Surviving Zombies Was Easier Than Raising Beast Cubs

Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Oh my God. Stop saying it like that. You are making me sound evil.

Swanly pressed both hands to her face.

This was too much.

She needed a map.

She needed water.

She needed clothes for the male in front of her.

She needed her system.

She needed these baby panthers to stop looking at her like she had just personally canceled their childhood.

Then something brushed against the back of her thigh.

Swanly froze.

Slowly, she turned her head.

A tail moved behind her.

A long, soft tail.

Not Kael’s tail.

Hers.

Swanly stared at it.

The tail flicked once.

She jumped so hard she almost hit the tree with the back of her head.

”What is that?”

The cubs blinked.

Kael frowned.

Swanly grabbed the tail with both hands.

She felt it.

Actually felt it.

The sensation shot through her spine so suddenly that her whole body jerked.

She released it immediately.

”Why can I feel it?”

The smallest cub giggled through his tears. ”Mama tail silly.”

Swanly lifted both hands to her head.

Her fingers touched something soft and warm above her hair.

Two ears.

Her ears.

Not human ears.

Furry ears.

Her hands froze.

Her eyes turned empty.

Kael watched her very carefully.

Swanly touched one ear again.

It twitched under her fingers.

She screamed without sound.

Her mouth opened wide, but nothing came out.

Then she slowly lowered her hands and stared into the distance with a dead expression.

”Okay,” she whispered. ”Fine. I accept it.”

Kael watched her with an intensity that made the air feel heavier. His golden eyes tracked every twitch of her new ears, and his own tail gave a slow, interested flick behind him, like he was seeing something familiar and precious all over again.

Kael narrowed his eyes. ”Accept what?”

”I’m in another world.”

The cubs’ ears perked up.

Kael’s frown deepened.

Swanly nodded to herself, trembling but determined. ”Animals talk here. Animals transform into humans. People have ears and tails. Mating marks are apparently a thing. Children can be born as tiny panthers. Men walk around with no clothes after transforming because everyone here has collectively lost shame. Fine. I accept it. Very weird. Very questionable. But fine.”

Kael stared.

Swanly pointed at him. ”But you?”

His gaze sharpened.

She pointed harder. ”You being my mate? No. I do not accept that.”

The moment those words left her mouth, the cubs’ little faces fell.

It happened so quickly that Swanly felt her heart crack in three places.

The middle cub’s eyes filled again.

The smallest cub whispered, ”Mama try leave us again.”

Kael’s ears flattened slightly at their hurt.

The eldest lowered his head, trying to hide his hurt, but his little ears folded down so sadly that Swanly wanted to slap herself.

”No, no, no,” she said quickly, dropping to her knees in front of them. ”I am not trying to abandon you.”

”You say no mate,” the smallest cub sniffed. ”No mate means no us.”

”I did not say no you.”

”You say not Mama.”

”I said that because I woke up five minutes ago and you all started speaking. That is a reasonable reaction.”

The middle cub pouted. ”Mama no want.”

Swanly’s face twisted. ”Oh my God. Stop saying it like that. You are making me sound evil.”

The eldest looked up at her with wet eyes. ”Mama was mean before.”

Swanly went still.

Kael did too.

The air changed.

Swanly looked at the cubs, really looked at them, and something heavy settled inside her chest.

These babies were not just confused because she was acting strange.

They were hurt because kindness was strange.

That thought made her throat tighten.

She did not know who the original Swanly had been. She did not know what this body had done. She did not know why there were three tiny cubs who seemed to expect rejection as naturally as breathing.

But she knew that look.

Children were not supposed to look like that.

Not even baby panther children from a world that had clearly misplaced sanity.

Swanly softened despite herself.

”I’m not your mother,” she said, but this time her voice was quieter, less sharp. ”At least, I don’t think I am. I don’t know what happened to me. I don’t know what happened to her. I don’t know anything right now.”

The smallest cub crawled closer. ”Mama still Mama smell.”

Swanly’s lips parted.

The middle cub nodded. ”Same Mama.”

The eldest said softly, ”But eyes different.”

Kael’s gaze fixed on her face.

Swanly felt exposed in a way that had nothing to do with Kael standing nearby.

He had heard that.

Of course he had.

The black panther male took one step closer.

Swanly immediately looked up at him and pointed. ”You stay right there.”

He stopped.

His eyes narrowed.

Then he said, ”You can hate me. You can push me away. You can scratch, bite, curse, and glare until the trees grow old. But there is nothing you can do that will make me unmate you.”

Swanly stared.

The cubs became very quiet.

Kael’s voice lowered, rough and wounded beneath his pride. ”I would rather die.”

Her mouth slowly opened.

He continued, and for the first time, his control cracked enough that she could hear the pain under it.

His words vibrated through the space between them. He was still too close from earlier, and she could see the faint pulse at his throat, the way his chest rose and fell with controlled emotion. One of his ears twitched when she stayed silent.

”Why can you not accept me? I gave you my den. My protection. My food. My mark. I accepted your anger. I accepted your coldness. I accepted that you did not want my touch. I accepted that you looked at our cubs as if their birth was a wrong done to you.”

The cubs lowered their heads again.

Swanly’s chest squeezed painfully.

Kael’s golden eyes burned into hers.

”But I cannot accept you choosing death. I cannot accept your body going cold in my arms again. Hate me if you must, but do not ask me to stand aside and watch you leave this world.”

His golden eyes burned into hers, and for a second she felt the mating mark on her ribs give a warm, traitorous throb, like it was reacting to the pain in his voice.

For once, Swanly had no clever answer.

His words should have scared her.

They did scare her.

But they also did something else, something annoying, inconvenient, and deeply unfair.

They made her look at him properly.

And that was a mistake.

Because he was so beautiful it felt insulting.

His face was sharp but not cruel, with a straight nose, full mouth, and eyes that looked too wild to belong to a normal man. His dark hair fell around his shoulders in thick, messy strands. His panther ears flicked with emotion he clearly did not want to show. His tail moved behind him, slow and tense, betraying him more honestly than his expression.

He looked like a god had fallen into the forest, gotten angry about it, and decided to make it everyone else’s problem.

Swanly swallowed.

Then, because she was Swanly and the apocalypse had clearly damaged the part of her brain responsible for normal responses, she blurted, ”Why would I not accept you?”

Kael froze.

The cubs looked up.

Swanly gestured at him with both hands, then quickly looked away because he was still naked and her courage had limits.

”I mean, look at you.”

His brows drew together.

She continued, voice rising with pure stressed honesty. ”You are the hottest man I have ever seen in my life. Actually, no. The hottest anything I have ever seen in my life. Man, male, beast, whatever category you put yourself in, you are aggressively good-looking.”

Her face went hot the second the words left her mouth. She quickly looked away again because he was still very naked and very close, and her brain was not equipped for any of this. Kael’s expression shifted, shock first, then something slower and more dangerous.

The smallest cub tilted his head. ”Papa pretty?”

Kael stared at her as if she had spoken another language.

”I am a male,” he said slowly.

Swanly threw one hand up. ”Yes, and I am saying you are a hot male.”

His expression changed.

Barely.

But it changed.

Shock passed through his eyes, raw and unguarded.

The cubs’ ears perked.

”Hot?” the smallest cub whispered.

The middle cub looked at his father, then at Swanly. ”Papa hot?”

The eldest nodded very seriously. ”Papa warm.”

Swanly almost choked.

”Not that kind of hot.”

Kael’s mouth curved — not quite a smile, but something close. It transformed his whole face and did dangerous things to her stomach.

Kael’s gaze did not leave her.

”You called me beautiful.”

”I called you hot.”

”Before, you said my beast form was ugly.”

Swanly winced.

”That was not me.”

The moment she said it, silence fell.

Kael’s eyes sharpened.

Swanly shut her mouth.

Too late.

The words were already out.

For a few breaths, he only watched her. His suspicion had returned, but now it was tangled with something else. Hope, maybe. Fear, maybe. A dangerous kind of thought he did not want to touch.

”The poison changed you,” he said quietly.

Swanly did not answer.

Because what was she supposed to say?

No, babe, the poison might have killed your original mate and imported me, a tired zombie apocalypse survivor with no emotional preparation for your tragic family situation?

That seemed like a bad sentence to say to a naked panther man with abandonment pain and claws.

So she chose the safest answer.

”I hit my head.”

The smallest cub gasped. ”Mama broke head!”

Kael’s gaze sharpened on her face again, searching. For a moment he looked like he wanted to reach out and touch her temple, check for himself. His hand actually twitched before he stopped himself.

”I did not break my head.”

The middle cub leaned forward. ”Need lick?”

”No one is licking me.”

The eldest looked disappointed.

Before Swanly could become the victim of another tiny tongue attack, Kael suddenly lifted his head.

His ears stood sharp.

His whole body changed.

Not physically, not yet, but the air around him turned dangerous so quickly Swanly felt it before she understood it. His tail stilled. His eyes moved past her shoulder into the forest.

The cubs froze too.

The playful softness vanished from their little bodies. They pressed closer to Swanly’s legs, trembling.

Swanly’s heart slammed once.

”What?” she whispered.

Then she heard it.

A rustle.

A dragging sound.

Then another.

Too many.

Something was moving between the trees.

Kael’s expression hardened.

”They followed.”

Swanly’s mouth went dry. ”Who followed?”

He did not answer.

He reached down and scooped the cubs up so quickly they barely had time to squeak. One cub ended up against his chest, another tucked against his arm, and the smallest one was placed into Swanly’s arms before she even realized what was happening.

The smallest cub clung to her immediately, tiny claws catching in her animal hide dress.

”Mama,” he whispered, shaking.

Swanly’s arms closed around him before she could think.

Then Kael’s body shifted again.

Black fur rushed over his skin. His arms lengthened into powerful forelegs. His spine dropped. His shoulders widened. In a breath, the gorgeous naked male was gone, and the enormous black panther stood before her again, dark and terrifying, his golden eyes glowing like fire under the shade.

The cubs were quickly nudged toward Swanly.

The panther lowered himself in front of her.

”Climb on me.”

Swanly stared. ”What?”

His lips pulled back slightly, showing sharp white teeth.

”Climb on me.”

”Are you insane? You are a panther.”

His growl vibrated through the ground.

”Swanly.”

Something crashed through the trees behind them.

Swanly turned.

Then her blood ran cold.

Creatures staggered out from between the trunks.

At first, she thought they were beastmen.

Then she saw the way they moved.

Wrong.

Their limbs jerked too sharply. Their eyes were cloudy. Their fur had fallen out in patches, leaving gray, torn skin beneath. One had antlers, but half of them were broken and wet with dark rot. Another had the shape of a wolf, but its jaw hung too wide, dripping black saliva into the leaves. A third moved on two legs and one twisted arm, its body caught halfway between beast and human like the transformation had failed and left it trapped in pain.

They smelled like death.

Not the old city kind.

Not the asphalt, smoke, and rotting apartment kind.

This was forest death.

Wet leaves.

Sour blood.

Spoiled meat under sunlight.

Swanly’s stomach turned.

The smallest cub trembled against her chest.

The middle cub pressed into her side.

The eldest stood in front of his brothers with tiny bravery that made Swanly want to scream.

The dead-bitten beasts lifted their heads.

Their milky eyes fixed on her.

On the cubs.

On the living warmth in front of them.

Swanly’s heart stopped.

Then one of them opened its broken mouth and made a hungry, rattling sound she knew too well.

Her lips parted.

”You have got to be kidding me.”

The black panther snarled.

The sound rolled through the forest, deep enough to shake leaves from the branches.

Swanly hugged all three cubs against her chest, their soft bodies trembling in her arms, their tiny hearts beating fast against her skin.

She stared at the infected creatures staggering closer.

Then she laughed once, breathless and horrified.

”Seriously?” she whispered. ”I thought I was done with the apocalypse.”

The panther turned his head just enough for one golden eye to lock onto her.

”Now.”

Swanly stared at the massive black panther in front of her. His fur looked thick and warm. His golden eyes glowed as he lowered himself further, making it easier for her. She did not argue again.

She swallowed hard, adjusted the smallest cub more securely against her chest, then climbed onto his broad back with the other two cubs already settled in front of her. Her bare legs slid over his warm fur.

She had to spread them wide to straddle him properly. Her hands buried into the thick mane at the base of his neck, fingers sinking into soft, powerful muscle beneath. The heat of him soaked straight through her thin dress. His scent — wild forest and something darker, muskier — surrounded her completely.

The panther’s body shifted slightly under her as he adjusted to her weight, a low rumble vibrating through his chest and into her thighs.

”Hold on,” he growled, voice still somehow recognizable even in this form.

The eldest cub pressed against her knee. The middle one made a tiny worried sound. Swanly tightened her grip on his mane and hugged all three cubs closer to her body as the first dead-bitten beast lunged.

The black panther sprang forward.

And the forest exploded behind them.

The panther sprang forward with terrifying speed. Swanly gasped and leaned forward instinctively, her chest pressing against his back, the cubs tucked safely between them. His fur brushed her cheek. For one wild second she felt completely surrounded by him.