- 16 hours ago
- #fullmovie
My S Rank Beast Mate (Exclusive) #fullmovie
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:02The chieftain gathered every unmated male and told me and sister to choose.
00:06Male shifters are ranked S, A, B, or C.
00:10My sister Lyra seized the A-rank wolf shifter that should be mine,
00:16and threw the low-level B-rank snake shifter that should be hers to me.
00:20As a result, her fate was tragic, while I won everything.
00:24She bore him five litters, every single one lowly B-rank.
00:28The wolf shifter raged.
00:31He kicked her hard in the stomach and cursed her for being useless.
00:34Tore the bond like it was nothing.
00:36The other males wanted nothing to do with her either.
00:39And me, I chose a B-rank snake shifter.
00:43One litter, ten cubs, every single one high-quality A-rank.
00:48The whole clan named me the Sacred Daughter.
00:51My mate inherited the chieftain's seat.
00:55Lyra couldn't stand it.
00:58She killed all my children and pushed me off a cliff.
01:08When I opened my eyes again, we were back.
01:11Back to the day of choosing.
01:13I came back to myself just as Lyra pressed her body against the snake shifter's side.
01:18Chieftain, she said sweetly.
01:22I choose boss, she said it.
01:25And then she looked at me.
01:26One long, deliberate look.
01:29The kind that said, I've already won.
01:31I understood.
01:32She'd been reborn too.
01:34Actually, my sister and I weren't from this world.
01:37But we couldn't find a way back.
01:39In the end, we would just have to adapt to the rules here.
01:42But this time, I absolutely won't let her control everything.
01:47Male shifters are born ranked.
01:50S, A, B, or C.
01:52The higher the rank, the more valuable the male.
01:54C rank males were everywhere.
01:56B rank was considered a prize.
01:58A rank was rare enough to cause a stir.
02:00As for S rank, even the elderly chieftain had never seen one.
02:05Females in the beastlands were fewer than males.
02:07Their social standing was higher, which standing on the children they bore.
02:11The higher the rank of your cubs, the higher you climbed.
02:15In our last life, Lyra had wanted to be the top female in the clan.
02:18She'd gone straight for the only A-Rake wolf shifter without blinking.
02:22She'd told me to choose Vos, the snake shifter.
02:25Snakes have two, you know.
02:27She'd said, with that conspiratorial smile of hers.
02:30But they lay eggs.
02:32Hatching eggs is so much easier than live birth.
02:35I'd listened.
02:36I'd chosen Vox.
02:37We bonded, and I fell pregnant quickly.
02:40One clutch.
02:42Ten cubs.
02:43Every single one A-Rank.
02:45This clan had existed for over a century among clans.
02:49They'd never had more than five A-Rank shifters total.
02:53The chieftain declared Vos his successor on the spot.
03:00Lyra had conceived around the same time I had.
03:03She gave birth to a B-Rank cub.
03:05Then another.
03:07Five pregnancies total.
03:09Nothing above B.
03:11Nothing below C.
03:12She decided the problem was the wolf's bloodline.
03:15One night, she crept into Vos' den.
03:18Vos threw her out of bed, and called the entire clan to witness his innocence before dawn.
03:23The wolf shifter found out.
03:26His rage was immediate and absolute.
03:28He dissolved their bond and drove her out along with her children.
03:33Within a month, Lyra's cubs had all starved.
03:36She'd tried to seduce some of the C-Rank males during that time.
03:41But this world had no tolerance for betrayal.
03:46The males would take what she offered.
03:49They wouldn't bond with her.
03:51When Lyra was close to starving,
03:55I'd brought her back to mine,
03:57given her meat from my own stores.
03:59She repaid me by destroying me.
04:02Even now, I could still feel the drop.
04:06That weightless, stomach-larching fall.
04:09The chieftain nodded at me now,
04:12signaling it was my turn to choose.
04:14I scanned the remaining males.
04:15Then I pointed at the wolf shifter.
04:18I'd like to choose.
04:20I didn't finish the sentence.
04:22A crack split the air.
04:24A hand connected with my face.
04:27The female who hit me belonged to Drac, the black tiger shifter.
04:31She came at me with all the fury.
04:33She demanding to know how I dared steal her mail.
04:36I stared at her.
04:38I have nothing going on with Drac.
04:40Still denying it!
04:42She reached into a pouch at her hip and flung something at my feet.
04:45A tuft of fur.
04:46I found this on my bed.
04:48That's your fur, isn't it?
04:50My shifted form was a white rabbit.
04:53The fur on the ground was rabbit fur.
04:55But that proved nothing.
04:57I wasn't the only rabbit in this clan.
05:00I opened my mouth to say exactly that.
05:03Lyra stepped forward.
05:05Her eyes went wide and shocked.
05:08Oh, sister.
05:09She gasped.
05:11That night, I saw you walking with Drac.
05:14I had no idea that's what you were doing.
05:17How could you go after a bonded male?
05:20The males who'd been eyeing me with interest took a collective step back.
05:24The wolf shifter in particular.
05:26His expression shudded.
05:28He frowned.
05:29I turned to look at Lyra.
05:31In her eyes, I saw it clearly.
05:34Calculation.
05:35Satisfaction.
05:36Then I remembered.
05:37In my last life, she and Drac had history.
05:40A brief affair.
05:42It was a trap by her.
05:45I didn't do anything with Drac.
05:47And that's not my fur.
05:49If no one believes me, I'll shift right now so you can all see for yourselves.
05:55I shifted.
05:57I turned in a slow circle, showing every angle.
06:00No bald patches.
06:01No missing fur anywhere on my body.
06:04Except there, on my inner thigh.
06:07A small, bare patch I hadn't noticed before.
06:10The crowd erupted.
06:14What kind of female goes after someone else's male?
06:17That kind should be thrown out of the clan!
06:19The noise built and built.
06:20This clan, male and female alike, had no room for a female who might lure away bonded males.
06:26The chieflin raised his hand.
06:28I was cast out.
06:29Lyra came to see me off at the border.
06:31She was curled against Vos's chest.
06:33When she said goodbye, her voice all silk in sympathy.
06:36Sister, being cast out isn't necessarily a bad thing.
06:40There are plenty of strong males out there in the wild.
06:42Maybe you'll find your true mate.
06:44The wild was full of powerful shifters, yes.
06:47They were also the ones every clan had already thrown away.
06:51Half-feral.
06:53Dangerous.
06:54The kind who would take a lone female and break her.
06:57I'd saved Lyra from them three times in our last life.
07:02However, she hadn't remembered that at all when she killed me last life.
07:08I smiled at her.
07:09Slow and pleasant.
07:13I think you can save concern for yourself.
07:16Vos is...
07:17Vigorous.
07:20You'll have your fill of trouble then.
07:22Vox was a snake shifter.
07:24As Lyra had once told me herself, snakes had appetites.
07:30He had no interest in hunting.
07:33He had every interest in making love.
07:36Once or twice a day was sport.
07:41Once or twice a day was sport.
07:42Once or twice without stopping.
07:44For days...
07:45That was suffering.
07:49It hurt terribly every time.
07:51If I hadn't satisfied him, he'd gone looking outside the clan.
07:55He screwed many female at the same time.
07:58Without a clan's backing, he was useless.
08:04The memory of all of it made my skin crawl.
08:07Lyra thought she'd won a prize.
08:13What she'd actually won was a rotting thing wearing a decent face.
08:19You must be jealous of me!
08:21Lyra snapped, her sweetness curdling in an instant.
08:25What exactly are you smiling about?
08:27This life I'm gonna make you watch me.
08:29Watch me become the sacred daughter of this clan!
08:33She and Vox disappeared back into their den.
08:35Their laughter trailing behind them.
08:37I stepped outside the clan's boundary and immediately had company.
08:41A leopard shifter.
08:42Eyes full of hunger and violence.
08:44I knew what solitary males like him did to lone females.
08:47They played.
08:48They broke.
08:49Every survival instinct I had fired at once.
08:52I ran.
08:53I ran until a cave mouth appeared in the rock face ahead of me.
08:56With nowhere else to go, I dived inside.
08:59The leopard stopped at the entrance.
09:01He paced.
09:02He snarled in my direction.
09:04Then, when I didn't come out, he cursed twice and left.
09:08From the darkness deeper in the cave came a roar that pinned me to the spot.
09:13I looked up.
09:14A white lion stood before me.
09:16Beautiful. Enormous.
09:17His jaws were wide enough to swallow my head whole.
09:22I ran again.
09:25Two steps.
09:26Then I stopped.
09:28The lion had roared, but he hadn't moved.
09:32It was almost like he was trying to frighten me off rather than attack.
09:37Then I smelled it.
09:38Rot.
09:38The hot, sickening smell of infected flesh.
09:41I looked at his back legs.
09:45The meat there was going necrotic.
09:48White with larvae.
09:49I steadied myself.
09:52Hello.
09:53You're injured.
09:54I know how to heal.
09:55Will you let me stay?
09:59He understood me.
10:01He looked at me for a long moment.
10:03Then he stretched both back legs forward.
10:08His wounds were severe.
10:10The larvae had spread deep.
10:14I forced down the nausea and cleaned them out.
10:18Thorough.
10:19Methodical.
10:23Then I opened my pack and found my medicinal powders.
10:28Then I opened my pack and found my medicinal powders.
10:35Before I'd came this world, I'd been trained in herbalism.
10:41After arriving in the beast lands, that knowledge had made me a healer for the Varmaric clan.
10:49When I finished dressing the lion's wounds, he leaned his great head forward and pressed his face against my sleeve.
10:59Gratitude for me.
11:03Then his stomach ground.
11:05Injured.
11:06Immobile.
11:08Unfed.
11:10I'll find food.
11:12Wait here.
11:12I moved to leave.
11:14He hooked one paw around my ankle and drew me back.
11:17Then he dragged his enormous tongue over my shoulder and down my arm.
11:22I understood.
11:24He was marking me with his scent.
11:27Most predators wouldn't come near me now.
11:30I thought of the leopard at the cave entrance.
11:34Whatever rank this lion was.
11:38It was enough to send others running.
11:45I didn't go far.
11:47I gathered wild fruit.
11:50Some edible roots.
11:52And came back to the cave as the sky went dark.
11:56I made a fire.
12:00The lion's eyes lit up.
12:04He inched closer to the flames.
12:06And that was how I came to live in his den.
12:10Days settled into rhythm.
12:13Mornings I changed his dressings.
12:15Then went out for water and food.
12:18Nights he curled around me like a living blanket.
12:21His warmth soaking into me while we slept.
12:25Half a month passed.
12:27Then one afternoon I returned to the cave.
12:31And stopped in the entrance.
12:33A man lay where the lion had been.
12:39White hair.
12:40Long and loose.
12:41Eyes the color of gold.
12:43He saw me.
12:43Two pale ears rose slowly from the top of his head.
12:48You're back.
12:49His voice was startling.
12:50Low and clear and unexpectedly lovely.
12:55You're the white lion?
13:01He nodded.
13:02He nodded.
13:05My name is Caius.
13:07I smiled.
13:09Hello.
13:10I'm Sarah.
13:12Under my care.
13:13Caius had healed enough to walk.
13:20On our first hunt together, he showed me what he was capable of.
13:24A wild boar.
13:25Under a minute.
13:27He bit through its neck like it was nothing.
13:36That night I finally had meat again.
13:38Pork fat crackling over the fire.
13:40Filling the cave with the kind of smell that made your stomach hollow with want.
13:44I ate until my face was shiny with grease.
13:46And asked him.
13:47Around a mouthful.
13:50Are you A rank?
13:52You have to be at least.
13:54Caius's expression shadowed.
13:57No.
13:58I don't have a rank.
14:00I paused.
14:03What?
14:06Every male shifter in the Beastlands was ranked.
14:10That was just the world.
14:13Caius just shook his head.
14:15He'd never had a rank.
14:18And because of that, his clan had called him a monster from birth.
14:23Cast him out young.
14:26The memory sat visibly on him as he spoke.
14:30His eyes went somewhere far away.
14:33Cast out as a cub.
14:35No family.
14:37No kin.
14:38No one.
14:42I reached over and touched his head.
14:45Just lightly.
14:47It's alright.
14:48You have me now.
14:50We're friends.
14:53Caius went red.
14:55It was sudden and total.
14:57And genuinely charming.
15:01Another month passed.
15:04Healed completely.
15:08Winter was coming.
15:14I woke late one morning to heat radiating from his side of the den.
15:18His eyes were red rimmed.
15:20His breathing rough.
15:28He told me to stay inside.
15:30That he needed to step out for a while that I shouldn't worry.
15:34He made it two steps before his legs gave out.
15:37When he hit the ground, I understood.
15:40Every shifter had a fixed heat cycle.
15:42During the surge, the animal instinct overwhelmed everything else.
15:47He was already past his limit.
15:49He was painful.
15:51Don't be scared.
15:52He managed.
15:53I won't touch you.
15:54I'll handle it myself.
15:56He was fighting his own body.
15:58Every muscle in his neck was stinic.
16:00Veins visible under his white hair.
16:02The sounds coming from his throat were low and in impolentary and painful to hear.
16:07I looked at him.
16:08Something in my chest did something quiet and final.
16:12I crossed the distance between us and crouched down in front of him.
16:17Caius.
16:19I said, do you not want me?
16:22No!
16:24How...
16:25How could you think that?
16:26I cupped his face in my hands.
16:33And I kissed him.
16:36When his hands came up to touch me, I braced.
16:41I thought sex was simply about being hurt.
16:43He was so strong, it must be hurting a lot.
16:47I'd prepared myself.
16:50But surprisingly, I felt no pain.
16:54Caius was gentle.
16:55He moved like he was afraid to break something.
16:59I felt weightless.
17:01I was as comfortable as if I were floating in the sky.
17:07When it finally finished, snow had fallen.
17:11Since then, we have been making love all the day.
17:15One sustained glance across the den, and I'd find myself pinned to the sleeping furs a moment later.
17:22Unlike my last life, I was happy and no longer felt pain.
17:28He was, as it turned out, extraordinarily good at this.
17:33And I was pregnant.
17:35I was not surprised.
17:39Really?
17:40For three full seconds, he didn't move.
17:43Then his ears began to tremble.
17:45His tail followed.
17:47His whole face changed.
17:49He pressed one broad, rough harm to my stomach.
17:52So carefully.
17:54You're really carrying my cub?
17:55My little lion?
17:57He lifted me straight off the ground.
17:58I laughed, and he laughed with me, and the sound of it filled the cave.
18:02After pregnant, he was at my side constantly.
18:05I'd reach for something, and he'd already have it.
18:09I'd think about standing up, and he'd be there.
18:12Lying in the warmth of his arms one evening,
18:14I found myself thinking about the previous life.
18:17Vos was cold-blooded.
18:19He hibernated in winter.
18:21No warmth to give.
18:23I'd been on my own, wading through snow to find anything edible.
18:27Then the ten snake cubs had hatched.
18:28I was so tired.
18:30Vos slept through all of it.
18:32The cubs had been good.
18:33Even Abrank.
18:34They'd never started fights, never made trouble.
18:37They'd helped with the den chores.
18:38So adorable.
18:40My eyes started to sting.
18:42I hadn't protected them.
18:44Caius's chest was warm against my back.
18:46He turned me gently.
18:49Sarah.
18:50You're not happy.
18:51What is it?
18:53I'm fine.
18:54I wiped the corner of my eye.
18:57Just missing home.
19:00Is it not good here?
19:02With me?
19:03No.
19:04That's not it.
19:05I touched his hair.
19:10Being with you is the best thing I've had.
19:13Next day.
19:17I'd assumed I'd never see Lyra again.
19:20She appeared at the entrance to our den.
19:25Lyra was on her knees in the snow, hugely pregnant, shaking.
19:29White lion, sir! Please don't kill me!
19:31I looked at her.
19:32Something that wasn't quite amusement moved through me.
19:35Sarah.
19:36What are you doing here?
19:38Do you know her?
19:40No.
19:41Caius's killing in Tate rose immediately.
19:44Lyra screamed.
19:45No!
19:46Sister, don't let him kill me!
19:48I came to save you!
19:49That single word stopped everything.
19:52Sister.
19:52Caius held back.
19:53He asked me if there might be some misunderstanding.
19:56I exhaled slowly and walked toward her.
19:59Why did you come?
20:01The sweet, plastating smile again.
20:04Hypocritical.
20:05I spoke to the chieflin for you.
20:07He'll let you come back.
20:09I didn't move.
20:11I mean it.
20:12Sister.
20:14We have conflict with another clan.
20:16There's going to be war.
20:18Neither of you belong to either side.
20:21You'll be collateral.
20:24Lyra's words landed.
20:26And I remembered.
20:27In our previous life, there had been a war.
20:29Exactly like this.
20:31But that war had ended the moment my ten snake cubs hatched.
20:34The simultaneous appearance of ten A-Reed shifters is powerful enough.
20:38They'd surrendered without a fight.
20:40The two clans had merged.
20:42The Alterth clan had a priest.
20:44He'd looked at me afterward and declared that I was the sacred daughter,
20:47given to the clan by the beast gods.
20:50But none of that was a reason to go back.
20:53Caius and I were living well.
20:54I would never return that clan again.
20:58Lyra's eyes moved to my stomach.
21:00Her voice shifted.
21:01Softer, more deliberate.
21:03Sister.
21:04You're pregnant.
21:05Even if you don't care about yourself,
21:08you have to think about the child.
21:10You can't wander forever.
21:12And when your cub is grown?
21:14What then?
21:15Do you want to raise them out here?
21:17Alone?
21:18With no clan behind them?
21:21She wasn't wrong.
21:22This world was ruthless.
21:24Caius was the strongest male I'd ever encountered.
21:27And he'd nearly died alone in a cave with rotting legs.
21:29Our cub would arrive small and vulnerable no matter what rank they carried.
21:33A clan meant numbers.
21:35Numbers meant survival.
21:36But Caius had been driven out of a clan before.
21:39I turned to look at him.
21:41He read it immediately.
21:42He reached over and took my hand.
21:44He said quietly,
21:45Sarah.
21:46Let's go back.
21:47After I told Lyra yes,
21:49she sagged with relief.
21:51Then, almost immediately...
21:52Do you have any food?
21:54She ate like she hadn't seen a proper meal in weeks.
21:58Given Vos' hibernation schedule,
22:00she probably hadn't.
22:02She was enormous with pregnancy.
22:04But her arms and legs were too thin.
22:07She'd had a hard stretch of it.
22:09When she finished,
22:10she settled into the outer part of the cave to rest.
22:14Caius tucked me into his arms as usual.
22:17Lyra looked over at us from across the den.
22:20The expression on her face was pure, naked envy.
22:25In the middle of the night I got up,
22:27Lyra's back was to me.
22:29She thought I was still asleep.
22:31Gods.
22:32How is she still getting everything in this life too?
22:35What's so great about bonding with something that doesn't even have a rank?
22:38Mongrel!
22:39She pressed a hand to her own swollen stomach.
22:43Come on, little ones.
22:46Come out soon.
22:48Then mother won't have to keep swallowing this.
22:51I stood in the dark and looked at her.
22:54We'd lost our parents in the same accident, grown up in the same grief.
22:58All my life, to give her room.
23:01Warn her leavings.
23:02Let her choose first.
23:04Done what our parents had asked me to do.
23:06You're the older one, look out for your sister.
23:09What I'd meant as love, she'd received as tribute.
23:14We returned to the Vurek clan three days later.
23:18By the third day back,
23:20I knew exactly why Lyra had worked so hard to retrieve me.
23:25Her due date was close.
23:27She was terrified of dying on the birthing floor.
23:30In our previous life,
23:31all her five pregnancies had been dangerous.
23:34And I'd been the one who'd seen her through them.
23:37There was also a second reason.
23:39She wanted me to watch.
23:40She wanted me present when she gave birth to 20 A-ranked cubs
23:44and rose to become the highest-ranked female in the clan.
23:47She wanted my face in the crowd.
23:49Life inside the Varek clan was not easy.
23:52Even with Caius beside me,
23:54many of the females looked at me with hostility.
23:57I'd been labeled a female who went after bonded males.
24:00They didn't want me near their maitors,
24:02so I kept to the den, isolated.
24:04Lyra, meanwhile,
24:06told everyone she was the sacred daughter,
24:08sent by the beast gods,
24:09and that all 20 of her eggs contained A-rank Shifters.
24:13The clan believed her.
24:15Her status climbed.
24:18Then the war began.
24:20Caius went to the front.
24:22After the first skirmish,
24:23the rest of the clan realized what he was capable of.
24:26His bite force surpassed the A-rank Wolf Shifters by a margin.
24:29His speed and strength were in a different category entirely.
24:33By any logic, that made him valuable.
24:35Worth protecting.
24:36Worth standing behind.
24:37Instead, the Wolf Shifter grew jealous.
24:40He organized the other males quietly.
24:42No rank, they said. Doesn't belong.
24:44And on a day when Caius was pushing deep into Ultroth clan territory alone,
24:48the Wolf Shifter led the others away and left him surrounded.
24:51I found out after Caius came home bleeding.
24:54I was already moving toward the Chieftain's Den when Caius caught my arm.
24:58Sarah, it's fine.
25:00He sounded almost amused.
25:02They still couldn't take me down.
25:03I made it back, didn't I?
25:05I looked at his wounds.
25:06My eyes stung.
25:07I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you here.
25:11This place isn't right for you.
25:14We're leaving.
25:15Back to our own den.
25:17No.
25:18No.
25:18He caught my hands.
25:20Something almost panicked moved across his face.
25:22Sarah, if we go back to the den, you'll miss home again.
25:25I don't want that.
25:26Stay here.
25:28As long as you and the Cub are safe, it doesn't matter what they do to me.
25:31Something cracked open in my chest.
25:34I remembered saying once, in passing, that I missed home.
25:38I'd meant something abstract, grief, a vague ache.
25:42He'd taken it as a specific thing.
25:45He'd thought I meant the clan.
25:46He'd been humiliating himself to keep me close to something he thought I needed.
25:51You are my home.
25:53You're the only family I have now.
25:56Let's go back to the den, just the two of us, and live the way we want to live.
26:01I'd just convinced him.
26:03We hadn't even started packing when a female came running.
26:07Sarah!
26:08Come quickly!
26:10Your sister!
26:11She's in labor!
26:15I heard the screaming from outside the den.
26:18Inside, blood.
26:19More than there should have been.
26:21The scene was identical to the worst of Lylara's previous life labors.
26:25That same desperate quality to the air.
26:27That same sense of something gone wrong at the start.
26:30It didn't make sense.
26:31Snake eggs were small.
26:33This should have been easy.
26:34I understood quickly enough once I started working.
26:37I helped her pass 10 eggs.
26:40Then I reached back in and felt more.
26:43I was mid-reach when Lyra's body seized.
26:46Seizure!
26:47No one in the den knew the word.
26:48I snapped them to find a smooth cloth, get it between her teeth before she bit through her tongue.
26:53They scrambled.
26:55While they held her, I worked.
26:58I cleared the rest of the eggs as fast as I could.
27:0220 in total.
27:05When it was over, Lyla went limp and unconscious.
27:08I brewed a draft and got it down her throat, waiting outside the den.
27:13He grabbed my wrist before I could leave.
27:16She's your sister.
27:17You should stay and care for her.
27:19I looked at his hand on my arm.
27:22He'd watched a woman nearly die in that den.
27:25His mate.
27:26And he was already trying to pass the burden to someone else.
27:29I pulled my wrist free.
27:32She's your female.
27:33Not mine.
27:34I've done what I can.
27:36The rest is yours.
27:37I stepped out of the den into the night air.
27:40Exhausted to my marrow.
27:42Caius was standing there waiting.
27:44I started to say something about his wounds.
27:47About how he should be resting.
27:49He pulled me into him before I could finish.
27:51His voice was rough when he spoke.
27:54Sarah.
27:55We're not leaving.
27:56I want to stay.
27:58I started to ask why.
27:59My shoulder went wet.
28:01I brought him back to the den and sat with him.
28:05When I pressed him, the tears came harder.
28:09He'd been outside Lyra's den the whole time.
28:13He'd heard everything.
28:15He hadn't known that was what bearing young looked like for a female.
28:19The sounds she'd made.
28:21The blood.
28:22The way the others had moved.
28:24He was terrified.
28:27If we left, if we went back to the den alone, and I went into labor, and something went wrong,
28:33there would be no one to help me.
28:34No one to do what I had just done for Lyra.
28:36I felt the tears come before I could stop them.
28:39Caius, I said softly.
28:41That was difficult for specific reasons.
28:43Mine might be nothing like it.
28:45I don't care.
28:47He held tighter.
28:48Even one chance in a hundred.
28:51I won't let you suffer without help.
28:54Not for anything.
28:55He'd made himself small in this clan.
28:58He hunted and shared the meat with everyone, even the ones who'd abandoned him at the front.
29:03He smiled at the ones who'd left him to die.
29:06Swallowed every indignity without complaint.
29:09All of it.
29:10For me?
29:12What had I ever done to deserve a male like this?
29:16Lyra woke the following day.
29:18Snake eggs take time to hatch.
29:20While they incubated, Lyra stationed herself beside them, and invited most of the clan to come and watch.
29:27She told anyone who would listen that all twenty would be A-RARC.
29:31The clan was skeptical, but intrigued.
29:35She'd been right before.
29:37They came.
29:39Around this same time, the war finished.
29:42Largely because of Caius.
29:43The Ultra clan sent delegates to negotiate.
29:46Their chieftain and their priest came together to discuss terms.
29:49The meeting was still in progress when someone burst in from outside.
29:53Chieftain! Come quick!
29:55The exit Vos's den are hatching!
29:57The room emptied.
29:59Even the Ultroth delegates went.
30:01Word had traveled even to their clan.
30:03The sacred daughter of the Vare clan had birthed twenty Aeklar snakeshifters.
30:08They wanted to see.
30:10The den was so crowded, the walls seemed to breathe.
30:13The chieftain had to push his way in.
30:16He arrived just as the first egg cracked open.
30:20A small, dark snake emerged.
30:23Lyra picked it up with trembling hands and held it out.
30:30Chieftain, tell me. A rank, isn't it?
30:33The chieftain looked. He considered for a moment. Then he said what he saw.
30:38C rank.
30:42The smile frozen on Lyra's face. Her eyes went sharp.
30:47That can't be right! Look again! Please! Look properly!
30:53The chieftain had been judging blood rank for sixty years.
30:56He could do it blindfolded.
30:58But he looked again. Because she'd asked.
31:01C rank.
31:03I'm certain.
31:06Lyra went still.
31:09What's happening?
31:10I thought they were all A rank.
31:12Twenty is an enormous number.
31:16We've only ever had one A rank in the whole clan.
31:20Maybe there's a mix. Maybe the rest will be higher.
31:23That last voice gave Lyra something to grab onto.
31:27She straightened, hands on her hips.
31:30Exactly! That was only the first.
31:32I expect at least ten A rank out of these twenty.
31:37Three more eggs cracked.
31:40Everyone looked.
31:43All sea rained.
31:47The strong ones hatched last.
31:50Lyra said firmly.
31:52Crack. Crack. Crack.
31:55Five more.
31:57One B rank among them.
31:59Lyra said.
32:01Her voice climbing.
32:02See? The better ones come at the end.
32:05I told you!
32:06But the crowd had stopped believing her.
32:09The expressions had shifted.
32:10The last eggs opened.
32:12Final count. One B rank, ten C rank, and several with no rank at all.
32:17The chieftain studied the unranked ones briefly.
32:20His face said everything his mouth didn't need to.
32:23Lyra's composure shattered.
32:25This isn't possible!
32:26Where are my A rank cubs?
32:28Someone tampered with them!
32:30Someone swept them!
32:33Her voice rose, cracking.
32:35There's no other explanation.
32:37A female in the back had had enough.
32:40Tampered how?
32:41Vos is a B rank snake shifter.
32:42What exactly were you expecting him to give you?
32:44A couple of good weather predictions and suddenly you're the sacred daughter?
32:47The resentment had been building for weeks.
32:49It broke open now all at once.
32:50Voice after voice, peeling back the patience they'd kept.
32:53Then Lyra's eyes found me.
32:55She'd been scanning the crowd.
32:56Now she stopped.
32:57She came straight for me and grabbed my arm.
32:59You!
33:00It was you.
33:02You can't stand to see me do well!
33:04You switched my eggs!
33:05Give them back!
33:06Give them back right now!
33:10I pulled my arm from her grip.
33:13Lyra.
33:14My voice came out flat and cold.
33:16Stop.
33:17You accused me of going after a bonded male.
33:20Now you're accusing me of stealing your cubs?
33:23Half the clan was in that den with me.
33:25Ask any of them.
33:26They watched everything I did.
33:28The females who'd attended the birth stepped forward one by one.
33:32She's right. We were all there.
33:34Sarah didn't take anything.
33:36What would she even want with snake eggs?
33:38She's carrying her own.
33:40The voices layered over each other.
33:42Lyra broke entirely.
33:43Why is everyone suddenly on her side?
33:45Just die!
33:46Sarah!
33:47You should just die!
33:49She threw herself at me.
33:51I didn't move fast enough.
33:53She hit me square and we both went down.
33:56Caius shifted.
33:57The white lion came down on top of her in one motion.
34:00All that weight and fury and he opened his jaws over her.
34:02He didn't close them.
34:04Because from somewhere behind us a voice rang out over the chaos.
34:07No, stop!
34:08Caius, get your mate back to the den.
34:09She's in labor!
34:10The next second I was airborne, lifted clean off the ground,
34:14held against a chest that was warm and solid and moving very fast.
34:18Caius ran.
34:20In the den, he held my hand through all of it.
34:24His brow didn't unfurl once.
34:27He kept talking.
34:29Low, steady.
34:30You're alright.
34:31You're doing so well.
34:32I'm right here.
34:33While his own hand shook harder than mine.
34:36Everything went smoothly.
34:39Less than two hours later, I delivered two white lion cubs.
34:43Twins.
34:46Oh, they're beautiful.
34:49The attending female breathed, lifting one and cleaning it briskly.
34:53Strong, too.
34:55Look at them.
34:56I'd wager these are A rank at least.
34:59Let the chieftain have a look.
35:01It's fine.
35:04I started.
35:05We don't need-
35:08The chieftain and the Ultrath priest had followed us in.
35:12The chieftain reached for the nearest cub, turned it over, and frowned.
35:18Spirited little thing, but no rank to speak of.
35:21I glanced at Caius.
35:23His face was careful.
35:24He was nervous.
35:26I took his hand.
35:28It doesn't matter.
35:30Before I'd finished the sentence, the Ultrath priest leaned in.
35:33His voice went sharp with something that sounded almost like outrage.
35:38You can't see rank?
35:41These cubs are S-rank!
35:48S-rank?
35:49S-rank?
35:49Did you just say S-rank?
35:51I helped birth them and I thought they looked different from other cubs, but I didn't dare!
35:55S-rank! Here! From this den!
35:57Two of them! We have two S-rank shifters in this clan!
36:00The den erupted.
36:03Caius and I looked at each other.
36:05The news moved through the clan like fire.
36:08Lyra had pushed her way back through the crowd and into the den entrance.
36:12She saw the cubs.
36:14She looked at me.
36:15This isn't real.
36:16Her voice had gone strange.
36:18Too high.
36:19Too tight.
36:20Sarah!
36:20How could you possibly produce S-rank cubs?
36:23Who's with him?
36:24He doesn't even have a rank!
36:26The joy in the den, quiet.
36:28It was the thing people had wondered and hadn't said.
36:32Before any of it could take hold, the Ultrath priest stepped forward.
36:36No rank?
36:38Who told you?
36:39His voice rang off the stone walls.
36:42Caius is S-rank.
36:43He's been S-rank this entire time.
36:46That's precisely why we yielded.
36:49Silence.
36:51The priest told them what the Ultrath clan had seen on the battlefield.
36:55Abilities that couldn't be explained by any ordinary blood rank.
36:58When they'd realized what they were facing, they'd stopped fighting.
37:01No one here had ever encountered an S-rank shifter before.
37:04Not even the chieftain.
37:05He hadn't known what he was looking at.
37:07Caius sat with that for a moment.
37:09He'd spent his whole life believing he was broken.
37:12Cast out.
37:14Proof of something shameful.
37:16And the answer had simply been that everyone around him had lacked the eyes to see him clearly.
37:22The priest turned to me next.
37:24He studied me with the focused attention.
37:28This female's fate line.
37:31He said slowly.
37:33Is unlike anything ordinary.
37:35Unless I'm mistaken.
37:37He looked out at the gathered clan.
37:39She is the sacred daughter reborn!
37:41If the S-rate announcement had been a shock, this was the stone that broke the surface of still water.
37:47Everyone went quiet.
37:48Then they went to their knees.
37:49Sacred daughter!
37:51Sacred daughter!
37:52Sacred daughter!
37:53In our previous life, it had happened too.
37:56But then, people had been uncertain.
37:59Willing to believe, but not quite sold.
38:02This time, with three S-reek shifters in the same den, no one hesitated.
38:09You're all forgetting!
38:11She was cast this clan for going after a bebonded male!
38:18What sacred daughter has a history like that?
38:21She's been playing all of you!
38:23The room had heard enough from her today.
38:27But she'd reminded them.
38:30The old accusation resurfacing in a few sets of eyes.
38:34I stood up straight and looked across the den at Drac, the black tiger shifter,
38:39who had been standing very still and very quiet in the corner since this all began.
38:44Drac.
38:46Are you going to tell the truth now, or not?
38:50Under the judgment of the whole clan.
38:53Drac admitted all of it.
38:54Lila had planned it from the beginning.
38:57She'd bribed him with herself.
38:58He'd stolen a tuff of my fur, and they'd staged the confrontation together.
39:03The one who'd gone after a bonded male had never been me.
39:06Voss's face went white.
39:08He was a snake, and snakes were possessive creatures.
39:12Lyra.
39:14His voice was very quiet.
39:17You betrayed me?
39:19Her legs buckled.
39:21No! Voss, please! Listen to me! They're lying! All of them! Don't-
39:25He'd already shifted.
39:26The great dark snake moved faster than eyes could follow.
39:29He caught her by the back of the neck, and then he was gone.
39:32A trail in the snow, and nothing else.
39:34A few days later, someone found what remained of Lyra outside the clan boundary.
39:40She was identifiable only by her clothes.
39:43Words spread fast.
39:45The chieftain had no choice.
39:48Voss was driven out.
39:50The cubs Lyra had carried were not held accountable for any of it.
39:54The females of the clan gathered them all up and raised them together.
39:58The males, under Caius's lead, turned outward.
40:03New territory.
40:04Broader boundaries.
40:06Room to grow.
40:07Season by season, the work accumulated.
40:10In the new spring, the clan raised Caius to chieftain.
40:13I stood beside him.
40:15The same position I had held in another life.
40:18Through a different path, with different scars.
40:20But here, now, with someone who had wept outside a den because he was afraid of losing me.
40:26Our two white lion cubs rolled in the grass nearby, already stocky and ridiculous and impossibly strong.
40:32I watched Caius tilt his face toward the sun, eyes half closed, ears twitting.
40:36I had lived two lives in this world.
40:39I didn't need a third.
40:40To be continued...
Comments