Surviving Zombies Was Easier Than Raising Beast Cubs

Chapter 78: Chapter 78: You Do Not Own Him

Nerin knelt in the dirt.

Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.

One arm was twisted behind his back by Varek, Selka’s gray wolf mate. Brann, her wild boar mate, stood over Nerin’s injured leg with one heavy foot still planted beside it.

Selka’s hand remained raised.

Her breathing was wild.

Her cheeks still carried fading bruises from the beating Swanly had given her. Dark marks covered her ribs from where Soren’s tail had crushed her, and one side of her face was swollen from being thrown through the forest.

Beastpeople healed quickly.

Unfortunately, Selka’s mouth had healed even faster.

"You still want to go to her?"

Her palm came down.

Pow!

Nerin’s face snapped aside.

That was the fifth slap.

The first had split his lip.

The second had made his ears ring.

The third had knocked him to his knees.

The fourth had been for looking toward Swanly’s cave.

The fifth carried every drop of humiliation Selka had swallowed yesterday.

Nerin slowly turned his face back.

His soft green eyes were wet, but he did not lower them.

"I do."

Selka froze.

Around them, the outer camp had gone silent.

The survivors who had been arranging hides, dividing water and preparing morning fires stared without daring to interfere.

Selka had crossed Riverbone’s inner boundary without permission.

She had been too weak yesterday to understand everything that happened after Soren threw her into the trees. When she woke, Vessa had comforted her with the thought that Nerin had probably been rejected with the others.

Selka had even gone to him that morning wearing a false smile.

She had told him they could remain together in the outer camp.

She had promised she would forgive him for embarrassing her if he crawled back quietly.

Instead, Nerin had smiled.

A real smile.

He told her Swanly had accepted him as one of the first ten survivors.

He said he would finally stand somewhere Selka could not order him around.

Then Selka learned something worse.

Nerin planned to leave with a small hunting group that morning.

The silver deer male was not even a hunter.

He could track hollow ground, hidden water and unstable paths, but he had never brought Selka meat.

Not once.

Yet he had volunteered to help Riverbone’s hunters follow prey so he could give part of the catch to Swanly.

Just as he used to bring Swanly fruit, roots, flowers and tiny things he had made before she lost her memories.

Selka’s jealousy had exploded.

"You useless little parasite!"

She grabbed Nerin’s hair and jerked his face upward.

"You never hunted for me. You never carried food to my shelter. But the moment that bitch becomes powerful, you run back to her with your tail between your legs?"

Nerin breathed through the pain.

"She never asked me to."

"That makes it worse!"

Selka’s russet tail lashed behind her.

"You always did this. Even when we were young, you followed her around carrying roots and fruit like a pathetic servant. She threw you away. She forgot your name. She left you behind, and you still crawl toward her!"

Nerin’s fingers dug into the dirt.

"I do not care."

Selka’s face twisted.

"What?"

"I do not care if she remembers me."

His voice shook, but it did not break.

"I still want to stay near her."

The crowd inhaled sharply.

Varek’s grip loosened for one second.

Brann looked away.

Neither male enjoyed this.

Selka was their female, and their mating bonds pushed them to keep her pleased, protect her pride and obey when she demanded something.

But both males knew Nerin had done nothing.

Selka had ordered them to drag him back to her shelter.

Nerin refused.

He said Swanly had allowed him to remain inside Riverbone, so he would listen to Swanly.

Brann had kicked the back of his leg.

Varek had twisted his arm.

And Selka had slapped him until blood stained his chin.

Now she lifted her hand again.

"I will beat that answer out of you."

A cold voice struck from behind her.

"Why the fuck are you inside Riverbone?"

Selka’s arm stopped.

Every head turned.

Swanly stood several steps away.

Her long silver-white hair fell loose around her shoulders. Her blue-gray eyes were still heavy from sleep, but every trace of softness had vanished.

Kael stood behind her.

His claws were already out.

Kairo and Nilo stood beside his legs, their little black panther ears raised.

Miko squeezed between them, his round face fierce despite the dried fruit still stuck near one corner of his mouth.

Tilla hurried behind them with her single mink cub held against her chest.

Raku arrived from the opposite side, stone weapon resting across one shoulder.

Thalara followed barefoot, her hair drifting around her branch horns. Her purple forehead eye opened wider when she saw the blood.

Soren came last.

He did not hurry.

His long white tail slid over the ground behind him, and his silver eyes moved once over Nerin’s bent leg, Varek’s grip, Brann’s position and Selka’s raised hand.

Something cold settled over the camp.

Selka immediately released Nerin’s hair.

Her face transformed.

The rage disappeared.

Her eyes widened innocently.

"Swanly, you misunderstand."

Swanly stared at her.

Selka lowered her hand and pressed it against her chest.

"I only came to retrieve something that belongs to me."

Nerin moved.

Varek tried to hold him, but Nerin twisted so violently that his injured leg folded beneath him.

He fell forward.

Then he crawled.

His palm slipped in the dirt.

Blood fell from his mouth.

Still, he dragged himself toward Swanly until he reached her feet.

His fingers closed around the edge of her hide skirt.

"Swanly."

Kael’s growl deepened.

Swanly looked down.

Nerin knelt against her legs as if reaching her had finally placed a wall between him and everything behind him.

His soft eyes lifted toward her.

Pain.

Relief.

Devotion so naked that it made Swanly uncomfortable for reasons she could not explain.

Not disgust.

Not anger.

She simply did not know what to do with a wounded male looking at her as if she were the only safe place left in the world.

So she ignored that part for now.

She looked at Selka.

"What exactly belongs to you?"

Selka pointed at Nerin.

"Him."

Swanly’s eyebrows rose.

She looked down again.

"Nerin."

He straightened as much as his leg allowed.

"Are you mated to her?"

"No."

Selka’s face stiffened.

Swanly continued.

"Did you promise yourself to her?"

"No."

"Did you agree to become one of her males?"

"No."

Selka stepped forward.

"He does not understand what you are asking."

Swanly lifted one hand.

Selka stopped.

Swanly kept her eyes on Nerin.

"Do you want to go with her?"

Nerin looked back.

Selka stared at him as if she could force the right answer from his mouth.

Brann’s face had gone tight.

Varek slowly lowered his gaze.

Nerin turned back to Swanly.

"No."

The word fell like a stone into still water.

Selka’s face drained.

More than one hundred survivors heard him reject her.

Publicly.

Without hesitation.

After she had spent years treating him like a male who should be grateful for the dirt beneath her feet.

Selka’s composure shattered.

"You ungrateful animal!"

She lunged.

Kael moved first.

He stepped directly between Swanly and Nerin.

His arm wrapped around Swanly’s waist and pulled her firmly against his side.

The movement also separated Nerin’s hand from her skirt.

Very deliberate.

Very obvious.

Nerin looked at the arm around Swanly.

His expression dimmed.

Kael looked down at him.

The warning in his dark golden eyes could have peeled bark from a tree.

Nerin slowly moved his hand away.

Then the cubs arrived.

Kairo ran to Kael’s left side and planted his tiny feet.

Nilo stood beside Kairo with his arms folded, copying his father’s serious face.

Miko rushed toward Kael’s right side.

There was no space.

He pushed against Nilo.

Nilo did not move.

Miko pushed against Kairo.

Kairo glared.

Miko looked at Nerin.

There.

Space could be created.

The smallest cub walked over and placed both little hands against Nerin’s shoulder.