Chapter 117: The Wolf Who Forgot His Manners
Calis looked for the lie in Tera’s eyes or any sort of detail that pointed to even further delusion or lies, but her eyes seemed to hold so much clarity that he started to get confused.
Someone whispered if the other beasts could have come to scout their pack, but before he could finish speaking, Calis snarled at the wolf, including the others.
"Are you undermining our scouts?" one pressed.
"No! No!" He vehemently shook her head.
Calis narrowed his eyes at Tera. "Who are you?"
"Tera. Leader of the Dow clan."
She said it without blinking.
There was another ripple of confusion, and his sister flinched, taken aback as she eyed Tera like some delirious idiot.
Calis straightened. "I am Calis. Alpha of the Glimmer Pack."
His sister’s eyes widened like saucers, same with the rest of the pack. Tera was already over it. Any more eye widening and she wouldn’t be surprised if their eyes just jumped out of their sockets from too much straining.
"Thank you for looking after Luth. We would have suffered a great loss if you had not kept her safe."
Tera fought the urge to roll her eyes at the shocked looks, but what she didn’t know was that they were shocked for a different reason.
Their violent Alpha was a bit calm and even thanking the shiftless female.
Some tried to convince themselves that it could be because of her saving their Alpha’s niece, and a female at that.
But Greymaw was watching the interaction with a stormy look, along with his son by his side, Girruk. Why was their Alpha acknowledging that useless female? He didn’t care if she knew certain things about their pack. Some wolf might have tattled to her.
Calis had briefly left her for a bit before she had woken up, and not many wolves had been around her until he had returned.
"You are welcome." Tera sighed. "It is sad I have to even remind him to acknowledge my help. I thought beasts usually had manners."
The second those words left her mouth, Tera stiffened.
She had not meant to say that out loud.
[Host?]
[( ˘•ω•˘ )]
Calis looked surprised, then slightly frustrated as he wrestled with an internal battle. Why was this shiftless female speaking so callously to him, and she wasn’t even afraid?
Calis’ sister gasped, and Greymaw looked like he was having a medical episode.
"You—you lack manners!"
"Excuse you?!" Tera clapped back, wagging her finger at the old man the way he was wagging his at hers. "You—"
"You are right." Calis nodded, feeling ashamed for not apologising earlier. "I should have thanked you the moment you woke up."
Tera pouted and crossed her arms across her chest. She did not expect this outcome, but she needed full reparations.
Her breasts slightly bounced when she folded her arms, and milk was already leaking through the fabric, slightly disrupting Calis’ attention. He frowned.
[Calis’ Favourability: 5% → 7%]
[OOOOH!]
[Calis wonders why Host’s breasts are so big]
[Tee hee!]
[( ◕▿◕ )]
It was Tera’s turn for her eyes to nearly pop out of her sockets. ’What?!’
She looked up to, of course, find the wolf leader’s eyes fixed to her breasts. When he noticed, alarm quickly flashed across his face before that look vanished as fast as it had appeared, before anyone else could notice.
’I do not understand. Have they not encountered big-boobed females?’
[Technically, not as big as Host’s currently]
[I ought to have remarked on Host’s massive improvement]
[How is this champion feeling?]
[(¬ ₃ ͡¬)]
Tera cleared her throat and angled her hands to cover her breasts better, trying to focus on the matter at hand.
"It is so inconvenient how you just dragged me from my home to this place." She sighed, shaking her head. "And to have been mistreated by your wolves like this hurts me. I didn’t ask to come here."
Tera’s voice had taken on a softer tone, which only drove a blade into Calis’ chest. It was true he had just dragged her here, but he had only done it for information, and he needed to study closely since he had never seen a shiftless female before.
But he lightly grumbled, then forced out. "I am sorry for the inconvenience. I will make you comfortable here."
Gasps erupted from the wolves.
"Did... did the alpha just..."
"He apologised."
"To the hairless one?"
"Am I dreaming?"
"Pinch me."
Someone actually pinched the wolf who asked, and the resulting yelp snapped several others out of their stupor.
"Oh no. I just hope your wolves won’t try to do anything to me because you are being so welcoming."
Tera sighed and touched her forehead, wobbling like she was about to faint, and Calis stood at alert, already grabbing Tera to steady her.
"Are you well?! No one here will harm you."
Calis shot a glare at the wolves, and many of them stood at attention.
"We—we won’t do anything. Thank you for finding our cub!" they roared in unison.
Tera was taken aback by this roundabout turn. ’Whoa! What is happening?’
[(⁝‾ᗜ‾)⁝]
[Well, this is new]
Calis’ sister stepped forward. "Faelynn."
Tera blinked. "What?"
"My name."
She did not smile, and frankly looked like she had grudgingly given the name.
"Thank you for keeping my daughter safe," Faelynn added. The words came out stiff, like she was chewing on something unpleasant, but they were sincere.
Tera nodded. "She is a sweet cub. She was no trouble."
Luth chose this exact moment to let out a sharp, demanding cry and lunge so hard toward Tera that Faelynn nearly dropped her.
Faelynn fumbled with the squirming cub, her pregnant belly making the adjustment awkward, and shot Tera a look that was half exasperation and half accusation.
"What did you do to my daughter?"
’WHAT?!’
Tera panicked a minute at the accusatory tone but had to rein herself in.
"I held her and fed her. That is apparently enough to create a lifelong bond with a wolf cub."
A soft ripple of genuine laughter moved through some of the younger wolves.
Faelynn looked down at Luth, who was making grabby hands at Tera with such theatrical desperation that several nearby cubs had stopped their own activities to watch.
"She has never acted like this with anyone else," Faelynn murmured, mostly to herself.
Tera’s chest softened despite herself.
Then she made the mistake of glancing at Calis.
He was still holding her, and his face was close.