Chapter 48 - I Will Do It Again

Chapter 48: 48 - I Will Do It Again

(Kurus’s POV)

Moyu flew down from the sky and dropped the gasums beside us. They released a cloud of blue gas that spread over the battlefield.

I inhaled it, feeling its soothing effect. The desire to breed faded, replaced by calm emptiness. I could think clearly again, and the primals were easier to handle.

They were also affected by the gas, no longer focusing on mate, but on us. They attacked with less ferocity, giving us a chance to strike back.

Moyu joined us, slashing at the primals with his sharp talons and beak. We formed a triangle around mate, who still hadn’t moved from her spot. Her scent was fading, and so was her threat.

She caused the death of many beastmen and primals. We had underestimated her madness.

Mate was beyond saving and deserved to be left alone, but... so did I. Our existence was despised, and our fates were to be destroyed.

I knew it. I had known it for a long time. Ever since I crawled out of my egg, that I was born to be a source of pain and fear. That my claws were meant to shed blood, not to hold life, and my fangs were to bite flesh, not to taste love.

"Mate..." I hissed, slashing at a primal that dared to get too close.

The mate bond we shared gave me a glimpse of her self. Her loneliness and the hunger to end the cycle. It was like my own.

It helped me to see myself more clearly. It was the opposite of what other females did to my ancestors with their mate bonds. She had no desire for me to become warm-blooded and act like them.

Instead, my mate was showing me the beauty of my own kind, my own nature.

The little tingling of the bond whenever I washed her or tried to feed her, how I fought her for which clothes to wear, how I taught her about things she didn’t know, how I demanded river breaks to keep her clean... The bond whispered how much she enjoyed it. How it brought a flicker of light to her dark world.

She could be crazy. She could be violent. She could be a monster. But so could I.

The mate bond helped me understand her more than I understood anyone else. Logic could only go so far, but the bond... the bond was the truth.

"Mate," I called out to her. "I will do it again. I will make you sleep if you don’t do it yourself. I will make sure you stay healthy, even if it means biting you every day. I don’t care if you think I’m a traitor. I will do it."

She looked at me with those lifeless eyes again, and I felt a sharp pain in my chest. It hurt more than the bites and scratches I got from the primals.

"Your shoulder, mate..." I pointed to her injury. The primal’s teeth marks were deep, the wound was bleeding. "...let me clean it."

She glanced at it, then back at me. She didn’t move or say anything. I took it as permission and slithered closer. I reached for her shoulder.

Even Vick was surprised by how easily she let me touch her. He was watching us, still fighting the primals, but his attention was on us.

He had said that he had never seen her let anyone close to her so fast on our first meeting. It was a special treatment, which he didn’t understand until I revealed my name.

He said I was destined to die. That my existence was temporary, and that was why she allowed me to be near her. Because I had no future, she felt more comfortable around me. As if she were saying, ’You will die anyway, so it doesn’t matter.’

I huffed at the thought as I inspected her shoulder. It wasn’t too bad. The primal hadn’t reached the bone, and the bleeding was slow. I tilted my head and licked her lips, the easiest way to give her my saliva. She needed it to heal faster.

The bond didn’t reject my advance, so I continued. I cupped her cheek with my hand. She expended a lot of energy on her scent and needed to replenish it.

I tasted her lips. The familiar flavor made me relax, and I pressed closer. Seeking the warmth that only she could give me, I wanted her to respond. To lick back and make me melt like ice under the sun.

Instead, she turned her head away, avoiding my tongue.

I felt a sting of rejection and pulled back. "Mate..."

"Keep your eyes on the battle." She pushed my face to the side, making me face the battlefield. "Don’t be a stupid snake and have your mate killed on your watch."

"..." I flicked my tongue at the harshness in her voice. "Whose fault is it? If you were a good mate, we would be resting together, grooming each other’s hair, and basking in the sun."

She sat on a boulder, folding her arms under her chest. "I’m not a good mate. If you want a good mate, go find one."

"I don’t want one."

"Then stop complaining."

I did stop complaining, but I didn’t stop probing at the mate bond to help me understand the meaning behind our interaction, which made no sense to me.

Each male could create a different bond with a female. I found out. I wanted to understand why I would like this female, not any other, and the bond helped me to find the answer. She hid her honesty from me, but she couldn’t hide it from the mate bond. And I liked the honest mate.

We defeated the last primal, and the forest fell silent. We collapsed on the ground, our breaths coming in pants. Our bodies ached, but we were alive. And that was a victory.

"Is she going to do that again?" Moyu asked, rubbing his face. "I thought I was going to lose my mind back there."

I didn’t know. Only mate knew.

"...maybe?" she voiced out, "...if I feel like it. And if you don’t piss me off."

Vick laughed, prompting Moyu and me to glare at him.

"Don’t_Provoke_Her." We said in unison.