Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband novel Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Aggressive Hiring Process

Primrose POV

The morning after the Dinner from Hell, I woke up early. I needed fresh ingredients for Vali’s Two-Wolf Stew and something colorful to distract Jasper from his brooding.

I locked the Little Whiskers Daycare and stepped out into the pre-dawn mist of the common district.

I made it exactly three steps.

A shadow moved. Not a person—a literal shadow. It peeled itself off the cobblestones and rose up in front of me.

Before I could even reach for my emergency pocket-pepper, a figure materialized. It was a Crow-kin with black wings (Vesper).

"Lady Primrose Thistle," he rasped. "My master requests your presence."

"I’m busy," I snapped, trying to step around him. "Tell your master to make an appointment. The waitlist is two weeks."

"My master," the Crow-kin said, "does not wait."

The world suddenly tilted.

I didn’t faint. I was engulfed. The shadows around me surged upwards like black water. It was a spatial magic I’d only read about in the Hard Mode lore—Shadow-Walking.

The street, the daycare, and the sunrise vanished.

I blinked.

The smell of damp cobblestones was gone. Instead, the air smelled of... expensive beeswax candles, old books, and silence.

I wasn’t outside anymore. I was standing in the middle of a room that was larger than my entire house. It was draped in heavy velvet curtains, blocking out all light.

"Welcome," a deep, smooth voice purred from the darkness.

I spun around.

Sitting in a high-backed velvet armchair, blending perfectly into the shadows, was the man from the rooftop. Duke Lucien Crepusci.

He was even more terrifying up close. He was tall, lean, and elegant, wearing black on black. His hair was the color of midnight, and his glowing violet eyes were fixed on me with an intensity that made me want to hide under a table.

"Where am I?" I demanded, my voice shaking only a little. "If this is a robbery, I spent all my gold on copper pots!"

"I do not want your gold," Lucien said, standing up. He moved like liquid smoke. "And you are in the Crepusci Estate."

"You... kidnapped me?"

"I collected you," he corrected, as if that made it better. "I saw you last night. With the Wolf. The Tiger. The Snake. They are... loud. Clumsy. They do not appreciate a rare treasure."

He stopped directly in front of me. He reached out a gloved hand and tucked a loose strand of silver hair behind my ear. His touch was possessive.

"I do not share," he whispered.

"I have a daycare to run!" I yelled, swatting his hand away. "I have clients! Vali is going to eat the furniture if I’m not there by nine!"

"Let him starve," Lucien said coldly. "You have a new client now."

He turned and gestured to the corner of the room.

I looked.

Huddled in the shadows, wrapped in a dark blanket, was a small boy. He had black hair and big, dull violet eyes. He wasn’t looking at me. He wasn’t looking at anything. He was just... existing.

Silas Crepusci. The Silent Cub.

"My nephew does not speak," Lucien said, the obsession in his voice shifting to a desperate, dark grief. "He does not eat. He does not play. The doctors say his mind is broken."

Lucien turned back to me, his violet eyes burning.

"Fix him," he commanded. "And until you do... you are never leaving this house."

Great. Just great.

I had tamed a Wolf with biscuits, calmed a Tiger with protein balls, and warmed a Snake with sous-vide eggs.

Now, I was trapped in a gothic mansion with a Yandere Duke and a traumatized Panther cub, and my only weapon was a ladle.

Four down. (Sort of).

This was going to be a very long day.

---

The morning sun hit the sign of the Little Whiskers Daycare, but for the first time in weeks, the sign said CLOSED.

Luna stood on the cobblestones, clutching her basket of carrots, her lilac bunny ears trembling. Beside her, little Clover was pulling on the locked door handle, her lip wobbling.

"Prim?" Clover called out, her voice thick with tears. "I’m hungry! I want soufflé!"

Then, the ground shook.

It wasn’t an earthquake. It was the arrival of the B.A.Ds.

Lord Rurik Jaeger strode up, Vali grumbling at his heels about wanting to wrestle. General Rajah Khanda marched in, Arjun vibrating with morning energy. Alistair glided silently into view, a bored-looking Jasper trailing behind him.

They all stopped. They looked at the CLOSED sign. They looked at the weeping bunny.

The temperature dropped about ten degrees.

"Where is she?" Rurik growled.

Luna squeaked, dropping her basket. Carrots rolled everywhere. She looked up at the three terrifying apex predators towering over her—a Wolf, a Tiger, and a Crane (representing a Snake)—and looked like she might faint.

"I... I don’t know!" Luna stammered, her olive eyes wide with terror. "I came early... the door was locked... and there were... shadows."

"Shadows?" Alistair’s black eyes narrowed sharply.

"Residue," Luna whispered. "Dark magic. Like... ink on the stones."

The three men exchanged a look. The rivalry evaporated, replaced by a cold, dangerous recognition.

"Crepusci," Rurik snarled, his lip curling. "That shadow-skulking thief."

"He took her?" Rajah’s voice boomed, his hand instinctively going to the hilt of his sword. "He kidnapped a civilian? From my patrol district?"

"He kidnapped our asset," Cassian’s voice corrected smoothly. The Archduke stepped out from behind Alistair (he had apparently teleported in, dramatic as always). "And my brother has not had his breakfast."

Jasper looked up, his face pale. "Prim... is gone?"

"Taken," Rurik corrected, his icy-blue eyes burning. "By a Panther who thinks he can hoard everything he touches."

"I will mobilize the legion," Rajah declared, turning on his heel. "We will tear his estate apart brick by brick."

"Too loud," Cassian said coldly. "Crepusci has wards. You’ll never get in. I will freeze his assets. I will starve him out."

"I’m going to break his door down," Rurik growled, cracking his knuckles.

They turned to their sons.

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