Chapter 47 - Jurast Forest

Chapter 47: 47 - Jurast Forest

(Kurus’s POV)

We were surrounded by primals. Hundreds of them, of all shapes and sizes. They came from every directions, drawn by the scent of my mate’s scent.

I hissed at the primals that came too close, warning them to back off. Both Vick’s and my beast auras were unleashed to their limits, trying to create a barrier around my mate.

"You all want to die, huh?" Mate asked as she blocked Vick’s attack. Her leg swept under his feet.

Vick jumped to dodge it, but she had already expected it. Her hands clasped his ankle, and she pulled him down, smashing his face into the ground.

He held himself up by the arms. Mate went completely crazy. She fought Vick as if he were her enemy, her eyes murderous. He tried to defend himself, but she was too...rested. Too rested from all the sleep she had gotten.

The rings around her limbs had become her weapons, and she swung them around like they were a part of her body. Their weight increased her power, and every hit she landed had enough force to crack a tree.

I couldn’t intervene. I had to fend off the primals trying to reach her. My tail smashed into them, breaking bones and crushing skulls. My fangs bit into flesh, tearing through hides and ripping out throats. But there were too many, and they were too hungry for her.

I wasn’t in my best condition. My mind was clouded with the desire to breed her as well. My body wanted to pin her down and thrust into her until she was filled with my seed. But I fought it.

I didn’t want to lose my mate. I wanted to keep her alive.

If the primals got to her first, they would swarm her, tear her apart, and eat her. I had seen females who were caught in the middle of a primal heat. None of them survived. Their bodies were found ripped to shreds, their bones scattered all over the place.

The primal beasts had strong reproductive urges. Females could get pregnant even by beasts that weren’t their species. They would do anything to get inside a fertile female.

A dozen warmblooded and coldblooded emerged from the shadows, their bodies shivering and slick with sweat. They joined the fight, attacking the primals from behind. They were as affected by my mate’s scent as we were.

"What is a female doing in a Jurast Forest?" One of them, a tiger beastman, shouted. He slammed his paws into a primal’s chest, pushing it back. "Fast. We have to save her before the primals and coldblooded het her."

A wolf beastman bit into another primal’s leg, his fangs sinking deep into the flesh. "She must be looking for a mate. I’ve never encountered such a strong scent before."

They were wrong. She was not looking for a mate. She was looking for death. She knew exactly where she was, and what she was doing. She was luring us all here. And she didn’t care if we lived or died.

My mate was a monster.

I killed a primal that tried to leap at her, and threw its body at the primals that were coming from the other side. The ground was slippery with blood.

"Mate!" I called to her, but she was too busy trying to kill Vick. "Mate!"

I saw her head turn slightly, but she didn’t stop. She jumped onto Vick’s back, wrapped her arm around his neck, and tried to break it. He grabbed her arm and flipped her over him, landing on top of her.

"Give it up, Precious," Vick said, his voice strained. "We are not leaving you, no matter what you do."

Her legs locked around his waist, and she twisted her hips, throwing him off balance. She rolled with him, switching their positions again. Her hands went to his throat, squeezing. He clawed at her wrists, trying to pry them off.

"You will. You will leave," she said. The air around her could swallow light, leaving only cold emptiness behind. "You all will. One way or another."

A primal leaped at her back, and I struck it down with my tail.

"Mate!" I shouted again. "Enough of that scent! Call it back! Or we will all die here!"

She glared at me. "You keep betraying me. Why should I care if you die? Mate? Mate? You are not my mate. You are nothing but a traitor!"

I flinched at her words. She was angry at me. Because I had put her to sleep when she wanted to stay awake. Because I had tried to protect her when she wanted to die...?

"Traitor!" She threw Vick to the ground, stood up, and faced me. I was surrounded by primals, but I couldn’t look away from her. They all leaped at her at once, and I hissed, rushing to intercept them. I slashed and bit, but there were too many.

One of the primals broke through my defenses and bit her shoulder, its jaws clamping down on her flesh.

"Mate!"

Vick jumped to her side and pushed the primal away. I threw myself at the primals, tearing them apart, my rage giving me strength.

I could smell her blood, and it drove me mad.

"I will kill you all," she whispered as she ignored the wound on her shoulder, "I will kill every single one of you. I swear."

Her words were not directed at the primals, but at us. At me. At Vick. At Moyu, who still hadn’t returned from the cooling gas. She was going to kill us if we stayed with her. That was her plan. To make us leave her, or die.

I didn’t want to die. Not yet. But I didn’t want to leave her either. She was my mate, my beautiful, defective mate. The one who made me feel normal in comparison.

The one I had chosen to protect, even if it meant going against my own nature.

The warmblooded and coldblooded were defeated by the primals, their bodies torn apart, their growls silenced. She didn’t seem to care about them either, as she just stood there, watching them die. Death surrounded her, fed by her very presence, and she welcomed it.

Who was more cruel? The primals that acted on instinct or my mate that acted on purpose?

Who deserved to die more? The primals who followed their nature, or my mate who defied hers?

She was right. She was worse than any female I had known.

Mate was waiting for us to fail. For the primals to overwhelm us. And when we did, she would be next.