My Panther Mate & Our Little Cub novel Chapter 123

Chapter 123 They’re Therians

Yael said. “They were therians.”

“That explains the size.” Zachary paused, genuinely puzzled. “But do they eat people?”

Kyle said, “They were here to take someone.”

“Take someone?” Zachary stared at him.

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“Some tribes run low on sub–therians,” Yael explained. “When that happens, their therians raid other tribes and take sub–therians by force to continue their bloodline.”

That was trafficking. Plain and simple.

Zachary’s shock gave way almost instantly to pure, simmering fury.

The firelight played across Matthew’s face, and every line of it was taut. His golden eyes were dark and unreadable.

Taylor and Jaden pressed themselves against Zachary’s arms from either side, their small bodies radiating

visible distress.

Matthew’s heavy, brooding mood stayed with him well into the night.

Between the incident and the spotted hyena pack wandering nearby, the group put half again as many therians on watch.

Matthew stretched out along a branch overhead, his gaze sweeping the surrounding terrain without pause.

Zachary came to stand at the base of the tree and looked up. “Matthew, come down for a moment. Let me check if anything hit you wrong when you caught me.”

Matthew shook his head and let out a low, quiet sound.

Zachary wasn’t satisfied with that answer. When Matthew didn’t move, he wrapped his arms and legs around the trunk and started climbing.

Matthew immediately straightened the front half of his body.

Zachary grinned and poked his head through the fork in the branches.

Matthew shifted sideways and made room for him on the inside.

Zachary settled against the black panther on the tree trunk. “Can you shift back to your human form for a moment?”

Matthew could see there was no talking him out of it and shifted back.

His clothes were draped over a nearby branch.

Zachary grabbed them and held them up considerately to give Matthew some privacy.

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Chapter 123 They’re Therians

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Then, his eyes found the right side of Matthew’s ribcage, and a wide, deep bruise spread across the skin

there.

The concern hit Zachary immediately.

He touched it gently with his fingertips. “Why didn’t you say something? That has to hurt.”

“It doesn’t,” Matthew said, leaning a little closer. His eyes dropped to Zachary’s lashes. “It’ll be fine in a couple of days.”

“The shaman packed medicine. Let me find it.” Zachary shifted climb back down.

Matthew caught his arm. “Zachary.”

“Hm?”

Matthew drew him back with gentle, deliberate pressure. He wrapped both arms around Zachary’s waist and bent his head close.

“Let me hold you for a little while,” he murmured. “Just a little while. The pain will ease.”

Days of continuous travel and night watches had left faint shadows beneath Matthew’s eyes.

He carried Zachary, hauled supplies, hunted, and foraged, all without saying a single word about being tired. But Zachary had been watching, and he’d seen every bit of it.

How could he not be exhausted?

Zachary let Matthew hold him and lifted his hand to rest gently against his back. “You’ve worked so hard,” he said, and meant every word of it.

The image of the grey falcon therian seizing Zachary played through Matthew’s mind again and again, and every time it surfaced, his chest tightened like something had its grip around his heart.

DA

He’d waited so long. He truly couldn’t bear to lose this.

The night deepened around them, and Matthew didn’t know how long he’d been holding on before he looked down and found Zachary’s eyes closed, his breathing slow and even, asleep against his chest.

Kyle came to relieve Matthew and began his patrol of the surrounding area.

Matthew didn’t climb down. He shifted back into his beast form, positioned himself around Zachary, and wrapped him in warmth from every side.

Zachary spent that night sleeping in a tree, and it was remarkably comfortable.

Traveling across open grassland made for fast going.

By the seventh day, as the surr sank low and the light turned amber, the black panther contingent caught their first sight of the merfolk tribe’s settlement.

The ocean stretched out in deep, vivid blue. White waves rolled in along the shore in long, layered lines.

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Grey stone formations jutted from the water, the beach glittered gold, and the coastal vegetation was unlike anything Zachary had seen before.

It was breathtaking.

Zachary sat on Matthew’s back and rocked with barely–contained excitement.

If only this were a vacation.

Taylor and Jaden were seeing the ocean for the first time, and their eyes went enormous. This was a world that bore no resemblance to the forest they’d grown up in.

They walked a little further and reached the outer edge of the merfolk tribe’s territory.

Because the tribe held the knowledge of salt–making, different groups came to trade with them at regular intervals, and the merfolk kept people stationed nearby to receive visitors.

A tall man with vivid blue hair stepped forward. “Black Panther Tribe. You’re earlier than usual this year.”

Donald smiled. “We brought something worthwhile for you this time.”

Zachary stared at the blue–haired man for a notably long time, long enough that he actually drew Matthew’s attention.

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He looked at Matthew, starting to say something more than once, and then stopping himself.

Matthew asked, “What is it?”

Zachary glanced at the man walking ahead of them, then leaned toward Matthew’s ear and said quietly, “Didn’t you say the merfolk tribe people had fish tails?

“Why does he have legs?”

So that was what this was about.

Matthew’s expression eased back into its familiar calm, and he explained with patience. “Their tails only appear when they’re in the water. They live on the shore most of the time.”

Just as Matthew had described, once they were inside the settlement, there were clearly constructed dwellings on every side, built from stone, branches, and dried grass.

Taylor noticed that everyone walking around here was barefoot, and immediately pulled his own shoes off.

“The ground is soft here.” Taylor padded his feet up and down with great enthusiasm. “It really is soft.

“Jaden, Zachary, you have to try this.

It tickles too.”

Jaden was equally intrigued. He crouched and scooped up a handful of the bright golden sand and turned it over in his palm. What unusual earth this was.

Zachary laughed at both of them.

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Yael snuck up behind Taylor and gave him a light kick to the backside. The boy went face–first into the sand.

Taylor started to spin around to confront the Alpha, and then stopped w

visible surprise. “Wait. That

didn’t hurt at all.”

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