Exiled Villainess: They Threw Me Out, Now Every Beastman Wants Me novel Chapter 125

Chapter 125: Where Is She?

Xavi had not slept.

The sun had set hours ago, and the forest was already getting dark, but none of that mattered.

Tera was gone.

She had gone to the lake with the other females and cubs. She had been right there, surrounded by clan members, within reach of safety. And when they returned to the settlement without her, no one could tell him where she had gone.

Xavi’s rage had been a slow build up that made the clan uneasy, but he had to control himself when he noticed they got scared. Especially the females. Tera was no cub, but why did they leave her alone at the lake?

The females were worried too and had said they had gone back to check minutes after leaving but Tera and the wolf cub had already disappeared.

And the guilt on their faces told him they would never forgive themselves if something had happened to her.

Neither would he.

Nadia and Althea had screamed for hours. The twins had sensed their mother’s absence before anyone had explained it, their tiny bodies rigid with distress as they wailed without pause. No amount of rocking, bouncing, or desperate shushing from the clan members could soothe them.

They eventually relaxed when their fathers held them, and they fell asleep from the crying, their small faces still twisted with distress even in rest.

Most of the clan had gone out to search.

The first round had revealed nothing. Xavi, Ermin, and the others had covered every path, every clearing, every section of forest within their usual range.

But there was a very cruel detail.

If Tera had a scent, any scent at all, Xavi could have tracked her across the entire landscape without rest. His nose had found prey in rainstorms. He had tracked wounded animals through rivers and across stone. He had located his own cubs by smell alone from the far edge of the settlement.

But his mate had no scent.

The female he loved was invisible to his strongest sense, and it made him feel useless in a way that physically hurt.

Ermin was no better.

The panther had not spoken since the search began. He moved through the forest in his beast form with a rigid, mechanical focus that Xavi recognised as barely contained panic. His pink fur was bristled, his ears were flat, and every few minutes, a low, involuntary growl would escape his throat.

The bond told them she was alive. It was distant, but present. That faint signal was the only thing keeping both males from losing their minds entirely.

Now they were on their second search, and they had pushed further than before.

Since the clan members could not rely on Tera’s scent or lack thereof, Xavi had picked up the faintest trail of the wolf cub’s scent near the lake. It was old, partially washed away by the water, but it was there. The cub had been with Tera for days at the settlement, and traces of its scent had rubbed off on Tera hopefully.

Wherever the scent led him to, Tera might also be there.

It was a thin hope, but it was all he had.

He wished he had Tera’s strong perceptiveness. She was always good at finding things, and he always admired that side of her.

They moved deeper into unfamiliar territory, passing through sections of forest that they had only rarely ventured to for hunting.

Both Xavi and Ermin sensed the intruders before the other clan members.

The panther’s body locked mid-stride, his head snapping to the left. A hiss erupted from his throat as he stared in the direction where the wolves slowly stepped out from.

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