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So I FINALLY finished the second chapter to the story of the Otteress Melinda and the Cougar Lord Edmund. No hawt smex in this one though, just a bit of plot progression and some sappy romantic moments. Hopefully this is a satisfactory sequel to the popular 'Heat of Combat,'but you tell me! Please read and review. * * *

Melinda sat impatiently in the large plush chair in her masters, Lord Edmund, bed chamber. Melinda was perturbed you see because her master had impregnated her during a heated sparing match which caused some hidden emotions in the both of them to be released. It wasn't that he had impregnated her that made her angry; you see it had been two weeks since he even said a word to her. Melinda was a young very fit otter with long black hair constantly tied back into a bun to keep out of her face, she never really dressed to impress almost always in loose fitting robes or tight fitting padded armor she was not a very feminine female by male standards. Though her years of training and constant self care did show as her gentle female features were not worn away by her masculine attitude. It all started when she was found, when she was young, at the front door of a monastery. The monks took her in and raised her in the high arts of learning and spirituality, but it wasn't enough for her to live their simple lives. Thus, only knowing her true name, she set out when she was twelve to see what she could accomplish on her own. After a series of adventures she wound up in the service of Lord Edmund at the age of sixteen as one of his personal bodyguards. Now, three years later she was carrying his child, its father a male of a different species and nine years her senior. Although her employment was never meant as a sexual partner for the lord, in fact he desperately needed her presence beyond her looks or even her combat skills. Lord Edmund's lands were set upon by raiders from the north, pagan Otter raiders who were renowned for pillaging and plundering the coast line. The lord was charged with defending the larger kingdom by any means necessary and having one of 'their' kind was a helpful way of getting to understand the tactics used by the raiders. By learning how these raiders thought he believed he could mount an effort to successfully repel the raiders and discourage them from ever returning. In fact Edmund had called her to his chambers to wait for him while he inspected his men at arms to ensure they were all properly equipped and ready incase another attack was near. Melinda, although angry at her master, did notice how bare he kept his quarters, the only real luxury she could see was a large comfortable looking bed and the chair she sat her self down in upon entering the room. Edmund was renowned for putting his lands and his people ahead of himself usually refraining from the usual pleasantries. It was this attitude that won him favor with the king and his own people and a trait that even she her self found attractive and part of the reason she was baring his child in the first place. The young Otter fem was still perturbed at her master, for his lack of regard for her or her wellbeing and was dead set upon giving the bastard a piece of her mind. She thought that the real reason behind this summons was to fire her, maybe even pay her to keep their child quiet. She was, however, not so inclined, if she was going to have her life ruined she was going to take him down with her and give him one hell of a time. The door soon opened and in stepped the lone Cougar, his face upturned in a smile as he saw the toned young Otter fem sitting oh so elegantly in his large plush chair. Edmund was in his late twenties but had already risen from a son of a poor farmer to the lord of the land. He had seen many battles and his face showed it, the scars making him look several years older then he was. Yet they also created a mystic around him of wisdom and experience beyond his years. He smiled and offered his arms in a way denoting a hug, but to this response he only got a cold look and then a quick slap to the muzzle. The slap was such a shock that his head was shot to the left from the impact and when he turned back he saw the foot shorter otter fem staring at him with pure rage in her eyes. Her loose robe hung down exposing only her head to him, giving the appearance of a floating angry head summoned from the pit of from hell it self. "Now what was..." "That was for avoiding me for two weeks!" She then reared back and stuck with a paw across his muzzle once more with a similar effect. "And that was for what you are about to do!" "About to do?" He looked at her quizzically not realizing the cause of such sudden rage from the young feisty otter fem. "Yeah you were about to pay me off or try and keep me silent about our child and I for one am not going to let this go quietly. I swear to god that..." To Melinda's dismay her long practiced speech was interrupted by Edmund as he began to laugh uncontrollably, her true reason for the rage he was experiencing exposed to him now and how silly it truly was. "What the hell is so funny?" "Dear, I admire your passion but I'm not going to try and silence you about our child." She looked at him with an expression of puzzlement and misunderstanding, she though for sure that the only reason for his avoidance of her was because he was preparing to abandon her. Yet something else seemed to be ticking in that old sparsely head furred head of his and she just couldn't figure out what it was. Seeing her puzzlement Edmund too her paw in his and gave her a comforting smile. "Melinda, you see I was a...virile male in my youth. So virile in fact that many of my fellow knights called me Sir. Bastard Maker. I have lost count of the number of females I have been with. I have bastards and one more doesn't bother me, but it would bother me to leave you with mine alone." Something struck her deep in the pit of her stomach, could he really have feelings for her? Something didn't make sense; she was not an overly attractive female and was definitely not a member of royalty. Hell she wasn't even the same species as Edmund; it didn't make any sense to her. "You...you want me to stay?" "Well I figured I have made enough bastards in my life, and I wish to make ours a son." "But...how can...how?" She was silenced in her dribbling attempt to make sense of the situation by a single digit over her mouth. His caring expression was complemented by an assuring smile as he offered a paw. Still confused she took his paw, trusting in how he was going to explain this to her. After she placed her smaller paw in he nodded, still smiling and lead her out of the room. They carefully walked out of the room and down the stone and wood hallway outside the chamber. After a few twists and turns they both arrived at a room she recognized immediately, the private dining room where Edmund's knights and advisors held their meetings. The Doors opened and in they stepped, five of his most knights, the bishop and an abbot from a nearby monastery sat around the table now all looking Melinda and Edmunds direction. The Bishop, an elderly lion brought a paw to his chin stroking his thinning fur and started the meeting off, "I assume your inspection of the troops was successful?" The Bishop was known to kiss up to the Lord who had invested much of his wealth into protecting his Bishopric's churches, something that it seemed the King, the Pope or even God himself would bother doing. Edmund raised a paw to the elderly Lion with a nod to answer his question but he quickly changed to a different subject, "Gentlemales, I'm sure you are wondering why I have gathered you here this afternoon. You see my scholars have discovered a recent fact about one of my closest confidants." With that he pulled the Otteress forward up to the head of the table next to him. Still confused but now scared as to what her Lord was about to say she silently obeyed his tug, willing to see where he was going with it. "Our dear Melinda, as stubborn and rough as she is, has a secret," the fur on her neck was standing straight up, the mixture of anger and shock building once more in her as she narrowed her eyes and stared at the big cat's head. "As you may know she was left at a young age with the brothers of the Holgate Abby. She never knew her family and at the ripe age of 16, after 2 years of hiring herself out as a mercenary in her homeland, she became my personal bodyguard. Well it seems she was something more then that all along, for you see," at this moment she had to restrain herself from murdering the cougar right then, "she is of royal birth..." The shock tore through the room; every single creature had a dumbfounded look plastered on their face, including Melinda while a smug smile crossed the lord's lips. After a few minutes the majority of the room had shaken the shock and the youngest of his most senior knights spoke up standing as he said with an accusatory tone, "How do you know this, she was abandoned correct?" Edmund nodded in agreement, "Yes, but you see recently the handmaiden charged with leaving our fair Melinda at the monastery confessed on her death bed the truth of the bundle she left at the abbey to a young monk from Holgate." Edmund spoke with such force and sincerity that she honestly didn't know if he was lying or telling the truth, and if she couldn't tell his half senile advisors would believe this hook line and sinker. With that comment the Abbot, a non distinct Badger, chimed in with a confused, "Why haven't I heard of this? Which of my brethren are you alluding too?" "As you know Abbot, the sacrament of final confession is only between the soul and almighty god. The only reason I know of this is because the handmaiden asked for the monk to record the story and get it to the fair maiden. So after her passing the monk sought me out, to help him find this abandoned Otteress which turns out is none other then our own Melinda." "How is she royalty?" Asked another one of his knights, as it seemed the entire room wanted clarification as to how this non-descript and moody Otteress was in fact of a royal line. "Her grandfather was chief Vurnbrane, who was the uncle to the current king of the savages. When both he and his brother the king died on the same night the throne was in dispute as the King died without an heir. The son of Vrunbrane, Vrunfoe fought his cousin the current king who has caused our sacred lands so much hardship and was killed in battle. With his death his wife smuggled herself and her newborn daughter to our lands to live in exile. However it seemed all she accomplished was to inform raiders from her old country as to our humble existence and fearing her cousin would find her and execute both her and her only child she told her remaining handmaiden to give the child away, far from the conflicts of her people." He finished the emotionally charged speech with a saddened and longing look at the short Otteress next to him, her eyes welling up with tears. She still had no clue if he was telling the truth, but his passionate story brought up old feelings in her that she hadn't felt since she was a child, the questions of her existence and who her parents were and why they abandoned her. She remembered how she cried her self to sleep nightly in her lonely cell in the abbey. Melinda had tried to forget her past, looking to the future but this sudden and shocking proclamation from her lord and soon to be father of her child jolted the realities of her past back into the light of her current situation. Edmund's expression changed to one of smug success to genuine concern as he took both her paws in his and held them close to his body. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she leaned into the Cougars chest sniffling into her tunic. The rest of the council gave them a moment out of sympathy for the Otteress's situation. She silently cried into Edmund's chest for several minutes as he attempted to comfort her with his large paws embracing her in a hug and rubbing her back. Though the council wished to respect the feelings of Melinda their patience was thin as the most senior of his senior knights, an almost decrepit Lion broke the silence. "I respect the importance of this matter both to Lady Melinda and to our current political state, but why did you call us here. You didn't simply want to tell us this; we all were told you had an important announcement that would affect all of us, if you would please tell us what we are gathered here to hear." Edmund nodded as Melinda removed her face from his chest, trying to regain her own sense of composure. "You are right, I do have another announcement. As you can tell the gravity of the situation as we now have an heir to the savage king's throne in our innermost sanctum. At the same time you all know I am getting old, and when a male reaches my age with no legitimate wife or heir he starts to think of the legacy he will leave behind. These situations leave us with a great opportunity which we can not pass up, my friends I will take Lady Melinda to be my wife." While Edmund had expected some resistance to his proposal, being that she was a different species then he was and the church looked down upon those types of mating, he didn't expect for a hush to fall over the room. It seemed as though the council, seeing the opportunity in front of them to claim rights to the throne while gaining a legitimate heir to take over the kingdom, was in silent agreement with Lord Edmund's decision. The silence broken by the elderly Bishop raising from his seat and nodding in agreement with Edmund's decision, "May god bless you and you're children that they may rule as justly as you have and may they always protect the people of our peaceful shore." Lord Edmund smiled and bowed to the elderly Lion turning from the council and dragging, his now fiancee, Melinda along with him. They walked from the meeting room back to his chambers Melinda alive with all kinds of glorious emotions unable to express to Edmund the gravity of her love for him at that moment, to go from contemplating death and murder to becoming a the Lady of Edmund's court created indescribable emotions which she reveled in as she was taken back to her lovers chamber. The only way she could fathom expressing her emotions to Edmund was, as soon as the doors to his chamber closed, leaving them both alone, to leap on to him, wrap her arms around his neck and pull him into a passionate and grateful kiss. Edmund, while being surprised at her sudden expression of love, returned her passion and embraced the strong yet lithe frame of his Otter lover. After a few moments of her passionate expression of love and gratitude to Edmund she broke the kiss and simple stared, with a joyful expression, into his eyes at that moment blessing his existence on that earth. She had never thought that anyone could or would love her, that she would die either in battle or as a toothless hag who frightened children with her stories of a loveless existence. In one heated sparing session that had all changed, she was to be married with a male she respected and honored the most out of any other male she had ever known, a male who valued her as an ally and as a friend. She was carrying his child, his seed and was to be a mother and raise her own young, to see them become great leaders like their father. "So I guess that explains everything huh?" She smiled and laughed at him kissing him softly once more before unwrapping her arms around him and simply grasping his paws. "I am really royalty?" She asked, not caring for the truth, just hoping this wasn't a dream. He looked at her, his expression changing from that of his usual sly humorous one to a serious one as he cleared his throat, "There was a handmaiden who told that story to a monk upon her death and he did record that story and came to me asking for help finding the female Otter she spoke of, but this was before you came under my employ. You do match the description that the maiden gave but as you know there were at least 5 other Otteress's left at the door of that monastery around you're age. But you are the only one of them left alive. So yes, you could be royalty, but what does that matter, the story served its purpose." He caressed the side of her short muzzle with a paw as he cracked a thoughtful smile staring into her eyes. She smiled back as she brought her own paw up to one caressing her muzzle and cupped it as she nuzzled into it. The tender moment lasted until a knock came at the door, causing both of them to turn to the large wooden door as there stood a young servant who, upon seeing the tender moment he walked into quickly averted his gaze, not wanting intrude on his masters private moments. "Yes John, what is it?" "I'm sorry milord; your presence is requested in the banquet hall. There are well wishers from the savage village on the coast wish to congratulate you're last victory over the savage king's raiders." The stiff standing Cougar servant said still averting his eyes from the two. Edmund turned back to look at Melinda with a smile squeezing her paws, "Well milady, care to join me and help spread the good news to our visitors?" She smiled wider and nodded, acting like a youngling asked if they wanted a gift. He chuckled with joy as walked her out of the room, passing the stiff John who didn't move until the couple had left the room. The servant then sighed shaking his head mumbling, "What has this world come to, Savages and Christians having young together. What a strange time we live in."