novelnext Chapter 297: They Are All Dead
Chapter 297: They Are All Dead
The three men fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts. The weight of what they were building, not just a nursery, but a future hung in the dusty air between them.
"The boys will need more space," Ivan said finally, his voice softer than usual. "They’ll be bigger."
Thane snorted. "And how do you know they’ll be bigger? What if the girls are the warriors?"
"Because I know," Ivan said simply. There was no arguing with that tone.
Lucan shook his head, returning to his work. "We’ll make it equal and fair. That’s what matters."
As the day wore on, the arguments continued about wall height, about storage solutions, about the best way to soundproof the room without making it feel like a prison. But beneath the bickering was a shared purpose that bound them together tighter than any nail or screw.
When the sun began to set, casting long shadows through the unfinished nursery, Lucan stood back to assess their progress. The room was taking shape, divided into four equal sections with a central area for play and learning.
"We’re making something good here," Thane said quietly, coming to stand beside him.
Lucan nodded, not trusting his voice. The nursery was more than just wood and nails; it was a promise. A promise that, despite the horrors of the world outside, these children, those cubs, would know safety. Would know love.
"Tomorrow we start on the furniture," Ivan said, gathering his tools. "I found some old plans in the library. We can adapt them."
For the first time that day, all three men smiled in agreement.
As they left the room, Lucan took one last look at their work. The nursery was still raw, unfinished, full of potential. Just like the children who would soon fill it with life and laughter.
"I can’t wait to be an uncle," smiled Thane.
"You’d rather be a husband, huh?" winked Lucan.
"Shut up lucan, do you really want more competition?"
—- Maddies house ——-
The townhouse door crashed open as the two tiger guards half-carried, half-dragged Maddie through the entrance. Her heels scraped across the marble floor, leaving gouges in their wake. Her perfectly styled dark hair now hung in tangled clumps around her face, mascara streaking down her cheeks in black rivulets.
"They’re dead," she whispered, her voice hoarse from screaming. "All of them. Just... gone."
The guards exchanged glances before gently depositing her on the expensive leather sofa. She didn’t sit so much as collapse, her body folding in on itself like a puppet with severed strings. Her mind kept replaying the scene, the eagle beastman hovering above, his wings spread wide, that terrible light building in his palms before erupting outward. The screams. The smell of burning flesh. The silence that followed.
"Get me a drink," she demanded, not looking up. "Something strong."
One of her husbands, a wolf-beastman named Derek, approached with a crystal tumbler of amber liquid. His movements were hesitant, wary. The others hovered in the background, twenty sets of eyes watching her with expressions ranging from concern to barely concealed resentment.
Maddie knocked back the whiskey in one swallow, the burn barely registering through her shock. She stared at her reflection in the glass—the smeared lipstick, the wild eyes, the terror still etched into her features.
"That blonde bitch," she hissed, her voice gaining strength. "This is her fault. All her fault!"
She hurled the empty glass against the wall, where it shattered in a spray of crystal shards. The sound seemed to snap something inside her.
"All of you!" she shrieked, rising from the sofa on unsteady legs. "Standing there like useless, low-level trash! Why didn’t you do something? Why didn’t you fight back?"
Derek took a step back, his ears flattening against his head. "Maddie, there were only twenty of us left. and you left us at home..."
"I don’t care!" She grabbed a priceless vase from the side table and threw it at him. He ducked, but not fast enough; it grazed his shoulder before smashing against the wall. "You’re supposed to protect me! That’s all you’re good for!"
A tall panther-beastman named Marcus stepped forward, his expression hardening. "We wanted to protect you. Two hundred men died trying to protect you."
"And they failed! And 40 of them were MINE, the rest wanted that SLUT!" Maddie’s voice cracked with hysteria. "All of you failed! You let that fox whore and her freak show of husbands humiliate me!"
She paced wildly across the room, kicking over furniture, tearing at the curtains. "Do you know what the General said to them? He gave them the manor! The manor that should have been mine!" Her voice rose to a shriek. "He basically handed them the keys to the town!"
Marcus exchanged a meaningful look with Derek. Something was shifting in the room, a tension building beneath the surface.
"And you know why?" Maddie continued, not noticing the change. "Because that little blonde slut is carrying cubs. Four of them! Like that makes her special!" She spat the words like venom. "I have a cub! I could have dozens of cubs!"
She whirled on Marcus, her eyes wild. "But no, you useless creatures can’t even give me that! None of you is strong enough, powerful enough! Not like those freaks at the manor!"
The silence that followed was deafening.
Marcus straightened to his full height, his tail rigid behind him. "Perhaps," he said quietly, "it’s not our strength that’s the problem."
Maddie froze, her chest heaving with ragged breaths. "What did you say to me?"
"I said," Marcus repeated, his voice dangerously calm, "that maybe the issue isn’t with our abilities."
Maddie’s hand connected with Marcus’s face with a sharp crack that echoed through the room. The force of it sent his head snapping to the side, but he didn’t flinch. His yellow eyes remained locked on hers, something shifting in their depths.
"You dare?" Maddie hissed, her handprint already reddening on his cheek. "You dare question me? After everything I’ve given you?"