Transmigrated to Raise Panther Cubs novel Chapter 115

Both young panthers had their ears drawn flat against their heads, and none of the usual brightness that came with a compliment appeared on their faces.

Zachary pressed a hand to his ribs and made his slow way to the water basin, tilting his head down to examine his neck.

It was all surface damage. He just needed to rinse off the blood that had seeped through.

Taylor and Jaden didn’t move more than a step away from him the entire time.

Once they’d shifted back to their human forms, it was clear they’d left in too much of a rush to grab any clothes. Zachary found them each a set to change into.

Taylor’s expression was tight with barely–contained fury as he stared at Zachary. “Don’t worry. We’ll pay them back for this.”

Jaden stood very still with his fists clenched, his eyes dark and flat, not saying a single word. The silence coming off him was intense enough that Zachary actually felt a flicker of concern.

Zachary redirected the conversation. “Actually, weren’t you two out learning to hunt today? How did that go?”

Taylor blinked, and something flickered across his face. “Oh, right. Our catch and our clothes are still out on the trail.”

“I’ll get them.” Jaden’s expression stayed flat as stone, and he walked out of the cave without another word.

The catch could be replaced if lost, but the clothes their father had made for them were a different matter entirely.

He’d barely stepped outside when he nearly ran into Caesar, who was walking toward the cave with a clucking beast dangling from one hand and a bundle of hide clothing slung over one shoulder.

“Jaden, are these yours and Taylor’s?” Caesar asked. “And why were your clothes just lying on the path?”

Jaden gave a short nod and took everything from him. “Thank you.”

“Did something happen?” Caesar tilted his head, studying him. “You don’t look like yourself.”

“Nothing, Jaden said, and pressed one of the beasts into Caesar’s hands.

“Oh, no, really,” Caesar said, shaking his head. “I just happened to see them.”

Caesar found the whole thing strange. This was the first time he’d ever seen Jaden look like that. Even when the cubs got into scraps with other beastfolk, Jaden never looked like

Worried about infection, Zachary located the salve he’d u carefully to the wounds on his neck.

They’d scab over by tomorrow, most likely.

Matthew’s hand before and applied it

O

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Chapter 115 Remarkable

When Jaden came back, he cleaned the clucking beast down by the stream.

But the tight set of his jaw never eased. His eyes kept drifting to Zachary’s neck, again and again.

He barely touched his dinner.

When it came time to sleep, he was quieter than usual, lying still and holding onto Zachary’s arm without a word.

Zachary assumed the boy had been shaken by what happened. He rubbed Jaden’s back in slow, steady circles. “I scorched a pretty significant patch of that old lynx’s fur today.

“He looked genuinely awful.”

Jaden made a low, subdued sound in response.

Zachary reached over and pinched Jaden’s cheek lightly. “Jaden. Come on, don’t stay like this.”

Jaden didn’t answer right away. After a moment, his voice came out small and quiet. “I’m sorry,

“I should’ve come back sooner.”

Zachary went still, and something warm moved through his chest without warning.

“You’re already incredibly brave.

“You have no idea how much courage you showed today.”

Sire.

Jaden pressed his face into Zachary’s side. “I’m going to grow up. I’m going to be as strong as Alpha. The strongest therian in the whole tribe.”

“You will be,” Zachary said. “One day you’re going to be extraordinary.

Matthew came back with the morning dew still on his boots.

Knowing Zachary slept late, he collected the food allocation himself first without waking him.

After all this time living together, he’d naturally learned which parts of the catch Zachary preferred.

Yael and Matthew walked back side by side, and just as they reached Yael’s door, Taylor came sprinting over and made a beeline straight for Matthew.

Yael blinked. “That kid is getting more and more difficult to read.”

The next moment, Taylor launched into a full, impassioned account of everything that had happened, his voice rising and falling with the weight of every detail, his small face flushing red by the time he reached the worst of it.

Yael’s

eyes went wide. “That’s

outrageou

Matthew’s

of

Per

that to their

wn child?”

cold and severe. He turned and walked toward the

pace that left no room for delay.

gave at a

Jaden was inside heating water when he heard the Alpha come in, and before he could

single word,

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Chapter 115 Remarkable

Matthew walked past him directly, crossed the cave, and came to a stop at Zachary’s bedside.

Zachary was sleeping soundly.

Matthew’s gaze landed on the claw marks along his neck. His fist closed tight, and his face went hard.

Jaden followed quietly behind him.

“Are there other injuries?”

“His back,” Jaden said. He remembered watching Zachary reach back more than once yesterday, wincing as his fingers pressed along his lower back.

Matthew said nothing. His face stayed cold and set as he pulled the beast hide cover back and carefully eased Zachary’s shirt upward.

His back was a landscape of deep purple and blue.

Something glacial moved through Matthew’s eyes. He turned and walked out of the cave.

Gerald was standing by the water at that moment, glowering at his own reflection and at the uneven, patchy ruins of his fur, when Matthew’s fist connected with him from nowhere and drove him straight into the ground.

Gerald staggered back to his feet, hadn’t even fully regained his balance, when a second punch hit him head–on.

Pain burst across his face like a flash of blinding white.

Gerald brought a hand up to cover his face, his shock bleeding through his anger. “Matthew?”

Matthew’s expression was frigid. He grabbed Gerald by the front of his clothes and hurled him back down onto the ground with brutal force.

He stood over him with the full, cold weight of his presence bearing down, and spoke each word like he was cutting it into stone. “You hit him?”

His back cracking against the rock wiped the color completely from Gerald’s face. He clutched at his side, his breath sucking in sharply.

“Who, Zachary?” Gerald’s expression twisted. “Did he come crying to you about it?”

Matthew set his foot down on Gerald’s injured leg with deliberate, measured pressure. “I warned you.”

Gerald let out a short laugh. “You did. But can you

“No matter how powerful a therian thinks he is, he

Matthew applied

his forehead.

tually control Zachary? He came to me on his own.

to

steady, focused pressure, and Gerald’s voi Ork for my attention,

cut

esn’t he?”

entirely. Cold sweat broke

across

Matthew pressed the edge of his blade against the skin of Gerald’s throat and pushed down just enough. A

bead of blood appeared.

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Chapter 115 Remarkable

Gerald’s entire body went rigid, and the composure finally cracked in his voice. “I’m Zachary’s Alpha. If you go any further with this, he won’t forgive you for it.”

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