Surviving Zombies Was Easier Than Raising Beast Cubs

Chapter 60: Chapter 60: I hope a monkey jumps on you one day. Not a dangerous monkey

Swanly’s heart did something stupid.

”You are doing the cub face.”

”I am not.”

”You are.”

”I am angry.”

”You are angry cutely.”

His ears flicked.

Swanly almost died.

Raku made a sound that was definitely a laugh this time.

Kael’s glare snapped toward him.

Raku became very interested in the wall.

Swanly rose onto her toes and kissed Kael’s cheek.

Kael went completely still.

A flush crept over his ears.

Swanly blinked.

Then she smiled.

Oh.

Now she knew where the cubs got it.

The eldest and smallest were sweet little drama fruits because their father was a giant one.

”I will come back quickly,” she whispered.

Kael’s jaw clenched.

”I will stay nearby.”

”Fine.”

”If he touches you, I will kill him.”

”He will be unconscious.”

”If he wakes and touches you, I will kill him.”

Swanly patted his chest.

”Fine, fine, fine.”

Raku was the one who usually carried Soren to the stream when his core became this bad, so he shifted into his large crocodile form and took Soren carefully, not with jaws, never with jaws, but across his broad scaled back with thick vine straps holding the limp white snake steady.

Swanly followed with Nahla.

Kael followed behind them until the barrier shimmered across the path like a sheet of moonlit water.

He struck it once with his palm.

The barrier rippled.

It did not open.

Kael’s face became murderous.

Swanly turned back at the entrance.

”I am fine.”

”You are not inside yet.”

”I will be fine inside too.”

He stared at her like he wanted to drag the whole stream out by the throat.

The second cub had woken by then and was being held by Tilla outside the cave. The other two cubs were distracted with fruit and their new mink cub friend, sticky-faced and whispering about monsters. Swanly could see them from the path. They were safe.

For now, that was enough.

She stepped through the barrier.

It accepted the scale on her wrist with a cool pulse.

Kael did not like that at all.

The Clearbone Stream was nothing like the Rot Nest.

The air inside was cold and clean. Pale stone curved over the water, and thin roots hung from the ceiling like white threads. The stream glowed faintly blue where it moved over smooth stones, and the sound of running water filled the hollow like a slow breath.

Raku lowered Soren into the shallow part with surprising care.

”Keep him half in,” Raku said. ”Not deep enough to drown. If the water around his core turns black, stay. If it clears, leave.”

Swanly looked at him.

”You are all very comfortable giving me terrifying instructions.”

Raku’s mouth twitched.

”You are alive after the Rot Nest. You can handle a stream.”

Then he stepped back through the barrier and left her alone.

With Soren.

Unconscious Soren.

Hopefully deeply unconscious Soren.

Swanly stood there for a moment, arms crossed, staring down at him.

He lay in the glowing water with his hair spread around him like white silk. The cold stream covered his lower body and lapped against his chest. Black blood slowly thinned from the corner of his mouth and drifted away in white curls.

He looked beautiful.

That annoyed her.

Even dying, he had the nerve to look like some cursed river god painted by a lonely artist with suspicious taste.

Swanly squatted beside him.

”You are so dramatic,” she muttered. ”Could you not pass out normally? Did you have to bleed black blood and make everyone panic?”

He did not answer.

Good.

She leaned closer and poked his shoulder.

”Cold snake. Arrogant snake. Kidnapping snake. Scale-forcing snake. Wife-stealing delusion snake.”

Still nothing.

Her shoulders loosened slightly.

The water was clean.

She was not.

She smelled like mud, blood, burnt rot, sweat, swamp, and deep emotional damage.

Swanly looked toward the barrier.

Kael was outside. Raku was outside. Nahla was outside.

Soren was unconscious.

She looked down at her filthy clothes.

Then at the glowing stream.

A quick wash would not hurt.

She took fresh clothes from her space and placed them on a dry rock. Then she quickly stripped, stepped into the colder side of the stream, and hissed through her teeth.

”Cold. Of course. Why would anything in this cursed world be comfortable?”

The water climbed to her shoulders when she crouched. Her long white hair floated around her, and the cold washed mud from her skin in dark ribbons.

Soren did not move.

Swanly relaxed.

That was her first mistake.

She began scrubbing her arms.

”You know, you are lucky you are unconscious,” she told him. ”Because if you were awake, I would tell you that you are the most annoying male I have ever met.”

The stream answered with soft ripples.

”You are cold, rude, shameless, violent, and far too good-looking for your personality.”

A finger twitched beneath the water.

Swanly did not see it.

She kept washing.

”I hope a monkey jumps on you one day. Not a dangerous monkey. Just an ugly one. A rude one. One that sits on your face and steals your dignity.”

Soren’s lashes moved.

Swanly swam closer, still muttering.

”And your face. What a waste. Such a beautiful face on such a stupid male.”

His breathing changed.

She leaned over him with her chin in her hand, looking at his sleeping face.

”Truly wasted. Sometimes I feel like spanking your pride out of you.”

She lifted one hand as if to swat him.

Then she laughed at herself and turned away.

That was her second mistake.

A hand closed around her waist.

Swanly’s entire soul tried to leave her body.

She was pulled backward in one smooth movement, and her back hit a cold chest beneath the water.

Her eyes flew open.

Soren was awake.

His silver eyes were half-lidded, his face still pale, his wet hair clinging to his cheek. He looked weak enough to die and shameless enough to flirt at his own funeral.

His gaze lowered.

Very slowly.

Swanly’s face went red so fast the cold stream could not save her.

”Ahhhhhhh!” She screamed.

Outside the barrier, Kael roared.

”Swanly!”