Chapter 71: All Bets Are Off
Ermin felt so angry with himself.
Two things were gnawing at him, and both of them pointed back to himself.
The first was the rotten scheme Kiri had been discussing under the tree he had been resting in that night.
They had discussed watching Tera and making some sort of move towards her, and Kiri had been at the center of it. This disgusting jackal had also been part of them.
At the time, Ermin had dismissed it. He had agreed with their suspicions because Tera was the female who had ruined his life, and he hadn’t cared enough to report what he’d heard.
But now, watching Kiri, Ermin could feel a sick feeling settling in his stomach.
He had known about Kiri’s scheming, and that night had just slipped his mind until now.
And because he had said nothing, Kiri had been free to cause harm to Tera.
Ermin did not have any proof, but he strongly suspected Kiri had a hand in this. The more he thought about it, the more disappointed in himself he became.
The worst could have happened.
Ermin watched Xavi press Feron and Kiri for details.
He needed to tell Tera and Xavi about what he had heard.
What he had overheard that night would only complicate things right now. And it would be best if those five were singled out. He would personally do his very best to force the confessions out of them.
Bringing up the whole issue would not only take away what Feron had just done, but it would also introduce interruptions from the other clan members, and it would unnecessarily draw the whole thing out.
Ermin’s head slowly started to hurt.
He thought of Tera’s face when she heard he had listened to a scheme about her and hadn’t said anything.
He did not like it, but she needed to know.
And he would do his best to grill answers from them, including the fox female—
"I remember now."
Everyone turned to look at Tera, who was now speaking up for the first time.
Kiri’s ears perked up.
Ermin’s eyes widened at the look of anger and disdain on Tera’s face as she glared at Feron.
"I saw you entering my shelter. I wasn’t clear-headed, but I remember you coming inside, and I had to push you out. I didn’t know I had done it that hard."
Kiri, she would face another day. But as for this male. Something needed to be done about him.
Xavi and Ermin slowly returned their attention to Feron, immense rage welling in them.
Xavi took a step towards him. "You..."
Feron trembled before Xavi, his voice small. "PLEASE! I truly don’t remember. I don’t know why I would have gone to the shiftless one’s shelter. I don’t remember—"
"Shiftless?!" Xavi yelled. "She has a name!"
Feron stepped back, shaking. "I—"
"You do not know why you would have gone to her shelter?" Ermin hissed. "With all the foul things you have said about her, you expect me to believe that?"
[Foul things?]
[ヾ(๑╹◡╹)ﾉ🔪]
Tera turned to Ermin. "What does that mean?"
And why was this the first time she was hearing about this?
Ermin looked uncomfortable and was about to answer when the clan members beat him to it.
"That is true. He has been saying certain things. We heard you."
A few other clan members murmured in agreement. Feron’s face went pale as Xavi stood deathly still, a dark look on his face.
"I also heard him talking about her body," another male added.
A few more sentences, and Tera’s skin crawled. She remembered the day at the lake, and how she had caught Ermin’s eyes across the water. She hadn’t realised Feron had been watching too.
That pervert!
"I didn’t—I wasn’t—" Feron looked around desperately, but every face he turned to was hard with judgment. Even the clan members who had been uncertain before were now looking at him with open disgust.
"Leader, I did not mean to—I wasn’t thinking—"
"Quiet," Xavi growled, and Feron clamped his mouth shut, shaking.
His body was already dripping with sweat, and he looked so small before Xavi all of a sudden.
Kiri watched the spectacle, her body tense.
She was panicking slightly. Xavi was furious, but she knew he was going to banish Feron. He was too kind-hearted to kill the beast jackal in front of the clan, especially the cubs. But she was afraid. She did not want Feron gone.
That would mean one of her supporters would be gone. She had already lost one, and she was losing a second.
The plan was supposed to work, and not turn out like this.
Kiri strongly debated pleading with the leader and considering using the excuse of her needing her future cub’s father, but that would be very foolish, and he would suspect her if he hadn’t already started suspecting her before.
Kiri hated this dilemma.
It was that dirty, shiftless female’s fault.
Kiri glared at Tera.
The clan was peaceful before she had even come, now all these things were happening because of her.
Kiri went stiff when Feron slowly turned to look at her for support.
She was immediately furious.
Maybe it was better if this idiot was banished.
Xavi was now going to look at her and think they were working together.
She clutched her stomach, making a fuss to visibly turn her head away from Feron, her mouth twisting in disgust.
"Don’t look at me. I feel so dirty because of you."
Tera did not miss that interaction, along with the heartbreak reflected in Feron’s eyes.
Xavi’s body was trembling in rage as he eyed Feron.
"You are banished."
The word landed like a boulder.
Feron’s legs buckled. He dropped to his knees, his face contorting with panic. "Leader, please! I made a mistake! I beg you—"
"You did more than make a mistake." Xavi’s voice was cold. "You disrespected my mate. You approached her shelter during her heat. You intended to—"
To Tera’s shock, he whirled around on his knees to beg her too.
"Please, I have committed a great offence. I will take any punishment! I—"
Ermin hissed at Feron as Xavi shot him a death glare. "Leave!"
Tera’s jaw was tight. She was angry, genuinely angry. The knowledge that Feron had intended to assault her disgusted her to her very core.
If she hadn’t been in heat, or even had that burst of impossible strength, he would have...
The thought made her severely uncomfortable.
But...
"Don’t banish him."
[(｡•́︿•̀｡)]
[Host?]
’All bets are off. I am destroying that stupid fox before she ruins me.’