My Panther Mate & Our Little Cub novel Chapter 127

Chapter 127 Secret

“When he was little, a fanged beast bit him on the backside. The scar’s probably still there.”

With that delivered, Red dropped into the water without any delay. He had no interest in testing/Matthew’s fists. It wasn’t that he couldn’t hold his own, it was simply that Matthew always aimed for the face, and the aftermath was never dignified.

Zachary stood there in silence.

Matthew came running up, and his forehead was damp with sweat.

Zachary reached up and wiped it away. He looked at the worry in Matthew’s eyes, and a smile came to him before he could stop it. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

“Let’s head back.”

Matthew knew Red was insufferable, but he also had some fundamental sense of limits. Matthew gave the water one cold, sweeping glance and took Zachary’s hand as they walked back.

Zachary’s gaze drifted down. Matthew’s hand was very warm.

The resting area had already been tidied, and the therians were uncomplaining about close quarters. They slept deeply and soundly in a comfortable press of bodies.

“Where are Taylor and Jaden?”

“With Yael.”

Zachary’s attention was pulled to the wall, where strings of shells and spiral formations hung like wind chimes, decorated with stones of every color woven in between.

He’d noticed it when they arrived. The merfolk tribe had a deep fondness for ornamentation. They wore things on their heads, around their necks and wrists, and some even applied brilliant, shimmering pigment across their chests.

Matthew glanced at the wall. “You like them?”

Zachary nodded.

“We’ll trade for some tomorrow.”

“Food first.”

Matthew had a habit of sleeping on the outer side. As Zachary finished washing up and moved toward the inner side of the sleeping space, his gaze drifted involuntarily to Matthew’s backside.

He found himself genuinely curious whether what Red had said was actually true.

Without Jaden between them, and both of them fully awake, the atmosphere felt strangely charged.

Zachary turned to face the wall. Red’s words moved through his thoughts again.

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Chapter 127 Secret

The night deepened, and sleep didn’t come anywhere close to finding him.

At some point, Zachary felt a body press against his back, radiating heat.

Matthew wrapped an arm around his waist, buried his face against the side of Zachary’s neck, and stayed

there.

Zachary lay very still with his eyes shut, and for reasons he couldn’t explain, his entire body refused to

move.

Matthew found his way with practiced ease, one hand occupied, the other pressing Zachary’s leg gently downward.

Zachary’s mind caught up to what was happening, and his face flooded with heat almost immediately.

He bit down on his lip and held back every sound that tried to surface.

Time stretched out strangely.

The dark made everything more vivid and immediate.

Something warm had ignited inside Zachary’s chest, and Matthew had very deliberately set it going.

After a while, Zachary wasn’t capable of thinking about any of it anymore.

Zachary was certain he’d never fallen asleep, and yet when he opened his eyes again, the room was filled with full, bright morning light.

He sat up and lifted the covering. Everything was clean and undisturbed.

If not for the marks left on his skin, he’d have been entirely convinced he’d simply had an embarrassing dream.

“You’re awake?” Matthew came in from outside. “Come eat.”

“Yes. Right.” Zachary couldn’t bring himself to meet Matthew’s eyes, and he fumbled his clothes on in a hurry.

Taylor leaned in close with a small, concerned voice. “Zachary, are you sick? Your face is really red.”

“Probably sat too close to the fire last night.” Before he’d finished saying it, a hand was pressed to his forehead. Jaden’s.

Jaden checked his own forehead afterward, apparently comparing temperatures. The readings appeared similar.

Matthew watched Zachary chew a single prawn for an unreasonable length of time and finally couldn’t help himself. “What’s wrong?”

Zachary felt a deep, private sigh move through him. He could only shake his head.

The situation was complicated. The stakes felt uncomfortably high.

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He ate the rest of the meal with his mind somewhere else entirely. When they finished, Jaden let Taylor drag him off to find their playmates from the day before, and they tucked some wrapped food into leaves to bring along.

Zachary joined the others to sort through the trade goods with the chieftain.

The inventory was substantial this time. There were fruits, cuts of meat, beast hides, and more. But nothing had drawn as much attention as the woven baskets and the spice blend.

Every tribe that came to trade for salt brought the usual things. The baskets and spices were something else entirely.

Red appeared that morning as well and looked at Zachary with open, uncomplicated directness. “Is salt the only thing you want? We have things here that don’t exist anywhere on land.”

Matthew stepped squarely into his line of sight and held his gaze with cold disinterest.

Donald deferred to Zachary on the decision.

The amount of salt they’d secured this trip had already far exceeded what they’d anticipated, and a significant portion of that success was Zachary’s doing.

The chieftain had made his authority over these choices clear from the beginning.

Zachary didn’t hesitate. He requested a wide assortment of dried seafood and had it loaded into bags on the spot, bag after bag.

That morning during his wash–up routine, something had occurred to him. He found a moment to bring it up with the merfolk tribe’s chieftain. “I know how to make a sauce that makes food taste exceptional. I can show your people how to make it.”

The chieftain looked genuinely surprised. “Really?” The spice blend alone had already been extraordinary, and now there was more?

Zachary nodded. “In exchange, when we come to trade in the future, you provide us with the sauce.”

“Agreed.”

Zachary put the word out for the merfolk to collect as many oysters as they could find; the more the better.

When people heard, they joined in immediately, and before long, there was an impressive mound of them.

Zachary cleaned the fresh oyster meat thoroughly, put everything into a pot with water, and set it to cook until the liquid reduced down to a concentrated richness.

Since it needed to simmer for a stretch and required continuous stirring, he stayed beside it to keep watch.

He turned his head without thinking and noticed Matthew walking toward one of the merfolk.

This particular merfolk was extraordinarily beautiful, with long silver–blue hair that curled softly at the ends in a way that was impossible to forget.

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