Free Web NovelChapter 21: Episode 021: Where was Rue?
I am tired.
The thought echoed in Rue’s mind.
Her legs shook violently. Her back burned with a dull, throbbing ache. She had just pushed a whole baby out of her body completely alone. She was absolutely exhausted; she didn’t have the strength to face a predator right now.
But she was not ready to die. Not anymore.
The cold comfort of giving up, the sweet release she craved for three years in a hospital bed, vanished the second she saw the tuft of silver hair on her little boy’s head. The love for death simply did not exist now that she had a son.
As much as dying was fun, I have to live with my son.
The massive black panther prowled forward. Its bright yellow eyes locked onto her. It let out a low, bone-rattling growl. The aggressive sound vibrated through the wooden floorboards and crawled up Rue’s bare legs. The beast lowered its heavy head, bunching its thick shoulder muscles, clearly preparing to launch directly at her.
Rue cursed under her breath.
But she did not back down either. She did not run; instead, she squared her small, shaking shoulders, bared her teeth, and growled back.
It was not a terrifying sound. It came out as a soft, slightly raspy huff. A deeply angry bunny noise.
The panther stopped dead in its tracks. It visibly recoiled. The deadly apex predator literally blinked, a massive question mark hanging clearly over its sleek, dark head. It tilted its round ears forward, completely thrown off by the cute sound.
Why did the small prey make such a ridiculous noise?
"You think you’re the only one who can growl?" Rue asked flatly. She chuckled at its reaction. She tightened her fists and growled again.
The panther actually took one giant paw back.
Rue was terrified. Her heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird beating its wings against a cage. But she had a child sleeping in the crib right behind her; she didn’t want to wake him up. She took a deep breath, preparing to yell, to make herself look bigger, to do whatever it took to block the door.
Her body simply said no.
The leftover adrenaline completely crashed, and her vision went entirely black at the edges. Rue collapsed sideways. Her body finally hit its absolute physical limit.
No... my child...
As she lost consciousness, a soft pop echoed in the dark room. She shifted straight back into her fluffy, white bunny form. Her small body hit the wooden floorboards.
The panther stayed exactly where it was for a long moment. It stared at the unconscious rabbit. Slowly, the massive cat crept closer on silent, padded paws. It lowered its heavy head and sniffed her white fur. It recoiled a little, its dark nose twitching at the scent.
Then, as if deciding on what to do with the rabbit, the panther opened its jaws. It gently grabbed the scruff of Rue’s neck with its sharp teeth, lifting her limp body off the floor.
Right then, a loud, sharp wail erupted from the wooden crib. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
The panther froze entirely. It turned its heavy head, still holding the rabbit firmly in its maws, and looked directly at the crib.
***
The wooden front door of the cabin slammed open.
Caius rushed inside. Rainwater dripped heavily from his black hair. A thick, white gauze was wrapped tightly around his muscular torso, stained with fresh, dark blood.
A mutated hyena had managed to bite his side before he snapped its neck. He pushed through the burning pain. He had promised his mate one hour. He was late.
"Rue!" Caius called out.
The living room was completely dark and entirely empty.
But the smell was there. It hit his heightened senses like a physical blow to the face. The sharp, metallic, aggressive stench of a feral panther lingered thickly in the damp air.
Caius’s heart ached in pure horror.
"No... No... Rue..."
He rushed down the short hallway. He tore the bedroom door right off its hinges.
The room was a nightmare. Her sweet scent was still there, but it was heavily mixed with the sharp smell of fresh blood and birth fluids. He saw the bundles of stained towels kicked across the floor. He saw the warm water in the wooden basin.
Absolute, crushing realisation dawned on him.
His mate went into labour. She gave birth. And he was not there for her. He was the Left General of the Swamps, entirely capable of wiping out armies, but he was fighting hyenas while his fragile mate laboured alone in the dark.
But where was she?
Where was the child?
The bed was empty. The crib was empty.
Caius let out a devastating, guttural roar. He shifted instantly. His massive snake form burst out of the cabin, tearing the wooden doorframe to splinters. He darted out into the heavy rain. The storm was raging, lightning cracking across the black sky, but he did not care.
Their mate bond was faint, and because of the rain, he couldn’t track her.
He shouted her name into the howling wind. He searched every single corner of the grassy patch, his golden eyes glowing frantically in the dark. He tore up the mud, entirely confused and panicked because he had nowhere to logically search.
The panther tribes lived in deeply closed-off territories. They never mingled with other predators at the Convergence. No one knew where their hidden entrances were. He could comb the entire beastworld for a hundred years and never find her.
He tore through the ground, ready to rip the forest apart tree by tree.
A massive shadow blocked his path.
Queen Tanith stood in the pouring rain. She had fully shifted into her giant, terrifying basilisk form. Her enormous, dark scales deflected the heavy raindrops. She slammed her heavy tail onto the mud, stopping his rampage directly.
Caius reared back. He hissed violently. He put all the blame squarely on her. If the Queen had not ordered him to the vanguard, he would have been home. He would have protected his family. He bared his fangs, ready to strike his own ruler.
Tanith did not flinch. With a fluid, highly controlled motion, she shifted back into her human form. She stood to the side, completely unbothered by the freezing rain soaking her dark dress.
"Stop this," Tanith ordered coldly. "You’ll only hurt yourself."
She pointed directly at his side. The serious wound on his ribs was tearing wide open from the violent shifting. The heavy storm was only making his blood loss significantly worse.
Caius stared at her. The violent anger drained rapidly out of him, leaving only a hollow, bottomless pit of absolute despair.
With a painful shudder, he shifted back into his human form. He dropped heavily to his knees in the cold mud. The rain washed over his broad, shaking shoulders.
"I am nothing without my mate," Caius shouted. His voice cracked terribly over the thunder.
Then, he started crying.
Hot tears mixed with the cold rain streaming down his cheeks. Tanith’s sharp, icy features visibly softened. She stood in the mud and watched him lay all his raw, bleeding emotions completely bare to her. She honestly could not remember the last time she saw him cry.
Caius grabbed a handful of mud, crushing it in his fist. His broad chest heaved.
"She is such a tiny creature," he wept, his voice completely broken. "She is so small. Completely harmless. She must have felt so terrified. So entirely alone. She gave birth to our child, and no one was there to hold her hand. She must have thought I abandoned her."
The thought physically destroyed him. He had promised to protect her, to build her a safe home, and he failed the only test that mattered.
Tanith walked closer. She ignored the mud and placed a firm, steady hand on his shaking shoulder. The basilisk Queen found a rare, quiet way to calm him down.
"If you want to claim your mate back," Tanith said smoothly, her voice carrying a dangerous edge, "then you’d better heal fully. You’ll need all the strength you possess to survive taking her back."
Caius slowly looked up at her through the rain.
Tanith stared back, her black-beaded eyes narrowing against the heavy storm.
"I know the entrance to the Nightwhisper Jungle," Tanith added softly. "Panther’s reach."
