The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 248: Hey, what’s that on your neck?

Since winter was over, and spring was here... It was finally time to leave. It was finally time to say goodbye to this cave and keep moving.

"Alright, gang, let’s start packing."

Once again, we were moving, leaving a place where we made memories.

And like before, I had no plans of looking back.

Once we look forward, there’s no reason to look back. Especially not when there were so many bitter memories here as well. My pregnancy depression and lashing out still nagged me sometimes and I had dreams too... Nightmares, if I may.

Those were memories I was more than happy to part with.

"Don’t forget to pack all we need," I said, watching Fenric bundle up the pots.

"Do we even have anything we don’t need?" He asked and I twisted my lips.

Yeah, we didn’t.

"Well, just make sure not to pack the ash from the burnt wood," I joked and laughed.

They all laughed and I sat down.

The cubs rushed to my side, hungry, of course and I wondered when I’d have to stop them from breastfeeding.

When can they start eating meat?

Probably when they start biting my nipples.

I looked at Raiden’s mouth and then slid up his lips to take a look at his teeth. They were still small, probably not sharp or as strong enough to chew on meat.

Not if the meat was properly cooked. If I boil the meat until it’s so soft, the cubs can probably eat it.

But how to get them to eat it?

The only thing they know as food is the milk from my breast.

Seraphina pressed her tiny paw on my belly and I looked down at her. Seraphina was too long, so I decided to call her Phina.

"What is it, Phina?" I asked but the little cub rubbed her head against my belly.

She must be feeling sleepy.

"What about you, Lyra?" I asked, picking up Phina to cradle her to sleep.

Lyra didn’t reject the offer and climbed onto me with her small paws.

They all wanted a nap.

I held them together and then cradled them while humming softly, brushing their heads to lure them to sleep.

My babies... They were so cute.

I didn’t know that while I did this, Damar was watching me. He stopped what he was doing and stared at the sight he still wasn’t familiar with.

But for some reason, this familiar scent brought a smile to his lips.

"Hey, what’s that on your neck?" Noah asked and Damar’s smile fell, immediately replaced by a cold and stoic gaze.

"What is it?"

"Look at how your expression drops so fast? Am I your enemy?" Noah asked but Damar did not answer.

If he didn’t have anything he wanted to say, he wanted to continue packing.

Noah saw that Damar was ignoring him and frowned. He hated that he was being ignored and hated more that Damar had a lot of airs to pull.

He was probably like that because he knew I favored him more, Noah thought, but Damar was naturally a prideful beast... And this was him toning down his arrogance.

Come to think of it, Damar doesn’t know yet that Noah is a king. But I doubt anything’s going to change, haha.

"Anyway, take a look at your neck," Noah said, folding his arms. "There’s something there."

Damar didn’t need to look at his neck to know Noah was talking about the bite mark. It made him feel prideful instead, knowing I had done something similar to a marking.

"Stop gloating," Noah said, his face contorted as he watched his Damar grin. "If it were a simple bite mark, I wouldn’t say anything, but there’s something weird about it."

Damar finally took a look at it and unlike the bite mark I had left, something was forming there.

"Did you treat it? It’s likely getting infected." Noah said but Damar did not respond, just looking at the mark.

He probably didn’t treat it because he wished the mark would stay there for as long as it could.

"There’s nothing wrong with it." He simply said and turned. "Mind your business."

Noah felt pissed but couldn’t even hit Damar if he wanted to. He clicked his tongue and turned around.

"Fine, I’ll stop caring."

I looked at them and then sighed.

The relationship between Fenric and Damar wasn’t as tough at the start. And it looks like the relationship between Noah and Damar was more sour than it was before his hibernation?

Is he keeping a grudge?

I couldn’t even understand his actions.

"Damar," I called and Damar turned his head to me right away. "Could you come over for a moment?"

He walked towards me, his long pale legs striding towards me. I looked at the cloth he had tied around his waist and felt I’d need to make him a skirt too.

Now that he was in full human form, he’d need to hide his twin lions at all times.

"Yes, Ari?" He knelt in front of me and my eyes landed on his shoulder.

I wanted to make sure it wasn’t infected because of Damar’s stubbornness.

I couldn’t smell the minty scent of the herbs he usually used on me coming from him at all. I frowned and then asked,

"Did you treat the scratches?"

Damar flinched and then I closed my eyes.

He was the kind of character who would do anything to make sure the mark I left on him stayed for as long as it could.

And he probably didn’t use the herbs, so the wounds wouldn’t heal fast, and the scars wouldn’t disappear.

He washed the blood off and that was it.

"What are you going to do if you leave a scar on your precious body?" I asked and he dropped his head, muttering something.

"...mind."

"Speak up. I can’t hear you." I said and he raised his head, meeting my eyes with a firm grit in his eyes.

"I said I don’t mind, Ari. If you leave a scar on me, I’ll treasure it. I hope the marks never fade." He boldly declared.