The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 264: She takes after her father

When I finally opened my eyes the next morning, the sun was already high in the sky, and my body felt like it had been through a meat grinder. Every muscle, from my neck to my calves, hummed with a deep, throbbing ache.

"Ugh..." Even my throat hurt.

It was as if they made it their mission to make sure every part of me was sore and ached.

I grunted and tried to sit up, but a sharp tug in my lower back made me collapse back into the furs with a pained groan.

Beside me, the three culprits were sprawled out with annoying afterglow expressions plastered on their faces. They looked satisfied, too satisfied, while I was aching from every muscle.

’Look at them. Not a care in the world.’ I felt so pissed that the muscles on my forehead contorted in fury. ’Look at that soft smug on their faces. They must feel so good after dismantling me piece by piece.’

I imagined myself giving each of their smug faces a bitter taste of my elbow but I couldn’t possibly bear to ruin their handsome faces.

Besides, I don’t even have the fiber to move.

Noah was snoring lightly, his arm draped over Fenric’s chest, while Damar was curled around my side like a cooling vine, his hand still resting possessively on my hip even in sleep.

I looked down at my breasts, which were thankfully no longer swollen or hard. My ’helpers’ had done their job—and a little extra service at the side. An excessive amount of service, if you ask me.

The ache in my breast was gone, replaced by the damp, sticky reality of a night spent in total depravity.

I covered my face and then brushed my hands back.

It’s my cross to carry.

"My babies," I whispered, as I felt a little puff of air against my arm.

The cubs were there, tucked into the small space between Damar and me.

Raiden was sleeping on his back, his tiny paws twitching as if he were dreaming of another ’pincer movement,’ while Phina and Lyra were tangled together. They looked content, their little bellies full of the morning’s make-up meal.

They clearly sucked while I was asleep, these little rascals.

And just last night, they were acting like they didn’t need me anymore. Hmph!

I reached out and gently touched Lyra’s tail. It was tucked under her, but as my finger brushed the tip, it didn’t just twitch—it curled around my finger with a deliberate, muscular grip. My heart skipped.

I hadn’t been hallucinating in the heat of the moment; she really did have Damar’s prehensile snake-genes in that little tiger tail.

I mean, my tail curls a lot too, when we’re doing the deed, that is, but the flexibility of this little one’s tail, and the grip of it was just not ordinary.

"You’re going to be a handful, aren’t you?" I murmured.

"She takes after her father," a voice rasped, and I looked up to see Damar watching me, his emerald eyes clear and awake.

He didn’t look tired at all—tch—if anything, he looked rejuvenated, his skin glowing in the morning light. He leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to my shoulder.

"Are you still sore, Ari?"

"Haa, being sore is definitely an understatement. I’m a disaster," I hissed, though I couldn’t help but lean into his touch. "If you three ever pull a stunt like that again—using me as a buffet and then a playground—I just might decide to move in with Tita and wave you all on your journey."

I was bluffing.

"Tita would probably enjoy that too much," Noah muttered, sitting up and rubbing his face. He looked over at me, a smug, unrepentant grin tugging at his lips. "But you have to admit... the pressure is gone, isn’t it?"

"The pressure in my breasts is gone, yes. Now the pressure is in my joints!" I retorted, though the spite in my voice was gone.

Fenric stirred, stretching his massive arms until his knuckles popped. He looked at the huddle of us and the cubs, his ruby eyes softening.

Then, his ear twitched towards the outside and he said,

"The rain has stopped."

"Yes, it has."

The sun was high, but the leaves were dripping, still unable to get rid of traces of the pouring rain.

The ground should also be quite a mess so we can’t even think of traveling like this.

It looked like we’d have to scoot in Tita’s hut for a little longer, but I felt guilty for inconveniencing her.

It was her house but we kicked her out to make ourselves at home.

"Where’s Tita?" I asked.

"She’s probably moving around. She left some meat for us too." Noah said, pointing to a bundle near the door.

"Really? Why would she go that far?" I asked. "Did you ask her to get it?"

Noah shook his head.

"No, but she said she’s ’compensating’ us for the entertainment." He grinned and of course, I knew what that meant.

My face burned, as well as the guilt I was feeling. "I suddenly have the urge to hunt a wolf today," I said and they laughed.

"Later," Noah said, standing up and reaching for his tunic. "We need to get back the things we hid away before the path ahead dries up. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

I nodded.

The troller had our entire lives, I told myself, but did it?

The things in the troller were just the things we needed in order to survive the world outside. The wild with no convenience.

But where we were going... Where we would stop to take a break for, maybe the entire spring, was Noah’s home. A place unlike where we came from.

Would we really need our supplies that desperately there?

I thought about it deeply.

Instead of going back to pick up the things that were constantly weighing us down, wouldn’t it be better to just move ahead and then worry about the future once we get to that bridge?

My heart was pounding as I weighed the importance of the supplies and our own lives.

We won’t starve and we definitely won’t die without our supplies at this point. So...

The troller didn’t carry out entire lives... We were just the ones who decided to put our lives on it.

But... Once we decide that it no longer carries our lives, once we decide that our entire lives were in our hands, it was no different from a bunch of necessary supplies that we no longer needed.

So...

"Let’s leave it," I said, clenching my skirt.

"What?"

"The troller... Let’s leave it and move forward."