Chapter 124: WHY MAMA SMELL MORE SNAKE?
The entire camp froze.
Even the wind seemed to stop.
Kael’s claws rested against her throat.
Selka screamed again.
"I am carrying a cub!"
Brann’s head snapped toward her.
"What?"
Selka sobbed violently.
"I was going to tell you."
Brann rushed forward.
Hope and terror collided across his face.
"A cub?"
"Yes!"
"You are certain?"
"Yes, I am certain!"
Nahla pushed through the crowd.
"No, she is not."
Selka’s eyes widened.
The old healer stared at her.
"You have not been examined."
"I know my body!"
"You also knew the ground was going to collapse, apparently."
Several survivors gasped.
Selka shook in Kael’s grip.
"I am pregnant! If he kills me, he kills an innocent cub!"
Kael’s fingers trembled.
He wanted to close them.
Everyone could see it.
His claws pressed into her skin.
One movement would end her.
Brann dropped to his knees.
"Please."
Kael looked at him.
Brann had defended Selka through cruelty, humiliation, and death.
Now he looked broken.
"If she is lying, punish her."
Selka spun toward him as much as Kael’s grip allowed.
"Brann!"
He kept his eyes on Kael.
"But if there is a cub..."
His voice cracked.
"Varek is dead. I cannot lose another member of my family."
Selka’s expression softened instantly.
She reached toward him.
"Brann, I knew you would protect me."
His face hardened.
"I am protecting the cub."
Her hand stopped.
Kael’s grip tightened again.
Swanly arrived on Soren’s tail.
She jumped down before he stopped moving.
"Kael!"
His eyes found her.
The snake scent reached him again.
His face twisted.
Selka saw it.
And smiled.
Only slightly.
Only for a heartbeat.
Swanly saw it.
That tiny smile told her everything.
Selka was enjoying Kael’s pain.
The bitch had nearly killed her, trapped Nerin, created a forced mating disaster, and she was still smiling because Swanly’s relationship was bleeding.
Swanly crossed the clearing.
"You planned all of it."
Selka’s eyes filled.
"I do not know what you mean."
"You stole Nerin’s cloth."
"I found it."
"You moved his marker."
"I was helping him return."
"You weakened the exact pillar I tied my rope around."
"How could I know you would choose that pillar?"
"You caused the second collapse."
"The ground was unstable!"
"You heard Nahla tell Soren he needed a female."
Selka’s pupils contracted.
There.
One tiny reaction.
Swanly caught it.
Soren still had darkened the corner of his mouth.
Selka stared at him.
Then at the mating mark hidden beneath Swanly’s wrap.
Her face cracked.
It was not fear anymore.
It was rage.
"You ruined everything."
The words escaped before she could stop them.
The camp became silent.
Swanly stepped closer.
"What did I ruin?"
Selka’s mouth opened.
Closed.
Swanly smiled without warmth.
"Go on."
Selka began shaking.
"You already had Kael."
Kael’s claws tightened against her throat.
"You had cubs. Power. Food. Everything. Everyone running after you like starving dogs."
Her voice rose.
"You did not need Soren too!"
Soren’s eyes became glacial.
Selka looked at him desperately.
"You needed a female. I heard her say it. I could have stabilized you."
Nahla’s mouth dropped open.
Then she laughed.
It was not a kind laugh.
"You?"
Selka’s face twisted.
"Yes, me!"
"His venom would have burned through you before the bond formed."
Selka froze.
Nahla stepped closer.
"He did not need any female. He needed Swanly because her blood had already accepted his power."
Selka looked at Soren.
"That is not true."
Soren’s expression held nothing.
"I would never have chosen you."
The words destroyed her.
Selka’s face emptied.
Then shattered.
"You would have!"
"No."
"I am beautiful!"
"I noticed your scent before your face."
The cruelty was effortless.
Raku covered his mouth.
Tilla looked away, shoulders shaking.
Even Swanly almost felt bad.
Almost.
Selka screamed.
"She stole you!"
Arion stepped through the Sunmane survivors.
His face was exhausted.
His father was dead.
His people were waiting for him to lead.
Still, his eyes remained clear.
"No one was stolen from you."
Selka turned toward him.
"Arion."
He stopped several steps away.
"They chose someone else."
Her lips trembled.
"You loved her."
"I did."
"And now the snake wants her. The panther wants her. The deer follows her carrying fruit like a pathetic fool."
Nerin had arrived behind Tovan.
He went still.
Kael growled at the word fruit.
Swanly shot him a warning look.
Selka’s voice broke into a shriek.
"Every powerful male I deserved looked past me because of her!"
Arion’s face changed.
"You never deserved them."
Selka stared.
"You demanded obedience and called it love. You used your mates until one died protecting a child you would have abandoned."
Brann looked down.
Varek’s wrapped body lay near the rear fire.
Selka saw it.
For one second, guilt appeared.
Then she turned it into anger.
"He was my mate!"
"He was a person," Arion said.
The words struck harder than shouting.
Kael’s hand shifted.
Selka gasped.
Swanly touched his arm.
"Do not kill her."
His golden eyes snapped toward her.
"She tried to kill you."
"I know."
"She trapped you with him."
Soren’s eyes narrowed.
Kael’s voice broke.
"She made me feel another male mark you while I was outside."
The entire camp heard it.
Swanly’s chest tightened.
Kael looked at Selka again.
"I will never forgive her."
"You do not have to."
"Then let me kill her."
Nahla stepped forward.
"If she carries a cub, we cannot risk it before examination."
Kael’s teeth showed.
Swanly lowered her voice.
"Do not let her make you kill an innocent baby."
His hand trembled.
Selka saw the hesitation and began sobbing louder.
"My cub! Please, my cub!"
Swanly’s eyes went cold.
"You will not use that child as a shield forever."
Kael released her.
Selka crashed to the ground, coughing.
Brann crawled toward her.
She immediately clung to him.
"I knew you would save me."
Brann did not embrace her.
He stared at her stomach.
"You should have told me."
"I wanted it to be special."
"You told me because you were about to die."
Selka’s face hardened.
Mora approached with thick hide restraints.
Selka recoiled.
"What are you doing?"
Swanly answered.
"You are going to the rear."
"I am pregnant!"
"That saved your life. It did not erase your crime."
"You cannot bind me!"
Mora grabbed her arms.
Selka screamed and kicked.
Brea stepped forward.
Then saw Kael’s face and stepped backward again.
Cowardice won quickly.
Mora tied Selka’s wrists.
Another guard secured her ankles loosely enough to walk but not run.
Selka thrashed.
"I am a Sunmane female!"
Arion looked at the remaining survivors.
"She is under guard."
No one objected.
Selka stared at him in disbelief.
"You cannot order me!"
"I just did."
"You are not king!"
Arion looked toward his father’s covered body.
His jaw tightened.
"No."
Then he looked back at her.
"But someone has to lead the people he nearly destroyed."
The Sunmane survivors lowered their heads.
Selka’s face twisted.
"You all turned against me!"
Brann stood beside her.
She reached for him.
"Tell them."
He did not move.
"Brann!"
His voice came out hollow.
"You told me we were making a supply hollow."
Her eyes widened.
"I am your female."
"Yes."
"Then protect me!"
"I protected you."
He looked toward Kael’s bloody hands.
"You are alive."
Mora pulled Selka toward the rear.
She fought every step.
"This is Swanly’s fault!"
Tilla folded her arms.
"You tried to kill her."
"She stole everything!"
"You brought thirty mates into Sunmane," Arion said. "Surely one should have taught you how sharing works."
Raku choked.
Nahla slapped his back.
Selka screamed until her voice cracked.
Swanly watched the guards take her away.
Only then did she notice how many people were staring.
At her.
At Kael.
At Soren.
At the slight silver glow beneath the edge of her thigh wrap.
Her soul tried to leave again.
She pulled the hide lower.
Too late.
Whispers moved through the camp.
"Another mark?"
"The snake marked her?"
"Kael knows?"
"Does he look like he does not know?"
Kael’s face became murderous.
The whispers died immediately.
Soren stepped beside Swanly.
Kael stepped to her other side.
Their shoulders nearly touched hers.
They looked at each other.
Possessiveness rolled off both males so heavily that the nearby survivors quietly moved away.
Swanly rubbed her forehead.
"This is not happening."
"It already happened," the system said.
"Be silent."
Kael looked at her.
"I did not speak."
"Not you."
Soren’s forked tongue flickered.
"Who are you threatening?"
"Myself."
"That seems reasonable."
She glared at him.
He looked almost pleased.
Kael was not.
His eyes dropped toward the mating mark on her thigh.
Swanly saw the pain return.
She reached for him.
Kael stepped back again.
That hurt more than she expected.
Before she could speak, three tiny voices exploded from behind the shelter.
"Mama!"
The triplets came running.
Kairo led like a miniature commander.
Nilo followed with his serious little face.
Miko ran last, arms flapping wildly, somehow screaming before he had even reached her.
"Mama came back! Mama not dead! Mama not eaten! Mama still have legs!"
Swanly crouched.
All three crashed into her.
Miko nearly knocked her over.
Kairo grabbed her waist.
Nilo pressed his face against her side and breathed deeply.
Swanly wrapped both arms around them.
Her chest loosened for the first time since waking.
"I told you I would come back."
"You took long," Kairo complained.
"Very long," Nilo agreed.
Miko climbed onto her knee.
"Miko waited one hundred days."
"It was not one hundred days."
"Two hundred."
"That is worse."
Lumi ran after them.
She stopped beside Kairo, breathing hard.
"I told him Mama Swanly come back."
Kairo frowned.
"I knew."
"You cried."
"I had dirt in eye."
"Both eyes?"
"Many dirt."
Nilo looked up at Swanly.
"You hurt?"
"No."
He sniffed again.
His forehead wrinkled.
Kairo sniffed too.
Then slowly turned toward Soren.
The camp became quiet.
Swanly’s smile froze.
Miko buried his face against her stomach and inhaled dramatically.
Once.
Twice.
His tiny body went completely still.
Swanly knew.
She knew before he opened his mouth.
"Miko," she whispered.
He pulled back.
His enormous golden eyes stared up at her.
Then he turned toward the entire camp and shouted with the full power of his legendary battle voice.
"WHY MAMA SMELL MORE SNAKE?"
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Swanly felt her soul detach from her body.
Kael closed his eyes.
Soren smiled.