Chapter 115: Not Even A Thank You?
Every wolf went silent, their eyes snapping to the shiftless female who had just insulted one of the oldest and most respected males in the pack.
Greymaw’s smile vanished.
He gave her a flat, cold stare that would have made younger wolves tuck their tails and cower.
He wanted to make this small female understand exactly how small she was.
But Tera stared right back.
[Host’s heartbeat has accelerated by 23%]
[Host, please calm down]
[(ó﹏ò｡)]
[This system recommends de-escalation]
’Excuse you!’
Tera glared back at Greymaw. Was that look supposed to scare her?
She had stared into the disgusting eyes of a corrupted dinosaur and managed to outrun it while pregnant and holding two screaming cubs.
This old wolf and his chilly look could get in line!
"A bottom-tier, backwater thing like you dares insult me?" he hissed.
Calis frowned, turning to the old wolf to intercept him when Tera crossed her arms.
"Oh, you didn’t like that, did you?" Tera tilted her head. "You may insult me as much as you like, but don’t think you can insult my clan."
Tera’s voice hardened, and she took another step forward.
"What sort of beasts would follow the lead of a shiftless one? Beasts who use their heads. Beasts who followed me because I led them to a rich land and built their settlement from nothing. I helped them access stable food and water when they were starving, and I did it with these hands."
She held her palms up.
"You want to really know why beasts follow me?" Tera dropped her hands and squared her shoulders. "Then wait for your wolves to return and let them tell you what they have seen of my clan."
She huffed and flipped her hair, making sure it smacked Greymaw right in the face.
The old wolf flinched, his eyes widening in shock at what she had just done.
"And my mates are far stronger than any beast male you would have seen. Especially my bear darling. He would break your head open for daring to disrespect his mate and the mother of his cub. And he wouldn’t even need to shift to do it."
The wolves were completely silent now.
[– =͟͟͞͞ =͟͟͞͞ ﾍ( ´Д`)ﾉ]
[This system will ensure Host’s legacy lives through her cubs]
’Hey! WTF?!’
[Influence +2!]
[(O‸Oマ!]
[Several wolves are reconsidering their initial assessment of Host?]
[Throw more insults!]
Tera nearly broke her composure. ’Are you insane?!’
Calis stared at Tera, not entirely sure if she was just deranged. Or it could be that the delusion was so strong that she was even convincing herself of these great things she had done.
How could she even get her clan food without any beast strength or skill?
But the conviction in her eyes and voice still rubbed at him in some way. And his instincts were trying very hard to grapple with his knowledge.
He had already been proven wrong with her lactating, but he would be an idiot for him to believe all these things she was describing.
When his wolves returned, he would know for certain.
[Calis’ Favourability: 0% → 7%]
[The wolf leader is impressed by Host’s defiance]
[Wolf packs value strength of spirit as much as strength of body]
Tera’s eye twitched at the notification, and she turned her attention to the wolf male looking unfairly attractive for someone who had just ruined her entire evening.
Greymaw started to laugh, and the other wolves joined in.
[(óロò ᵕ )]
[The wolves are convinced Host is a colossal fool!]
’WHAT?!’
"Well." Greymaw looked down at Tera with an expression that was somehow worse than the mockery. It was dismissive pity. "The shiftless thing has a mouth. I will forgive you for that, since you clearly do not know what you are talking about."
He turned to the other wolves.
"Can you blame her? She is shiftless." He shook his head slowly, the way someone might shake their head at a cub who had eaten something poisonous. "She has filled her own head with silly things because the truth of what she is would be too painful to bear. What leader? What clan? What mates?"
He chuckled, waving a dismissive hand in Tera’s direction, who was already near her wit’s end and was actively considering strangling the old man’s throat.
She was taking back her words.
Who was he to talk shit about her?!
"A shiftless female—"
"Greymaw."
Calis’s voice cut through the lingering chuckles, and every single wolf stopped laughing.
The older wolf glanced at Calis, who looked beyond unimpressed.
"Watch your tongue," he said quietly.
Greymaw’s smile faded by a fraction. "Alpha, I meant no disrespect. I am merely pointing out—"
"I do not like your tone. And you are not a cub to be needlessly chatty. Putting down someone so weak for no reason is not something I would have expected from you."
The old wolf’s mouth hung open in shock.
Tera blinked, surprised he actually defended her.
Calis turned back to Tera.
The hardness in his expression softened, and Tera was dumbfounded. He looked like he had just watched someone kick a creature too small to fight back and hadn’t liked how it made him feel.
Greymaw nodded. "As you say, Alpha."
He stepped back, but not before shooting Tera a look that promised this wasn’t over.
And this situation, for some reason, immediately reminded her of Kiri.
’Not again!’
"What is your name?"
Tera rolled her eyes.
"Let me go first, and I’ll tell you."
"What is happening here?"
The voice came from behind the gathered wolves, and it carried the kind of quiet authority that made beasts move aside without being asked.
The pack parted, and a female stepped through.
She was tall and looked a lot like Calis.
"Sister." Calis turned to the newcomer.
His sister was very visibly pregnant. Her belly was round and heavy beneath the hide wrapped around her.
In her arms was the wolf cub Xavi had found.
She was nestled against the female’s chest, and her tiny ears perked forward when her eyes landed on Tera.
Luth let out a soft whine and stretched one small paw toward Tera.
The gesture was so cute that Tera had to prevent herself from making a face.
Calis’s sister looked at Tera, confused.
"I found Luth," Calis said to her. "She was well, and with this female."
The sister’s gaze moved slowly from Tera’s face to her body, taking in the silk-leaf clothing, the lack of beast traits, and the complete absence of anything that would mark her as a threat or an asset.
Luth whined again, her paw still reaching.
But rather than thanking Tera for saving her cub, she faced her brother instead.
"Why did you bring a shiftless female to the pack?"
Tera couldn’t believe this question.
Her clan had found this female’s lost cub. They had fed her, kept her warm, and protected her. Tera had personally cuddled that little furball against her chest while nursing her own twins.
And the first thing out of this woman’s mouth was not "thank you" but "why is she here?"
’Hold on a second, even this leader of theirs hadn’t so much as offered me thanks!’
[This system detects zero gratitude in the sister’s tone]
[Wolves are not known for their manners]
Tera’s patience, which had been hanging by a thread since the kidnapping, snapped clean in half.