Chapter 70: Episode 070: Taking Shelter
Caius stepped into the small living room of the cabin. The door closed behind him with a quiet click. He stopped right there on the rug.
He didn’t need to look around to know what had happened. He could smell it.
The air inside the house usually smelled like fresh pine wood, warm tea, and Rue’s soft, sweet scent. But today, the cabin smelled entirely different. The air was incredibly thick.
It smelled like deep jungle vines, heavy rain, and raw, aggressive panther. It was a suffocating, heavy musk that hung in the air like a thick fog. It was the absolute, undeniable scent of a claiming.
Caius felt his jaw lock. His teeth ground together so hard his temples ached. His fingernails slowly lengthened, turning into sharp, dark claws that bit into the palms of his hands.
Every single predator instinct in his body screamed at him to tear the house apart, to hunt down the cat, to fight until the floor was covered in blood.
He forced his feet to move. He walked slowly toward the bedroom. His boots made absolutely no sound against the wooden floorboards.
He reached the doorway. He pushed the bedroom door all the way open.
Rue was sitting on the edge of the large bed. She had a thick white fur blanket pulled all the way up to her chin, her knuckles entirely white from gripping the fabric so tightly.
She looked up. Her eyes met his.
Caius’s golden eyes vanished in a split second. They turned into a bright, glowing, lethal red. He stared at her. He looked at the pale skin of her shoulder poking out from under the heavy blanket. He saw the fresh, dark, raised bite mark resting right on her collarbone.
It was Knox’s mark.
Instead of showing his anger, he just stopped staring at the mark and actually looked at Rue’s face.
She looked incredibly small. Her silver hair was a wild, tangled mess around her shoulders. Her face was pale and blotchy. Her pink eyes were terribly swollen, rimmed with deep red, and wet with fresh tears.
She was holding a small piece of glossy paper tight to her chest, right over her heart. Her hands were shaking badly. She looked completely broken.
Caius didn’t know what had happened, and if this was because of Knox, he promised to kill him.
The glowing red colour in Caius’s eyes flickered and slowly faded back to a warm, soft gold. His sharp claws pulled back into normal fingers. The burning anger in his chest completely deflated, instantly replaced by a massive, heavy wave of worry.
She was hurting.
He didn’t know what the piece of paper was, nor did he care. All he cared about was the fact that the female he loved was sitting on the bed crying.
He just took a deep, quiet breath and walked right past her.
He went straight to the wooden crib in the corner of the room. He leaned over the railing and looked down. Little Theron was wrapped in his soft blankets, sleeping perfectly fine. The baby was warm and safe. Caius gently reached out and touched the baby’s soft, chubby cheek with the back of his knuckles, just to make sure.
Rue watched him. She clutched the photograph of her parents tighter. Her chest felt incredibly tight.
"Welcome home," Rue whispered. Her voice was terribly raspy and thin from crying so hard.
Caius kept his back to her for a moment. He gently fixed Theron’s blanket.
"I am home," Caius replied quietly. He didn’t give her a long speech. He just gave her a simple, honest answer.
Rue let out a shaky breath. She felt so completely drained. Her human body felt incredibly heavy. The heat cycle had burned through all of her energy, leaving her muscles aching and weak.
And then, the system dropping the photograph of her parents had completely broken her heart. She was so tired of trying to be strong. She was so tired of pretending she wasn’t scared of this wild, dangerous world.
She carefully placed the photograph of her parents face-down on the small wooden table next to the bed. She let go of the thick white blanket. It fell to her waist.
Rue looked at Caius’s broad back. She reached both of her arms out toward him. Her hands were still shaking slightly in the cool air of the room.
Caius turned around.
He looked at her small, trembling hands reaching out for him. A massive, shaky breath left his lungs. He felt a giant knot in his chest finally untie itself. He had been so terrified when he smelled the panther.
He had thought that Knox had taken her completely. He had thought that because she had the panther’s mark, she wouldn’t want the snake anymore.
Seeing her reach for him, seeing that she still needed him, was the greatest relief he had ever felt in his entire life.
Caius didn’t hesitate. He walked straight to the bed.
As he stepped up to the edge of the mattress, his legs blurred. The dark fabric of his pants tore away, instantly replaced by massive, thick scales. He shifted his lower half into his giant snake coils.
He climbed onto the bed, his heavy body pressing down the mattress. He curled his long, smooth tail around the edges of the bed, creating a large, secure nest in the center.
Rue looked at the dark scales. She didn’t want to be in her human body right now. It carried too much sadness. It carried too many confusing, overwhelming feelings. She just wanted to hide.
She shifted into her small, incredibly fluffy white bunny form. Rue wiggled her little pink nose. Her long, soft ears dropped flat against her back. As a rabbit, everything felt much simpler.
She didn’t have to think about Earth and all the sad memories it brought. She didn’t have to worry about the future. She just felt tired, and she knew exactly where it was safe to sleep.
She hopped forward. Her tiny paws barely made a dent in the heavy fur blankets. She crawled right into the center of Caius’s massive green coils.
The snake scales were perfectly cool against her body. It felt like stepping into a shady spot under a tree on a very hot day. She let out a tiny, soft sigh and squished herself right up against his thick tail. She tucked her paws under her chest and closed her eyes.
Caius looked down at the tiny white bunny resting in his dark coils. His heart felt completely full. He carefully lifted one of his heavy coils and draped it gently over her back, acting like a thick, protective blanket. He completely hid her from the rest of the world. He reached his large hand down and very gently stroked her soft white ears.
One thing he was grateful for was that he was able to read her mind, and know that this was not the Panther’s fault.
Rue fell into a deep, peaceful sleep almost instantly.
The cabin stayed completely quiet for a long time. The morning sun slowly climbed higher into the sky, filling the bedroom with warm, yellow light.
Caius did not move. He stayed right there on the bed, acting as a living wall for his mate. He let her sleep, guarding the room with his sharp eyes.
A few hours later, a soft noise came from the corner of the room.
Theron woke up. The baby boy opened his bright golden eyes and let out a happy little babble. He kicked his chubby legs, wanting to get out of his crib.
Caius looked down at the sleeping bunny. Rue did not stir. She was completely exhausted.
Caius moved very carefully. He slowly uncoiled the top half of his tail, making sure not to disturb the little white rabbit tucked inside the bottom half. He reached his long arms over the side of the bed, scooped little Theron out of the wooden crib, and brought the baby back to the mattress.
Caius sat up, resting his broad back against the wooden headboard. He held Theron securely against his chest.
He didn’t want the baby to make too much noise and wake Rue up. So, Caius simply moved the very tip of his tail back and forth in the air like a pendulum. The scales caught the sunlight, flashing slightly.
Theron loved it. The baby giggled quietly, reaching his tiny, chubby hands out to try and catch the shiny green scales. He grabbed the tip of his father’s tail and happily chewed on it. Caius let him, offering a small, soft smile as he watched his son play.
The cabin felt peaceful. It felt like a home again.
Then, a sudden noise broke the quiet.
Heavy, confident boots stepped onto the wooden planks of the front porch. The metal handle of the front door turned with a loud click. The heavy wooden door swung open, letting a breeze of cool outside air into the house.
Knox stepped inside.
The Panther King had just returned from hunting. He had a large, fresh deer slung over his massive shoulder. His dark hair was tied back, and he looked incredibly pleased with himself. He closed the front door behind him and walked into the living room.
He turned his head and looked toward the open bedroom door.
Knox completely froze.
Through the doorway, Knox saw Caius sitting comfortably on the large bed. The snake had its massive green coils taking up almost the entire mattress.
Caius was resting against the headboard, playing quietly with little Theron in his arms. Caius stopped playing with the baby. He slowly lifted his head.
The two men locked eyes across the quiet cabin.
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