The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 257: A ruined shelter

The moment I squeezed my eyes shut, the small, claustrophobic space erupted. I couldn’t see, but the sensations were overwhelming. There was a sickening, wet slither—the sound of skin stretching and bones shifting—and then a roar from the bear that was so loud it rattled my teeth.

Damar didn’t fight with his bare hands. He knew he had too much at stake so he transformed.

I felt the air in the ’closet’ suddenly grow colder, displaced by a massive, muscular presence. The bear’s snarl turned into a panicked yelp, followed by a series of heavy thuds against the limestone walls. I kept my face buried in my coat, feeling the cubs squirming frantically against my chest.

Raiden was digging his tiny, harmless claws into my skin, his tiny body vibrating, but the girls were dead silent, paralyzed by the sheer predator pressure filling the space.

The sound of the bear’s ribs giving way under immense pressure echoed through the stone.

*Crack!*

Damar used his body as a rope, curling around the bear and squeezing it until there was no place left in its body that was intact.

I could hear all of this even with my eyes closed. I could hear the wet, desperate gasps of the female bear as she was slowly crushed in the coils of Damar’s tail.

"Damar..." I whispered, but my voice was lost in the rain.

Then came the lightning, illuminating the shadow of the scene behind me. The Female bear hanging in mid air, its body coiled in Damar’s spring, and how it had lost the will to resist.

In the end, it died without so much as a fight because it picked the wrong family to mess with.

Suddenly, with a final, guttural heave, I heard the beast being hauled—literally dragged—out through the gap it had entered. The sound of the struggle moved into the mud and the rain outside.

"It’s over, Ari. You can look."

The voice was Damar’s, but it was deep with relief.

I opened my eyes and gasped. The "closet" was now a ruin. The tiny roof above my head was being kept stable by Damar’s tail, so it wouldn’t collapse on top of us.

The rain was pouring in through every hole it could seep through. Our shelter was gone.

I looked forward and found Damar standing just several feet away. He stood under the rain, his long silver hair wet and sticking to his features.

He wasn’t in his full snake form, but he wasn’t in his full human form either.

He was back to his half-snake, half-man form because he needed to keep the last of the shelter above our heads in place with his tail.

But even then, it wouldn’t last long.

On the other side, the sounds of battle had ceased. Noah and Fenric appeared looking at our ruined shelter in astonishment, their chests heaving, covered in mud and bear blood.

They looked at Damar, then at the cubs huddled in the wreckage, and me.

"Everyone whole?" Noah barked, his golden eyes scanning me for injuries.

"We’re... we’re fine," I managed to say, my voice trembling as the adrenaline began to fade, though my heart still hammered hard inside my chest.

I looked at the cubs; Raiden finally poked his head out, his little nose twitching as he looked at the carnage, seemingly more impressed than scared now that the danger had passed.

Phina did the same an as for Lyra... She had fallen asleep. How could she sleep under this pressure?

Gosh. I was so envious.

Fenric stepped in, his face softened by a relief so intense it looked like pain. He knelt in the mud and reached out, his large, blood-stained hand hovering close to me before he pulled back, not wanting to get the filth on me.

"I’m sorry, Arinya. We shouldn’t have let our guard down. We didn’t think there would be a pair."

"It’s spring," Damar said, his emerald eyes glowing in high alert.

"They were probably protecting a territory for their own future cubs. They saw us as the threat." Noah explained.

I looked at my three husbands—three powerful, lethal protectors who had just defied the wild to keep us breathing. I reached out and grabbed Fenric’s hand, pulling it to my cheek, mud and all.

"Don’t apologize," I said, looking at all of them. "You kept us alive. Again."

I looked out at the pouring rain and then at the drops that were falling on my shoulder.

There was no safe place under this shelter anymore.

Our tent fabric was shredded, our shelter was a ruin, and we were standing in the middle of a fresh kill-site that would surely attract more scavengers once the rain let up.

"We can’t stay here," I said, the calm in my voice returning. "The scent of blood will bring more than just bears. Noah, you said there was a watchtower. How far is it really?"

"Too far," Noah said, his eyes darting to the troller that had lost one of its wheels. "If we plan to stick by the normal route, we’ll only get there in three to four days. But if we take the shortcut I know of, we won’t be able to bring our stuff."

He was referring to the shortcut that allowed him to get the midwife over to my side in time for my delivery.

"It’s your call, little tiger," Noah said.

I bit my lip, looking back at the troller.

Our whole lives were in there.

But we couldn’t stay out here for much longer. Our tenth was already ripped to pieces. We could try to substitute the bear’s hide, but not in this weather. We’d all just end up getting sick while trying to create something for shelter.

If we wanted at least a roof over our heads to protect us from the rain then we’d have to leave everything.

It was a tough decision to make but it was the only one we could make at the moment. If the cubs stay all night in this cold weather, they would fall sick and that would be another disaster because we’d have to go find a Doctor.

I’d rather leave everything and head for shelter now than think about what could happen to my cubs later due to my stubbornness.

"Arinya," Fenric called and I lifted my head. "Don’t think too hard about it. The things... we can hide them here and come back for them later."

"He’s right," Noah said. "Right now, getting to safety is more important."

I felt Damar’s hand on my shoulder, his silent support reaching me completely.

"I guess it’s settled," I said. "I’ll use the last of the fabrics we have to cover up so the cubs and I don’t get too soaked."

Though we were already pretty soaked.

"From now on, we’re going full speed ahead... In beast style."