Surviving Zombies Was Easier Than Raising Beast Cubs

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: She already collected a panther and a snake! Why does she need him too?

"The hand will be nailed to Riverbone’s outer gate and remain there until it rots away."

Silence swallowed the camp.

Thalara’s forehead eye opened fully.

"That would feed many insects."

Raku rubbed his face.

"Please stop helping."

Nahla looked at Brann and Varek.

"I suggest both of you remember how attached you are to your hands."

Brann released Selka.

Varek stepped away from her.

They were her mates.

Their bond demanded loyalty.

But neither wanted his hand decorating Riverbone’s gate.

Selka looked from one male to the other.

"You are abandoning me?"

Brann’s jaw tightened.

"We did what you ordered."

Varek’s voice was low.

"And now we are being punished for it."

"I am your female!"

"And he is Riverbone’s ruler," Brann said.

The answer nearly killed her.

Selka pointed at Swanly.

"She already collected a panther and a snake! Why does she need him too?"

Every gaze moved toward Swanly.

Kael’s arm tightened.

Soren’s eyes narrowed.

Nerin became still.

Swanly looked at Selka as though she had found rot growing inside a drinking cup.

"I do not need him."

Nerin’s eyes dropped.

Then Swanly continued.

"That is why he is free to choose where he stands."

Nerin looked up again.

Slowly, painfully, he pushed himself to his feet.

His injured leg shook.

He nearly fell.

Still, he moved.

He passed Selka.

Passed Brann and Varek.

Then stood behind Swanly.

Not touching her.

Not clinging to her skirt.

Simply choosing her side.

Selka stared at him.

Her hatred twisted into something uglier.

"You think she will protect you?"

Nerin did not answer.

"You think because she forgot, everything disappeared?"

His face paled.

Selka saw it.

Her swollen mouth curved.

"Wait until she remembers what she did to you."

Nerin’s breath stopped.

Swanly turned slightly.

Selka laughed as the guards seized her arms.

"Wait until she remembers why you still wake up screaming her name. Wait until she remembers what you did before she was banished."

Nerin’s skin became bloodless.

His gaze dropped immediately.

Swanly frowned.

The guards dragged Selka away.

She kicked.

Screamed.

Bit one guard’s shoulder guard.

Raku caught her russet tail and pulled.

Selka fell face-first into the dirt.

Her shriek split the camp.

Brann and Varek panicked and followed, not daring to interfere but terrified she would make their punishment worse.

"Release me!"

Selka dug her claws into the ground, leaving ten lines through the soil.

"I am a high female! Swanly, you poisonous bitch! You will hate him when you remember!"

Thalara walked beside the struggling fox for several steps.

Selka glared at her.

"What are you looking at?"

Thalara smiled.

"I am wondering how your mouth survives your decisions."

Selka screamed louder.

The guards dragged her beyond the inner boundary.

Swanly looked at Nerin.

He refused to meet her eyes.

For one moment, curiosity scratched at her.

What had Nerin done to the old Swanly?

Why had Selka’s words frightened him more than the punishment?

Then Swanly sighed.

She did not remember.

Whatever secret stood between the old Swanly and Nerin belonged to a dead past.

It was not her problem.

Not yet.

By midday, meat roasted over Riverbone’s cooking fires.

Kael turned thick pieces over the flames while the cubs sat close enough to stare but far enough that Swanly would not shout.

Miko’s eyes followed every drop of fat.

"Ready?"

"No," Kael said.

"Now?"

"No."

Miko waited one breath.

"Now?"

Kael looked at Swanly.

"Your son."

"Our son."

"He asks too many questions."

"He got that from you."

Kael’s tail struck the ground.

Swanly smiled.

Nearby, Nahla treated Nerin beneath the shade of a wide root.

She pressed two fingers against his swollen leg.

Nerin hissed.

"You are fortunate," she said. "The bone did not break."

Brann’s kick had torn muscle and badly bruised the joint, but Nerin would walk properly again if he rested.

Nahla wrapped crushed cooling leaves around the injury.

"If you stand on this leg before sunset, I will tie you to the root."

Nerin nodded obediently.

Swanly approached and stared down at him.

She felt responsible.

He had been attacked because she accepted him.

Because he wanted to bring something back for her.

Nerin kept looking at her.

Every time she turned, his eyes were there.

Soft.

Searching.

As though he could not decide whether seeing her alive was a blessing or a wound reopening.

Finally, he asked, "Do you truly remember nothing?"

Swanly looked at him.

"Nothing about Sunmane."

"Not even me?"

"No."

His fingers tightened around the edge of the sleeping hide.

"Were you lying before?"

Her eyebrows rose.

"Lying?"

"To make Selka leave you alone."

Swanly’s face hardened.

"I would never pretend to lose my memory because of that scheming fox."

Nerin blinked.

Then a quiet, nervous laugh escaped him.

Swanly stared.

"What?"

"You sound different."

"Nearly dying can change a person."

"It is more than that."

He looked at her carefully.

"You speak without lowering your head now. You look people in the eyes. You are louder."

"That does not sound like praise."

"It is."

A faint blush crossed his face.

"You are also... prettier."

Swanly stared at him.

Nerin immediately looked away.

"I did not mean your face changed. You look healthier. Brighter. Your eyes do not look empty anymore."

Swanly’s irritation softened.

"Who were you to me?"

Nerin went still.

She sat beside the root.

"I am curious. You looked as if you had seen someone return from the dead when you found me."

"To me, you did."

His voice dropped.

"My mother died when I was young. My father disappeared during a hunt not long after."

Swanly listened.

"I was small for a male. Weak. My antlers grew late. The others mocked me because I could not fight well."

His hand moved toward his broken antler, then stopped.

"You used to share your food with me in secret."

"I did?"

Nerin nodded.

"When Maela gave you one fruit, you split it. When you found roots, you hid some beneath a stone for me."

A tiny smile touched his mouth.

"I brought you flowers. Small carvings. Fruit when I could find it. Once, I caught a field mouse."

Swanly looked at his narrow shoulders.

"You hunted?"

"It fell into a hole."

She snorted.

Nerin smiled properly for the first time.

"I still carried it to you."

His smile faded.

"You loved Arion. Everyone knew. So I never asked you for anything."

He did not say he had loved her.

He did not need to.

It sat between every word.

"After you left, Selka said I belonged to her family because they continued feeding me. I had no one powerful enough to refuse."

Swanly looked at the bruises on his wrists.

"And I left you there."

"You were forced out."

"Did I hurt you too?"

Nerin froze.

The pause lasted too long.

Much too long.

Swanly’s stomach tightened.

Nerin looked toward the cooking fires.

Then he said softly, "You were hurting everyone near you because you were hurting more."

It was not an answer.

That bothered her more than a yes would have.

Footsteps approached.

Kael stood behind them holding a piece of roasted meat on a broad leaf.

His expression was unreadable.

He had heard.

Of course he had heard.

"Swanly," he said. "Eat."

She stood.

Nerin looked up at her.

For one second, he seemed ready to ask her to stay.

Then Kael placed one hand at the small of Swanly’s back.

Nerin lowered his eyes.

Swanly followed her mate without arguing.

Kael was silent while she ate.

Silent while Kairo tried to divide his meat equally between his brothers.

Silent while Nilo caught Miko attempting to steal the largest piece.

Silent even when Miko denied the crime with meat still hanging from his mouth.

By evening, Swanly had had enough.

She followed Kael into their cave and blocked the entrance.

He glanced back.

"What?"