Chapter 136: Emotional Sensitivity Is A Skill

The screen flickered and vanished.

The shelter was silent except for the soft, wet sounds of the twins still nursing and the distant chatter of the clan outside.

Tera closed her eyes, pressing her lips against Althea’s pink hair. The anger was still hot and tight in her chest, but the warmth of her daughters against her skin slowly eased it.

More minutes passed as Tera focused on them.

The screen flickered back into existence.

[...]

Tera’s anger didn’t flare up. She was too tired for that, but she was tired for whatever the system had up its sleeve.

Was it going to give her another task?

’What is it now?’

[This system owes Host an apology]

[(◞‸◟)]

Tera blinked, having not expected this outcome.

[This system realises it was insensitive]

[Host had just returned from an involuntary separation from her cubs, and this system’s immediate response was to pressure Host about tasks and deadlines]

[That was wrong]

Tera wondered if she was seeing things.

The system had apologised before on an occasion or two, but the detailed analysis without her having to spell it out for it was a bit jarring.

[This system truly did not plan for Host to be taken to the Glimmer Pack]

[If the wolves had not appeared, this system would have alerted Host to change locations ahead of time]

[This system simply... did not see the need to alert Host to the wolf male at the lake]

[He did not carry ill intent, and this system did not anticipate that he would take Host by force]

[(っ◞‸◟ c)]

[That was a failure on this system’s part]

Tera’s eyes widened.

[Going forward, this system will alert Host whenever an unfamiliar beast approaches her]

[Regardless of whether this system perceives ill intent or not]

[Host deserves to know when a stranger is nearby]

[This system promises]

[(,,>﹏<,,)👉👈]

The emoji that appeared was small and earnest, and for a floating rectangle with no face, it managed to look genuinely remorseful.

Tera was stunned beyond words, and for a moment, she didn’t know what to say.

[Host?]

Uh...

"I understand... Thank you."

[Host is welcome!]

[(..◜ᴗ◝..)]

[Does this mean Host has forgiven this system?]

[(„• ֊ •„)]

Tera chuckled. ’Fine.’

She just hoped the system wouldn’t develop another loose screw anytime soon, but she also realised at the same time that the system hadn’t done something extremely bad this time.

But it was a nice step it still acknowledged its part.

’And for the record, I meant what I said. I will go back to help them. Just... not yet. I need some time with my family first.’

[This system understands]

[There is no rush]

[Host has years to complete this system’s goal]

Tera groaned.

’You say that, yet you rush and bombard me with tasks every chance you get.’

[(ᵕ—ᴗ—)]

[This system has reflected on its approach and decided that emotional sensitivity is a skill worth developing]

’As if I would forget how you’re a heartless mechanism most times.’

[(⌁° ‸ °⌁)]

[This system is not!]

Tera chuckled again, careful not to jostle the twins. "Whatever you say."

She looked down at her daughters. Nadia had finally slowed down, her eyelids drooping as milk dribbled from the corner of her slack mouth.

Althea was still going, but her rhythm had changed from purposeful drinking to the lazy, comfort-sucking of a cub who wasn’t hungry anymore but simply liked being close to her mother.

Tera pressed one more kiss to each of their heads.

Her eyes were starting to feel heavy. The exhaustion of an entire night digging with wolves, the emotional drain of the reunion, and the warm weight of two babies against her chest were all conspiring to pull her under.

She should probably remove them before she fell asleep. If she dozed off while they were still latched, her nipples might be nonexistent by the time she woke up.

Tera’s eyelids drooped, and before she could think about anything else, she promptly fell asleep sitting upright.

Shortly after, the shelter flap opened, and her mates walked in.

Xavi and Ermin stopped short, their arms filled with a small basket of assorted fruits and a water skin.

Her being asleep wasn’t entirely the shocking part, but it was the fact that she had slept off while breastfeeding the cubs.

Even more so, her head had tilted to the side at an angle that was going to leave her neck screaming when she woke up. Both twins were still latched to her breasts. Nadia was asleep, looking like she was passed out drunk from milk.

Althea’s eyes were half-closed, hovering in that restless space between sleep and wakefulness, her small fingers still kneading Tera’s breast with those sharp little claws.

Xavi and Ermin quickly set the baskets down and rushed to take the babies from Tera and make her comfortable.

"She fell asleep like this?" Xavi murmured. "She must have been so tired."

Ermin looked worried. "She hasn’t eaten anything since she came back. Can’t we wake her so she can get some food into her stomach and—"

"Let her rest." Xavi’s voice was soft but firm. He was already gently easing Nadia from Tera’s breast, cradling the sleeping cub against his chest with the practised care of a father who had done this many times. "When she wakes, we will feed her."

Ermin looked like he wanted to argue, but one glance at Tera’s face stopped him. The exhaustion carved into her features was deeper than anything a single meal could fix.

He sighed and carefully lifted Althea.

The panther cub’s eyes snapped open the instant she was separated from her mother. Her tiny face scrunched, and her mouth opened in that telltale pre-cry grimace that both males had learned to dread.

Ermin was faster. He pressed Althea against his chest and started a slow, rhythmic pat on her back, already walking in small circles around the shelter. His tail swayed behind him in the same gentle tempo.

Althea’s grimace wavered, then dissolved. Soon, she fell asleep.

Xavi laid Tera down carefully, adjusting the furs beneath her head and pulling a second layer over her body.

She visibly relaxed once she was in that comfortable position.

Xavi brushed a strand of hair from Tera’s face and let his thumb linger against her temple.

When he had first returned to the settlement to find her gone, the fear that had hit him was not new.

It was an old, suffocating dread he had felt the day he had lost his little sister to a corrupted beast.