Beast Tamer's Rebirth National Treasure Edition novel Chapter 269

Chapter 269

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Ten minutes passed, but the second cub still wouldn’t be delivered. No matter how Sierra tried to reposition the fetus, nothing worked.

Bessa was already malnourished, and a quick meal and a nutrien injection couldn’t make it better right away. Giving birth to the first cub had almost taken half its life.

Sierra looked at Bessa, who was completely spent, and suddenly asked, “Bessa, do you want to take a gamble?”

Sierra’s gaze was serious as she said, “I suspect the fetal positions aren’t ideal. If this keeps up, it’s not just you at risk, but the cubs inside you are also in danger.

The only way to save them now is to perform surgery and deliver them directly, but if we do that, your condition…”

“I don’t care about myself!” Bessa gasped, barely able to think. “I’m out of strength anyway. If I’m going to die anyway, I’d rather take my chances.”

Lions never surrendered to fate.

So when its companions were slaughtered, they put up a desperate fight. They refused to just lie down and die. They clawed for every chance to live.

Now, it was ready to risk it all, for itself and its cubs. It wasn’t going to let regret haunt it.

“Then let’s do the surgery,” Sierra said.

Alex, standing nearby, quickly grabbed the surgical tools from the car.

They only had basic equipment with them-anesthesia, scalpels, and some anti-inflammatory drugs.

Just like before in the Greenridge Mountains, they were about to perform surgery out in the wild. But this time, it was as tough as soloing the Greenridge Mountains.

It was a nearly impossible task.

But when Sierra said she was going to do the surgery, not a single person hesitated. Everyone jumped into action.

The makeshift surgical tent was quickly set up, and Ryan and Sophie got busy disinfecting everything.

Ethan, Mark, and Timothy carefully moved Bessa into the tent.

Alex took the first cub, whose eyes were still closed, and started bottle-feeding it in the car right away.

Sierra estimated Bessa’s weight and drew out the right amount of anesthesia.

The ground was pushing 140°F, scorching hot. Sierra could only rely on a small fan and some water, desperately trying to cool things down.

Heat shimmered in the air, distorting everything. Sierra gripped the sharp scalpel, its blade flashing with a cold light under the blazing sun.

The mercenaries outside were frozen in shock, unable to believe what was happening right in front of them.

With no operating table, Sierra was down on her knees in the dirt, sweat beading on her brow. Alex was right beside her, dabbing away the sweat with a cloth and handing her the scalpel the moment she reached for it.

Sierra worked fast, almost on instinct. She made the incision and quickly pulled out the cub that had gotten stuck. Besides

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Chapter 269

the newborn, there were three more inside.

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These little ones had been without air for too long, and their hearts had stopped. Sierra shouted for Ethan and the others to come help, trying to revive them as fast as they could.

Sierra carefully cleaned up Bessa’s wound. The setup was so bare-bones that she couldn’t afford a single mistake. If Bessa started bleeding too much, it’d be game over.

Ethan was working against the clock, every second counting.

The three newborn cubs were still smeared with all sorts of grime. Ethan swiftly cleared their mouths and throats of any blockages, and then immediately began chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth, fighting to bring them back.

Ten minutes later, as Sierra finished up the wound care, she suddenly heard a chorus of cubs’ cries filling the air.

She exhaled deeply.

Looking at the unconscious Bessa, Sierra leaned in, whether Bessa could hear or not, and whispered, “Bessa, all four of your cubs are safe, so you’ve got to hang in there, too, alright?”

Sierra quickly stitched up the wound, cleaned away the grime from Bessa’s belly, and waited quietly for Elliot’s helicopter to show up.

Elliot came through, just like he promised. Less than ten minutes after the surgery ended, three helicopters were hovering overhead.

The mercenaries and cops teamed up to get Bessa onto one of the helicopters. At that moment, Elliot stepped out of another helicopter.

When he saw Sierra’s clothes covered in blood, his face instantly turned pale. “Sierra, are you alright?” he asked, voice tight with worry.

He looked like he was ready to scoop her up and fly her straight to the hospital for a full check-up.

But seeing that she was just a bit pale and otherwise okay, he still gave her a careful once-over, checking her from head to toe. When he saw she only had a few scrapes and bruises, he finally relaxed.

But Elliot couldn’t help blaming himself. “Sierra, it’s my fault I was late.”

“Elliot, you showed up right on time. If you hadn’t been out there ready to jump in whenever we needed help, we would’ve been totally lost today,” Sierra said.

She meant every word.

Bessa had just come out of surgery, and if they had to drive all the way back to the rescue station, it would take at least twenty hours.

With the extreme temperature changes out here, there was a real risk its wound could get infected.

Their supplies were limited, and there was no way they could give Bessa the medical care it really needed. Elliot had shown. up just in time, and Sierra was honestly at a loss for how to thank him.

Right then, Sierra was already quietly thinking about what kind of gift she could give Elliot to show her gratitude once they got back home.

Elliot had no idea Sierra was already picking out a gift for him. If he knew, he’d probably be wagging his tail like a puppy, spinning around in circles.

Elliot noticed the big scrape on Sierra’s arm and said, “Sierra, you guys should come with us on the helicopter. We’ll take the

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Chapter 269

criminals back to the station, too.”

He paused, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Gary and Holden

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“They dared to hunt desert lions out in the open like that? They need to be brought in for a proper interrogation,” he said.

Sierra nodded. “I trust the local police will handle it.”

*****

The mercenaries drove back to the city, while Sierra and the others took the helicopters straight to the rescue station.

Most people in Nymeria were Afrinian, and the rescue station was run by a woman. When she heard about Sierra pulling off a successful C-section in such a life-or-death situation, she couldn’t hide her admiration.

She said, “Sierra, I’ve seen you on international news. You’re truly amazing.

“Thank you so much for saving so many animals. I give you my word. I’ll protect the desert lions you and your team brought back.

“I’ll make sure they have a safe territory as soon as possible, and I’ll never let another Grave Canyon tragedy happen on my watch.”

After hearing about the mass slaughter of desert lions, the station chief, Harley, had already called an emergency meeting.

So when she made those promises to Sierra, she wasn’t just talking. She was already taking action and making real commitments.

Sierra nodded.

Gary and Holden had already been taken to the police station for further questioning, and the Weston Pride wouldn’t be back in the safety zone until at least the day after tomorrow, traveling with the police convoy.

Sierra asked, “How are Bessa and the four cubs doing now?”

Harley said, “Bessa’s surgery went really well. The four cubs had some oxygen deprivation in their brains, and judging by their size, they were probably premature. I’ve already had them put in incubators so we can monitor them closely.”

Harley explained everything in detail about Bessa and her cubs, then paused and continued, “Sierra, every lion that comes to the rescue station gets a name.

“We’ve already named three of the cubs, but we wanted to let you name the last one.”

Sierra didn’t hesitate. “There’s already a cub in the Weston Pride named Joy, so let’s call this one Hope.

“Four new lives were born into the desert lion pride. For this group, that’s a new hope.”

The end of life wasn’t death.

With these new lives, the desert lion pride would gradually flourish, and the local ecosystem would also improve day by day.

That was just how life was-seemingly unconnected, but actually intertwined in ways we couldn’t even see.

Sierra and the wildlife rescue team settled into a hotel, just hanging around while they waited for the Weston Pride to show up and for the police to wrap things up.

Elliot had put his job on the back burner for a while. He was crashing at the same hotel as Sierra, out all day and back late at night, but he always made sure to join Sierra and the crew for dinner.

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