- 7 hours ago
My S Rank Beast Mate New 🔝
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Short filmTranscript
00:02The chieftain gathered every unmated male and told me and sister to choose.
00:06Male shifters are ranked S, A, B, or C.
00:10My sister Lyra seized the A-rank wolf shifter that should be mine,
00:16and threw the low-level B-rank snake shifter that should be hers to me.
00:20As a result, her fate was tragic, while I won everything.
00:24She bore him five litters, every single one lowly B-rank.
00:28The wolf shifter raged.
00:31He kicked her hard in the stomach and cursed her for being useless.
00:34Tore the bond like it was nothing.
00:37The other males wanted nothing to do with her either.
00:39And me, I chose a B-rank snake shifter.
00:43One litter, ten cubs, every single one high-quality A-rank.
00:48The whole clan named me the Sacred Daughter.
00:51My mate inherited the chieftain's seat.
00:55Lyra couldn't stand it.
00:58She killed all my children and pushed me off a cliff.
01:08When I opened my eyes again, we were back.
01:11Back to the day of choosing.
01:13I came back to myself just as Lyra pressed her body against the snake shifter's side.
01:18Chieftain.
01:19She said sweetly.
01:22I choose boss.
01:23She said it.
01:25And then she looked at me.
01:26One long, deliberate look.
01:29The kind that said, I've already won.
01:31I understood.
01:32She'd been reborn too.
01:34Actually, my sister and I weren't from this world.
01:37But we couldn't find a way back.
01:39In the end, we would just have to adapt to the rules here.
01:42But this time, I absolutely won't let her control everything.
01:47Male shifters are born ranked.
01:49S, A, B, or C.
01:51The higher the rank, the more valuable the male.
01:54C rank males were everywhere.
01:56B rank was considered a prize.
01:58A rank was rare enough to cause a stir.
02:00As for S rank, even the elderly chieftain had never seen one.
02:05Females in the beast lands were fewer than males.
02:07Their social standing was higher, which standing on the children they bore.
02:11The higher the rank of your cubs, the higher you climbed.
02:15In our last life, Lyra had wanted to be the top female in the clan.
02:18She'd gone straight for the only A-Rake wolf shifter without blinking.
02:22She'd told me to choose Vos, the snake shifter.
02:25Snakes have two, you know.
02:27She'd said, with that conspiratorial smile of hers.
02:29But they lay eggs.
02:31Hatching eggs is so much easier than live birth.
02:35I'd listened.
02:35I'd chosen Vox.
02:37We bonded, and I fell pregnant quickly.
02:40One clutch.
02:41Ten cubs.
02:43Every single one A-Rank.
02:45This clan had existed for over a century among clans.
02:49They'd never had more than five A-Rank shifters total.
02:53The chieftain declared Vos his successor on the spot.
02:59Lyra had conceived around the same time I had.
03:02She gave birth to a B-Rank cub.
03:05Then another.
03:07Five pregnancies total.
03:09Nothing above B.
03:10Nothing below C.
03:12She decided the problem was the wolf's bloodline.
03:15One night, she crept into Vos' den.
03:17Vos threw her out of bed, and called the entire clan to witness his innocence before dawn.
03:23The wolf shifter found out.
03:25His rage was immediate and absolute.
03:28He dissolved their bond and drove her out along with her children.
03:33Within a month, Lyra's cubs had all starved.
03:36She'd tried to seduce some of the C-Rank males during that time.
03:41But this world had no tolerance for betrayal.
03:45The males would take what she offered.
03:49They wouldn't bond with her.
03:51When Lyra was close to starving, I'd brought her back to mine.
03:56Given her meat from my own stores.
03:59She repaid me by destroying me.
04:02Even now, I could still feel the drop.
04:05That weightless, stomach-larching fall.
04:09The chieftain nodded at me now, signaling it was my turn to choose.
04:13I scanned the remaining males.
04:15Then I pointed at the wolf shifter.
04:18I'd like to choose.
04:19I didn't finish the sentence.
04:21A crack split the air.
04:23A hand connected with my face.
04:27The female who hit me belonged to Drac, the black tiger shifter.
04:30She came at me with all the-
04:32The males who'd been eyeing me with interest took a collective step back.
04:36The wolf shifter in particular.
04:38His expression shudded.
04:39He frowned.
04:41I turned to look at Lyra.
04:42In her eyes, I saw it clearly.
04:45Calculation.
04:46Satisfaction.
04:47Then I remembered.
04:48In my last life, she and Drac had history.
04:51A brief affair.
04:54It was a trap by her.
04:56I didn't do anything with Drac.
04:58And that's not my fur.
05:01If no one believes me, I'll shift right now so you can all see for yourselves.
05:07I shifted.
05:08I turned in a slow circle, showing every angle.
05:11No bald patches.
05:13No missing fur anywhere on my body.
05:15Except there, on my inner thigh.
05:18A small, bare patch I hadn't noticed before.
05:22The crowd erupted.
05:25What kind of female goes after someone else's male?
05:28That kind should be thrown out of the clan!
05:30The noise built and built.
05:32This clan, male and female alike, had no room for a female who might lure away bonded males.
05:37The chieflin raised his hand.
05:39I was cast out.
05:41Lyra came to see me off at the border.
05:42She was curled against Vos's chest.
05:44When she said goodbye, her voice all silk in sympathy.
05:48Sister, being cast out isn't necessarily a bad thing.
05:51There are plenty of strong males out there in the wild.
05:54Maybe you'll find your true mate.
05:55The wild was full of powerful shifters, yes.
05:59They were also the ones every clan had already thrown away.
06:03Half feral.
06:04Dangerous.
06:05The kind who would take a lone female and break her.
06:08I'd saved Lyra from them three times in our last life.
06:13However, she hadn't remembered that at all when she killed me last life.
06:19I smiled at her.
06:20Slow and pleasant.
06:24I think you can save concern for yourself.
06:27Vos is...
06:28vigorous.
06:31You'll have your fill of trouble then.
06:33Vox was a snake shifter.
06:35As Lyra had once told me herself, snakes had appetites.
06:41He had no interest in hunting.
06:44He had every interest in making love.
06:48Once or twice a day was sport.
06:52Once or twice without stopping.
06:55For days, that was suffering.
07:00It hurt terribly every time.
07:02If I hadn't satisfied him, he'd gone looking outside the clan.
07:06He screwed many female at the same time.
07:10Without a clan's backing, he was useless.
07:14The memory of all of it made my skin crawl.
07:18Lyra thought she'd won a prize.
07:24What she'd actually won was a rotting thing wearing a decent face.
07:30You must be jealous of me!
07:32Lyra snapped, her sweetness curdling in an instant.
07:35What exactly are you smiling about?
07:38This life, I'm gonna make you watch me.
07:40Watch me become the sacred daughter of this clan!
07:43She and Vox disappeared back into their den.
07:46Their laughter trailing behind them.
07:48I stepped outside the clan's boundary and immediately had company.
07:52A leopard shifter.
07:53Eyes full of hunger and violence.
07:55I knew what solitary males like him did to lone females.
07:58They played.
07:59They broke.
08:00Every survival instinct I had fired at once.
08:03I ran.
08:03I ran until a cave mouth appeared in the rock face ahead of me.
08:07With nowhere else to go, I dived inside.
08:10The leopard stopped at the entrance.
08:12He paced.
08:13He snarled in my direction.
08:15Then, when I didn't come out, he cursed twice and left.
08:19From the darkness deeper in the cave came a roar that pinned me to the spot.
08:24I looked up.
08:25A white lion stood before me.
08:27Beautiful.
08:28Enormous.
08:28His jaws were wide enough to swallow my head whole.
08:33I ran again.
08:36Two steps.
08:37Then I stopped.
08:39The lion had roared, but he hadn't moved.
08:43It was almost like he was trying to frighten me off rather than attack.
08:47Then I smelled it.
08:49Rot.
08:49The hot, sickening smell of infected flesh.
08:52I looked at his back legs.
08:56The meat there was going necrotic.
08:58White with larvae.
09:00I steadied myself.
09:02Hello.
09:03You're injured.
09:05I know how to heal.
09:06Will you let me stay?
09:09He understood me.
09:11He looked at me for a long moment.
09:14Then he stretched both back legs forward.
09:18His wounds were severe.
09:21The larvae had spread deep.
09:25I forced down the nausea and cleaned them out.
09:28Thorough.
09:29Methodical.
09:34Then I opened my pack and found my medicinal powders.
09:45Before I'd came this world, I'd been trained in herbalism.
09:52After arriving in the beastlands, that knowledge had made me a healer for the Varmeric clan.
09:59When I finished dressing the lion's wounds, he leaned his great head forward and pressed his face against my sleeve.
10:10Gratitude for me.
10:13Then his stomach ground.
10:16Injured.
10:17Immobile.
10:18Unfed.
10:21I'll find food.
10:22Wait here.
10:23I moved to leave.
10:24He hooked one paw around my ankle and drew me back.
10:28Then he dragged his enormous tongue over my shoulder and down my arm.
10:33I understood.
10:35He was marking me with his scent.
10:37Most predators wouldn't come near me now.
10:41I thought of the leopard at the cave entrance.
10:44Whatever rank this lion was.
10:49It was enough to send others running.
10:56I didn't go far.
10:58I gathered wild fruit.
11:00Some edible roots.
11:02And came back to the cave as the sky went dark.
11:06I made a fire.
11:10The lion's eyes lit up.
11:14He inched closer to the flames.
11:17And that was how I came to live in his den.
11:21Days settled into rhythm.
11:23Mornings I changed his dressings.
11:25Then went out for water and food.
11:28Nights he curled around me like a living blanket.
11:32His warmth soaking into me while we slept.
11:35Half a month passed.
11:38Then one afternoon I returned to the cave.
11:42And stopped in the entrance.
11:44A man lay where the lion had been.
11:49White hair.
11:50Long and loose.
11:51Eyes the color of gold.
11:53He saw me.
11:54Two pale ears rose slowly from the top of his head.
11:58Your back.
11:59His voice was startling.
12:01Low and clear and unexpectedly lovely.
12:05You're the white lion?
12:11He nodded.
12:12He nodded.
12:15My name is Caius.
12:17I smiled.
12:20Hello.
12:21I'm Sarah.
12:22Under my care.
12:23Caius had healed enough to walk.
12:30On our first hunt together, he showed me what he was capable of.
12:34A wild boar.
12:36Under a minute.
12:38He bit through its neck like it was nothing.
12:46That night I finally had meat again.
12:48Pork fat crackling over the fire.
12:50Filling the cave with the kind of smell that made your stomach hollow with want.
12:54I ate until my face was shiny with grease.
12:57And asked him.
12:57Around a mouthful.
13:01Are you A rank?
13:02You have to be at least.
13:05Caius's expression shadowed.
13:07No.
13:09I don't have a rank.
13:10I paused.
13:13What?
13:16Every male shifter in the Beastlands was ranked.
13:20That was just the world.
13:23Caius just shook his head.
13:25He'd never had a rank.
13:28And because of that, his clan had called him a monster from birth.
13:33Cast him out young.
13:36The memory sat visibly on him as he spoke.
13:40His eyes went somewhere far away.
13:43Cast out as a cub.
13:45No family.
13:47No kin.
13:48No one.
13:52I reached over and touched his head.
13:55Just lightly.
13:57It's alright.
13:59You have me now.
14:00We're friends.
14:03Caius went red.
14:05It was sudden and total.
14:07And genuinely charming.
14:11Another month passed.
14:14Healed completely.
14:18Winter was coming.
14:24I woke late one morning to heat radiating from his side of the den.
14:29His eyes were red-rimmed.
14:30His breathing rough.
14:38He told me to stay inside.
14:40That he needed to step out for a while.
14:42That I shouldn't worry.
14:44He made it two steps.
14:45Before his legs gave out.
14:47When he hit the ground, I understood.
14:50Every shifter had a fixed heat cycle.
14:52During the surge, the animal instinct overwhelmed everything else.
14:57He was already past his limit.
14:59He was painful.
15:01Don't be scared.
15:02He managed.
15:03I won't touch you.
15:05I'll handle it myself.
15:06He was fighting his own body.
15:08Every muscle in his neck was stinic.
15:10Veins visible under his white hair.
15:12The sounds coming from his throat were low and inimpolentary and painful to hear.
15:17I looked at him.
15:18Something in my chest did something quiet and final.
15:22I crossed the distance between us and crouched down in front of him.
15:27Caius.
15:29I said, do you not want me?
15:32No!
15:34How...
15:35How could you think that?
15:36I cupped his face in my hands.
15:43And I kissed him.
15:46When his hands came up to touch me, I braced.
15:50I thought sex was simply about being hurt.
15:54He was so strong, it must be hurting a lot.
15:57I'd prepared myself.
16:00But surprisingly, I felt no pain.
16:03Caius was gentle.
16:05He moved like he was afraid to break something.
16:09I felt weightless.
16:11I was as comfortable as if I were floating in the sky.
16:17When it finally finished, snow had fallen.
16:21Since then, we have been making love all the day.
16:25One sustained glance across the den, and I'd find myself pinned to the sleeping furs a moment later.
16:32Unlike my last life, I was happy and no longer felt pain.
16:37He was, as it turned out, extraordinarily good at this.
16:43And I was pregnant.
16:45I was not surprised.
16:48Really?
16:50For three full seconds he didn't move.
16:52Then his ears began to tremble.
16:55His tail followed.
16:56His whole face changed.
16:58He pressed one broad, rough harm to my stomach.
17:02So carefully.
17:04You're really carrying my cub?
17:05My little lion?
17:06He lifted me straight off the ground.
17:08I laughed, and he laughed with me, and the sound of it filled the cave.
17:12After pregnant, he was at my side constantly.
17:15I'd reach for something, and he'd already have it.
17:19I'd think about standing up, and he'd be there.
17:21Lying in the warmth of his arms one evening, I found myself thinking about the previous life.
17:27Vos was cold-blooded.
17:29He hibernated in winter.
17:31No warmth to give.
17:33I'd been on my own, wading through snow to find anything edible.
17:36Then the ten snake cubs had hatched.
17:38I was so tired.
17:40Vos slept through all of it.
17:41The cubs had been good.
17:43Even Abrank, they'd never started fights, never made trouble.
17:46They'd helped with the den chores.
17:48So adorable.
17:49My eyes started to sting.
17:51I hadn't protected them.
17:53Caius's chest was warm against my back.
17:56He turned me gently.
17:59Sarah.
18:00You're not happy. What is it?
18:02I'm fine.
18:03I wiped the corner of my eye.
18:07Just missing home.
18:09Is it not good here?
18:11With me?
18:13No. That's not it.
18:15I touched his hair.
18:19Being with you is the best thing I've had.
18:23Next day.
18:27I'd assumed I'd never see Lyra again.
18:30She appeared at the entrance to our den.
18:34Lyra was on her knees in the snow, hugely pregnant, shaking.
18:38White lion, sir!
18:39Please don't kill me!
18:41I looked at her.
18:42Something that wasn't quite amusement moved through me.
18:44Sarah.
18:46What are you doing here?
18:48Do you know her?
18:49No.
18:51Caius's killing in Tate rose immediately.
18:54Lyra screamed.
18:55No!
18:56Sister, don't let him kill me!
18:57I came to save you!
18:58That single word stopped everything.
19:01Sister.
19:02Caius held back.
19:03He asked me if there might be some misunderstanding.
19:06I exhaled slowly and walked toward her.
19:09Why did you come?
19:11The sweet, plastating smile again.
19:14Hypocritical.
19:15I spoke to the chieflin for you.
19:17He'll let you come back.
19:18I didn't move.
19:20I mean it.
19:22Sister.
19:23We have conflict with another clan.
19:26There's going to be war.
19:28Neither of you belong to either side.
19:30You'll be collateral.
19:33Lyra's words landed.
19:35And I remembered.
19:36In our previous life, there had been a war.
19:39Exactly like this.
19:40But that war had ended the moment my ten snake cubs hatched.
19:44The simultaneous appearance of ten a-weed shifters is powerful enough.
19:47They'd surrendered without a fight.
19:49The two clans had merged.
19:51The Ultraeth clan had a priest.
19:53He'd looked at me afterward and declared that I was the sacred daughter,
19:57given to the clan by the beast gods.
19:59But none of that was a reason to go back.
20:02Caius and I were living well.
20:04I would never return that clan again.
20:07Lyra's eyes moved to my stomach.
20:09Her voice shifted.
20:11Softer, more deliberate.
20:12Sister.
20:13You're pregnant.
20:15Even if you don't care about yourself.
20:17You have to think about the child.
20:19You can't wander forever.
20:21And when your cub is grown,
20:24what then?
20:25Do you want to raise them out here?
20:27Alone?
20:28With no clan behind them?
20:30She wasn't wrong.
20:32This world was ruthless.
20:34Caius was the strongest male I'd ever encountered.
20:36And he'd nearly died alone in a cave with rotting legs.
20:38Our cub would arrive small and vulnerable no matter what rank they carried.
20:42A clan meant numbers.
20:44Numbers meant survival.
20:46But Caius had been driven out of a clan before.
20:48I turned to look at him.
20:50He read it immediately.
20:51He reached over and took my hand.
20:53He said quietly,
20:54Sarah.
20:55Let's go back.
20:57After I told Lyra yes,
20:58she sagged with relief.
21:00Then, almost immediately,
21:02Do you have any food?
21:04She ate like she hadn't seen a proper meal in weeks.
21:07Given Vos' hibernation schedule,
21:09she probably hadn't.
21:11She was enormous with pregnancy.
21:14But her arms and legs were too thin.
21:16She'd had a hard stretch of it.
21:18When she finished,
21:19she settled into the outer part of the cave to rest.
21:23Caius tucked me into his arms as usual.
21:27Lyra looked over at us from across the den.
21:29The expression on her face was pure, naked envy.
21:34In the middle of the night I got up,
21:36Lyra's back was to me.
21:38She thought I was still asleep.
21:40Gods.
21:41How is she still getting everything in this life too?
21:44What's so great about bonding with something that doesn't even have a rank?
21:48Mongrel!
21:48She pressed a hand to her own swollen stomach.
21:53Come on, little ones.
21:55Come out soon.
21:57Then mother won't have to keep swallowing this.
22:00I stood in the dark and looked at her.
22:03We'd lost our parents in the same accident,
22:05grown up in the same grief.
22:07All my life, to give her room.
22:10Warn her leavings.
22:11Let her choose first.
22:13Done what our parents had asked me to do.
22:15You're the older one, look out for your sister.
22:18What I'd meant as love, she'd received as tribute.
22:23We returned to the Vurek clan three days later.
22:27By the third day back, I knew exactly why Lyra had worked so hard to retrieve me.
22:34Her due date was close.
22:36She was terrified of dying on the birthing floor.
22:39In our previous life, all her five pregnancies had been dangerous.
22:43And I'd been the one who'd seen her through them.
22:46There was also a second reason.
22:48She wanted me to watch.
22:49She wanted me present when she gave birth to 20 A-ranked cubs,
22:53and rose to become the highest-ranked female in the clan.
22:56She wanted my face in the crowd.
22:58Life inside the Varek clan was not easy.
23:01Even with Caius beside me, many of the females looked at me with hostility.
23:06I'd been labeled a female who went after bonded males.
23:09They didn't want me near their maters, so I kept to the den, isolated.
23:13Lyra, meanwhile, told everyone she was the sacred daughter, sent by the beast gods,
23:18and that all 20 of her eggs contained A-rank shifters.
23:22The clan believed her.
23:24Her status climbed.
23:27Then the war began.
23:29Caius went to the front.
23:31After the first skirmish, the rest of the clan realized what he was capable of.
23:35His bite force surpassed the A-rank wolf shifters by a margin.
23:38His speed and strength were in a different category entirely.
23:41By any logic, that made him valuable.
23:44Worth protecting.
23:45Worth standing behind.
23:46Instead, the wolf shifter grew jealous.
23:49He organized the other males quietly.
23:51No rank, they said. Doesn't belong.
23:53And on a day when Caius was pushing deep into Ultroth clan territory alone,
23:57the wolf shifter led the others away and left him surrounded.
24:00I found out after Caius came home bleeding.
24:03I was already moving toward the chieftain's den when Caius caught my arm.
24:07Sarah, it's fine.
24:09He sounded almost amused.
24:10They still couldn't take me down.
24:12I made it back, didn't I?
24:14I looked at his wounds.
24:15My eyes stung.
24:16I'm sorry.
24:17I shouldn't have brought you here.
24:20This place isn't right for you.
24:23We're leaving.
24:24Back to our own den.
24:26No.
24:27He caught my hands.
24:28Something almost panicked moved across his face.
24:31Sarah, if we go back to the den, you'll miss home again.
24:34I don't want that.
24:35Stay here.
24:37As long as you and the cub are safe, it doesn't matter what they do to me.
24:40Something cracked open in my chest.
24:43I remembered saying once, in passing, that I missed home.
24:47I'd meant something abstract.
24:49Grief.
24:50A vague ache.
24:51He'd taken it as a specific thing.
24:53He'd thought I meant the clan.
24:55He'd been humiliating himself to keep me close to something he thought I needed.
25:00You are my home.
25:02You're the only family I have now.
25:04Let's go back to the den, just the two of us, and live the way we want to live.
25:10I'd just convinced him.
25:12We hadn't even started packing when a female came running.
25:16Sarah!
25:17Come quickly!
25:18Your sister!
25:20She's in labor!
25:23I heard the screaming from outside the den.
25:26Inside, blood.
25:28More than there should have been.
25:29The scene was identical to the worst of Lylara's previous life labors.
25:33That same desperate quality to the air.
25:36That same sense of something gone wrong at the start.
25:39It didn't make sense.
25:40Snake eggs were small.
25:42This should have been easy.
25:43I understood quickly enough once I started working.
25:46I helped her pass ten eggs.
25:48Then I reached back in and felt more.
25:51I was mid-reach when Lyra's body seized.
25:54Seizure!
25:55No one in the den knew the word.
25:57I snapped them to find a smooth cloth.
25:59Get it between her teeth before she bit through her tongue.
26:02They scrambled.
26:03While they held her, I worked.
26:06I cleared the rest of the eggs as fast as I could.
26:10Twenty in total.
26:13When it was over, Lyla went limp and unconscious.
26:17I brewed a draft and got it down her throat, waiting outside the den.
26:22He grabbed my wrist before I could leave.
26:24She's your sister. You should stay and care for her.
26:27I looked at his hand on my arm.
26:30He'd watched a woman nearly die in that den.
26:33His mate.
26:34And he was already trying to pass the burden to someone else.
26:37I pulled my wrist free.
26:40She's your female.
26:41Not mine.
26:43I've done what I can.
26:44The rest is yours.
26:45I stepped out of the den into the night air.
26:48Exhausted to my marrow.
26:50Caius was standing there waiting.
26:52I started to say something about his wounds.
26:55About how he should be resting.
26:57He pulled me into him before I could finish.
27:00His voice was rough when he spoke.
27:02Sarah.
27:03We're not leaving.
27:05I want to stay.
27:06I started to ask why.
27:08My shoulder went wet.
27:10I brought him back to the den and sat with him.
27:14When I pressed him, the tears came harder.
27:18He'd been outside Lyra's den the whole time.
27:22He'd heard everything.
27:23He hadn't known that was what bearing young looked like for a female.
27:27The sounds she'd made.
27:29The blood.
27:30The way the others had moved.
27:33He was terrified.
27:36If we left, if we went back to the den alone, and I went into labor, and something went wrong,
27:41there would be no one to help me.
27:42No one to do what I had just done for Lyra.
27:45I felt the tears come before I could stop them.
27:48Caius, I said softly.
27:49That was difficult for specific reasons.
27:52Mine might be nothing like it.
27:53I don't care.
27:55He held tighter.
27:57Even one chance in a hundred.
27:59I won't let you suffer without help.
28:02Not for anything.
28:03He'd made himself small in this clan.
28:06He hunted and shared the meat with everyone, even the ones who'd abandoned him at the front.
28:11He smiled at the ones who'd left him to die.
28:15Swallowed every indignity without complaint.
28:17All of it.
28:18For me?
28:20What had I ever done to deserve a male like this?
28:24Lyra woke the following day.
28:26Snake eggs take time to hatch.
28:29While they incubated, Lyra stationed herself beside them, and invited most of the clan to come and watch.
28:35She told anyone who would listen that all twenty would be A-RARC.
28:39The clan was skeptical, but intrigued.
28:43She'd been right before.
28:45They came.
28:47Around this same time, the war finished.
28:50Largely because of Caius.
28:51The Ultra clan sent delegates to negotiate.
28:54Their chieftain and their priest came together to discuss terms.
28:57The meeting was still in progress when someone burst in from outside.
29:01Chieftain!
29:02Come quick!
29:03The eggs at Vos's den are hatching!
29:05The room emptied.
29:07Even the Ultroth delegates went.
29:09Word had traveled even to their clan.
29:11The sacred daughter of the Vare clan had birthed twenty Aeklar snakeshifters.
29:16They wanted to see.
29:18The den was so crowded, the walls seemed to breathe.
29:21The chieftain had to push his way in.
29:24He arrived just as the first egg cracked open.
29:28A small, dark snake emerged.
29:31Lyra picked it up with trembling hands and held it out.
29:38Chieftain, tell me. A-Rank, isn't it?
29:41The chieftain looked.
29:42He considered for a moment.
29:44Then he said what he saw.
29:46C-Rank.
29:51The smile frozen on Lyra's face.
29:54Her eyes went sharp.
29:55That can't be right!
29:57Look again!
29:59Please!
30:00Look properly!
30:01The chieftain had been judging Blood Rank for sixty years.
30:04He could do it blindfolded.
30:06But he looked again, because she'd asked.
30:09C-Rank.
30:11I'm certain.
30:14Lyra went still.
30:17What's happening?
30:18I thought they were all A-Rank.
30:20Twenty is an enormous number.
30:24We've only ever had one A-Rank in the whole clan.
30:28Maybe there's a mix.
30:29Maybe the rest will be higher.
30:31That last voice gave Lyra something to grab onto.
30:35She straightened, hands on her hips.
30:38Exactly!
30:39That was only the first.
30:40I expect at least ten A-Rank out of these twenty.
30:45Three more eggs cracked.
30:48Everyone looked.
30:51All sea rained.
30:54The strong ones hatched last.
30:57Lyra said firmly.
31:00Crack.
31:01Crack.
31:02Crack.
31:03Five more.
31:04One B-Rank among them.
31:06There!
31:07Lyra said.
31:09Her voice climbing.
31:10See? The better ones come at the end.
31:12I told you!
31:14But the crowd had stopped believing her.
31:16The expressions had shifted.
31:18The last eggs opened.
31:20Final count.
31:21One B-Rank, ten C-Rank, and several with no rank at all.
31:25The chieftain studied the unranked ones briefly.
31:28His face said everything his mouth didn't need to.
31:31Lyra's composure shattered.
31:33This isn't possible!
31:34Where are my A-Rank cubs?
31:36Someone tampered with them!
31:38Someone swept them!
31:40Her voice rose, cracking.
31:43There's no other explanation.
31:45A female in the back had had enough.
31:48Tampered how?
31:49Vos is a B-Rank snakeshifter.
31:50What exactly were you expecting him to give you?
31:52A couple of good weather predictions and suddenly you're the sacred daughter?
31:55The resentment had been building for weeks.
31:57It broke open now all at once.
31:58Voice after voice, peeling back the patience they'd kept.
32:01Then Lyra's eyes found me.
32:02She'd been scanning the crowd.
32:04Now she stopped.
32:05She came straight for me and grabbed my arm.
32:07You!
32:08It was you.
32:09You can't stand to see me do well!
32:12You switched my eggs!
32:13Give them back!
32:14Give them back right now!
32:18I pulled my arm from her grip.
32:21Lyra, my voice came out flat and cold.
32:24Stop.
32:24You accused me of going after a bonded male.
32:27Now you're accusing me of stealing your cubs?
32:30Half the clan was in that den with me.
32:33Ask any of them.
32:34They watched everything I did.
32:36The females who'd attended the birth stepped forward one by one.
32:40She's right. We were all there.
32:42Sarah didn't take anything.
32:44What would she even want with snake eggs?
32:46She's carrying her own.
32:47The voices layered over each other.
32:49Lyra broke entirely.
32:50Why is everyone suddenly on her side?
32:53Just die!
32:54Sarah!
32:55You should just die!
32:57She threw herself at me.
32:59I didn't move fast enough.
33:01She hit me square and we both went down.
33:03Caius shifted.
33:04The white lion came down on top of her in one motion.
33:07All that weight and fury and he opened his jaws over her.
33:10He didn't close them because from somewhere behind us a voice rang out over the chaos.
33:14No, stop!
33:15Caius, get your mate back to the den. She's in labor!
33:18The next second I was airborne, lifted clean off the ground,
33:21held against a chest that was warm and solid and moving very fast.
33:26Caius ran.
33:28In the den, he held my hand through all of it.
33:32His brow didn't unfurl once.
33:35He kept talking.
33:36Low, steady.
33:38You're all right.
33:39You're doing so well.
33:40I'm right here.
33:41While his own hand shook harder than mine.
33:44Everything went smoothly.
33:46Less than two hours later, I delivered two white lion cubs.
33:51Twins.
33:54Oh, they're beautiful.
33:56The attending female breathed, lifting one and cleaning it briskly.
34:02Strong, too.
34:03Look at them.
34:04I'd wager these are A rank at least.
34:06Let the chieftain have a look.
34:09It's fine.
34:11I started.
34:13We don't need-
34:16The chieftain and the Ultrath priest had followed us in.
34:20The chieftain reached for the nearest cub, turned it over, and frowned.
34:25Spirited little thing, but no rank to speak of.
34:29I glanced at Caius.
34:30His face was careful.
34:32He was nervous.
34:33I took his hand.
34:36It doesn't matter.
34:37Before I'd finish the sentence, the Ultrath priest leaned in.
34:41His voice went sharp with something that sounded almost like outrage.
34:45You can't see rank?
34:48These cubs are S-Rank!
34:55S-Rank?
34:56Did you just say S-Rank?
34:58I helped birth them and I thought they looked different from other cubs, but I didn't dare.
35:02S-Rank!
35:03Here!
35:03From this den!
35:04Two of them!
35:05We have two S-Rank shifters in this clan!
35:08The den erupted.
35:10Caius and I looked at each other.
35:12The news moved through the clan like fire.
35:16Lyra had pushed her way back through the crowd and into the den entrance.
35:20She saw the cubs.
35:21She looked at me.
35:22This isn't real.
35:23Her voice had gone strange.
35:25Too high.
35:26Too tight.
35:27Sarah!
35:28How could you possibly produce S-Rank cubs?
35:31Who's with him?
35:32He doesn't even have a rank!
35:34The joy in the den quiet.
35:36It was the thing people had wondered and hadn't said.
35:39Before any of it could take hold, the Ultrath priest stepped forward.
35:44No rank?
35:45Who told you?
35:47His voice rang off the stone walls.
35:49Caius is S-Rank.
35:51He's been S-Rank this entire time.
35:54That's precisely why we yielded.
35:56Silence.
35:59The priest told them what the Ultrath clan had seen on the battlefield.
36:02Abilities that couldn't be explained by any ordinary blood rank.
36:05When they'd realized what they were facing, they'd stopped fighting.
36:08No one here had ever encountered an S-Rank shifter before.
36:11Not even the chieftain.
36:13He hadn't known what he was looking at.
36:14Caius sat with that for a moment.
36:16He'd spent his whole life believing he was broken.
36:20Cast out.
36:21Proof of something shameful.
36:24And the answer had simply been that everyone around him had lacked the eyes to see him clearly.
36:29The priest turned to me next.
36:32He studied me with the focused attention.
36:35This female's fate line.
36:38He said slowly.
36:40Is unlike anything ordinary.
36:42Unless I'm mistaken.
36:44He looked out at the gathered clan.
36:46She is the sacred daughter reborn!
36:49If the S-grade announcement had been a shock, this was the stone that broke the surface of still water.
36:54Everyone went quiet.
36:55Then they went to their knees.
36:57Sacred daughter!
36:58Sacred daughter!
37:00In our previous life, it had happened too.
37:03But then, people had been uncertain.
37:06Willing to believe, but not quite sold.
37:09This time, with three S-Rank shifters in the same den, no one hesitated.
37:16You're all forgetting!
37:18She was cast, this clan, for going after a bebonded male!
37:25What sacred daughter has a history like that?
37:28She's been playing all of you!
37:30The room had heard enough from her today.
37:34But she'd reminded them.
37:37The old accusation resurfacing in a few sets of eyes.
37:41I stood up straight and looked across the den at Drack, the black tiger shifter,
37:46who had been standing very still and very quiet in the corner since this all began.
37:51Drack.
37:53Are you going to tell the truth now, or not?
37:57Under the judgment of the whole clan.
38:00Drack admitted all of it.
38:01Lila had planned it from the beginning.
38:03She'd bribed him with herself.
38:05He'd stolen a tuff of my fur, and they'd staged the confrontation together.
38:10The one who'd gone after a bonded male had never been me.
38:13Voss's face went white.
38:15He was a snake, and snakes were possessive creatures.
38:19Lyra.
38:21His voice was very quiet.
38:24You betrayed me?
38:26Her legs buckled.
38:28No!
38:29Voss, please!
38:30Listen to me!
38:30They're lying!
38:31All of them! Don't-
38:32He'd already shifted.
38:33The great dark snake moved faster than eyes could follow.
38:36He caught her by the back of the neck, and then he was gone.
38:39A trail in the snow, and nothing else.
38:41A few days later, someone found what remained of Lyra outside the clan boundary.
38:47She was identifiable only by her clothes.
38:50Word spread fast.
38:52The chieftain had no choice.
38:55Voss was driven out.
38:57The cubs Lyra had carried were not held accountable for any of it.
39:01The females of the clan gathered them all up, and raised them together.
39:05The males, under Caius's lead, turned outward.
39:10New territory.
39:11Broader boundaries.
39:13Room to grow.
39:14Season by season, the work accumulated.
39:17In the new spring, the clan raised Caius to chieftain.
39:21I stood beside him.
39:22The same position I had held in another life.
39:25Through a different path, with different scars.
39:27But here, now, with someone who had wept outside a den because he was afraid of losing me.
39:32Our two white lion cubs rolled in the grass nearby, already stocky and ridiculous and impossibly strong.
39:39I watched Caius tilt his face toward the sun, eyes half closed, ears twitting.
39:43I had lived two lives in this world.
39:45I didn't need a third.
39:47petty imperial thing, while it was over five years ago,inity had come to all later.
39:47Bímides.
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