My Panther Mate & Our Little Cub novel Chapter 133

Chapter 133 Snowing

Finished

The temperature dropped at a pace the skin could feel directly, and the wind turned brutal, cutting across exposed faces and heads like a blade dragged repeatedly over raw skin.

After drawing the hyenas away, Matthew’s group didn’t turn back immediately. They held their ground and bought Kyle’s group as much time as they could.

Once the hyena therians worked out what was happening, they turned their aggression back onto Matthews group and came at them in wave after relentless wave.

“I’m completely spent.” Yael caught a lunging hyena between his jaws, flung it hard into a tree trunk, then- stood there with his tongue hanging out and his sides heaving.

Donald gauged the time. “It should be enough.”

Matthew looked up at the snowflakes drifting through the canopy, and the weight in his eyes deepened. He needed to find Zachary fast.

The group fell back while holding their ground, keeping the pressure on until they’d gained enough distance, then turned and broke into a full run.

Yael snarled back over his shoulder as they ran. “We’re coming back for you.

“Next time we’ll mount you on trees and use you as trail markers.”

The snow was coming down hard now, falling in sheets, and in what felt like moments the air had gone white in every direction.

Zachary lay flat against the black panther’s back and had been holding the same position for so long that a deep, bone–level aching had settled into his body.

His face had gone a vivid, raw red from the cold. His lips had lost all color. His teeth chattered without any

pause.

Kyle noticed Zachary’s condition immediately and called his name with sharp concern. “Zachary? Are you still with us?”

Zachary tried to answer, but a lungful of freezing wind came in instead, and he started coughing hard and without relief.

Kyle grabbed the beast hide covering and wrapped it tightly around him. “We’re almost there. Just hold on.”

Taylor and Jaden had also been pushed past what they could endure. They shifted into beast form with shaking limbs, their eyes nearly forced shut by the wind, and pressed their faces into Ethan’s back.

By afternoon, the group finally reached the agreed meeting point at the stream. In the span of half a day, a thin layer of ice had already begun forming across the water’s surface.

Snow blanketed the ground, and deep, wide prints marked where they’d walked.

Jaden jumped down the moment they stopped and ran straight to his father’s side, wrapping his paws around Zachary’s ice–cold hand, his eyes full of visible worry.

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Chapter 133 Snowing

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Zachary made several attempts before he managed to dismount, unsteady and trembling as he finally got his feet on the ground.

His face had taken on an abnormal pallor, and his eyes were distant, struggling to focus on anything.

Taylor and Jaden circled him in anxious loops, pressing their pink tongues to his cheeks again and again, doing everything they could to bring some warmth back to his face.

Ethan and the others quickly located a section of ground beneath a thick, sheltering canopy. They cleared the snow from a patch beneath it, gathered branches that were relatively dry, and tried several times before the fire finally caught.

With so much moisture in the air, the fire produced more smoke than heat, and what little smoke rose was scattered by the wind before it could reach the sky.

Zachary kept a careful distance from the fire at first, stamping his feet and rubbing his hands until the feeling began returning to them, then moved closer to let the warmth reach him properly.

He was wrapped in the beast hide covering, wearing his hat, with a beast hide scarf wound around his neck and he was still shaking.

Taylor and Jaden burrowed in on either side of him, took his hands, and tucked them against their warm bellies to hold.

There was no cave nearby. This position was the best they had.

The black panthers fared better with their dense coats, but Zachary had been genuinely punished by the cold.

Night fell, and the snow showed no sign of stopping.

Ethan boiled a pot of water and made sure Zachary and the cubs drank some while it was still hot.

Sub–therians had poor tolerance for cold at the best of times, and being caught out in this kind of weather genuinely worried him. He kept feeding the fire continuously and refused to let it dim.

Kyle and Daniel went out to hunt. The surrounding area was left with nothing but the roar of wind and

snow.

Zachary could feel the pull of sleep dragging at him. He forced his eyes open, recognized that simply enduring wasn’t a viable option, and directed Ethan and the others to drag over several logs and thick branches and cross–stack them into a basic wind barrier.

It was still cold, but considerably more manageable than sitting exposed in the

open

air.

A long while passed before Kyle and Daniel came back, each carrying a couple of wild birds.

The sudden snow had made hunting miserable, and these had taken real effort to run down from where they’d hidden in the brush. They stripped and cleaned the birds quickly and came straight back.

The pot nearby was already simmering with seafood broth, and the fragrance of it softened the biting chill just slightly. Daniel sharpened branches with his bone knife and skewered the bird meat over the fire to

roast.

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Chapter 133 Snowing

Then, from somewhere in the distance, the sound of running grew steadily closer.

Kyle lifted his nose and caught a familiar scent. “Matthew’s group. They’re here.”

Zachary pushed out of the shelter, still shaking, and the next moment walked straight into a warm embrace.

Matthew had been moving at full speed, and his body radiated heat.

His broad hand moved across Zachary’s frozen face. Their foreheads pressed together, and he exhaled a long, deep breath.

Zachary tilted his face up and asked with immediate concern, “Are you hurt?”

“No.” Matthew pulled the beast hide covering up more securely around him, then guided Zachary back into the shelter. “The wind’s bad. Stay in.”

Donald settled by the fire and looked in the direction of the settlement, his voice quiet. “The cold front’s here. I don’t know if we stored enough food.”

“We’ll find out when we get back.” Yael did the calculation. Three days minimum, and only if they didn’t

stop.

Matthew filled a bowl with the hot broth and brought it to Zachary

Zachary took it and drank in large, immediate swallows. His body was desperate for anything warm.

The shelter floor was layered with branches. Zachary pulled the beast hide covering over himself, drew his knees up to his chest, and made himself as small and compact as possible. Even this close to the fire, his teeth wouldn’t stop chattering.

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