Reborn As A Beast Queen with Too Many Husbands to Pet novel Chapter 10

Chapter 10 The Peacock Finally Stopped Wanting to Die

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He pressed a hand to his chest, stummed, the thought flashing through his mind like lightning. So this is what a skipped heartbeat feels like.

Not even the female who had brought him here had ever made him react like this.

Annelise checked the area again and picked up a few brown feathers.

She looked at Adrian. “What kind of beast is this from?”

Adrian wrinkled his nose and instantly backed up. “No idea–but whatever it is, it’s way out of our league.”

The reaction was identical to the fox’s yesterday.

She understood immediately. This creature had to be higher in rank than any of them.

“Well, whatever. We’re heading home loaded today. I’ll take it as a blessing from above. Let’s

1. go.

Adrian muttered, “I doubt this has anything to do with the heavens. It’s you—your brain doesn’t work like the other females.”

He started counting on his fingers. “Like how you peel off the bitter skins of wild greens. Or cook them so the bitterness fades. And who else would hike up a mountain to collect carcasses? No female would ever do that.”

He studied her. “You really do seem smarter than everyone else.”

Annelise accepted the compliment with grace. Well, I’m not exactly a freshly evolved caveman.

Adrian sighed. “No wonder you used to scold and beat your mates. You’ve always had… something.”

“No, no–that wasn’t… I mean, it was me, but it also wasn’t me. How am I supposed to explain it to you?”

“What are you explaining to me for? I’m not your mate.”

Not yet, she thought.

They returned to the base of the mountain, where groups of females were gathered, buzzing about how their mates had been attacked.

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Chapter 10 The Peacock Finally Stopped Wanting to Die

The attacker was something strange–five tails and blood–red eyes.

Many males had been bitten in the ankle and couldn’t even stand.

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A senior female stepped in, glancing around nervously. “Enough talking. The chief is overwhelmed. This might be the work of that exiled male shifter. Let the chief handle it.”

“Exiled?” one younger female echoed. “Oh, right. I heard about that when I was little. A male shifter born defective–no female’s spirit energy could suppress him, so he was deemed a bad

omen.

“But that was ages ago. I was five. He was twenty–five. If he was banished, he shouldn’t have lasted a year without a matriarch. I’m twenty now. He’d be forty. How could he still be alive?”

“Enough. The chief will take care of it. Just trust her.”

Annelise listened quietly. In her opinion, this still wasn’t her moment to step in.

If she tried too hard to be useful, they’d only push her away.

And besides, she’d scored a massive haul today. Winter would be easy.

She hummed a little tune all the way home.

Hudson had cooked a stew with wild greens and meat. When he saw her, he brightened.

“Ms. Crawford, I followed the method you taught me–boiled the boar meat with the wild greens, and tried adding a pinch of antidote herbs. It… smells better.”

Annelise leaned over the pot and inhaled.

It really did. The antidote herbs worked like seasoning.

The fox was sharp.

“Evan woke up,” Hudson added. “I was going to bring him some food–if that’s okay with you?”

“Of course.”

She picked up a bowl herself. If anyone ought to feed the peacock, it was her.

Hudson and Adrian were caught off guard.

“Ms. Crawford, you don’t have to-

“1

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Chapter 10 The Peacock Finally Stopped Wanting to Die

“It’s fine. Leave it to me. Go eat.”

She thought to herself, If I want to make the peacock like me, this is exactly how to do it.

And honestly, she really did ache for him.

Such a beautiful man–wounded, broken.

Inside, Evan was sitting on the bed, dazed and pale.

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He still had three months before turning twenty–five. Even with the bond dissolved, he wouldn’t go feral or drop dead–not yet.

“What’s on your mind?” she asked.

The moment he heard her voice, Evan jerked upright.

His back stiffened, trembling before she even touched him.

“Stop thinking. Heal first. Once you’re well, you can go wherever you want. Here–eat something.”

She lifted a spoonful of meat, blew on it, and held it to his lips.

“Come on. Just a bite.”

Evan flinched back, clamping his mouth shut.

“If you don’t eat, you won’t recover,” she said gently.

He let out a soft, bitter laugh, fists clenched.

“And what then? What does it matter if I recover? What does it matter if the bond is gone? I can never go back to who I was…”

He also said that for all he knew, Annelise was only being kind the way she had been before- pretending to care just long enough to deceive him again.

Annelise sighed, set the bowl aside, and grabbed his damaged leg.

Evan jolted, trying to pull away.

“Don’t move,” she snapped. “I can fix this leg.”

Using two wooden spikes, she pierced the major pressure points around his knee.

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Chapter 10 The Peacock Finally Stopped Wanting to Die

Before this, the leg had no sensation at all–but now heat spread through the joint.

Evan stilled. “What?”

÷

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“Your bones and tendons are all severed. I have to repair your channels first. Once the blood flows smoothly again, I’ll reconnect the leg.

“But if you stay weak and half–starved, you won’t survive the procedure. Everything will fall apart. And the bruise in your chest–if I don’t clear it, that’ll kill you too.”

She released his leg and paced the room in thought.

Talking hadn’t worked. Explaining hadn’t worked.

Fine–time for honesty.

She stopped and turned to him. “Have you ever considered that I’m not the old Annelise? I’m someone new.”

She asked, “Did the old Annelise know how to treat injuries? Did she know how to cook? Think carefully–did the old Annelise ever dare climb a mountain?”

Her words struck him.

He had known the previous female well enough. Parentless, practically raised by the tribe after a giant bird dropped the egg she’d hatched from..

She’d

grown up on scraps from a dozen households.

How could she have learned healing arts?

This Annelise was different–more playful, her entire temperament changed.

“But then…” he murmured.

“Evan,” she said softly, “the old Annelise could pretend to be good, but she wasn’t. She only cared about herself. No matter what she said, she never shared meat with any of you. You know I’m right.”

She admitted there were things she couldn’t explain.

Breaking the bond was her way of asking him to look at her as a stranger–to judge this Annelise for who she was, not the woman before.

Evan pressed his lips together. She didn’t force him.

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Chapter 10 The Peacock Finally Stopped Wanting to Die

She simply turned and walked out.

Then she crouched under the window to peek inside.

Evan stared at the bowl for a long moment–then finally tasted a small piece.

No shouting. No beating. No punishment.

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The old Annelise would’ve guarded every scrap of meat like treasure, treating males like thieves.

“So she really is a stranger?” he whispered.

Outside, Annelise saw him eat and let out a quiet breath.

Good. The peacock wasn’t going to try killing himself again.