It had been a month since Vera woke up, and in that short time, everything had changed. Zach sat at the edge of the bed, watching her move about the room with a sense of awe. Her body had transformed, the once flat stomach now prominently round, cradling the life growing inside her. Their child. In their world, pregnancies were swift and intense, a mere three months before the birth, unlike the long cycles of humans. It was a reflection of their heightened physical nature—faster, stronger, more resilient. But with that also came a fierceness to protect, something that stirred constantly in Zach as he watched her now.
Vera, however, was not the same woman who had once been fierce and unyielding in battle. The pregnancy had brought out a softness in her—a calmness that Zach had never seen b
