I took a shaky breath. That felt slightly better.
"Leveret won't go far," Starry went on. "He'll be back soon."
That was true. Since moving into the later stages of my pregnancy, Leveret was never scarce. He was always nearby, even if he left me alone to relax in bed while he ate in hare form outside the cabin. Sometimes these wild shifters and their lack of technology frustrated me—I wouldn't be in this dilemma if Leveret could eat kale out of the fridge—but that was part of the reason I loved them so much. It made them special.
I exhaled slowly, feeling a bit calmer.
"Thank you," I said.
Starry nodded. "What else can I do to help?"
Nest. I needed to nest. The urge prickled under my skin like something was trying to crawl out of me. Did hares nest, or was this instinct coming from my phoenix form?
"I need something soft," I said, letting the words tumble out of my mouth unfiltered. "Actually, a lotof soft things."
She looked puzzled. "Like fur?"
That impulse nagged at me. "Fur, feathers, pillows... Anything. I need to make a nest to give birth in."
Her eyes widened in understanding. "Got it."
Without another sign, she shifted into her mountain lion form and bolted upstairs, running faster than any human could. The pain wasn't too bad so I followed her. By the time I got there, Starry had collected every pillow in the house and put it on my bed.
Happiness washed over me. All she'd done was bring me pillows, but this gesture was more than any of my spirit siblings had ever done for me.
"Starry," I murmured. "Thank you."
The mountain lion swished her tail. She shifted back to human form and signed rapidly. "I can get more, but I'll need to leave you alone for a while. Is that okay?"
The coming-and-going tides of pain weren't awful yet, and I was soothed by the nesting materials in bed. I could deal with it until Leveret and Starry returned.
"Sure," I said.
Starry nodded. Shifting again, she bounded away in a flash of tan fur.
Alone now, I sighed and sank into bed. The mass of pillows comforted me, but they weren't in the perfect position yet. My phoenix soul stirred in frustration. I picked at each pillow, arranging them via trial-and-error until they were in a position that pleased me. But it wasn't enough. I needed more, and I needed my mate. Where the hell was he?
Just as my frustration peaked, I heard someone enter the cabin. A flurry of footsteps pounded against the wood floors.
Leveret appeared in the door, panting and sweating. "Animus!"
My heart soared. My mate returned.
He ran towards me. "Starry ran past me outside. Told me you went into labor," he said between breaths. "Are you okay?"
"Fine so far, except for the random bouts of pain and this irritating urge to nest."
"Nest?" Leveret asked.
I gestured to the mountain of pillows surrounding me. "I think it's my phoenix. Hares don't nest, do they?"
"Not really. We're not like rabbits. We don't dig burrows underground," Leveret explained.
I sighed. "One more thing to blame on the fire bird..."
Leveret kissed my forehead. "We'll get through it. All you need is pillows and soft things, right? I can go—"
"No." I grabbed his forearm, forbidding him to leave. "You're not going anywhere."