue than a separate part, setting up things for the half-gnoll story and Violet's, but I really enjoyed it. We meet Winter again, and get to see Florian once more, briefly, and see the kids grow up a bit. 

I really hope you've enjoyed the ride as much as I have! 

 Some of this does mention childbirth (in no great detail though).  

If you’d thought that Brenn was attentive to you before he knew of your pregnancy, he went into overdrive afterwards. He would barely let you do anything for yourself, and eventually you had to turn to him and say flatly that you’d already been through this once with Violet, and you knew what you were doing and what your limits were, and that, yes, you would ask if you needed him to do something for you.

He backed down immediately, his ears flattening submissively. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I just…”

You raised your palm to his cheek and kissed him, listening to the soft whine that escaped him. “I know. Come and walk with me? I’d like to see the rose garden.”

As when you’d been pregnant with Violet, Winter’s adder stone around your neck grew warmer and warmer each day, and as you stood alone one afternoon, five months pregnant, beside the ornamental lake near the rose garden’s outer walls, you felt it suddenly sear your skin so hot you cried out. 

You clutched the leather cord and held it away from your chest, expecting to see a red mark where it had been, but there was nothing. The only times this had happened was when, to your knowledge, a fae was trying to work magic on you. 

Whipping around, you saw a dark figure standing in the shadows of the rose garden archway, hand outstretched towards you. Long black hair fell to the figure’s waist, escaping from a voluminous hood. Suddenly a great flash of lightning speared through the air and caught the figure in the chest, sending them reeling backwards. In a dissolving shadow, they vanished, and you simply stood there in the aftermath, stunned and immobile with shock. 

The adder stone was still blazing hot in your hand, but it began to cool gradually as the white ghost of the lightning strike faded from your vision. 

“Winter?” you asked, looking around you, forgetting that he’d said part of the contract for Brenn’s life was that you could never see him again. “Winter is that you?”

“Don’t turn around,” came a familiar, hoarse voice from behind you. “Don’t move.”

“Winter,” you sighed in relief, going still once more. “What’s going on?”

“Dark fae,” he growled. “I felt his magic through the stone. Are you alright?”

“Yes,” you panted. “I think so. What did he want?”

There was a soft rustling, as though Winter had shrugged. “The energies of… of a pregnant woman are very potent. He could have wanted to drain you for his own gains.”

You shuddered, your hands going to your swollen belly. “Gods, Winter,” you hissed. “Thank you.” After a pause, you asked, “How are you? It’s been a long time…”

“I am well, thank you,” he said. “I would weave a protection spell around the boundary of your estate, but…” he sighed. 

“What’s the price?” you asked, a rueful smile in your tone, knowing his own magic was pitifully weak. “Wait, that lightning bolt… Was that you?”

He chuckled, his baritone warm and whickering. “Yes. My power that time came from the magic of the adder stone to protect you. Without it, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do very much.”

“I see. So, the price of protection?”

“I…” he hesitated and was quiet a long time. 

The temptation to turn around and see his scarred face was almost overpowering, but you forced yourself to stay put. “Winter?”

“I would have to touch you,” he said eventually. 

“Well, I promise not to turn around.”

“We’re already a hair’s breadth from violating the terms of the contract,” he said. “If we do, Brenn will die, at the very least.”

“I will close my eyes,” you said, still with your back to him. You stretched your hand out behind you, and after only a moment, he took it in his icy fingers. 

He was aptly named, and not just for his white hair and stunning grey-blue eyes. Pins and needles shot up your arm as the contract was made known to him, and then he caressed your wrist gently before letting you go. 

“The price?” you asked. “Please don’t tell me it’s the blood of this little one?” you said, placing your hands on the swell of your belly again. 

“No,” he said, and you could hear the smile in his voice. “No, nothing so demanding this time.” 

“What is it?”

“The first laugh of your unborn child.”

“The first laugh?” you asked. “What?”

He chuckled. “It seems the price for safety is a little happiness.”

“Wait, what will the repercussions be for the child?”

“None whatsoever,” Winter reassured you. “Except that their first laugh will be silent to your ears.”

“Right,” you said, somewhat weakly. 

He paused and then sighed. “Do you agree to form a contract for me to weave a protection spell around your boundary, to keep all those out who wish you and yours ill will?”

“I do.”

“Keep your eyes closed and turn around to shake my hand.”

You did. As he slipped his icy hand back around yours, a light pressed against your eyelids just as it had before in that forest clearing when Brenn lay at death’s door. 

You staggered, ramming your eyes tightly shut just in case, but Winter’s other hand steadied you at your waist. “Easy,” he murmured. And then he added with a smile, “Your babe is strong and healthy.” Presumably he could tell that much with a simple touch.

You gasped. “Thank you, Winter,” you said. “For all you continue to do for this family.”

“I will always treat your family with the love and respect they deserve,” he said. “Now I must go. Give my love to Brenn for me?”

“I will.”

There was a slight shifting in the air, but when you cracked your eyes open, there was no sign that anyone had ever been there, not even a bent blade of grass in front of you, save for a slight singeing on one or two of the rose leaves near the archway. 

Brenn met you in the doorway as you made your way back to the house. “I was just coming to find you,” he said, hurrying over and leaning down to nuzzle at your neck. “I saw that flash of lightning…” His hand fell to caress your belly and he growled softly. “Are you both alright? What happened?”

“Winter,” you said. “Protecting us.”

Brenn’s ears shot forward and he scanned the landscape, tail bristling. “He’s here?” You shook your head. “Protecting you from what?”

“The danger’s gone now,” you said, resting your hand on his strong forearm. “Winter is setting a protection spell around the boundary for us. And before you ask, no, his magic isn’t strong enough to do it alone, and yes, I made a little contract with him, and no, it’s not serious.”

Brenn growled more loudly this time. 

“Winter sends his love, by the way,” you added. “Come on, I’m getting cold, and I’ve got the weirdest craving for yoghurt on toast.”

Brenn shepherded you back inside, looking over his shoulder and locking the door behind him. 

When the contractions started a month and a half later, you sent for Florian. 

Despite it being late in the year, with winter already starting to settle itself around the house in looming clouds and thrashing rain, Florian galloped practically the whole way to you from the city, his medical bags strapped to his back, and he arrived, soaked, chest heaving, as you lay sweating and biting off howls upstairs.

He washed his muddy fetlocks off but didn’t dry them since Brenn looked fit to pass out with worry, and Florian burst into your room looking concerned, as though expecting to find the whole place bathed in blood. When he saw the fierce light in your eyes, however, he relaxed a bit.

Breathing steadily, he chuckled and shook his head. “I should know by now,” he said, nudging the door closed with a hind hoof as he prepared his medical bags, “Never to trust the partner of a pregnant woman.”

“Brenn still freaking out?” you grunted, breath hissing through your teeth. “I had to ban him from being in here, you know? He was stressing me out.”

“I don’t blame you. He managed to stress me out, and I’ve only just got here. I think he’s shedding so much on the carpet downstairs that you could make a new rug from it all. 

“Poor baby,” you said, breaking off as a fresh contraction wracked your body. “Shit, this hurts a lot more than it did for Violet…”

“I suspect this will be a bit more difficult than it was for Violet,” he said, “But nothing we can’t manage together, alright?”

You nodded. “Do whatever you need to do, Florian.”

The pain of giving birth to a half-gnoll cup was, in a word, excruciating. But after ten hours in labour, and with Florian helping you through it, a perfect little half-breed gnoll was brought to your sweat-soaked face and began to mewl and nuzzle at you. A perfect ball of dark fuzz, he opened his eyes blearily and you saw that they were unusually grey. 

“He’s beautiful,” you slurred, wiped out.”

“He’s sexed male,” Florian said. “You want to go with that?”

“For now,” you said. “He can always let us know if we got it wrong later,” and he began to suckle immediately, his tiny black paws pricking at your sensitive breast. “Gently now, little one,” you murmured as he latched his little gummy mouth around your nipple. 

Exhaustion washed over you again and you fought just to keep your eyes open. 

“Let him suckle, and then I’ll take him away to do some checks on him, and let you sleep a while, alright?” Florian said.

His voice sounded vague to your ears but you nodded. “Perfect.”

Florian opened the door and called down the corridor. After a heartbeat came the clack of claws on the wood, and Brenn burst in, Violet held in one arm against his hip. “You alright? Oh gosh, oh look at you both,” he gushed, setting Violet down and reaching for his pup with a shaking hand. “Oh look…” 

The little gnoll released your nipple and bared his tiny teeth at Brenn as he leaned over him, which made Brenn giggle and bare his own teeth right back at him, which seemed to surprise your tiny child. 

“Has he got a name?” Violet asked, standing beside Brenn on her tiptoes, unable to see very much. 

Florian picked her up easily and sat her on the edge of the bed. “Well, mama?” he asked you, smiling, “Do we have a name yet?”

You nodded sleepily. “Oskar,” you said. “Your little brother’s name is Oskar.”

She repeated it as best she could and then nodded. “He’s so cute,” she added, teasing his tiny toes with her finger. 

Brenn was just staring, transfixed by the whole scene, and eventually it was Florian who broke the spell. “Come on, family,” he said. “Let mama have her rest now. I’ll take Oskar and give him a once-over now that he’s full and falling asleep. I’ll bring him straight back, I promise.”

Brenn hardly left Oskar’s side for the first few weeks, wanting him to grow up knowing he was gnoll and that he had a clan, even if that clan was only two. You still read your stories to Violet, but this time you included Oskar in them, though he was too young to understand anything, and Brenn would carry Violet to her room when she fell asleep in your bed. 

Oskar was a very quiet baby, especially since Violet had been so chatty and noisy, making all sorts of gurgling little sounds, but the little half-gnoll barely made a squeak, except for growling and snapping when his feeding was interrupted. Eventually though, he did laugh, and, as Winter had said, his very first giggle – right after creating a huge milk-bubble over his nose by accident – was silent. 

Once the winter faded into a rather grey and watery spring, Oskar was haring around the house on all fours like an absolute menace. He was lean and, according to Brenn, much smaller than a full-gnoll pup of his age would be, but he had his quiet moments too. Much to your relief, Violet adored him, and the two of them would spend hours together. As Oskar’s coat grew, Violet would brush it for him, sending him into a semi-conscious stupor which allowed her to lacquer his claws bright pink without him objecting. 

All in all, the first year of his life was relative bliss. 

For the most part, you stayed in the countryside at Vineside. You had a few social calls: Florian popped by frequently to check on you and Oskar; and once the duke with whom the queen had tried to set you up appeared, but he paled when he saw Brenn standing quietly behind you, one paw on your shoulder, and, needless to say, he didn’t stay very long. Whether it was because he recalled Brenn in the fighting ring or just because Brenn fixed him with the unfriendliest stare he could muster, you weren’t sure. 

Matteo and Nazetta came to call as well, returning your call from the previous summer, and you welcomed them and their new baby into your home. It turned out that they had been struggling to conceive, and had in fact gone to Florian to see about some treatments. The end result was sitting in a nursemaid’s arms: a gurgling, dark-haired, freckle-faced baby only six months or so younger than Oskar. 

Oskar tottered over to him and put his paws curiously on the nursemaid’s skirts, snuffling at the baby’s feet. Nazetta couldn’t quite restrain her hiccup of alarm as his nose tickled her baby’s toes. 

“Don’t worry,” you laughed, rising and going over to him. “Oskar’s not going to bite little Jasper, are you?” 

The little ball of fur looked up at you with his oddly grey eyes, and shook his head looking outraged at the mere suggestion. “Hewwo,” he mumbled, and you and Brenn both smiled. 

Oskar was quiet a weight now, even if he was smaller than a gnoll would have been at his age, but you picked him up and let him nose at the baby, who had been whingeing and crying on and off all day as though colicky. It worried you, but Florian was his doctor, and must have had everything under control. Oskar began to wag his tiny tail furiously back and forth and Jasper giggled suddenly. 

Matteo gazed down at Oskar as though the little pup had achieved a miracle, and even Nazetta’s pinched expression softened. “Jasper hasn’t laughed yet,” Matteo said. “He’s been so sickly…”

You couldn’t help wondering if the price of Oskar’s first giggle for your safety had been demanded by Winter’s magic in order for it to be given to Jasper instead. 

That afternoon the nursemaid was playing with Jasper on the rug beside the empty fireplace in the next room when Oskar slithered out of your arms and bounded over, clearly having decided that he wanted to play with the little wooden blocks as well. Leaving them at it, you returned to talking with Matteo and his wife. 

Bored with the conversation, Brenn slipped out frequently to check on the children, and it was clear that Nazetta was far from happy with his presence, but there was absolutely nothing she could do about it without offending you, and given your connection to Duke Phillip, you ranked above her. 

Just as you yourself were beginning to tire of the inane chatter, Brenn ducked his head in and whistled softly to get your attention, which put Nazetta’s back up instantly. “C’mere and look at this,” you heard him whisper. 

You and Matteo rose, curiously, and hurried across the carpeted room, while Nazetta took her time. 

You emerged into the other room to see Oskar lying on his side, curled up around baby Jasper, both of them fast asleep. 

Matteo’s face lit up and he grinned at you. “Jasper never sleeps well,” he said, glancing at the nursemaid, who nodded in agreement. She’d plainly been sitting in the nearby chair, keeping an eye on them while she knitted. “He looks so peaceful,” Matteo went on. “I hope they grow up to be good friends. I’m so glad they’re of an age with one another.”

“You must bring him here whenever you like for the air if the city gets too much for him,” you said. “If his lungs are indeed as bad as you say.”

He nodded, and at that moment Nazetta shrieked in horror and scurried over to the hearthrug, tearing baby Jasper up out of Oskar’s embrace, startling both of the children awake and into shocked tears. 

“What were you thinking?” she barked at the nursemaid, who had gone several shades paler. “Letting him sleep on the floor like… like…”

You raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”

“Like an animal,” she hissed, turning to leave.

Matteo closed his eyes in horror. “I’m so sorry,” he said, laying a hand on your upper arm before you turned away to scoop up a very confused little Oskar. “She… She doesn’t understand…” Matteo added.

“I know,” you said, jaw grinding and brows hard as you jiggled Oskar in your hands. 

Confused and upset, he wouldn’t stop howling until Brenn took him off you and began to nuzzle him gently, licking his face and crooning at him in their own gnoll way of communicating. 

Matteo and you watched them for a moment before Matteo murmured, “He’s very good with him. I wish I were as good with Jasper. Nazetta’s so worried he’ll break, you know? She’ll hardly let anyone but her or Charlotte near him.” 

The nursemaid sighed and excused herself, and shortly Matteo said his farewells and promised to return with Jasper in the future. 

Oskar grew out of his ebullience, into a serious boy, who enjoyed reading with you and Violet by the fire, and studying his fighting and running with his father around the extensive grounds of the former hunting lodge. They could often be seen racing across the open deer park in the evenings: two lean streaks blazing across the meadow, sending flocks of pigeons wheeling into the dusky sky above, occasionally scattering the small herds of cervitaurs in the open pasture. After his leg had been broken in the fighting pits, Brenn had lost a lot of his speed and stamina, but for now, he could still give skinny little Oskar a run for his money.

Violet grew into a beautiful young woman. She was heavier set than you around the hips and the middle, with long, dark brown hair that fell to her waist in thick waves, and whenever you couldn’t find her, you would always know to look in the rose garden, no matter what the time of year, and there she would be, as though drawn to it like a moth to a flame. 

As she got older, she spent an increasing amount of time in the city, under the watchful eye of Ravi when you were not there, and you knew it was important for her to mingle in society and to make human friends too. Being raised in an environment where other creatures such as rakshasi and minotaurs, centaurs, cervitaurs, and goblins were simply a part of her extended family, not to mention the two gnolls in her life, had ensured that she did not adopt the customs and attitudes of the city, and you always made sure to let her know how proud of her you were. 

One evening, as you sat watching the sun go down with Brenn, sitting on the terrace on the cushioned loveseat, his arm heavy around your shoulders, you sighed a smile and looked up at him. Oskar, aged thirteen now, was dozing in his favourite spot on the lawn, his tail occasionally twitching, after wearing himself out with his father earlier that day. 

A letter sat in your lap from Violet, telling you all about discovering the university library, and how she had been allowed inside and to read or borrow almost any book she wanted. Below it was a note from Ravi about her progress with her tutor, and a few other notes of import. 

Brenn, who was now more than capable of reading, murmured, “Read it to me?” 

He nuzzled your ear gently as you did, his warm breath a comfort as it fanned across your cheek, his steady presence centring you as it always did. 

“Dear Mama and Papa,” you began. “As I write this, I sit in the dining room with the morning sun flashing off the hard ceramic of my coffee cup…”

“She writes like you do,” Brenn laughed. 

“What, in over-wrought, florid prose?” you laughed, swatting his ear with the letter. “Surely not.”

As you continued to read, you glanced up and saw Oskar roll over onto his back, his lanky legs splayed out with all the inelegance of a spatchcock chicken, and both paws curled up and flopping over onto his chest. His mouth hung open and his tongue lolled out of the side. 

You nodded at him, and Brenn chuckled again. “Well, at least one of our children knows how to behave decently,” he said. “And it’s not that one,” he added. 

“Ah, they’re just fine. Both of them,” you smiled, laying your head on his shoulder. “Told you we’d do alright, didn’t I?”

“Yeah,” he smiled, laying his chin on the crown of your head. “Yeah, you did.”

Thank you for sticking with this story! I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, don't forget to leave a like on this post. I will work on the other stories soon, but I will try to focus on a different non-human as well, for those who may not be so into gnolls...