[ meanwhile.... ]

"Ugh! Out of all the Villages we can arrived at, it had to be the village where that bitch is!" Cassie scowled as she entered the temporary den given to them.

"Cassie, we can just avoid her. I'll make sure you won't see her that much" Jason said as he tried to comfort her mate.

Cassie just slapped his hand away and glared at the ground. Jason looked dejected and just stayed on the side, afraid of upsetting his mate any further than she already is.

"Tsk, how annoying" she grumbled before heading to the bedroom to rest.

[ back to Sera ]

"So, that blonde female earlier is the protagonist of a story in your world?" Rio asked, still a bit confused after the story I told them.

"Yes" I nodded and waited for them to ask any more question. When a few minutes pass and they didn't ask any questions I raised a brow.

"Your gonna believe me?" I blinked in confusion as they nodded. "Yes of course, I don't see any reason why you should lie about this" Rio said making me smile.

"Mhm" I hugged both of them, the other also finally went inside after finally hearing me finish talking to Rio and Kali.

"See? You don't have to worry about that in the future. We'll protect you no matter what, be it from stronger males or that female" Tora said as he pulled me into a hug once I pulled away from the previous hug.

"Mhm!" I hummed in response before a knock was heard on the door. Rio was the first to stand up and he then went straight to the door.

I couldn't really hear what they were saying or it was he was talking to so I turned to one of my males, silently asking for an explanation.

Archie saw me and smiled. "They're talking about the bonfire later. Bailey and the other female agree to stay here" He explained making my eyes lit up at the mention that Bailey was going to stay here.

'Maybe I can stay here instead of going to the city. Maybe I'll go there once in a while' I nodded as Rio walked back inside.

"I'm sure you heard what we were talking about?" He asked making me shake my head. "No I didn't but Archie told me" I said as Tora shifted me in his lap to make me more comfortable.

Rio nodded and sat back down. We all then went silent, just enjoying each other's company.

"I wanna take a bath" I grumbled after a few seconds later. "I made you some new  clothes the other day, they're made from fox fur" Tora said making me smile.

"I can't wait for the bonfire later! I really need to catch up with Bailey" I said as Kei scooped me up and head to the door, the others followed after us except for Tora who went to grab my new clothes.

'Hm, maybe I should ask her for suggestions on names. Or maybe her opinions on the names I already picked for my babies' I gently patted my stomach and leaned back on Kei.

[••••• ]

Another week has past and my stomach was a bit bigger now. About two or three weeks more and I'll be expecting some cubs.

The smoked meat also went well because up until now the meat still hasn't spoiled. "We should introduce the smoking method to the village, cold season is coming in a month" I said as I inspect the meat that Tora held.

"Mhm, your right. This will be a great help. We also need more meat as we are sure you'll be giving birth during the cold season" Rio said making the others agree.

"Are you not planning on taking more mates? You'll need more protection this cold season as rootless beast become more aggressive this time. Many dangerous beast also start to come out at this times" Kei asked making me shake my head.

"No, and I don't want to mate with someone just for protection. I want to love every single one of you. I don't want to end up cutting one's mark just because of something stupid" I patted his head, making him lean in for more.

I chuckled a bit before turning to Rio. "Can you call all the villagers? We need to discuss this" I said making him shift and fly up.

He then circled the village, calling the attention the others attention my letting out some screeching sounds tht translate to.

'All of you in the center now. I have something to say regarding this upcoming cold season'

Lucky, there were a few other male peacocks and the translated it to the others or to their mates.

Soon enough, I was also carried by Kali as we went to the center which was now almost packed. They all made way for us and some gave curious glances at the meat Tora was carrying.

Rio landed besides us and shifted. I then handed him a skirt and he quickly wrapped it around him and he cleared his throat before looking at all the villagers.

"My mate has something to say regarding a method of preserving meat for the winter" he said earning a few surprise gasp.

"Really?! This means we can stock up food and none of the females would suffer! More beast would also survive making reproduction higher in the future!" One male eagerly said as he looked at the wolf female besides him.

"That's great news, many males die every cold season in order to provide us meat to eat" a female chimed in, making the other females nod in agreement.

Excited whispers and laughter resonate throughout the village center before I held up my hand to silence them.

They all stopped and I gesture to Tora who stepped forward with the meat. "As you can see, this is a meat we smoked last week and up until now it still hasn't spoiled yet. If any of you are curious to know if it's true feel free to inspect it closer" I said and a few males step forward.

"It's true, it doesn't smell bad" one of the males said and the others agreed. "Can you teach us how to do it? I want to know so that my female and her cubs won't suffer from hunger this cold season" a tiger male said as he looked at his female who was busy gushing about her fox babies.

"Of course! That's why I told Rio to call you all here to teach you. And I have another thing I have yet to finish, but as soon as I'm done with it I will inform you all" I smiled.

"What is it? The thing you still have to finish?" Belle asked, even though we weren't that close because of what happened last time I can still tell she was curious about what I was taking about.

"It's a basket" I answered her. "What's a basket?" This time, it was Fara who asked it. "It's something that's made out of bamboo and can  help you carry things.

You can even carry your male cubs who are five weeks and lower  in age" I answered making the other female's attention turn to me.

"Really? So then I can use it to carry my two week old cubs?" One fox female asked. "Yes, as some cubs like to squirm around while being carried. This will make it better and easier for females to carry them if they want" I said to her making her nod.

"When your done, can you teach one of my males?" She asked making me grin. "Of course" I said making the other females chime in too.

"Me too!"

"And me!"

"Don't forget about me"

Soon all the females began chiming in, asking if I can teach their males. And while I was hapilly talking with the other female's, I didn't notice someone giving me a nasty glare.

{Cassie's POV  }

'Tsk, look at that bitch enjoying herself here while I had to suffer the fate of almost being kidnapped. Who would have expected she would change the moment we got here' I thought and sent a glare at Sera but quickly looking away as one of her mates turned to my direction.

'Since when did that bitch got a new mate?' I pondered to myself before looking at my own males.

'I should probably look for more stronger males. I can see that most of her males are strong' I looked at Sera's males one by one when they weren't looking.

"She's not even that pretty" I muttered under my breath as I watch her get along well with the other females.

I can feel the jealousy rise in my heart as I looked at her. 'Why does she get to live a life like that while I have to suffer?' I thought before turning away.

Jason and the others quickly followed after me as they saw me leave. "Tsk, just you wait. You won't be smiling like that for long" I said with a smirk as a plan formed in my mind.

.......

"Hehe looks like Cassie is planning something, I wonder what it is? 🤔
Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out!