Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband

Chapter 211: The Babysitting Operation

Babysitting a two-year-old is a challenge. Babysitting a two-year-old Duck-kin with a full squad of apex predator beast-cubs is a highly disorganized extreme sport.

It had been three days since the glowing magical incident on the patio. Pip was now officially a toddler, complete with a mop of fluffy yellow hair, chubby cheeks, and a pair of soft, downy duck wings on his back. Lucien was currently inside the manor, being forced by Caspian to take a nap because the Panther Warlord hadn’t blinked or stepped away from his new son for seventy-two hours.

That left the cubs in charge of entertainment.

I sat on a lounge chair on the patio, a cup of tea in my hands, ready to intervene if things got out of hand. But honestly, I just wanted to see what they would do.

Down on the soft grass, the "operation" had begun.

"Stand at attention, recruit!" Arjun barked.

The nine-year-old tiger-cub was pacing back and forth in front of Pip. Arjun had his hands behind his back, looking like a tiny, extremely serious drill sergeant.

Pip was wearing a pair of tiny blue overalls that Luna had rush-ordered from the capital. He blinked his large, dark eyes at Arjun. Then, he squatted down and poked a dandelion.

"Recruit!" Arjun sighed, rubbing his forehead. "You cannot break formation to inspect the flora! A soldier must maintain the perimeter! Now, march! Left, right, left!"

Arjun demonstrated a perfect, disciplined march.

Pip watched him intently. Then, the toddler stood up and began to waddle. It wasn’t a march. It was an aggressive, side-to-side duck waddle, complete with his little yellow wings flapping for balance.

"Honk!" Pip announced happily, waddling directly into Arjun’s legs and hugging the tiger-cub’s knees.

Arjun stiffened, his ears turning entirely red. He looked down at the chubby toddler hugging him. "Um. The... the recruit is engaging in unauthorized affection. I do not have a protocol for this."

"You are using the wrong training method," Jasper interrupted, adjusting his round glasses as he stepped forward with a stack of wooden blocks. "His cognitive development requires visual stimulation, not military drills. Allow the scholar to work."

Jasper sat down on the grass, crossing his legs. He placed a red wooden square on the ground. Then, he placed a blue triangle next to it.

"Observe, Pip," Jasper said in his best professor voice. "This is a square. It has four equal sides. Can you point to the square?"

Pip waddled over to Jasper. He looked at the red square. He looked at the blue triangle. Then, he picked up the blue triangle, opened his mouth, and bit it.

*Clack.*

"Prim!" Jasper gasped, looking thoroughly scandalized. "The avian is attempting to consume the educational materials! Wood is entirely indigestible! He will ruin his gastric lining!"

"He’s teething, Jasper," I laughed from the patio. "Just trade him the block for a snack."

Before Jasper could negotiate a trade, Vali bounded over, his tail wagging a mile a minute. The wolf-cub pushed his way to the front of the group, puffing out his chest.

"You guys are boring!" Vali declared loudly, making sure to glance over his shoulder to see if Clover was watching. She was sitting on a picnic blanket nearby, organizing a tiny tea party. "Wolves know how to play! I am going to teach him how to hunt!"

Vali dropped to his hands and knees. He looked at Pip, who had dropped the wooden block and was now watching the wolf-cub with wide eyes.

"Okay, Pip! Watch the Alpha!" Vali barked softly. He pointed a finger at a small, harmless green beetle crawling through the grass. "That is prey! We have to sneak up on it!"

Vali flattened himself against the grass, demonstrating a perfect, stealthy predator crawl. He crept closer to the beetle.

Pip let out an excited squeal. He dropped to his hands and knees and copied Vali. But instead of being stealthy, Pip just army-crawled as fast as he could, his little wings buzzing, giggling the entire way.

"No, shh! You have to be quiet!" Vali whispered loudly.

Pip reached the beetle first. He didn’t pounce on it. He simply picked it up with two chubby fingers, looked at it, and then held it out proudly toward Clover.

"Bug!" Pip chirped.

Clover wrinkled her bunny nose, standing up and marching over. She smoothed down her pastel pink dress and put her hands on her hips, giving Vali a very stern look.

"Vali," Clover scolded, her long ears twitching. "You cannot teach a baby to touch dirty bugs. What if it bites him? A good provider protects the pack from gross things."

Vali panicked. His grand attempt to look cool had backfired. He immediately scrambled up, gently swatting the beetle out of Pip’s hand and standing protectively in front of the toddler.

"I was protecting him!" Vali backpedaled instantly, his tail tucking. "I was going to eat the bug so it wouldn’t get him! I am a very good provider, Clover! I promise!"

Clover sighed heavily, shaking her head. "You lack refinement, wolf. Move over. Babies need accessories, not hunting lessons."

Clover reached into her bag and pulled out a tiny, woven straw sun hat. She carefully placed it on Pip’s head. It had a little hole in the back so it didn’t mess up his fluffy yellow hair.

Pip reached up, touching the brim of the hat. He looked at Clover, a massive, gummy smile spreading across his face. "Hat!"

"See?" Clover smiled, looking very proud of herself. "Now he is fashionable. Market value increased by twenty percent."

"I can increase his fun value!" Orion shouted, running over from the patio.

The nine-year-old Jiaoren prince was holding a long, smooth piece of polished wood and a bucket of water. He quickly propped the wood up against the edge of the stone patio, creating a small, gentle slope that ended right in the soft grass. Then, he poured the water down the wood, making it slick.

"I built a micro-slide!" Orion announced, his teal eyes shining. "The friction is basically zero! Pip, look!"

Orion grabbed a heavy round apple and rolled it down the wet wooden ramp. It slid perfectly, shooting off the end and rolling into the grass.

Pip’s dark eyes went perfectly round. His little wings flapped wildly. He waddled as fast as his chubby legs could carry him to the top of the ramp. He didn’t even hesitate. He sat down on his diaper-padded bottom and pushed off.

*Wheeeee!* Pip slid down the ramp, tumbling gently into the soft grass at the bottom. He burst into a fit of high-pitched, infectious giggles, clapping his hands. "More! More!"

"Told you!" Orion beamed, high-fiving Vali. "Architecture solves everything!"

For the next half hour, the cubs actually worked together as a perfectly synchronized baby-entertainment unit.

Orion operated the micro-slide, splashing a little water on it to keep it fast. Vali stood at the bottom, acting as a furry bumper pad so Pip wouldn’t roll too far into the yard. Clover stood by, fixing Pip’s little straw hat every time it fell off, while Jasper sat nearby with a stopwatch, timing the descents.

Even Arjun relaxed, taking up a position near the gate to "guard the perimeter from unauthorized fun-interruptions."

But eventually, the adrenaline of the slide wore off. Pip’s giggles turned into soft, tired little hiccups. The toddler rubbed his eyes, his downy yellow wings drooping slightly.

He waddled away from the slide, ignoring Orion holding out another apple. He bypassed Vali and Clover. He walked straight toward the large, shady roots of the ancient oak tree.

Silas was sitting there.

The little panther-cub hadn’t joined the loud games. He had been quietly sitting in the shade, watching everything with his bright violet eyes.

Pip waddled up to Silas, let out a massive, exhausted yawn, and practically collapsed into the panther-cub’s lap.

Silas didn’t flinch. He gently wrapped his arms around the toddler, pulling him close. Silas’s panther ears twitched, and he opened one hand. A tiny, soft shadow-duck materialized in his palm. It waddled over to Pip’s knee and quacked silently.

Pip gave a sleepy smile, reaching out to pat the cool shadow. Then, he tucked his head under Silas’s chin, popped his thumb into his mouth, and fell fast asleep.

The courtyard went completely quiet.

Orion, Vali, Jasper, and Arjun all tiptoed over, gathering around the oak tree in a silent, protective circle. Clover sat down next to Silas, gently adjusting the blanket she had pulled from her bag to lay over Pip’s legs.

"We did a good job," Vali whispered loudly, his chest puffed out. "We tired the prey out."

"He is not prey," Jasper corrected in a hushed tone. "He is our adopted sibling. And his energy output is statistically terrifying."

"He is a good recruit," Arjun nodded approvingly.

I stood up from my lounge chair, picking up the tray of juice and snacks I had prepared. I walked over to the group, keeping my footsteps light.

Before I could even set the tray down, the shadows beneath the oak tree seemed to deepen.

Lucien stepped seamlessly out of the darkness. The Panther Warlord was no longer wearing his stiff suit jacket; he was just in a dark dress shirt, looking slightly rumpled but completely alert.

The cubs immediately parted to let him through.

Lucien knelt down in the grass next to his younger brother. He looked at Silas, then at the sleeping yellow-haired toddler curled up in his lap.

"Did he cry?" Lucien asked, his voice a low, rough whisper.

"No, Lucien," Silas whispered back, looking up at his older brother with absolute adoration. "He played with the slide. Then he came to the shadows."

Lucien’s tense shoulders dropped. He reached out, his large, calloused hand gently brushing the soft yellow hair away from Pip’s sleeping face. The toddler let out a soft sigh and instinctively leaned into Lucien’s touch.

"You all did well," Lucien murmured, his violet eyes flicking up to look at the rest of the cubs. It was the highest praise the deadly assassin had ever given them.

He carefully scooped Pip up into his arms, holding the toddler securely against his chest. Pip didn’t even wake up; he just nuzzled deeper into his father’s shirt.

As Lucien carried the sleeping boy back toward the manor, with Silas quietly trailing right behind them, Vali turned to look at Clover.

"See?" Vali whispered, his tail giving a hopeful wag. "I helped protect the baby. That makes me a really good investment, right?"

Clover picked up her tiny tea set, thinking it over. She looked at the wolf-cub, a small, genuine smile breaking across her face.

"Yes, Vali," Clover agreed softly. "You are a very good investment."

Vali looked like he had just conquered the entire Empire.

I set the tray of juice down on the grass, laughing softly to myself. The Warlords were terrifying, and the cubs were an absolute menace to society, but standing here in the afternoon sun, I wouldn’t trade a single one of them.