My Panther Mate & Our Little Cub novel Chapter 19

Chapter 19 Their First Time Living Together

“I almost wanted to scold him for you just now,” Elias said.

Zachary waved his hand and said modestly, “This is nothing.” After all, it wasn’t like he had watched all those melodramatic dramas for nothing.

As Matthew looked at Zachary, he had a complicated expression on his face.

Suddenly, the noisy crowd fell silent. The group looked up to see the chief and the shaman stepping into the center of the tribe, preparing to distribute the prey.

During this hunt, Matthew had played a major role. If he hadn’t driven the herd of moo beasts forward alone, the hunting party would never have brought back so much prey.

The hunting captain, Donald, stepped forward and said something to the chief. Then, the chief pointed at Matthew, signaling the latter to choose first.

No one objected. After all, food was always distributed according to ability and contribution in the tribe. Other therians with mates stood beside their mates. Letting one’s mate choose food was something every therian took pride in.

Matthew looked at the already butchered prey in the center and was just about to speak when a voice sounded beside him.

Zachary stood behind him and asked cautiously, “Can we take that piece?” Mainly because the piece had ribs and tenderloin attached. The color was rich and red, so it looked incredibly tempting to Zachary.

Matthew turned his head and looked at Zachary, who was standing very close. For a moment, his breathing paused, and his expression became slightly stiff.

He stepped aside and made room for Zachary as he said, “Choose whatever you want.”

“Really?” Zachary looked shocked.

“Yes,” Matthew replied calmly. “You can choose three pieces.”

After getting confirmation from Matthew, Zachary happily walked to the pile of meat and pointed.

“This one, this one, and that one.”

They were all excellent cuts–good pork, good beef, and a piece of venison.

On the other hand, Matthew looked at the three pieces of meat with confusion and glanced at Zachary. After all, he knew that Zachary had never liked ribs before. Even a tiny bit of bone would make him complain.

Besides meat, the beast hides caught during the hunt were distributed to the participating therians.

Zachary chose two deer hides and one cow hide.

Each piece of meat was huge. Just as Zachary was worrying about how to carry them back, Matthew walked over and easily stacked them on his shoulder. Jaden also obediently picked up the beast hides from the

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Moonstories

Chapter 19 Their First Time Living Together

ground. Meanwhile, Zachary stood there empty–handed.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, he said to Matthew, “Let me carry one.”

“It’s fine.” After saying that, Matthew walked ahead quickly.

“Jaden, let me take the beast hides,” Zachary said.

Finished

“It’s okay.” Jaden adjusted the beast hides that were almost dragging on the ground and followed behind Matthew.

Watching the duo walking ahead, Zachary suddenly remembered going to the market with his grandparents when he was little. Back then, he would also follow behind the adults, insisting on helping them carry things.

After placing the meat in the cave used for storing food, Matthew picked up a clean set of beast hide/ clothing and headed toward the cave entrance.

The two of them happened to meet at the entrance.

Seeing what he was holding, Zachary asked instinctively, “Are you going to take a bath?”

He didn’t really need to know. It was just that not saying anything felt awkward.

“Yes,” Matthew replied with a simple answer.

After Matthew left, Zachary went into the cave and brought out the ginger and mushrooms he had washed earlier. Then, he laid them on a stone outside the cave to dry. At that moment, he remembered that the pors and bowls from breakfast hadn’t been washed yet, but when he turned around, he saw that Jaden was already cleaning them up.

Zachary went to the storage cave to take a look and noticed that Matthew had placed the meat on a rack near the ventilation opening. The temperature at night was only a few degrees, and the cave was cold and damp. Thus, it should keep the meat fresh for several days. Plus, Zachary thought he could make jerky or smoked meat later if they couldn’t finish it all.

However, the only problem was that they were running out of salt, and he would need to ask Matthew about it later.

Just as Zachary thought about the beast hides they had just brought back, he began to feel worried since he didn’t know how to tan hides.

“Jaden.” Zachary asked, “does Alpha know how to tan hides?”

“He does, but he usually asks Avery for help since Avery is the best at tanning hides.”

Out of gratitude for the food Matthew had brought back and also to build a better relationship in the future, Zachary decided he should cook something for Matthew. After all, the latter had worked hard outside for days and traveled through the night. He must not have eaten or slept well.

Besides, Zachary himself was hungry.

People here only ate two meals a day, but Zachary wasn’t used to that. As a modern human, lunch held far greater importance than the other two meals.

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Chapter 19 Their First Time Living Together

Finished

Zachary first sliced off all the fatty parts of the grunt–beast and rendered them in a large stone pot to make oil

Drawn by the smell, Jaden came over.

Zachary casually picked up a piece of freshly fried pork crackling and held it near Jaden’s mouth.

“It’s best right after it comes out of the pot,” he said.

Jaden reached out to take it.

“Don’t touch it. It’s greasy. Just open your mouth,” Zachary said with a smile.

Jaden obediently did as he was told.

Zachary popped the crackling into Jaden’s mouth and smiled as he asked, “Does it taste good?”

Jaden nodded. After spending about three days together, he had gradually relaxed a lot around Zachary.

Zachary scooped the remaining cracklings out of the pot and filled two full bowls of them. Then, he picked up some leaves used for holding food, layered two of them together, and packed up half of the cracklings.

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