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Trigger Warning: Sexual violence, coercion, psychological manipulation, physical abuse, and extreme distress.

Author's Note: This chapter was supposed to be released yesterday (28+ hours earlier) but I got high fever and had to take meds and sleep. Sorry. Enjoy the chapter ~~ _________________

The entire day, that disgusting scorpion was overly attentive-sickeningly so. Every time we stopped, he insisted I sit on his back instead of walking.

He brought me clean water while the other females were given muddy puddles. Fruits, different kinds, ones I hadn't seen before, were handed to me with a smirk. He was treating me like a prized possession, a rare female he had successfully ensnared.

But beneath that leering gaze, I saw it.

Tonight.

He wasn't waiting for my cycle.

He wasn't going to hold back. I had miscalculated. I thought I had bought myself a few days of survival, but I was wrong.

Tonight, he would rape me.

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat and forced myself to smile. I needed to think, needed to act before it was too late.

"When will we reach your home?" I asked, my voice light, as if I were just another eager female, desperate to please her mate.

"Tomorrow morning, probably." His pincers twitched in anticipation.

He was excited, imagining how he would break me once we arrived.

Tomorrow morning was too late.

I had to separate him from the others tonight.

I leaned in, running my fingers lightly over his shoulder. "Can't we leave them behind and go ahead first?" I asked, lowering my voice. "I want to be alone with you. I hate those snakes."

His ego flared, just as I had hoped. His eyes flickered to the other ferals before settling on the mark near my collarbone-the bond I shared with Allmer.

"You probably detest them since you had to accept one," he sneered.

I clenched my fists, but I stayed silent. Allmer was the best thing that had ever happened to me. But he could never know that.

After a moment of thought, he agreed. He called out to the others, telling them we were going ahead. I glanced back, memorizing the faces of the other females one last time. Some looked relieved to see me leave. Others looked at me with pity.

They thought I was willingly walking into his arms.

Let them think that.

The entire journey, I prepared. I couldn't kill him outright-not with his venomous tail always ready. If he even grazed me, I was dead. No, I had to run. I had to run faster than I ever had in my life.

So I concentrated.

I shut my eyes, searching deep inside myself, reaching for my bond with Allmer. I needed power. I needed something more than just my human body to escape.

It took hours. But finally, I saw them. Two dots.

Two?

Confusion flickered through me, but I couldn't waste time on it now. I focused on one of the dots and pulled.

Nothing.

I tried again.

And again.

And again.

After maybe something-eth try, a sharp sensation ran through my veins, like ice burning through my fever-ridden body. My exhaustion faded. The fever was still there, but I wasn't tired anymore.

This was it.

This was the connection to Allmer's power.

I didn't have time to test it further. I just had to trust that when the moment came, I could use it since we had almost arrived.

We finally stopped.

"This is where we'll stay," he said, proud, like he was showing me some grand palace.

But it wasn't a palace. It wasn't even a proper home. Just a mud tomb.

My house in City of beasts was bare but Allmer and Felix had put some some things to decorate the stone walls. But this? Just a mud igloo.

I stepped down from his back, and before I could steady myself, he was on me.

His lips crashed against my neck, his hands groping, his fingers digging into my breasts. His other arm wrapped around my waist, already trying to remove my clothes.

No. Too soon.

I hadn't had the chance to take out Allmer's poison. Too many eyes had been on me before. If I fought him now, I'd lose.

I swallowed my disgust and pushed against his chest lightly. "Gale-wait."

He growled, his breath hot against my skin. "No more waiting, my sweet."

"I-I need to go to the sand pit first," I stammered, forcing urgency into my tone.

He didn't stop. "Afterwards ". His fingers hooked into my waistband, trying to yank my shirt off.

"No, Gale! Please-it's urgent."

His hand struck my face. Hard.

The slap echoed in the cold night.

My vision spun. My cheek burned. My lip split.

"Ruining the fun," he muttered.

I forced myself to smile. Even with blood in my mouth, I smiled.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

That worked.

His grip loosened, just a little. "Fine. But hurry."

He grabbed my wrist, dragging me toward the pit.

This is it.

The moment I either escape... or die.

---

There was no sandpit.

Just bushes nearby.

I swallowed down my dread and forced a smile at him before slipping into the dense greenery, pretending to be nothing more than an obedient little mate.

Once hidden from his view, I crouched down and yanked the pendant out from beneath my shirt. If he had managed to strip me earlier, he would've seen it. Would've taken it. Would've destroyed my only chance.

The pendant was crafted from two hard white scales-Allmer's. I pressed them together, crushing them with trembling fingers.

The bitter poison dripped onto my tongue immediately.

I fought the shudder that rolled down my spine. I wouldn't die from Allmer's venom. I knew that. But the taste-sharp, acrid, burning-made fear coil in my gut.

No time for hesitation.

I swirled my tongue, coating it completely, and then tucked the pendant back inside my shirt. My hand instinctively brushed over my hip, feeling for Ace's dagger. Still there. Hidden. Secure.

I exhaled. Then I stood, brushing the dirt from my palms.

Showtime.

I walked back toward him, forcing a bright, pleased expression on my face.

He was already grinning, too satisfied, too sure of his control over me.

Halfway there, his hands were already on me. Roaming. Possessive.

Now.

I didn't speak. Just reached up and yanked his head down, crushing my lips against his.

He responded instantly, mouth hungry, tongue plunging forward to claim-

Snap.

He shoved me away so hard I slammed into the ground. Pain exploded across my shoulder, but I barely noticed.

The scorpion staggered, eyes widening. His tongue flicked against his lips, his body jerking as realization struck.

"You-" he choked out, reaching for me.

But slow.

Too slow.

The poison was working.

I scrambled to my feet. I couldn't kill him. Not even with Ace's dagger. But I didn't need to.

I just needed to run.

So I did.

I ran like a wild boar, legs pumping, heart slamming against my ribs.

I could feel something-power-coiling in my gut, rising, crackling like a storm. I squeezed my eyes shut for a split second, focusing, reaching for it. Two dots. Two sources.

And then I was gone.

The wind howled around me. My body was moving, but it wasn't mine.

I had never seen Allmer run this fast. Never thought he could. Ace had always been the fastest in my eyes. But this? This was something else entirely.

Trees blurred. The night air burned in my lungs.

Then-

The ground gave away.

I fell.

No. No. No.

No time to scream. No time to grasp at anything.

I crashed into thick, suffocating mud.

What? This can't be happening.

For a moment, I just lay there, stunned. The fever raging through my body made my head spin. My limbs felt sluggish, heavy.

I pushed up. The mud sucked at my hands, my legs, pulling me deeper.

Panic clawed at my throat.

Why.

Why.

Why.

I scrambled, tried to climb, but the walls were too smooth, too steep.

Scorpion-made. A trap.

I tried again. Jumped. Kicked. Dug my nails in.

Nothing.

Minutes passed.

The more I struggled, the deeper I sank. My fevered body wasn't helping. Allmer's power wasn't helping. The world was tilting, spinning.

Then-

Laughter.

Deep. Cruel.

I looked up.

That bastard.

Standing at the edge, arms crossed, his smirk cutting through the darkness like a blade.

"You really thought you could escape me, dear?" he mocked.

I shivered. But not from the cold.

He crouched, watching me with something sickly sweet in his expression.

"You poisoned me," he mused, tilting his head. "Smart girl."

I bared my teeth, forcing my body to stay upright. "Should've used more," I spat.

He laughed. Threw his head back and laughed.

Then his smile sharpened.

"But you couldn't."

I swallowed.

His eyes glowed in the moonlight, the predatory gaze of a beast that knew he had already won.

"You owe me now," he purred. "For trying to kill me."

He reached down, grabbed a handful of mud, and let it drip between his fingers.

"For trying to run."

The mud splattered against my face.

"And trust me, " he whispered, voice filled with promises of horrors yet to come, "I always collect my debts."

. . .

Pain.

It started at my ribs.

Then my back.

Then everywhere.

The impact was sudden, violent. Dhak. Dhak. The sound of my body slamming against the ground, over and over, like a broken doll being smashed into the earth.

Crack.

Something in me snapped.

I gasped, choking on the thick taste of iron, my mouth filled with the raw tang of my own blood. My vision blurred—fever, concussion, pain, everything mixing into a swirling, unbearable storm inside my head.

I couldn’t move.

I tried.

Tried to lift my arms, tried to push myself up.

Failed.

He kept hitting me. Smacking me against the ground.

I felt his shadow loom over me, the weight of his presence suffocating. His disgusting chuckle rang through the cold air.

Mocking. Amused. Triumphant.

He had won.

"What should I do with you now, eh?" His voice slithered through my fogged mind.

I coughed, spitting blood onto the mud beneath me.

"You—" My voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper.

"Use you, then sell you to the mermaids?" He mused, tapping his chin like he was considering his options.

I closed my eyes, suppressing the violent shudder that ran through me.

"You’ll become so tame after taking those hundreds—no, thousands— of beasts every day. You won't even remember what it means to fight back."

A rush of bile climbed up my throat.

I would rather die. No. No dying. I want to survive.

His words blurred into meaningless noise. The world around me spun. The fever burned hotter, making my skin feel like it was melting and freezing at the same time.

This is it, isn’t it?

I didn’t have the strength to fight anymore. Didn't even have strength to try and tug at my bond and draw strength from it.

Didn’t have the strength to run.

Allmer’s power had helped me once, but it was gone now. I was alone. Weak.

Dying.

And yet… I was still here.

Still alive.

Why?

The females had told me once—there was a Beast God in this world.

A deity of nature, of survival, of strength.

The gods of my world held no power here. I knew that.

But maybe—just maybe—this one did.

I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on the only thing left to cling to.

I pray to you, Beast God.

For whatever reason you dragged me into this world, for whatever reason you kept me alive, for whatever reason you gave me Allmer, for whatever reason you let me meet so many good people in this world…

Just once.

Just this one time.

Save me.

The night was silent.

Only the scorpio's low, cruel laughter filled the void.

Until—

"Oh, oh~ what’s going on here, Gale~?"

A voice.

A new one.

Different.

Calm. Too calm.

I forced my swollen eyes open.

And I saw him.