Chapter 222: Richard
Felicity reached out, her hand resting on Ivan’s arm as he passed by Damien. "Hey, hey, it’s okay, Richard is just grumpy."
She looked at Richard, her expression softening, but her eyes holding a firm weight. "I do pick up strays, Richard. That’s how I found all of you, isn’t it? A bunch of big, scary, lonely monsters who didn’t have anyone to tell them they were doing a good job."
Richard looked at the ground, his face turning a deep shade of scarlet. "Sorry, Felicity. I didn’t... I didn’t mean it like that. "The air around Richard didn’t just grow cold; it became a vacuum of lethal intent. In a world where the ratio was one female to five hundred males, and a successful mating bond was a literal lifeline that kept a man from becoming a mindless beast, Richard’s comment wasn’t just a "joke." It was heresy.
Dimitri’s icy blue eyes blazed with a sudden, murderous light. His leopard form tensed, the massive muscles beneath his white fur rippling like an oncoming avalanche. He wanted to spin around and crush Richard’s skull into the asphalt right then and there, but he couldn’t. The sensation of Luna and Frost, their tiny bodies trembling as they clung to his back, held him in place. He knew that if he shifted or lunged, the cubs would be thrown aside onto the dirt. The effort of restraining himself cost him; his claws extended, carving deep, jagged furrows into the old road.
Above them, Thane let out a piercing, sky-tearing screech. The eagle-beastman dropped from the clouds in a terrifyingly low glide, his talons extended and gleaming like polished steel. He swept so close to Richard’s head that the wind from his wings nearly knocked the man over.
On the shoulder of the road, Dawn didn’t say a word. He simply turned and drove a fist into a century-old gum tree. The trunk exploded in a shower of splinters and bark, the massive tree groaning as it began to lean.
Felicity, nestled in Damien’s steady arms, felt the shift in the pack’s soul. The humour was gone. The "cheeky" vibe had vanished, replaced by the dark, heavy reality of their world. She looked up at Victor, her first mate, her anchor. She reached out, her fingers searching for his hand.
"Victor," she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. He gripped her hand instantly, his skin burning with the heat of his rising aura. She looked him in the eyes, her expression uncharacteristically grim. "Please... keep an eye on him, I don’t think I trust him as much anymore, not with the cubs, not with the kits."
Victor’s red eyes narrowed, a cold, calculated judgment passing over Richard. To lose the trust of the Queen was a death sentence in every way that mattered.
"Richard," Victor’s voice was a low, vibrating toll of a bell. "To the back now."
With a flick of Victor’s wing, the hierarchy reset. Richard was shoved to the very rear of the column, stripped of his scouting position. Victor signalled to the Snow Team.
"Snow Team," Victor commanded. "He is your responsibility. If he so much as breathes in a way that disturbs my wife or the children... handle it."
The men of Snow Team closed in around Richard like a pack of starving wolves. Sarge leaned in close, his face a mask of scarred, pitiless iron. "Can we just rip his head off now?" he asked, his voice hopeful. "Save us the walk?"
"Not yet," Victor replied. "But don’t let him out of your sight."
Luckily, the cubs were still busy "fixing" Dimitri’s fur on his back, their ears too focused on their own chatter to have fully processed the insult. Luna was currently trying to tie a knot in a tuft of fur, giggling to Frost about how "Uncle Dimi looks like a present."
Dimitri let out a long, heavy breath, his eyes still fixed on the road but his mind already marking Richard as a target for the next training duel. In this world, a man didn’t get to disrespect the hand that fed his soul and walk away whole.
"We’re moving," Victor announced.
"You know, Richard," Sarge whispered, his voice a low, gravelly rasp that barely carried over the wind. "I’ve seen men lose their minds for less. They start seeing shadows, hearing voices... and then they snap. If you snap, I won’t be as gentle as the Boss; I’ll make sure the cubs don’t even see the mess I leave behind."
Richard didn’t answer, and he couldn’t. His throat felt like it had been seared shut by the heat of Victor’s glare. He looked at his hands they were shaking. He had been with the Leaf Team for months, fought through zombie swarms, but in one careless sentence, he had become the "stray" he’d so mockingly labelled the children.
Further up the line, the hummer-sized albino snow leopard that was Dimitri continued to pad along the asphalt. To any outside observer, he was a creature of mythic beauty, but to the men of the pack, he was a ticking bomb.
Luna and Frost were still blissfully unaware of the murderous intent boiling beneath the fur they were currently braiding. Luna had managed to secure a small, silver ribbon she’d found in Felicity’s bag into a tuft of Dimitri’s mane.
"There!" Luna chirped, patting the leopard’s massive shoulder. "Now you’re a fancy leopard, Uncle Dimi, you look like a King!"
Dimitri’s throat vibrated with a sound that was half-purr, half-warning. He could feel the way Victor and Voss were tracking his every move, making sure his own rage didn’t boil over and startle the cubs. Being the second strongest meant he carried the heaviest responsibility; if he snapped, the plateau would become a slaughterhouse.
He looked toward the horizon. He needed something to kill; he needed to vent the black, oily fire Richard had lit in his chest.
Felicity remained tucked into Damien’s arms, her fingers still interlaced with Victor’s as he walked alongside the snake beastman. She could feel the tremors in Victor’s hand, the raw, vibrating power he was suppressing for her sake.
"Victor," she said softly, her voice cutting through the heavy atmosphere like a bell. "I meant what I said" I don’t want blood, I don’t want fights, I just want.. us to be okay, how can I help dimi..."
Victor stopped, his red eyes settling on her with a gaze so intense it felt like a physical touch. He reached up, his thumb tracing the curve of her fox ear. "He threatened the peace of you, Felicity. In our world, that is a debt that can only be paid in one way."