Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband-Chapter 14: The Boy in the Box.

The room in the Crepusci estate was less a nursery and more a mausoleum. Heavy velvet curtains blocked out every photon of light. The air was stale, smelling of lavender and despair.

I knelt on the expensive rug, ignoring the looming, terrifying presence of Duke Lucien Crepusci behind me.

I looked at Silas.

The Silent Cub was sitting in the corner, knees pulled to his chest. He was a tiny thing, maybe four years old. He had messy, ink-black hair and big, round panther ears that were pinned flat against his skull.

But it was his eyes that chilled me. They were a dull, flat violet. He was looking right at me, but he wasn’t seeing me. He wasn’t blinking. He wasn’t breathing rhythmically. He was frozen.

I’d seen this look before. Not in this world. In my old life.

How long? I asked softly, not turning around.

"Six months," Lucien’s voice floated from the shadows, smooth and dangerous. "Since the... incident."

"What incident?" I demanded. "And don’t give me the noble, sanitized version. If you want me to fix him, I need the truth."

Lucien stepped closer. The temperature in the room seemed to drop.

"My brother—Silas’s father—was the previous Duke. There was... an assassination attempt. A coup within our own shadow-guard."

I didn’t flinch. "Where was Silas?"

"His mother hid him," Lucien said, his voice tight. "We have a sanctuary. A Shadow-Vault. It is a dimension of pure darkness, accessible only by blood. It is the safest place in the world. Time moves differently there."

I felt a knot form in my stomach. I knew where this was going.

"She put him inside to save him," Lucien whispered. "But she died before she could pull him out. The seal... jammed."

I closed my eyes. Oh, god.

"It took me three days to break the wards," Lucien confessed, the pain in his voice raw and bleeding. "Three days. Alone. In absolute, sensory-deprived darkness. When I finally pulled him out... he was like this. He hasn’t spoken, cried, or reacted to anything since. He is... trapped."

Three days in the dark.

The image flashed in my mind. Not of a magical vault, but of a janitor’s closet in downtown Chicago.

Tiny Tots Daycare. Seven years ago.

It was a thunderstorm. The power had gone out. I was doing a headcount, and we were one short.

Leo. The quiet kid. The one the other kids bullied.

I found him three hours later. The other kids had locked him in the supply closet as a prank. They thought it was funny.

When I opened the door, Leo wasn’t crying. He wasn’t screaming. He was sitting exactly like Silas was sitting now. Knees up. Staring at nothing. He had screamed for help for an hour, and when no one came... he stopped. He decided the world had ended.

It took me weeks to get Leo to speak again. The therapists said he had retreated into his own mind because the reality of being trapped was too terrifying to process.

I opened my eyes. I wasn’t looking at a magical beast-kin. I was looking at Leo.

"He’s not broken, Duke Crepusci," I said, my voice steady. "He’s waiting."

Lucien frowned. "Waiting?"

"He’s still in the box," I said, pointing at the boy. "His body is here, but his mind is still in that vault. He’s waiting for someone to open the door. And every time you try to force him to eat, or force him to play, you’re just banging on the walls of his panic."

I stood up and dusted off my apron.

"You can’t drag him out," I said. "You have to go in and sit with him until he feels safe enough to walk out on his own."

"And how," Lucien asked, his violet eyes narrowing, "do you propose to enter a mind that has sealed itself shut?"

"I don’t need magic," I said, rolling up my sleeves. "I need comfort food."

I turned to the Duke. "Where is your kitchen? I need milk, dark chocolate, and... do you have Moon-Sugar?"

Lucien blinked. "Moon-Sugar? It is a rare sedative spice."

"It’s a relaxant," I corrected. "And it tastes like marshmallows if you toast it right. Show me the kitchen, My Lord. We’re making hot cocoa."

Lucien stared at me. For a moment, the Yandere mask slipped, and he just looked like a desperate uncle who had run out of options.

"If this works," he murmured, "I will give you anything. Name your price."

"My price," I said, thinking of the three cubs I’d left behind, "is a ride home. And a very big apology to my friends."

"Done," Lucien said.

He gestured to the door. "After you, Lady Primrose."

While I was in the depths of the Crepusci kitchen, peacefully toasting Moon-Sugar to a perfect marshmallow fluff, the outside world was descending into absolute, unmitigated chaos.

The front gate of the Crepusci Estate was a masterpiece of ironwork and defensive wards. It was designed to withstand a siege engine.

It was not, however, designed to withstand Lord Rurik Jaeger in a bad mood.

CRUNCH.

Rurik’s fist collided with the lock. The metal groaned, but held.

"Knocking is for guests," Rurik growled, winding up for another punch. "I am a natural disaster."

"You are a brute," Archduke Cassian Argentis sighed, stepping out of a swirl of shadows right next to him. He checked his pocket watch. "And you are loud. The element of surprise is gone."

"SURPRISE!" a booming voice roared from top of the 20-foot wall.

General Rajah Khanda stood on the ramparts, striking a heroic pose against the moon. "THE TIGER HAS ENTERED THE DEN! SURRENDER THE LADY OR FACE THE CLAWS OF JUSTICE!"

"...And there goes the neighborhood," Cassian muttered. He waved a hand, and the iron gate dissolved into green mist. "Shall we?"

"Wait!" a tiny squeak came from behind Rurik.

Luna, the Bunny merchant, peeked out. She was armed with a very heavy frying pan she had brought from home. "I... I’m coming too! I have a weapon!"

Rurik looked at the bunny. He looked at the frying pan.

"Stay behind me, fluff-ball," Rurik grunted, actually sounding... protective. "If a shadow moves, hit it."

"Charge!" Rajah yelled, jumping down from the wall and landing with a crater-cracking thud in the rose garden.

Rurik kicked the front doors open. Cassian glided in like a vengeful ghost. And Luna marched behind them, swinging her pan at imaginary ghosts.

The Crepusci guards didn’t stand a chance. Not because they were weak, but because they were confused. They were prepared for assassins. They were not prepared for a Wolf Marquis punching statues, a Tiger General shouting catchphrases, and a Snake Archduke quietly liquidating their employment contracts as he walked down the hall.

While the front door was exploding, the Junior Search Party was executing Operation: Chimney Sweep near the servant’s entrance.

"Target in sight," Arjun whispered loudly, doing a combat roll into a hydrangea bush. "Sector clear!"

Vali crawled out of the bush, spitting out leaves. "Why are we rolling? We can just walk."

"It’s tactical," Arjun hissed. "Where is the Snake?"

Jasper stepped delicately around a mud puddle, holding his silk robes up. "I refuse to roll. This soil composition is 40% manure. It is unsanitary."

Clover brought up the rear, her carrot backpack bouncing. She consulted her map (which was actually just a drawing of a house with a frowny face on it). "According to the map... the kitchen is that way!"

Vali sniffed the air. His pink eyes widened.

"Chocolate," he whispered, drooling slightly. "Warm. Sweet. It’s Her."

"The Asset has been located!" Arjun cheered. "Go! Go! Go!"

They sprinted across the lawn. They were five feet from the kitchen window when the darkness above them moved.

A black feather drifted down.

Then, a figure dropped from the sky, landing silently in front of them.

It was Vesper. The Crow-kin aide. His black wings were spread wide, blotting out the moon. His obsidian eyes glittered with menace. He drew a dagger.

"Intruders," Vesper rasped, his voice like dry leaves. "Identify yourselves or peris—"

He stopped.

He looked down.

Standing in a defensive wedge formation were,

A Tiger cub trying to salute him.

A Wolf cub growling at his boots.

A Snake child judging his wingspan.

And a tiny Bunny girl aiming a carrot at his shin.

Vesper, the most feared spy in the empire, blinked. "...A rabbit?" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Don’t move, Bird-Man!" Arjun yelled. "We have you surrounded! Sort of!"

"I will bite your ankles," Vali threatened. "I have sharp teeth. Ask my dad’s chair."

"Your stealth was adequate," Jasper critiqued, "but your landing created a drag coefficient that alerted us."

Vesper looked at them. He looked at the main house, where explosions were currently happening. He looked back at the bunny with the carrot.

"Is that..." Vesper pointed a clawed finger at Clover. "...a vegetable?"

"It’s a weapon!" Clover squeaked, shaking. "Move aside! We’re here for the Chef!"

Vesper slowly sheathed his dagger. He had orders to kill intruders. He did not have orders to massacre a petting zoo.

"The kitchen," Vesper sighed, pointing a thumb over his shoulder, "is through that vent. Try not to get stuck."

"Victory!" Arjun cheered.