Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband-Chapter 38: The Bad End

The water was a living thing. It was cold, black, and violent.

I tumbled through the darkness, the roar of the current deafening in my ears. I didn’t know which way was up. I just knew I was spinning, slamming against rough stone, swallowing mouthfuls of vile, freezing water.

Swim, my brain commanded. Swim, Chef!

I kicked. My limbs felt heavy, weighed down by my sodden dress and the freezing temperature. I saw a faint, murky light above—the exit? The moon?

I clawed toward it. My lungs burned. My chest felt like it was being crushed by a giant fist.

Almost there. Just... one more... stroke.

I reached up, my fingers brushing the surface tension.

And then, something snagged my ankle.

It wasn’t a hand. It felt slimy, tangled, and heavy. Old fishing nets? A cluster of sewer vines? It didn’t matter. It was an anchor.

No.

I kicked frantically, but the tangle tightened. The current surged, grabbing me and yanking me down.

The light above drifted away. The surface retreated.

My mouth opened in a silent scream, and the water rushed in.

I sank.

As the darkness closed in, time seemed to slow down. My survival instincts finally shut off. There was no more fighting. There was only the cold.

My thoughts drifted, fragmented and strange.

The cubs.

Who was going to make sure Vali ate his vegetables? He’d go back to biting people. He’d forget how to be "gentle." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Who would ground Arjun when he vibrated too hard? He’d burn himself out trying to be a hero.

Who would listen to Jasper’s logic? Who would see Silas’s drawings?

And Clover... she was so small. She needed her safety rock. She needed me.

Luna. She was just starting to be brave. Who would tell her she was worthy of a Fox?

And the Dads.

Rurik. The idiot Wolf who brought me raw meat. He’d blame himself. He’d tear the world apart and leave nothing but ruins.

Rajah. The loud Tiger. He’d stop smiling.

Cassian. He’d close his heart and go back to counting gold.

Lucien. He’d retreat into the shadows forever.

Is this it? I wondered, watching the last bubble of my breath float away.

Is this the Bad End?

If I die here... do I wake up in my old apartment? Do I go back to being a lonely top chef?

Or do I just... die?

It felt so unfair. All that cooking. All that fighting to survive. I had built a family from scratch. I had tamed the monsters.

And now, I was going to drown in a sewer outlet, tangled in trash.

I don’t want to go back, I thought, a tear lost in the ocean water. I want to stay with them.

My vision went black. The cold seeped into my heart.

Then... I felt it.

Something touched my arm.

It wasn’t a tangle of weeds. It wasn’t debris.

It was a hand.

It was cold—colder than the water—and strong. Long, clawed fingers wrapped around my wrist. A powerful arm hooked around my waist.

I was yanked upward. Not with the frantic flailing of a human swimmer, but with the terrifying speed of a torpedo.

I tried to open my eyes, but they were too heavy. I couldn’t see who—or what—had grabbed me. I just felt the rush of water, the speed, and the strange sensation of scales brushing against my skin.

Then, the darkness took me completely.

The storm had broken over the ocean. Rain slashed down in sheets, mixing with the salt spray of the crashing waves.

The massive iron grate of the Old Aqueduct outlet stood at the base of the cliffs, spewing dark, murky water into the churning sea.

A flash of lightning illuminated the beach.

Four figures stood in the surf, the water swirling around their boots.

Lord Rurik Jaeger was waist-deep in the waves. He was soaking wet, his fine coat ruined, his hair plastered to his skull. He was scanning the water with frantic, wide eyes.

"PRIMROSE!" Rurik roared, his voice cracking against the wind. "PRIMROSE!"

He dove under a wave, searching with his hands, feeling for a dress, a limb, anything. He surfaced, coughing, empty-handed.

"Over here!" General Rajah Khanda yelled. The Tiger General was swimming further out, fighting the riptide with sheer brute strength. "I saw something! A shape!"

He swam toward a dark mass floating in the chop. He grabbed it.

It was a log.

Rajah punched the driftwood, shattering it in frustration. He treaded water, spinning in a circle, looking at the endless, empty black ocean.

"Where is she?!" Rajah screamed at the storm.

On the shore, Archduke Cassian Argentis stood frozen. He held a glowing magical lantern high, turning the beam across the water like a lighthouse.

"Scan deeper," Cassian commanded, his voice shaking. "Lucien. Scan deeper."

Duke Lucien Crepusci was a shadow on the water. He was moving across the surface, darting between the waves like smoke. He checked the rocks. He checked the shoreline.

He returned to the beach and materialized next to Cassian. He was shivering.

"Nothing," Lucien whispered. "The current... it is too fast. It pulls everything to the Deep Drop."

Rurik waded back to shore, stumbling in the sand. He fell to his knees. The great Wolf Lord looked broken. He stared at the vast, uncaring ocean that stretched out to the horizon.

"She can’t swim against that current," Rurik rasped. "Not in a dress. Not... not after the fall."

"She is alive," Rajah insisted, dragging himself onto the beach. He fell beside Rurik, gasping for air. "She... she tamed a Chimera. She is resilient."

"She is a Fox," Cassian said, his golden eyes dull. "She is not a fish. She cannot breathe water, Rajah."

They looked at the sea.

The waves crashed. The rain fell. The ocean kept its secrets.

They had burned the world for her. They had conquered armies and economies. But they could not conquer the tide.

Somewhere in the deep, cold dark... their light had gone out.

And on the beach, four powerful men bowed their heads in the rain, and for the first time in their lives, they prayed.

But nobody answered.

The rain hammered against the roof of the "Little Whiskers Daycare," sounding like a thousand tiny fists demanding to be let in.

Inside, the Junior Search Party sat in a tight circle on the rug.

Vali was pacing, his tail twitching so hard it was vibrating.

Arjun was sharpening his wooden sword, his eyes fixed on the door.

Jasper was checking his pocket watch every thirty seconds.

Silas was drawing a picture of Primrose holding a giant umbrella over everyone.

Clover was clutching her safety rock to her chest, whispering a quiet rhyme to make the thunder go away.

Luna sat by the window, staring into the dark, wet street.

"They’ve been gone too long," Vali growled, stopping his pacing. "The sewers aren’t that big. Dad should have sniffed her out by now."

"Maybe they stopped for food?" Arjun suggested weakly. "Primrose might have made them dinner?"

"In a sewer?" Jasper scoffed, though his voice lacked its usual bite. "Sanitary conditions are suboptimal."

The bell above the door jingled.

Every head snapped up.

The door pushed open slowly. A gust of cold, wet wind blew into the warm shop, carrying the scent of rain, salt, and... heavy, crushing defeat.

Lord Rurik Jaeger stepped in first.

He was soaking wet. His fine coat was gone. His white shirt was plastered to his chest, translucent and stained with mud. His hair hung in limp, silver strands over his eyes.

He didn’t look like the Wolf Lord. He looked like a drowned ghost.

General Rajah Khanda followed. The massive Tiger looked smaller somehow. His shoulders were slumped. His great sword dragged on the floorboards, leaving a wet trail. He wasn’t smiling.

Archduke Cassian Argentis walked in like a sleepwalker. His golden eyes were wide and unseeing. He held a wet, muddy piece of fabric in his hand—a strip of apron cloth he had found caught on a rock.

Duke Lucien Crepusci materialized in the corner. He didn’t speak. He simply leaned his head against the wall, his shadows weeping down the plaster like black tears.

And Jax... the street-smart Fox stood in the doorway, refusing to cross the threshold. He looked at Luna. He shook his head once, slowly.

The silence in the room was absolute.