Surviving Zombies Was Easier Than Raising Beast Cubs

Chapter 22: Chapter 22: The Snake Wanted Her 2

The old legend said the Cleanbirth Seed would only wake for a broken serpent led by a living female. Soren had tried other females. Their scents did nothing. Their blood did nothing. Their fear annoyed him. Their bodies could not calm the cracked place inside his beast core.

But this snow fox female...

Her scent reached inside him like warm claws.

Alive.

Dead.

Wrong.

Beautiful.

Useful.

Her skin was pale. Her body was soft in the places a female should be soft, curved in a way his eyes noticed even though his mind told him not to waste time. Her white ears trembled, her tail was full and bright, and her frightened eyes still held anger.

She was scared of him.

Good.

But she was not empty-headed with fear.

Better.

Kael growled, pulling Soren’s attention back.

”We came for shelter,” Kael said. His voice was low enough to shake the air between them. ”None of us are infected. Let us enter or let us leave.”

Soren looked at him for the first time.

Actually looked.

The black panther male was strong. Too strong to ignore. His body was built for tearing, his claws were ready, and his eyes held the wild kind of warning that came from a male defending mate and cubs.

Soren did not care.

”I want her,” he said.

The gate went silent.

Even the insects seemed to stop making noise.

Swanly blinked.

For one crazy second, she wondered if she had heard wrong.

Because there was no way this strange snake male had just said that in front of everyone.

In front of Kael.

In front of the cubs.

In front of all these hungry, wounded, terrified people.

Kael became frighteningly still.

”She is my mate.”

His voice had changed.

It was not just protective now.

It was possessive in the most animal way. Deep. Dark. Full of teeth.

The cubs felt it and shrank closer together. The eldest still tried to stay near Kael’s foot, but his little legs were shaking harder now. The second pressed into Swanly’s tail. The smallest stopped licking her chin.

That was bad.

If the smallest stopped licking, the world had truly gone wrong.

Soren’s eyes did not warm.

”I did not ask whose mark is on her.”

Kael’s claws slid out fully.

Swanly’s heart jumped.

This was going to become blood.

She knew it.

The whole gate knew it.

Several guards raised their spears higher. A crocodile beastman near the gate, huge and broad with dark green scales along his arms and jaw, stepped forward slightly. His eyes were fixed on Kael, but even he did not attack first.

Nobody wanted to be the first fool to move before Soren ordered it.

Kael took one step.

”You will not touch her.”

Swanly should have felt scared of Kael’s voice.

Instead, her chest hurt.

Because she knew him now. Maybe only for a few days, but she knew enough. He was not protecting her because she had been kind to him. He had protected her even when the old Swanly hated him. He had carried her. Fed the cubs. Stayed hungry. Let her sleep near him even when it hurt him to hope.

And now he was standing in front of a monster because she was behind him.

Swanly’s fingers tightened around the smallest cub.

Soren saw it.

He saw too much.

The white snake male’s eyes lowered briefly to her hands, then to the cubs, then back to Kael.

A thought moved behind his silver eyes.

If the panther was taken away, she would have no male strong enough to stand between her and this world.

Then she would need one.

Then she would understand faster.

Soren did not explain.

He moved.

No warning.

No speech.

No wasted breath.

His lower body shifted first.

White scales flashed under the weak sunlight. His legs vanished into a massive white serpent tail, thick and long, so huge Swanly’s mind refused to understand it for half a second.

That tail was not normal.

That tail looked like it belonged to some ancient thing that should have been sleeping under the river and eating boats, if this world even had boats.

Swanly’s eyes went wide.

”What the fuck?”

Kael lunged.

He was fast.

Soren was faster.

The white tail struck like a living rope of muscle and scales.

It wrapped around Kael’s chest, waist, and arms before his claws reached Soren’s throat.

Kael roared.

The whole gate shook with it.

The cubs screamed.

Swanly stumbled forward.

”Kael!”

The tail tightened.

Kael’s claws scraped across the white scales, but Soren did not even flinch. His tail coiled harder, crushing the black panther male’s arms against his sides.

Kael tried to shift.

The coils squeezed again.

A horrible cracking sound came from his body.

Swanly froze.

No.

No, no, no.

Kael’s face changed for one second. Just one second. Pain flashed through his eyes before he buried it under rage.

But Swanly saw it.

The cubs saw it too.

The eldest’s bravery broke at once.

”Papa!”

The second cub started crying so hard his little body shook.

The smallest tried to jump out of Swanly’s arms. ”Papa hurt! Mama, Papa hurt!”

Swanly grabbed him tighter.

Her hands were trembling now.

Nobody moved.

That was what made her stomach twist hardest.

Nobody moved.

Not the guards. Not the males. Not the females watching with wide, terrified eyes. Even the powerful beastmen who looked like they could crush stones with their fists lowered their heads and stayed silent.

Soren was crushing Kael in front of everyone.

And everyone was too afraid to stop him.

Swanly suddenly understood Riverbone better than any explanation could have taught her.

This was not just a tribe.

This was Soren’s territory.

And in his territory, fear had rules.

”Stop!” she shouted.

Her voice cracked.

She hated that too.

Soren looked at her.

His tail did not loosen.

Kael forced out a rough breath. Blood touched the corner of his mouth.

Swanly’s heart squeezed so hard it almost hurt worse than fear.

She had only known him for a few days.

That was what her mind kept saying.

Only a few days.

Only a few days.

But her body did not care. Her chest did not care. The cubs did not care.

He was her mate in this world. Her husband, basically, no matter how insane that sounded. He was the father of the three crying babies behind her. He had protected them with everything he had.

And now he was being crushed because of her.