Chapter 47: Is My Bear Husband Cooking For Me?
Tera eyed the piece of meat, then eyed Xavi.
"Why are you trying to feed me? I am not a cub."
He grunted. "You eat less than a cub. Open."
Before Tera could argue further, Xavi pressed the meat gently against her lips with the patience of someone who was fully prepared to wait until she grew tired.
She opened her mouth out of pure exasperation, and he placed the meat in her mouth.
It wasn’t burnt. It wasn’t raw. It was, against all odds, perfectly edible.
’Wow...’
She had tried teaching the beasts how to properly roast the meat, this time without any additions. Many had managed not to burn it, but it had still been slightly tough to eat, and she had lamented not preparing her portion herself.
She would have done it had she not been so preoccupied with supervising.
But this meat was very soft, and it was oddly seasoned with one particular sweet herb.
Tera looked up at Xavi in wonder. "This is so goooood. Who prepared this meat?"
His ears twitched, and a proud smile filled his lips. "I watched you cook. Many times."
Her eyes widened.
"You watched me cook?"
"For learning purposes."
"Wait, you prepared this for me?"
Xavi nodded.
"You are very... detailed when you cook. You mutter to yourself. It is informative."
She laughed. She couldn’t help it. The image of this massive bear beast man lurking at the edge of her cooking fires, taking mental notes while she muttered about heat control and turning techniques, was so absurd it circled back around to endearing.
Xavi had been doing so much for her, she felt sad she hadn’t been properly paying attention.
Her chest felt warm. "Thank you."
Xavi picked up a piece of meat and held it to her lips. "Eat."
"I can feed myself—"
"Eat."
She opened her mouth to argue, and he popped the meat inside.
Xavi fed her the rest of the meat, one piece at a time, with the patient focus of someone completing a very important task. When she’d finished, he pushed the grapes toward her.
"Xavi—"
"You need strength."
The faint sadness in his eyes when he said this made Tera pause. Her cheeks lightly heated up, and she leaned her head against Xavi’s shoulder, relaxing as he fed her the rest of the fruits.
It was such a strange feeling being treated like this, and Tera liked it.
It was also very beautiful seeing Xavi this cute.
Shortly after she had finished everything and Xavi had given her water to drink and massaged her back, shortly after, which made Tera wonder why she was getting such precious treatment.
By the time he was done, he had drawn her back into his arms, and her body felt too relaxed for her to even complain. His body heat was soothing and further turned her into mush.
She had lasted less than a minute before her eyes closed, and she fell asleep.
Ermin’s tail twitched in his sleep and curled loosely in her direction. Xavi’s arms tightened around her.
And Tera slept between them, unaware that both males were, in their own way, holding onto her.
- ※ - ※ - ※ -
For the next two days, Xavi appointed himself as Tera’s enforcer of rest.
Every time she tried to stay up to monitor Ermin’s fever, Xavi would appear. His body heat was a weapon, and he wielded it mercilessly. Within minutes, Tera would be asleep against her will, her protests swallowed by yawns she couldn’t suppress.
While she slept, Xavi took over. He changed the cooling cloths on Ermin’s forehead with the same focused intensity he applied to hunting. He checked the panther’s temperature by pressing the back of his hand to his neck, the way he’d seen Tera do.
Tera had watched with pride while also holding a small laugh inside. It was sweet watching Xavi tend to Ermin.
By the third day, Ermin’s fever had nearly broken. Xavi then finally allowed Tera to convince him to go hunt and bring more meat. He had left with the stern warning that she shouldn’t do any heavy lifting.
Tera had absolutely no intention of doing heavy lifting. She had barely sat down beside Ermin’s bed to check his temperature one last time when her body made the executive decision to shut down. She slumped sideways, her head coming to rest on the fur beside his arm, and was asleep before she could even register the exhaustion.
The first thing Ermin registered when he woke was the absence of heat.
The fever that had been cooking him from the inside for days had finally broken. His body felt weak and wrung out, but his mind was clear now.
He then noticed Tera.
She was asleep beside his bed.
She looked a bit tired and frail. She looked like she had even added a little more weight since the last time he had seen her properly.
Ermin stared at her, his heart softening in a way that frightened him.
She had been here and had nursed him. He remembered when she had held his hand and whispered he would be fine, even saying nice things when she thought he was still asleep.
The reassurance that he would be fine, and the constant coolness from what she placed on his forehead and chest, made his stomach feel warm.
She had done all this for him.
He didn’t know what to do with this feeling. Gratitude and guilt and something else he refused to name all tangled together in his chest like knotted thread.
Slowly, carefully, he pulled the fur near him and draped it over her shoulders. He managed to do it without waking her.
And when Tera woke some time later, she was aware of the fur covering her. As she was wondering where it came from, she noticed the bed was empty.
Ermin was sitting at the other end of the shelter.
"Ermin? You’re awake."
His ears twitched. Then he nodded. "Thank you..."
She sat up, the fur pooling in her lap, and a slow smile spread across her face. "How are you feeling?"
Ermin made the mistake of looking at her. She was smiling at him like his waking up was the best news she’d received all day.
His heart jumped.
She looked so pretty, smiling like that.
His own thought shocked him, and he looked away, his tail wrapping around his ankles as he grumbled, "I feel well."
[Ermin’s Favourability: 15% → 22%]
Tera’s eyes widened slightly.
’Damn. Am I ever going to understand this one?’