Chapter 115: Mate With A Female
Soren collapsed into Swanly’s arms.
Black blood poured across her shoulder.
For one terrible moment, the entire gorge stopped.
Then everyone moved at once.
"Soren!"
Raku crossed the distance in three strides.
Nahla shoved through the crowd.
"Lay him down!"
Swanly lowered him carefully, but Soren’s arms remained locked around her waist.
Even unconscious, he refused to release her.
Kael stared at those arms.
His face became terrifyingly still.
Raku tried to pull Soren away.
The snake’s tail struck blindly.
Raku jumped back.
"He is unconscious!"
Nahla slapped Soren’s tail.
"Then stop provoking him!"
"How am I provoking an unconscious male?"
"By existing loudly."
Swanly pried Soren’s fingers from her clothing one at a time.
His skin burned.
Black veins moved beneath his pale scales.
She had stopped him because one more burst of power would have killed him.
She had also stopped him because he was seconds away from slaughtering every person in the gorge.
Including the men who had surrendered.
Swanly looked toward them.
Six surviving Ashclaw warriors remained on their knees.
Their weapons lay on the ground.
One was the male Soren had released because Swanly stood in his way.
They stared at her.
Frightened.
Quiet.
Apparently harmless.
Something cold moved through Swanly’s chest.
She remembered her first world.
Surrendered men begging for mercy, then opening gates during the night.
Frightened survivors promising loyalty, then trading children for food.
People did not always betray because they were evil.
Sometimes fear was enough.
That almost made it worse.
One kneeling male glanced toward the abandoned weapons.
Another slowly shifted his knee beneath himself.
Preparing to run.
Or attack.
Swanly stood.
Kael noticed the change in her expression.
"Swanly?"
Her black bow appeared in her hand.
The kneeling males looked up.
The first arrow left the string.
Then three more.
The shots came so quickly the sounds merged.
Four foreheads snapped backward.
Two remaining males lunged for the weapons.
Swanly released again.
One arrow entered the first man’s eye.
The last Ashclaw warrior raised both hands.
"You said we could surrender!"
Swanly’s final arrow entered the center of his forehead.
His body dropped beside the others.
Silence returned.
Raku’s mouth opened.
Nahla froze with both hands pressed against Soren’s chest.
Arion stared at the six bodies.
Even Kael looked at Swanly as though he had discovered a new and alarming layer to his mate.
Swanly lowered the bow.
"What?"
Nobody answered.
She pointed toward the bodies.
"They attacked our wounded after pretending to offer us safety. They cut our supplies. They tried to take our females and cubs."
A former elder swallowed.
"They had surrendered."
"And Soren nearly killed himself because I asked him to spare them."
Her blue-gray eyes swept across the survivors.
"Something told me I would regret leaving them alive."
No one moved.
Swanly’s ears flattened.
"Anyone who endangers me or my family again will go the same way."
Her voice became colder.
"Think carefully before betraying us."
Several former elders immediately looked at the ground.
Swanly dismissed her bow and walked toward Kael.
He watched her approach.
"You think I am crazy," she said.
"A little."
She stopped.
Kael caught her waist and pulled her against him.
Swanly blinked.
She had expected anger.
Instead, his arms tightened until her cheek pressed against his chest.
His heart was beating too fast.
"What is wrong?"
"You stepped in front of him."
"He was about to kill everyone."
"What if he had not recognized you?"
"He did."
"What if he had not?"
Swanly opened her mouth.
Kael buried his face in her hair.
For once, there was no possessive growl.
No demand.
Only fear.
He had watched another powerful male collapse into his mate’s arms.
He had watched Soren recognize her when he could no longer recognize his own guards.
Something inside Kael had begun whispering that Swanly would not belong only to him forever.
That one day, another mating mark might appear on her skin.
Another male might sleep beside her.
Another male might be allowed to call her his.
The thought hurt so badly he could not turn it into anger.
So he held her.
"Swanly."
"Yes?"
"Whatever happens, you stay with me."
She rubbed his back.
"I am not leaving."
"Forever."
Swanly smiled against his chest.
"Yes, yes. Forever."
She did not think deeply about the desperation in his voice.
Kael did.
He kissed her forehead.
A tiny body burst between their legs.
"Mama!"
Miko climbed Swanly’s clothing like a determined insect.
"Kiss Miko too!"
Swanly lifted him.
"You were hiding two breaths ago."
"Battle finished."
"And now you demand kisses?"
"Papa got one."
Swanly kissed his forehead.
Miko immediately turned his face.
"Other cheek."
She kissed it.
"Other cheek again."
"You only have two."
"Mouth?"
Swanly pressed one finger against his lips.
"No licking."
Miko’s expression collapsed.
"Miko not say lick."
"Your tongue was already coming out."
He covered his mouth and glared at her over his fingers.
Swanly tapped his nose.
"Naughty."
Kael tapped it too.
"Very naughty."
Miko gasped at the betrayal.
"Both bad!"
Kairo and Nilo ran over.
Miko pointed furiously.
"Mama and Papa bully baby!"
Kairo looked at him.
"You ask too many kisses."
"No such thing."
Nilo considered it.
"Maybe true."
Miko threw both arms around Nilo.
"Good brother."
Kairo sighed like a very tired adult trapped inside a tiny cub.
Behind them, water splashed.
Nahla had thrown an entire skin of cold water over Soren’s face.
His eyes opened.
His hand shot around her wrist.
Raku stepped forward.
Soren’s black pupils focused.
He released Nahla.
She snatched her hand back.
"If you tear my arm off, heal yourself."
Soren coughed.
Black blood ran from his mouth.
"Why am I wet?"
"You stopped breathing properly."
"That does not answer the question."
"It answers it enough."
Nahla ordered Raku to carry him behind a broad stone where the tribe could not crowd them.
Soren refused.
His legs folded.
Raku caught him.
Soren’s claws appeared.
Raku’s voice became very calm.
"You may kill me after your body remembers how standing works."
Nahla pulled the stone screen closed behind them.
Only she and Soren remained inside.
She pressed her palm against the scales beneath his ribs.
His expression changed.
"How bad?" he asked.
"Your core has partially split."
Soren said nothing.
"The venom channels around it are burning from inside. Every time you force power through them, the split widens."
"Can you close it?"
"No."
His jaw hardened.
Nahla lowered her voice.
"There are two ways to stabilize it."
Soren looked at her.
"The remaining half of the Cleanbirth Seed may cool the channels and remove the rot residue surrounding the fracture."
"It will repair the core?"
"No. The Seed cleans corruption. It does not rebuild a broken core."
"Then the second way."
Nahla hesitated.
"You know it’s a mating bond."
Soren’s eyes narrowed.
"A powerful male normally contains his own core through his bloodline. Yours no longer has one stable path. A mating bond can create another living channel, allowing excess venom and power to circulate through the bond instead of tearing you apart."
"Any female?"
"No."
Nahla’s expression became grave.
"An ordinary female would be poisoned. Your venom could burn through her core during the bond."
Soren already knew what she would say.
Nahla continued.
"You need a female whose body has already accepted your blood and whose life force resists rot and venom."
His gaze moved toward the stone separating them from Swanly.
"Swanly," Nahla said.
Her blood had awakened the Cleanbirth Seed.
She had survived Soren forcing his scale onto her wrist.
His power had entered her body without poisoning or killing her.
The scale had already formed the beginning of a blood connection.
That was why Soren had chosen her.
Not because any female could save him.
Because Swanly was the only known female his core might bond with without destroying her.
Nahla watched his face.
"You knew."
"I suspected."
"That is why you gave her your scale."
Soren looked away.
"I chose her before my core became this damaged."
"And now?"
His tail moved once.
"I still choose her."
A shadow shifted beyond the stone.
Selka pressed herself against the outer wall.
She had followed because she saw Nahla hide Soren from everyone else.
She heard only pieces.
Mating bond.
A female.
Stabilize his core.
Swanly.
Her claws dug into the stone.
So the snake needed a female.
And that greedy fox had somehow placed herself in front of him too.
Selka’s jealousy became hot enough to make her vision blur.
Soren was powerful enough to crush kings.
If he became hers, no one would ever humiliate her again.
Not Swanly.
Not Arion.
Not the remaining Sunmane survivors.
Selka did not hear the part about compatibility.
She did not care enough to continue listening.
...
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