Surviving Zombies Was Easier Than Raising Beast Cubs

Chapter 58: Chapter 58: He Needs A Female 1

Anyway, you must be wondering.

Why was it bad?

Nahla did not answer Swanly immediately.

The old healer knelt beside Soren, one thin hand pressed to his throat and the other hovering over his chest. Her gray river-otter ears flattened against her silver hair, and her long faded tail went stiff behind her.

That was the first thing Swanly noticed.

Nahla was old, strict, and sharp-mouthed enough to scare healthy males into drinking bitter medicine, but her hands did not usually shake.

They were shaking now.

Soren lay near the inner wall of the cave, half coiled and half fallen, his white tail slack across the stone. His face was pale in a way that made his silver hair look almost gray. Black blood stained the corner of his mouth and had dripped onto the ground beneath his chin.

The remaining half of the Cleanbirth Seed was still clutched in his hand.

Even unconscious, the bastard refused to let go of what he had decided belonged to his tribe.

Swanly stared at him.

A few moments ago he had still been coldly threatening old males and pretending he was fine.

Now he looked like death had tapped him on the shoulder and told him to stop being dramatic.

”What is bad?” Swanly asked.

Nahla’s fingers pressed harder against Soren’s wrist.

”His core.”

Kael stood behind Swanly with their second cub, who was now sleeping again, held against his shoulder. The eldest and smallest cubs were near the cave entrance with Tilla’s little recovering cub, all three of them holding sweet fruit and pretending not to listen.

They were absolutely listening.

Tilla, the young brown mink beastwoman, held her own cub close and looked between Nahla and Soren with wide, frightened eyes. Her soft round ears twitched every time Soren’s breathing hitched.

Swanly’s stomach tightened.

”What about his core?”

Nahla exhaled slowly.

”Many moons ago, his beast core was damaged.”

Swanly frowned.

”How damaged?”

Nahla looked at her.

”Badly.”

That was not the kind of answer Swanly liked.

Badly was what people said when they were trying not to say dying.

Nahla continued, her voice lower, ”He overused his power during the old blood purge. He used too much venom, too much mind force, too much of the root-binding law that should never be forced through a broken body. But that was not all.”

Swanly’s eyes narrowed.

”What else?”

”I do not know.”

Swanly almost snapped.

Nahla saw it and shook her head.

”He never told me. He returned one night with his core burning cold and his blood already black at the edges. He smelled of old rot, burnt venom, and Cleanbirth dust. When I asked, he told me to heal what I could and bury the rest of my questions.”

That sounded exactly like Soren.

Infuriating.

Dramatic.

Needlessly secretive.

Swanly looked down at the unconscious snake and wanted to kick him, except he already looked kicked by fate, the swamp, and several ancient grudges.

Nahla touched his chest again.

”Since then, he has been using force to keep himself standing. His body attacks rot before it can root inside him, but each time it does, his broken core burns itself deeper.”

Swanly remembered what the system had said.

A body that killed poison by burning its own blood first.

Her throat tightened despite herself.

”So he really cannot get infected.”

”No,” Nahla said. ”Not like others. But that does not mean rot cannot hurt him. It hurts him differently.”

Tilla whispered, ”He looked better before he left.”

”He was already worse before he left,” Nahla said. ”He simply refused to show it.”

Kael made a low sound in his chest.

Of course.

Men.

Sorry Beastmen.

Snake beastmen.

All of them would rather collapse decoratively in the dark than admit they were one bad breath from death.

Nahla’s gaze moved to Swanly.

”I thought you brought back the Seed.”

Swanly stiffened.

”We did.”

Nahla’s eyes dropped to Soren’s hand.

”Only half.”

Swanly swallowed.

”We had to use the other half.”

Nahla looked up.

”Why?”

The second cub stirred faintly in Kael’s arms.

Swanly’s heart clenched so hard it hurt.

”He was bitten.”

For a moment, Nahla’s whole face drained of color.

Tilla gasped and pulled her own cub closer.

Kael’s arms tightened around the second cub so fiercely the child made a sleepy little sound.

Nahla stared at Swanly.

”The cub was bitten?”

”He is fine now,” Swanly said quickly, because the old woman looked like her heart was about to fall out. ”The Seed cured him. There is no infection left.”

Nahla closed her eyes.

Her face twisted for one heartbeat, and Swanly saw the guilt again. The old healer was back in that cave, counting cubs too late, imagining the quiet one hidden inside Swanly’s things, carried into the Rot Nest because no one had thought a child would dare.

”I am sorry,” Nahla whispered.

Swanly shook her head.

”No. Do not start that again. He is alive.”

Nahla opened her eyes, but the guilt did not leave them.

Still, she nodded and looked back at Soren.

”That is why.”

Swanly frowned.

”Why what?”

Nahla’s fingers brushed the half Seed in Soren’s grip.

”He told me that if he found a Cleanbirth Seed, he would divide it. Half for Riverbone, half for himself.”

Swanly froze.

Tilla’s mouth parted.

Even Kael looked toward Soren.

Nahla’s voice grew rougher. ”He said the tribe comes first. If he took all of it for his core, Riverbone would have nothing if the rot spread through our wounded. If he gave all of it to the tribe, he would not survive long enough to protect anyone. Half was the only answer he would accept.”

Swanly stared at Soren’s unconscious face.

The same Soren who had dragged her into danger.

The same Soren who had crushed Kael.

The same Soren who had acted like everyone around him was a tool to be moved by force.

The same Soren who had broken the Seed and fed half of his survival to her cub.

So this was why he looked like this.

Not because there was no cure.

Because he was holding the cure and refusing to use it.

He was putting Riverbone before himself.

Swanly hated that she understood.

She hated it so much.

It was much easier when villains stayed ugly in the right places.

Kael’s jaw tightened as if he had followed the same thought and despised it just as much.

Nahla looked at Swanly for a long second.

Then she said, ”Come with me.”

Kael moved immediately.

”No.”

Swanly turned.

”Kael.”

His golden eyes were already hard.

”You are not being pulled away to speak secrets about him.”

Nahla’s otter ears twitched, but she did not bow her head.

”It concerns her.”

”That makes it worse.”

Swanly placed her hand on Kael’s arm.

He looked down at her at once, still furious, but softer the moment her fingers touched him.

”I will stand right there,” she said, pointing to the side of the cave. ”You will still see me.”

”I want to hear.”

”I know.”

”Then let me hear.”

Swanly hesitated, because if Kael truly said no, she would not go. Not because she was weak. Not because she needed permission to breathe. But because he was her mate, the father of her cubs, and the male who had almost lost his mind when the Rot Nest touched his child.

She would not carelessly step over his fear.

So she softened her voice.

”Please.”

Kael’s brows pulled together.

Oh.

That worked too fast.

His mouth tightened, and he turned his face away like the sight of her looking up at him with tired eyes and muddy lashes was a personal attack.

Swanly nearly smiled.

Cute.

Terrible timing, but cute.

”I will not let her leave my sight,” Nahla said.

Kael looked at the old healer.

”If she does, I will tear this cave apart.”

Nahla did not blink.

”I expected nothing less from a panther.”

Swanly and Nahla moved only a little distance away, near the medicine shelves, where Kael could see them but not hear clearly.

Nahla lowered her voice.

”There are only two ways his core can be sustained for long.”

Swanly already did not like this.

”One is enough Cleanbirth Seed. Not a fragment. Not half. Enough for his core to drink until the crack closes.”

”And the other?”

Nahla’s eyes held hers.

”A female.”