Chapter 49 - That’s Our Loot

Chapter 49: 49 - That’s Our Loot

(Kurus’s POV)

We had just survived one of her tantrums (that’s what Vick called it), and we didn’t want another.

Mate rose to gather the scattered loot, but I moved to block her path. Her eyes narrowing into slits as she stared me down. I held my ground, chin up, refusing to yield.

"That’s our loot," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "We fought for it."

A dismissive sound escaped her lips as she flicked her gaze from my face to the scattered bodies at our feet. "And I made you fight for it after I lured them all here. It’s only fair that I get the share of the profit."

She pointed to her shoulder. "Can’t even protect one female. What if she couldn’t defend herself like me, huh? I did my share of the work by surviving. You could at least reward me for that."

Shameless mate! She wanted to take credit for our fight. As if she had done anything besides standing there, looking beautiful and making it harder for us to fight.

"Do we put her back to sleep?" Vick suggested, giving her a teasing smile.

A nod from Moyu, and a second nod from me.

She saw our agreement and backed away, shaking her head. "No lessons learned, huh? After the stunt I pulled, you are still going to mess with me?"

"We just want to take a break and sleep in peace," Moyu said.

She bolted like a startled gazelle, leaving a small dust cloud behind. We gave chase. Three against one. The odds were in our favor. We were tired, but she was tired too. Our willpower to catch her was stronger than her willpower to escape.

Moyu flapped his wings to create a wind that made her lose her balance. She stumbled, and I slithered around her legs, tripping her.

Vick pounced on her from behind, holding her down on top of me while she released that potent scent of hers again.

Our noses filled with it, and we felt the urge to breed her again.

She laughed at us, her throat vibrating against my chest, and it shot straight to my groin, making me throb for her.

"What’s wrong? Can’t control your dicks?" She wriggled under Vick’s hold, but he held her tight. "Maybe I should make you fuck each other. That would be fun to watch."

My mark on her tongue pulsed as she said it. I released a small hiss, wrapping my coils around her to hold her still. "Half of my cores. You can have them, mate. Just stop the scent."

Moyu backed off too, surrendering his share as his face turned red. He wasn’t her mate yet, and according to warm-blooded laws, he couldn’t even think about breeding with her. He had to court her first and get her to mate with him.

Vick ripped her shirt at her shoulders, exposing her bare skin. She cursed at him, but he ignored her and began licking her wound. The sight of him soothing her wound with his tongue made me want to do that too.

My face leaned closer, and I flicked my tongue out, tasting the blood on her shoulder. We licked the blood and spat it to the side as it was still poisonous to us. But it tasted intoxicating. It was tainted with her scent, and our mouths watered for more. We kept cleaning the wound while mate tried to fight us off, with less and less enthusiasm. Her breathing slowed, and her movements became sluggish. She was exhausted.

As the wound closed, she stopped struggling and let us do what we wanted. Her eyes glazed over as she lay on her stomach, her arms limp at her sides.

Moyu could only stand by and watch. He looked away, covering his red nose with a hand.

"Mate," I whispered in her ear, "Don’t make me breed you...I don’t want you to hate me for it."

"Why do you think I would hate you?" she asked, her voice softening a bit.

"The bond will break," I said, feeling the mate mark on her tongue tingle. "...it might break if we breed...but I can’t stop thinking about it, mate...you are so warm...and soft...and your scent...I want to rub it all over my body..."

I nuzzled her neck, inhaling her intoxicating scent. "I want to be inside you, mate...I want to feel you around me..."

My tail tightened around her legs, and my hands grabbed her hips. Vick continued to lick her wound, his body pressed against her back. She was trapped between us, unable to move.

She didn’t say anything for a long time, and we realized that she had fallen asleep.

"Alright, that should be enough." Moyu said when she stopped reacting, "We should get moving before more beasts come. This place is not safe."

We agreed and shifted mate to Vick’s back again. The jumping gasums followed us, as they loved blood and violence. I didn’t like their presence, but they were useful for the cooling gas.

Moyu and I collected cores from the primals and other valuable parts. We let our bodies recover naturally, as it was the only way to advance our ranks and become stronger.

"Some of them are mated..." Moyu whispered as he checked on the warmbloods’ corpses. "There are some females waiting for their mates to return."

Females usually didn’t mark their males back, but they would usually craft something for their mates to wear as an acceptance of the mating bond. It was usually a braid of her hair, with beads or other handmade trinkets attached. The longer the braid, the more favored the male was.

"Don’t tell Precious," Vick said, walking ahead with mate. "She doesn’t need to know."

Moyu frowned. "Why not? She should know that she caused the death of many innocent beastmen. And maybe she will think twice before doing it again. We have to make her realize that her actions have consequences."

Vick turned his head slightly to look at him. "She knows. She is trying to make us leave her, by any means possible. Especially you, Moyu. You have a duty, and most importantly, a future."

He continued, "The more people know of her wrong deeds, the more they will try to keep their distance from her, and the harder it will be for us to find suitable males."

Moyu looked like his dreams were crushed. He had said he wanted to travel with a female and become a respected pair in the Beast Kingdom. But if the female was known to bring death and destruction wherever she went, no one would welcome her. He would become an outcast as well.

I didn’t care about those things. I had no expectations for the future. I just wanted to survive as long as possible, and enjoy my time with mate.

"Are you leaving?" I asked when I saw him hurry to collect his cores. "Do you not want mate anymore?"

He glared at me. "Have you seen what she did? How can I still want her? I am not like you. I can’t just ignore everything and follow her blindly. I have a reputation to uphold."

He paused to take a deep breath as he collected the beastmen mate’s braids. "My clan’s reputation too. Trouble follows her everywhere. And her actions...they are unforgivable. She is not worthy of being my mate...anymore."

Vick slowed down his pace to walk beside me. "Let’s collect the loot and settle down, Kurus. Finding suitable males can wait for now."

I nodded, and we kept gathering the cores, ignoring Moyu, who was packing his loot and getting ready to leave.