Free Web NovelChapter 27: Chapter 27: Then we mate tonight
The second cub looked at Kael, then at Swanly, suddenly unsure. The smallest stopped pouting and stared too, sensing that something had gone wrong even if he did not understand what.
Swanly took a breath.
Then she picked up the eldest cub and set him right in front of her.
"No," she said firmly.
The eldest’s ears flattened.
Swanly softened her voice, but she did not take the words back.
"No, baby. Your Papa is strong."
The eldest looked confused. "Papa fall."
"Yes. Papa fell because the snake is very dangerous and attacked first. That does not make Papa weak." Swanly pointed at Kael, and her own voice shook a little because she meant every word. "Most males would have run away when they saw Soren. Most males would have pushed us forward and saved themselves. Your Papa stood in front of us. He knew the snake was strong, and he still stood there."
Kael looked at her.
He could not stop himself.
Swanly kept going.
"Strong does not mean you never fall. Strong means you stand in front of your family even when you are scared. Strong means you get hurt before letting your cubs get hurt. Strong means you bleed and still try to stand up."
The eldest’s eyes grew wider.
The second slowly came out from behind Swanly’s tail.
The smallest turned his little face toward Kael.
Swanly swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Your Papa is very strong."
Kael’s heart hurt.
Not from his ribs this time.
From her.
From the way she defended him like it was the easiest thing in the world. From the way she made his failure sound like courage. From the way his cubs were looking at him again with their little wet faces slowly filling with wonder.
The eldest turned to Kael.
"Papa strong?"
Swanly nodded. "Very strong."
The second whispered, "Papa protect."
The smallest crawled onto Kael’s thigh, carefully this time, as if he suddenly remembered Papa was injured. "Papa strong."
Kael’s throat tightened.
He wanted to say something. Anything. But there were too many feelings stuck inside his chest, and none of them knew how to come out like words.
So he only reached down and touched the eldest’s head.
The eldest pressed into his palm.
That small weight almost broke him.
Swanly looked away quickly because if she watched too long, she really would cry, and then the smallest would start licking again.
A soft scraping sound came from the cave entrance.
Every body in the cave changed at once.
Kael’s hand moved to Swanly’s wrist.
The cubs went still.
The eldest stepped in front of his brothers again, still tear-streaked but ready to be stupidly brave.
The second hid against Swanly’s side.
The smallest climbed halfway up her body like a panicked insect.
Soren slithered into the cave like he owned the air inside it.
Which, unfortunately, he probably did.
The lower half of his body was still a long white serpent tail, smooth and pale under the cave shadows. His upper body stayed human, tall and cold, with his long white hair falling over his shoulders. His silver eyes moved over Kael first, then the cubs, then Swanly.
They stopped on the white scale tied around her wrist.
Swanly hated that she noticed his gaze.
She hated more that her skin seemed to remember the cold of his fingers.
Soren looked at her like the decision had already been made.
"You will sleep with me tonight."
Swanly’s brain stopped. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Kael’s head snapped up.
The cubs all froze.
Even the smallest forgot to lick anything.
Swanly stared at Soren.
Did he just...
Did he actually...
In this cave?
In front of her injured mate?
In front of the babies?
Her face heated so fast she almost got dizzy.
"Absolutely not."
Kael’s voice came a second later, deeper and darker.
"She is not your female."
Soren’s eyes slid to him.
The air grew colder.
Kael forced himself to sit straighter even though Swanly immediately grabbed his shoulder like, no, sir, do not start another near-death event inside the cave.
"She carries your scent," Kael said, every word rough with hatred. "That is all. You have not mated her."
Swanly blinked.
Then she turned her head slowly toward Kael.
Wait.
That was true, right?
Soren had tied the scale to her wrist. His scent was on her. Riverbone probably thought she was under him or whatever ugly snake-law nonsense this was.
But they had not mated.
They were not actual mates.
She latched onto that like a starving woman seeing bread.
"Yes," she said quickly, pointing at Kael. "Exactly. What he said. We have not mated. I only smell like you because you forced that scale on me."
Soren looked at her.
His expression did not change.
"Then we mate tonight."
Swanly choked.
The cubs gasped like someone had thrown cold water on them.
"No!" the eldest shouted immediately.
The second shook his head so fast his ears flopped. "No new Papa."
The smallest climbed down Swanly’s lap, stood on his little paws, and yelled, "Snake male mean! No want!"
Soren looked at them.
No, he did not look at them.
He looked down at them like they were three noisy ants that had somehow learned family politics.
The eldest puffed up. "Mama no wants you!"
The second, growing braver because his brother had started, shouted, "Mama no wants!"
The smallest’s eyes flashed with wicked baby courage.
He turned his back to Soren, lifted his tiny tail, shook his little backside, then ran behind Swanly’s leg as fast as his small paws could carry him.
For one second, the cave forgot it was tense.
Swanly stared.
Then laughter burst out of her before she could stop it.
It was not graceful.
It was not controlled.
It came out too loud and too shocked, because what else was she supposed to do? Her smallest cub had just wiggled his tiny ass at the most dangerous male in Riverbone and escaped behind her like he had committed a heroic crime.
The eldest looked proud.
The second looked scandalized but impressed.
Kael stared at the smallest, then at Swanly, then his mouth twitched.
A real almost-smile.
And that almost-smile nearly killed Swanly more than Soren’s tail had.
Then she remembered Soren was still there.
Her laughter died slowly.
Soren’s silver eyes had turned colder.
