Page 60 of I Married A Catman

She stopped straight in front of me and immediately began pawing at my arms and chest, looking for any sign of injury.

I chuckled, my heart melting to see how much she cared about me.

“I’m fine, my Ophelia. Most of this is not my blood. I only got a superficial cut on the back of my calf,” I said softly.

“Then whose blood is this? Why so much of it? What happened? And where are the others?” she asked, stretching her neck to look over my shoulders before glancing back at me, worry and confusion still audible in her voice.

“Slow down! One question at a time,” I said, amused before sobering.

A small crowd was gathering around us, including the Matriarchs, Oluina, and Ylis.

“What happened? Where are the others?” Rozel asked, echoing Ophelia’s words.

This time, all warmth faded from me as I stared coldly at the Matriarch. “They’re coming. They are bringing back my two kills.”

“Yourtwo kills?” she repeated in a dubious tone.

“Yes,mine!” I retorted, bearing my teeth. “Your Alpha and his companions lured the beasts to me then watched as I fought them on my own.”

“WHAT?!” Ophelia shouted.

My eyes still locked with the Matriarch, I gently caressed my mate’s hair in a soothing fashion.

“Apparently, he felt I needed to be tested again after a twelve-year absence.”

A strange glimmer fleeted through Rozel’s eyes. I couldn’t say if she was troubled by Moriak’s actions, disappointed I’d prevailed, or feeling guilty that she might have condoned any of it. The lack of shock she displayed upon hearing my wordsconfirmed she’d either been aware of his intentions or highly suspected them. Either way, to me, it made her an accomplice.

“It’s fair for the Pride’s Alpha to evaluate the fitness level of the males who join us,” Rozel said in a non-committal fashion.

“By luring two wild beasts on a single male to fight on his own?!” Ophelia exclaimed, outraged.

“It’s okay, my mate. He wanted to prove a point, and I proved mine,” I said, staring at the Matriarch as I spoke those words to make my underlying meaning clear. Then I turned to my mate, my face softening as I smiled at her. “All that matters is that I came back home to you unscathed.”

A powerful emotion crossed her delicate features, and she threw herself into my arms, hugging me with near desperation, seemingly unbothered by all the blood covering me. I returned her embrace and kissed the top of her head.

“Let’s go home, my mate. I need to wash.”

She nodded, her face still pressed against my chest. Giving me one last squeeze, Ophelia reluctantly let go.

I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, and she slipped hers around my waist. Before heading back to our house, I glanced at Oluina with a mocking expression.

“By the way, there’s no need for you and the other females to go hunting today… or the next few days for that matter. My kills will suffice to feed the entire village for the week, with leftovers.”

She scrunched her face as if she’d bitten into something foul, while a few of the other huntresses that had followed her out of the Great Hall—including Ylis—bit the insides of their cheeks not to laugh. But I also didn’t miss the speculative way in which they observed me.

I had no time for the power games they wanted to play.

Without another word, I led my mate back to our dwelling. She remained oddly quiet the whole way there. A part of mewondered if it was to keep any discussion safe from prying ears, or if she needed some time to process what she just heard.

As soon as we entered, Ophelia boldly took the lead, all but dragging me to the hygiene room. To my shock, after she helped me remove my loincloth—or rather did it herself, even slapping my hand aside when I tried to unbuckle my belt—my mate quickly stripped out of her own clothes so that we could shower together.

Despite the instant arousal I felt at seeing her naked, I behaved, allowing her to take charge. On instinct, I understood she needed to get some sense of control in this entire situation as she undoubtedly felt she had none since her arrival here. Whatever effort she made to influence her future within the Pride, in the end, her fate mostly rested in other people’s hands.

She turned the water on and pushed me underneath it for a first quick rinse.

“Was it a murder attempt?” she asked at last.

“Yes,” I replied without hesitation, raising my arms to give her better access as she continued to rinse the blood off me with the retractable shower head. “Or at the very least, he wanted to maim me and demonstrate that I was useless enough to be banned.”

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