Free Web NovelChapter 26: Chapter 26: Snake stronger. Papa weak.
Swanly did not know how long she stayed on her knees beside Kael.
Everything inside Soren’s cave smelled wrong.
Cold stone.
Wet river air.
Snake scent.
Blood. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Her hands would not stop shaking, and that annoyed her so much she almost wanted to bite herself. She had survived dead people running through broken streets. She had shot infected things in the head. She had slept on rooftops with one eye open and a knife under her thigh.
But now, in this primitive cave with three crying cubs pressed around her and her black panther mate bleeding in front of her, she felt like she was going to fall apart.
"Stop moving," she whispered, pressing a clean cloth against Kael’s side. "I swear, if you move again, I will sit on you."
Kael looked at her.
Even injured, even with blood drying at the corner of his mouth, even with one arm hanging too stiffly at his side, he looked at her like she was the only thing in the cave worth looking at.
That made her throat hurt.
He should have been angry.
He should have blamed her.
That snake had crushed him because of her. Because Soren wanted her. Because she smelled like whatever dead-world nonsense her life had apparently become.
But Kael only watched her hands.
Watched the way she tore open a bandage from her space.
Watched the way she dabbed medicine onto his skin even though her face twisted like she was the one feeling the pain.
Watched the way her lips trembled every time he breathed too sharply.
His chest tightened.
It was a strange feeling. Worse than the pain in his ribs in some ways.
Because if this had been before, she would not have touched him like this.
The old Swanly would have stood far away with disgust in her eyes. She would have told him he deserved it. She might have stepped over him in the mud, careful not to dirty her feet, and asked why he had not died quietly.
But this Swanly was kneeling in front of him with tears on her face, trying to hide how scared she was.
This Swanly was angry on his behalf.
This Swanly was treating him like his pain mattered.
Kael did not know what to do with that.
He felt ashamed.
That was the worst part.
His female was here, small compared to the males around her, shaking but still tending to him, and he could not even protect her from the white snake.
His cubs had seen him fall.
His firstborn had seen him crushed.
His mate had begged another male to let him go.
Kael lowered his eyes.
He had failed them.
Swanly saw it.
She did not know exactly what was happening in his head, but she saw the way his jaw tightened, the way his golden eyes dropped, the way his claws pressed into his own palm like he wanted to punish himself.
Her chest ached.
This stupid male.
This stupid, beautiful, bleeding male.
She wanted to scold him, but how could she scold him? He had only stood in front of them. He had only tried to protect his family. He had done what any good mate and father would do.
And somehow that made her feel worse.
Not love.
No.
She was not going to start throwing that word around after knowing him for a few days. She still had some shame. A little. Maybe buried somewhere under trauma.
But something inside her softened toward him until it hurt.
"You did not do anything wrong," she said, her voice smaller than she wanted. "Do you hear me? You were trying to protect us."
Kael looked at her again.
Her eyes were wet.
His heart clenched.
He reached up slowly, because even lifting his arm hurt, and brushed his thumb across her cheek.
Swanly froze.
His thumb came away damp.
She had not even noticed the tear had fallen.
"Do not cry," he said.
That nearly made her cry more.
The audacity.
He was the one bleeding. He was the one whose bones had made that horrible sound. He was the one sitting there half-crushed in a snake’s cave, and he was telling her not to cry.
"I am not crying," she lied.
Kael’s thumb touched another tear.
He looked at it.
Swanly sniffed and looked away. "This cave has bad air."
The smallest cub immediately licked her chin.
Swanly ignored it the first time because she was trying to wrap Kael’s ribs without hurting him more.
The smallest licked her again.
She ignored it again because Kael flinched under her hand and she almost threw up from worry.
The smallest licked her a third time, wet and determined, right on the side of her mouth.
Swanly paused.
Slowly, very slowly, she looked down at him.
"Stop that."
The smallest froze with his tongue slightly out.
His eyes were huge and watery.
Then he pulled his tongue back and pouted like she had destroyed his entire life.
Swanly stared at him. "Why do you like licking me so much?"
The smallest sniffled. "Mama sweet."
Swanly blinked.
He pressed his little head into her stomach and added, "Soft."
Swanly’s mouth twitched.
No.
No, she would not laugh.
Her mate was injured. They were trapped in a snake’s cave. A ruthless white snake had basically put his scent on her wrist in front of everyone. This was not the time to laugh because her tiny cub thought she was a soft snack.
The eldest cub rubbed his wet face against Kael’s leg.
Then he looked up at his father with very serious golden eyes.
"Papa no strong."
The cave went still.
Swanly felt the words hit Kael before she even looked at him.
Kael did not move.
His face did not change much.
But his eyes did.
Something inside them dimmed.
The eldest had not meant to be cruel. He was a cub. In his little mind, he was simply stating what he had seen. Soren was strong. Papa fell. Papa bled. Papa could not break free.
So Papa was not strong.
That was all.
But in a beast world, from a firstborn son to his father, those words were not small.
Swanly’s chest burned.
Kael turned his face slightly away.
That made her angry.
Not at the cub.
At the moment.
At Soren.
At this world.
At everything that made Kael sit there bleeding while his own baby looked at him with confused disappointment.
Swanly put the bandage down and turned to the eldest.
"What do you mean?"
The eldest looked startled that she asked. He blinked, then pointed a tiny paw toward the cave entrance. "Snake stronger. Papa weak."
Kael closed his eyes for one second.
Just one.
But Swanly saw it.
