Exiled Villainess: They Threw Me Out, Now Every Beastman Wants Me novel Chapter 50

Chapter 50: Scheming Fox

Kiri let the words hang, layered with just enough sadness to suggest vulnerability. She tilted her head slightly, letting her hair fall across one shoulder.

Nothing.

Kiri’s tail curled more deliberately around his leg, the soft fur sliding along his skin.

Xavi looked down at his leg. Then at her tail. Then at her face.

"Your tail is on me," he said.

It was not said with warmth, or curiosity, or interest. It was said with the flat confusion of a man who had found a leaf stuck to his arm and was trying to figure out how it got there.

"Oh!" Kiri pulled it back with a practiced little laugh. "Sorry. I did not notice."

Xavi’s eyes softened, and for one breathless moment, Kiri’s heart leapt. He was finally looking at her. It had been a while since he had done that. That pesky female had been snagging his attention for so long now.

"You are a fox."

Kiri blinked. "Yes...?"

"You are strong and beautiful. You have good fur and enticing traits." He listed these facts as if reciting the qualities of a perfectly adequate hunting dog. "There are unmated males in the clan who would be eager to give you cubs. Bessier is young but hardworking. Feron is—"

"I do not want the jackal," Kiri said, her voice sharpening before she could stop it. "I want—"

"You want cubs," Xavi finished, nodding with the satisfied air of a male who had correctly identified the problem. "That is good. The clan needs more cubs. I am sure one of the males would be willing."

"One of the—" Kiri’s mouth opened and closed. She frowned. "Leader, I am trying to tell you that I want you."

He was not stupid, even if the only clues he understood had to do with survival. As subtle as she had been with him over the months, she did not have the time for that now.

Xavi looked so shocked, to the extent that he slowly set down his meat.

After a few seconds, his brows furrowed. He looked genuinely confused, as if she had just announced she wanted to mate with a tree.

"Me?"

"Yes, you, leader. I have always wanted your cubs since the day you saved my tribe from the corrupted beast." Even as months of longing and frustration had spilt over, she still monitored what she revealed to him. "I am beautiful, strong, and can give you strong cubs with proper beast traits. Not like—"

She caught herself before she said her.

Xavi was silent for a long moment. The fire crackled between them.

"Kiri." His voice was not unkind, but it was firm. Final. "I have already chosen my mate."

"I am not asking to be your mate, leader."

Kiri held her breath. She would do this bit by bit. Mate or not, if she had his child, it would be even easier to worm her way into him and kick that pesky female out.

Shiftless beasts usually tended to be barren.

But a second later, Kiri realised what exactly he had said. His mate? That lowly female?

"Leader, the shiftless one is not worthy of you!" Kiri blurted, scandalised as she looked up at him. "She lacks any defining beast traits, and as if that wasn’t the worst of it, she is terrible. Look how she tricked the panther into bonding with her. Everyone knows what she did. She—"

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