Chapter 122: My female does not need your fruit
Nerin’s face was pale.
Blood covered one side of his silver-brown hair and ran from the broken base of his antler. Dust clung to his lashes. His hands were torn open from clawing at stone for hours.
Still, when the wall shattered and Swanly appeared through the dust, hope lit his green eyes.
"You came."
His voice cracked.
For a moment, he looked like he had never doubted her.
Then he breathed.
Everything inside him stopped.
The scent in the grotto had changed.
Golden pollen.
Blood.
Arousal.
A completed mating bond.
His gaze moved toward Kael first.
The black panther stood behind Swanly, covered in his own blood, his entire body vibrating with barely restrained violence.
Then Nerin saw Soren.
The white snake stood on Swanly’s other side, calm, naked beneath the hide wrapped around his waist, his damaged core no longer screaming beneath his skin.
Two powerful males.
Two mating scents.
Nerin’s eyes dropped before he could stop them.
Swanly’s hide wrap had shifted when she bent toward him.
High on her inner thigh, pale silver lines curled into the shape of a white snake.
Soren’s mating mark.
Nerin went completely still.
His ears lowered.
The hope in his eyes disappeared so quietly it hurt more than if he had cried.
Swanly noticed where he was looking.
Her face burned.
She immediately pulled the wrap lower.
Soren’s silver eyes narrowed.
He stared directly at Nerin.
No warning.
No words.
Just a cold look that said the deer had already looked too long.
Nerin lowered his eyes at once.
He was not foolish.
Kael and Soren were ready to tear each other apart, but they had somehow found one thing they agreed on.
Neither wanted another male looking at Swanly.
Nerin could barely stand.
He could not even fight one of them.
Both would bury him before he completed a single shift.
"I am sorry," he whispered.
Swanly crouched beside him.
"For what?"
"For bringing you here."
"You did not bring me here."
"I called for you."
"You were trapped under a mountain."
"I thought..." Nerin swallowed. "I thought I would die before anyone heard me."
His fingers tightened around something against his chest.
Swanly noticed.
"What are you holding?"
Nerin hesitated.
Then he slowly opened his hands.
Three small red fruits lay inside them.
Bruised.
Crushed along one side.
But still whole.
Swanly stared.
"Are those for me?"
Nerin’s ears lowered further.
"I found them near the stream."
"You were trapped for hours, and you were protecting fruit?"
"They are sweet."
"That did not answer my question."
His torn fingers curled around them.
"I remembered you liked them."
The original Swanly had liked them.
Nerin had carried that tiny memory for years.
He had climbed toward the fruit, fallen through weakened ground, struck his antler against stone, and still protected them while trapped in darkness.
Not because they were valuable.
Because he wanted to give them to her.
Swanly looked at his bleeding palms.
The fruit had no claw marks.
He had taken every cut instead.
Her chest tightened.
"Nerin..."
A black hand shot between them.
Kael snatched the fruit from Nerin’s palms.
Everyone froze.
Kael stared at the three battered fruits as though they were poisonous insects.
"My female does not need your fruit."
Nerin’s face lost what little color remained.
Swanly’s mouth fell open.
"Kael!"
"What?"
"You cannot just snatch things from injured people!"
"He was giving them to you."
"Yes. I noticed."
"He should stop."
Nerin looked away.
"It is all right."
"It is not all right," Swanly snapped.
Kael’s golden eyes flashed.
"You already have two mates."
The words struck the grotto like a falling boulder.
Swanly’s face changed.
Kael’s did too.
The anger vanished for half a breath.
Regret appeared.
Then pain swallowed it.
He looked at the snake mark hidden beneath her clothing.
His fingers crushed one of the fruits.
Red juice ran between them like blood.
"I am not adding a deer."
Nerin flinched.
Swanly rose so quickly her knees nearly failed.
Soren caught her elbow.
Kael’s head snapped toward his hand.
Soren did not remove it.
The air became murderous again.
Swanly ripped her arm free before the two idiots destroyed the mountain.
"Both of you stop!"
Kael’s nostrils flared.
Soren’s forked tongue flickered once, tasting her irritation.
Nerin tried to push himself upright.
His legs collapsed.
Swanly caught his shoulder.
Kael immediately stepped forward.
Soren moved at the same time.
Nerin stared at all three of them.
"I can stand."
"No, you cannot," Swanly said.
"I can try."
"You already tried. The ground won."
Miserable embarrassment crossed his face.
Swanly looked at the fruit still trapped in Kael’s fist.
"Give it back."
Kael said nothing.
"Kael."
His jaw tightened.
For one horrible moment, Swanly thought he might throw them away.
Instead, he opened his hand.
Two fruits remained.
The third had become pulp.
Nerin accepted them carefully.
His torn fingers trembled.
Kael watched him.
Something dark moved behind his eyes.
The deer was weak.
Gentle.
Injured.
Everything Kael should not have considered a threat.
But Kael had once believed Soren was only an enemy they could survive beside.
Now Soren’s mark rested on Swanly’s thigh.
Kael would never dismiss another male again.
Not the deer.
Not a bird.
Not a half-dead rabbit crawling out from beneath a rock.
Anyone who looked at Swanly too softly had become a threat.
Nerin extended the two surviving fruits toward her.
"You do not have to take them."
Swanly took them immediately.
"I want them."
Kael’s face darkened.
Swanly bit into one.
Sweet juice touched her tongue.
She chewed while staring directly at him.
Kael looked personally betrayed by the fruit.
Soren’s mouth curved slightly.
Kael saw it.
"Do not smile."
"I did not."
"You did."
"You are imagining things."
"I am imagining breaking your jaw."
Swanly pointed at both of them with the half-eaten fruit.
"I will throw myself back into the hole."
Both males became silent.
Nerin blinked at her.
Then, despite the pain, a tiny smile touched his mouth.
Swanly saw it.
So did Kael.
The smile vanished immediately.
Kael handed her the crushed fruit without looking at Nerin.
"This one cannot be saved."
Swanly looked at the red pulp.
"It died bravely."
Nerin made a small sound.
It took her a second to realize he had laughed.
The sound was weak and surprised, as though he had forgotten he still knew how.
Kael’s ears flattened.
He was now jealous of fruit and laughter.
Wonderful.
Swanly tucked the two remaining fruits into her storage.
Nerin’s eyes widened.
She tapped his torn hand.
"I will eat the other one later."
His expression softened.
"Ok."
Soren crouched before him.
Nerin stiffened.
Soren examined the broken antler without asking permission.
His fingers touched the blood around its base.
Nerin hissed in pain.
Swanly slapped Soren’s hand away.
"Be gentle."
"I was examining it."
"You were poking an open wound."
"He survived."
"That is not the standard!"
Soren looked at Nerin.
"Can you walk?"
Nerin tried to stand again.
His legs folded instantly.
Soren caught him under one arm before he hit the stone.
"I can walk," Nerin repeated weakly.
"You are lying," Soren said.
"I am trying to maintain dignity."
"You lost it when the ground swallowed you."
Nerin stared at him.
Swanly stared too.
"That was cruel."
"It was accurate."
Kael stepped between them.
"I will carry him."
Soren’s brow lifted.
"You?"
Kael’s face became vicious.
"I would rather carry him than watch you touch another person connected to my female."
Nerin looked deeply uncomfortable.
"I am not connected to her."
Kael turned toward him.
"You brought her fruit."
Nerin closed his mouth.
Soren lifted him before Kael could.
One arm beneath his back.
One beneath his knees.
Nerin made an undignified sound.
"I can walk!"
"No," all three of them said.
Nerin stared at the grotto ceiling.
"Kill me now."
Swanly almost laughed.
Then Nerin looked at her again.
Concern returned to his eyes.
"What happened to you?"
The humor vanished.
Swanly’s fingers tightened around the edge of her wrap.
"I fell."
"I know that. I heard it."
His gaze moved briefly toward the golden flowers.
Then toward Soren.
"Are you hurt?"
Kael’s head turned.
Soren’s eyes chilled again.
Nerin immediately corrected himself.
"I mean from the fall."
Swanly touched the snake mark beneath the fabric.
Her stomach twisted.
"I am alive."