Transmigrated to Raise Panther Cubs novel Chapter 119

Chapter 119 Laughter

Fuished

Kyle and the others nearby caught every word of it and erupted into laughter, turning to Yael with great delight. “Your kid’s done with you.”

Matthew had the first watch shift, and Zachary brought his food over, adding a little extra to the portion. There was dried meat and roasted mushrooms both.

It was far from the fire here, and the light was dim. Matthew took the food and shifted slightly to the side. “Did you eat enough?”

“Yes.” Zachary had nothing pressing to do, so he stayed and sat with him for a while.

Then, without any announcement, Matthew’s ears and tail simply appeared.

“Matthew, your ears…” Zachary blinked in surprise and turned to look behind him. “Your tail too…”

“They come out on their own sometimes.” Matthew gave them a brief, unconcerned glance and said nothing

more.

That was half true, at best.

In adult therians, the ears and tail tended to emerge involuntarily during courtship, moments of affectionate neediness, excitement, and other charged situations.

A powerful therian could hold it back if they wanted to.

Zachary watched the tail sweeping slowly back and forth at his side and swallowed.

A heartbeat later, the tip of it found its way into his open palm.

Matthew looked at him with complete sincerity. “You like touching it, don’t you?”

A warm, soft tickle spread across his palm.

Zachary nodded with the energy of someone who’d just been given an unexpected gift. “Will it bother you while you eat?”

“Not at all.”

That was all Zachary needed. He immediately set both hands to work, rubbing and squeezing and smoothing the fur with great thoroughness, running his fingers along the grain of it in long, satisfied

strokes.

When Zachary’s hands drifted toward the base of the tail, Matthew’s entire body went rigid, and he very nearly bit down on his own tongue.

“Are you alright?”

“Fine.” Matthew recovered and then added, “You can touch the ears too.”

Zachary looked at him. “Will that feel nice for you?”

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Chapter 119 Laughter

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Finished

“Very nice.”

That settled every last hesitation. Zachary reached straight for both fluffy cars without any further restraint.

Because he’d drawn the first watch, Matthew finished his shift right as Zachary was ready to sleep

He shifted into his beast form without prompting, lay down on his side, and offered the warmest, softest part of his belly for Zachary to rest against.

Zachary had barely gotten comfortable when two small black shapes came pressing in from either side

Matthew lifted his head and gave a firm shove with his back leg.

Jaden glanced at him and burrowed further into Zachary’s side.

Zachary was in absolute heaven. Matthew’s warm belly was beneath him, and Jaden and Taylor’s heat pressed against him on both sides.

His eyes fell shut before long.

Matthew resigned himself to it with

the quiet suffering of a male who had no one to blame but himself.

Yael walked past, his face splitting with a grin that really needed to be taken down a notch. “What a touching scene. You look just like a mother cat feeding her litter.”

“Get out of here,” Matthew said flatly.

In the Beastworld, animals and therians were entirely distinct species.

Much the same as people and their primate cousins.

A therian’s beast form was generally much larger than its animal counterpart, which made being mistaken for prey and hunted a rare occurrence. Deliberate killing was a different matter, but that was the exception.

Sub–therians, however, had to be far more careful when they shifted during vulnerable periods. Their beast forms were indistinguishable from ordinary animals. It was strongly advised that they either stay in or travel with family, for their own safety.

For that reason, therians generally didn’t hunt animals that shared their own beast form.

The sky had barely lightened when everyone wolfed down a quick meal and resumed the march.

The full journey to the salt trade and back would take about two weeks.

Jaden and Taylor were still young, and their legs in beast form were shorter than the other black panthers. Their pace naturally couldn’t match the adults, and speed was simply out of the question.

So they tended to start each morning bounding with energy, only to be panting with their tongues hanging out by the afternoon.

It broke Zachary’s heart seeing them like this.

But both Matthew and Yael only allowed the cubs to ride when they truly couldn’t go any further.

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Chapter 119 Laughter

Every therian cub had to go through this. It was simply how they gr

On the fourth day, group a

Inished

A fin op passed through a stretch

of towering 201 of forest. The trees rose dozens of

feet into the air, and their interlocking branches and leaves blocked out nearly all of the sky above.

Zachary tilted his head back and saw that nestled

dried grass. From the ground, they

looked con

numerous small dwellings, each with a

to judge.

the broad branches near the massive trunks were

that

appeared to be built from woven branches and but the scale of everything around them made it hard

Looking up at it all from below was something else entirely. It looked like a scene out of a fantastical world that shouldn’t have existed anywhere but in a story.

Jaden and Taylor were seeing it for the first time too, and their eyes went wide. They lifted their front paws and pointed upward to make sure Zachary was seeing what they were seeing.

“That’s a Goldfinch tribe settlement.” Matthew said.

The words had barely left his mouth when a young male dropped from the air, hair the pale gold of early spring leaves, with a massive pair of grey–green wings spread wide at his back and folding smoothly as he touched the ground.

Zachary stared.

A person with actual wings. That was genuinely one of the most spectacular things he’d ever laid eyes on.

The young male looked over the approaching group, recognized them, and landed the rest of the way without ceremony. His wings folded neatly behind him.

“Donald. It’s you all.” His voice was bright and clear.

The Goldfinch folk lived in the canopy, and every member, whether sub–therian or therian, was born with a pair of wings. They sustained themselves primarily through foraging and hunting small game.

When meat was scarce, they traded their gathered goods with neighboring tribes. Black Panther Tribe was one of their regular partners.

The Goldfinch tribe’s shaman had once saved Donald’s life, and the warmth between the two groups had carried forward from that day.

Perhaps Zachary’s expression was simply too openly captivated, because Winge turned and smiled directly at him. “I’ve seen you before.”

It had only been a brief glimpse across a trading exchange, but this particular sub–therian had a face that stayed with a person. He could still picture the moment clearly.

Winge moved a little closer and extended the invitation with easy warmth. “Would you like to come up and look around?”

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