Chapter 49 Chapter Forty-Nine
"Meow..."
The cub cried with a small voice and the beast...or no, not beast, it's...mother, responded to it.
The cub looked so inconceivably tiny in my eyes. So small it could have fit in my human hands. Its fur was the same orange-and-black pattern as the creature beneath my claw, but brighter. Cleaner. Unmarked by violence.
It looked at the scene before it with confused amber eyes. The normal gold of a healthy young weretiger.
And it mewed again. A sound of distress.
And one word left my thoughts...
"Mother.."
That single word echoed through my mind like a bell.
And as though realizing it for the first time today, the rogue beast that has been terrorizing a territory it had no claim to suddenly went from beast to mother in a split second. A mother protecting her cub. Fighting with the desperation of someone who had everything to lose and it all made sense.
Those prey? Was she hunting to feed the cub or cubs? If there were any more.
And does injuries? something had left those deep wounds on her body. Maybe that was why she was driven berserk. It was desperation to protect the cub.
And now I had her pinned. Seconds away from ending her life right in front of the cub.
The heat died in my throat.
My claw trembled where it pressed against her chest and the cub, so weak and defenseless sensed something was wrong with its mother bolted from the thicket on unsteady legs, with its teeth barred at me as if it would make a difference. But I stepped back either way. Releasing my hold. It might have been a stupid idea, but I just couldn't bring myself to finish her off, not like this.
"..." A low rumble left my scaly lips as I snapped my jaw closed.
Rain hammered against my scales as steam curled from my nostrils. And save for the water from the heavens pelting the earth, the forest became so eerily quiet that even the crack of thunder was swallowed by it.
The cub stumbled over its own paws the moment it reached its mother, letting out tiny distressed cries as it pressed itself against her bloodied side.
And the weretiger mother reacted instantly.
A vicious snarl ripped from her throat as she tried to drag herself upright despite the obvious pain wracking her body, but based on the blood that soaked through the orange-black fur on her body, she'd lost a lot and it was taking her a great deal to just stand upright, but the cub hissed at me.
If its mother was the villain in our story, in its eyes, I must have been the devil himself. Large horns, sharp rows of teeth, and a belly full of fire that would have incinerated everything in its path.
I recognized this moment, because once upon a time, I knew what it felt like to stand helplessly before something greater than I. To watch death approach and know there was nothing you could do to stop it.
I took a stumbling step back.
The weight of what I'd almost done crashed over me like a physical force.
I'd almost killed her. Almost orphaned this cub. Almost become the very thing I'd set out to stop—a monster who destroyed families.
'No. No no no.'
I tried to maintain my form. Tried to hold onto the transformation so I could... what? Undo this? Fix this somehow?
But I'd pushed my body too hard and now my transformation was beginning to unwind everything the ritual had brought me and more.
Smoke began to billow from my scales. Black and acrid, carrying the stench of death.
A pained bellow escaped me as I fumbled on my feet and before I knew it, I was crashing down like mud on the side of a mountain as I collapsed to my hands and knees, shrinking back to my human form.
The terrified cub trembled with its tail tucked between its legs. It was confused, and scared. Much like its mother who might have been wondering what it had done wrong to get ambushed the way she did.
She was just trying to survive like everyone else.
I stared at the weretiger.
She stared back.
And in those eyes, I saw something that made me want to tear myself apart, because in her eyes I saw hopelessness. I saw rage. I saw frustration and I saw her pleading for mercy. Not for her sake, but for the sake of her cub. Maybe she figured her time was up. Maybe she realized she couldn't fight anymore as she lay crumpled on the floor, taking labored breaths.
She wanted mercy.
Not the mercy of a quick death.
But the mercy of knowing her baby would survive.
"I..." The word came out broken. Barely audible over the downpour. "I'm sorry."
Her chest rose and fell in labored gasps as more blood pooled beneath her from old wounds and new ones I'd inflicted.
With the last of her strength, she turned her massive head toward her cub. Nudged it gently with her muzzle. A gesture so tender it hurt to watch.
The cub mewed again, confused, and frightened.
Then the weretiger's eyes found mine one last time.
And she let out a sound that wasn't really a roar, nor was it a growl, just a soft rumble that might have been a plea.
Then with one final breath, her chest stopped moving and the light in her eyes faded.
"No." I gasped as my trembling hands went to my scarred face, and I dragged it down. Breathing too heavy and too fast.
Flashes of fire appeared in my vision and I felt bile rise into my throat.
I stared down at my hands that were stained with blood then looked up at the cub that nudged its mother again. It whimpered when she didn't respond to its cries.
"What have I done?" The words barely made it past my throat when I heard footsteps behind me.
"Asher—" Aquila called my name, but I cut him off.
"She was protecting her child." My voice cracked. "She wasn't a rogue. She wasn't the threat. She was just... she was just trying to survive."
"And so we're we." His words hit me hard and I suddenly remembered how my own pack lay wounded on the forest grounds. I didn't even know if they were alive or just barely, but I didn't even get the chance to feel guilty about that when a sharp pang shot through my heart and I gasped.
Pain exploded through my body. Not the sharp pain of broken ribs or torn flesh but something deeper like my insides were tearing themselves apart.
My vision went white. Then black. Then fractured into pieces that didn't make sense. The only thing I
felt Aquilla's hands catching me.
Then I felt nothing at all.