Chapter 136: Three Weeks And The Pain!
Cael returned a few hours later with Ryker and Kelly.
They had been out working on village security and setting traps around the perimeter. When they walked into the cave, Popi immediately started talking about what had happened.
Popi told them everything about the guard who had attacked Neve and the kids. She told them how the guard had taken Neve away to see Soren. She did not hold back any details.
Neve had wanted to hide the incident from his mates, but Popi had gone ahead and blew it up, telling everyone everything.
Cael’s expression went dark immediately.
He grabbed Neve’s shoulder, spinning him around to face him directly. His hands moved over Neve’s body, checking him carefully to make sure he was not injured.
"Are you okay?" Cael asked urgently. "Did my brother hurt you? Did he... touch you?"
Cael’s grip on Neve’s shoulder tightened when he asked the last question. His jaw clenched. His eyes darkened with barely controlled rage at the thought of his brother touching Neve.
Neve winced as he felt the pressure from Cael’s grip.
"Nothing happened," Neve said quickly, shaking his head. He did not want to mention anything about Skarr yet since he was so unsure about what that encounter had really meant. "Nothing bad happened."
He turned to Aldric, smiling at the shy bear who had protected him.
"Aldric protected me all the way and we even got the weapon he used for killing," Neve said, gesturing to indicate the sharp horn weapon.
Neve took it out of his inventory, making it appear in his hand suddenly. The weapon materialized in front of everyone, shocking them all.
Cael stared at the sharp horn and his grip on Neve’s shoulder loosened immediately.
"I’m thankful that nothing bad happened," Cael said, his voice becoming calmer now that he had seen the weapon. Now that he understood that Neve had managed to take something from Soren. Now that Neve had proven he could protect himself.
Neve returned the horn to his inventory, making it disappear again.
"I almost killed Soren," Neve said, his voice becoming harder and colder. "I just had a thought to do it. I could have done it right there. But I couldn’t do it. I don’t want him to die quickly and painlessly."
He paused, remembering that the kids were still around in the cave.
"He has to be punished," Neve finished, his words carefully chosen to avoid the younger beastmen hearing graphic details.
Ryker stepped forward, his expression serious.
"Don’t worry, the tiger tribe would do anything to help," Ryker said. "We’re with you on this."
Neve smiled and his eyes dropped to Ryker’s neck. There, hanging from a chain, was a chieftaincy necklace. The symbol of leadership. The symbol of power and authority.
Neve gasped.
"You became the chief?" Neve asked, his eyes widening in surprise.
Ryker nodded, his hand moving to touch the necklace around his neck.
"I decided to protect them so Soren wouldn’t do anything foolish," Ryker explained. "I don’t know what Soren is planning but I suspect he’s planning to drag everyone bonded and connected to you into his schemes. That’s why he was involving the tiger tribe. He was trying to use them against you."
Neve’s mind raced as he processed this new information.
"Since I rejected him, he might commence his plan," Neve said, thinking out loud. "Let’s be watchful. If he tries anything, we have Sable with us now."
"Sable?" Cael and Ryker chorused together, turning their heads toward the mentioned fox.
They saw the orange-haired fox sitting calmly in the corner, eating some fruits that Neve had given him earlier. Since there was no cooked food available and Sable had just arrived, Neve had provided him with raw fruits from the kitchen storage.
"Is that the fox?" Cael asked, his eyes narrowing as he studied the stranger.
"He looks weak," Ryker added, clearly not impressed by the fox’s thin, lean frame.
Neve shook his head.
"Uh, don’t say that now," Neve said quickly. "Let’s just focus on what Soren wishes to do. We can worry about Sable’s appearance later."
They all agreed without further argument.
.
.
Three weeks passed in the blink of an eye.
There was no single thing from Soren. No attacks. No schemes. No attempts to harm anyone. He seemed to have disappeared into his cave and stayed there, doing whatever it was he was doing in the darkness.
Neve could feel the bump on his stomach getting bigger every single day.
His hand was trailing over it as he looked down at it in wonder and concern. The pregnancy was progressing rapidly. He was not sure how much longer he had before he would go into labor. Two months?
He could not still believe it was real. He was pregnant. He was going to give birth to multiple cubs. He still had no idea how to actually give birth, but he knew he would just have to wait for his labor day to arrive and figure it out when the time came.
"Hey!" Sable walked into the bedroom.
Neve flinched hard as he snapped his head up quickly. He saw Sable standing in the doorway and exhaled deeply, his heart rate slowly returning to normal.
For the past three weeks, Sable had been living with them in the cave, waiting patiently for the perfect chance to strike at Soren. The fox had been quiet and observant, studying the patterns and movements of the leopard tribe chief.
Soren had not left his cave once in three weeks. He had stayed locked inside, not emerging for anything. Even the people in the village were worried. They were whispering that Soren was up to something big. Something terrible.
It would have been so easy to just send Sable into Soren’s cave and end it all with the snap of a finger. One thread. One quick execution. Problem solved.
But Neve could not do that. He was still after Soren’s painful death. He wanted everyone to see how Soren was going to die. He wanted the entire tribe to witness the chief’s downfall.
Neve suddenly felt a sharp pain in his stomach.
"Ugh!" he groaned, his hand immediately moving to press against the bump.
"Again?" Sable asked, walking closer with his usual calm demeanor.
"It’s fine," Neve said, trying to sound reassuring even though the pain was getting worse. He remember how hard it was to convince Sable that he was pregnant. Sable hadn’t believed the pregnancy until the bump started showing visibly on Neve’s body.
"I can’t even take some herbs because it’ll affect my cubs," Neve said and immediately remembered something. "Wait, I got something else I could use."
He remembered the horn that had been given to him by Vaelthorn. The dragon’s talon that he had kept in his inventory. The one that had healing properties. The one that could be ground into powder and used for medicinal purposes.
"I could use that, right?" Neve stood up immediately as he asked himself.