The next few days were a whirlwind of activity. Uchel, Ocello, and Cuau all cleaned up and took the room next to mine. They said it was the husbands' room. They showed me where it connected to the main bedroom.
I hadn't even noticed it, but there was a small door in the back that blended in with the stone wall. Inside their room there were several platforms for bedding with partial walls sectioning the room so that they could have some privacy. Six of them existed which startled me. There was no way I was going to have that many husbands. I hadn't even been with the ones I seemed to have!
That was also something that surprised me. Though I didn't have Ocello and Cuau's marriage mark on me, everyone seemed to think it was only a matter of time.
The neighbors would come by all the time too. Lindi dropped by a lot so her son Makie could play with Cuddles. They formed quite a bond. The other huts close by also dropped by. Lindi's hut was directly across from mine.
She was younger than me at twenty years old and had two wolf shifter husbands. Makie was her first child and she and her husbands wove baskets for the village.
She was definitely a gossip, and she was uncomfortable around Uchel. I guess she believed that superstition about babies born to mothers who died were cursed. She was good at hiding it though. And even though she had obvious bias, she did try to overcome it though interacting with him more.
Next door was an older woman by the name of Knabi. She had long since outlived her husbands. They had been hunters and one by one, fell to predators. She had many children. Two girls and eight boys. One of her daughters still lived with her and took care of her. She would inherit the hut when her mother passed. The other had left to start her own household. The boys had all married out to different families but would visit from time to time. The daughter's husbands were hunters too, a harpy shifter and two ocelot shifters. Uchel had seen them hunt before and was impressed at their team work in taking down game.
On the other side of me was another empty hut. That was how she found out that the neighborhood would take care of keeping the buildings from getting too decrepit. The village provided the supplies, though.
In the mornings, some of the men would go to the forests to hunt while others would go to the fields. Cuau had a field he tended. He explained that the fields would grow all summer and be harvested in the fall. Less people were needed to tend the fields, but there had to be someone there to keep the birds and animals from the forests from snacking on the harvest before it was ready.
That is when I asked him about his situation.
"My mother hates me." He said. It was so matter of fact I was shocked at first. I couldn't imagine any mom not loving their child.
"Why do you believe that?"
"She hates snakes." He sat back at the table as he helped peel fruit for dinner. His concentration on the fruit was meant to distract me.
"If she hates snakes, why did she choose your father?"
"That is a question I'd like the answer to." Cuau's knife slipped and nicked his thumb. I grabbed one of the clothes nearby and pressed it against his finger.
"What happened to your father?"
"I never knew him. There aren't that many constrictor beastmen in the village. I heard that when he came here that he was from one of the Moanchan tribes."
"But surely they would have known he was a constrictor?" I asked. I would see men shift all the time as I took walks in the town. It didn't seem like something to keep a secret. Cuau shook his head.
"Unless we shift or tell people what kind of beastman we are, there is really no telling what they are. For people who live in the village, we have gotten used to telling who a person is by smell. Family also has a specific scent. But outsiders are unknowns." I pulled the cloth away from the cut and realized it had stopped bleeding. I wish I had a small bandage but this was not the era for them.
I grabbed the knife from him and sat him back down at the table while I finished the peeling.
"Then your father must not have said anything. Do you think he knew that she was afraid of snakes?" I worked quickly and moved to chop vegetables for dinner. I was making stew with mashed tubers.
"She would have known after she received the marriage mark. My grandmother told me that she rejected him the day after they coupled. I was an unexpected result."
I looked over to him. His sardonic smile made me think that his mother must have taken her frustrations out on him.
"What happened to your father?"
"Same thing that happens to most men who are rejected. He passed away soon after." Cuau shrugged.
"He must have loved your mother a lot then. Her prejudice was unfair."
I continued to prep for dinner with Cuau helping to position the heavy pot and stoking the fire. I had taken some grains and had Cuau pound them into a fine grain to make dough that I put in another pot. It was the closest thing I could get to bread since I came here so I was excited to try it.
Cuau looked at me as if I was an enigma.
"What?' I asked.
"You really don't mind?" Wiping down the table with a wet rag I turned to look at him.
"Mind what?" I asked, confused.
"Mind that I'm a constrictor?" As I looked at him, I felt that my answer was important to him. Now that I knew his history, I understood why it was important.
"I am fully aware that you can shift into a snake. I first met you in your shifted form, remember?"
"You screamed."
"I was startled. I had never seen a snake that big. That doesn't mean that I don't like you now. You were born that way. To be upset about it is ridiculous to me. Like being mad that the sun can shine or a cloud can hide it." Once we finished cleaning from the dinner prep, we sat at the table. I really needed a more comfortable place to sit. I missed couches.
Cuau took one of my hands in his and leaned in.
"Would you really consider me for your husband, too?" The yearning in that statement made me flush and I met his gentle eyes.
"I wouldn't have let you move in if I wasn't open to it." I told him. I grinned at the moment of shock on his face. He bent over and turned my hand up, kissing my palm. I let out a startled gasp. My heart sped up and he began to kiss his way up my arm. When he reached my throat, he gave it a nip that pulled a moan from my throat.
Pulling back, I could see the desire in his eyes. Between these three men, I was certain to go mad from desire. They always pulled back before going too far, but I was starting to want one of them to cross the line.
"Uchel and Ocello are on their way back from the hunt. I can hear their footsteps, and it sounds like they have a lot of game."
"Oh?" I was trying to shake the desire away and focus. Cuau's hand slid up my side and lightly brushed the side of my breast. I sucked in my breath.
"Ocello told me that he would be taking you to the market today if they got enough and I don't want you to miss your opportunity." Leaning in, he kissed the tip of my nose before placing a feather light kiss on my lips.
At that, he pulled away and stood, stepping back before shifting uncomfortably. I blushed as the door opened and the other two beastmen came in. Sure enough, they had three times the amount of game.
"I think we have enough that you can shop today. Do you want to come to the market with us?" I looked over to Cuau who was still adjusting.
"I'll watch the stew so it doesn't boil over." He said.
"Don't forget the bread. It will need to be checked in a bit to see if it is cooked through. It should have a golden crust too."
He nodded and smirked at me. Reaching over, he pushed my hair back from my face, exposing the side of my neck where he had nipped me. From the looks of the other two, there must have been a mark because they stiffened for a moment. Extracting me from Cuau's embrace, they hurried me to the door as they glared at Cuau who laughed.