Transmigrated to Raise Panther Cubs novel · Chapter 3 of 24
Chapter 3: The Man at the Stream
The panther shifts and brings fish at dawn, sets one rule about the cave, and his ears give him away.
Thad woke before dawn because something in the cave was missing.
It took him a moment to find it.
The cold draft on the back of his neck had stopped.
Someone had stacked firewood against the mouth of the cave while he slept, a neat low wall of split logs that broke the wind.
Beyond it, a dark shape moved in the grey light.
Thad pulled his tunic on, tucked Tuck's blanket tighter, and went to look.
Down at the stream behind the cave, a man was standing waist deep in the black water.
He was bare to the hips, shoulders wide enough to block the light, and water ran down his chest.
His hair was cropped short and wet.
A long pale scar ran down the inside of his left forearm.
He had a fish in each hand, and he was staring at Thad, caught.
Gold eyes, in a human face.
The mark on Thad's collarbone went hot.
"Wystan," Thad said, and his own voice cracked on the second syllable.
The man in the stream went very still.
Two black ears had come up through his wet hair and were swiveling toward the sound.
"You said my name," Wystan said.
His voice was low and slow, as if he wasn't used to spending it.
"It's your name, isn't it?"
"You haven't said it since the Stone."
Thad thought of a hundred things to say, and all of them were useless.
He settled for the plainest.
"I'm sorry."
Wystan's ears flicked back flat, then up again.
"For what?"
"For all of it. I don't have the right words. But I'm sorry."
Then he waded out of the stream and held the fish out at arm's length.
"For the cub," he said. "He's too thin."
Thad took them.
The scales were slick and still faintly alive against his palms.
Taking them put him close enough to count the water drops on the broad chest.
Wystan's breath had gone shallow.
Neither of them stepped back.
"Thank you," Thad said.
The black ears twitched again.
Wystan swallowed.
"Nobody has said that either."
"Then I'm saying it twice. Thank you. Thank you for the meat every morning. I should have said it a long time ago."
Wystan stared at him.
"You didn't ask for it."
"I didn't. I'm still saying it."
A flush crept up the big man's neck.
The tips of his ears went dark.
Thad realized with wonder that the most intimidating person he had ever met was blushing.
He found he was smiling.
The ears went straight up.
Wystan looked away at the tree line, jaw working, and a long black tail curled around his leg of its own accord.
"I'll go back to the front," he said. "I won't come in."
"You can come in."
"No."
It was not unkind.
"I've been outside two winters. If I come in, I want to be asked."
He paused.
"Not because the fire's warm, or the cub is hungry, or you feel sorry."
He met Thad's eyes.
"I want you to ask me, in daylight, and mean it. Until then I stay past the fire's reach."
Thad's heart did something complicated.
"That's your rule?"
"That's my rule."
Thad folded his arms.
"Then I have one too."
One black eyebrow went up.
"You don't go hunting after dark without telling me where you're going."
"Why?"
Wystan tilted his head.
"Because I will worry. Deal?"
For the first time, one corner of the big man's mouth moved.
It was not a smile yet.
It was the first inch of one.
"Deal," Wystan said.
They walked back up to the cave together, Thad with the fish and Wystan two careful steps behind.
The whole way, Thad could feel that gaze between his shoulder blades.
Inside, Tuck was sitting bolt upright in the nest with his fur on end.
He took in the fish, the wet man in the doorway, and the little space between them.
Then he trotted over, took the end of Thad's sleeve in his teeth, and tugged him down.
"Sit," he said.
Thad sat.
Tuck went to the doorway, took the hem of Wystan's trousers in his teeth, and tugged.
"Sit," he said again, around the cloth.
Wystan lowered himself onto the cold stone at the edge of the firelight, exactly where the warm air ended.
The cub looked from one man to the other with great seriousness.
Then he climbed into the gap between them, circled twice, and lay down with his head on Thad's knee and his tail across Wystan's boot.
The whole cave went quiet.
"He's never done that," Wystan said, very low.
His eyes were bright.
His ears were flat with something that was not fear.
Thad put his hand on the sleeping cub's back.
After a moment a large scarred hand came across the small black body and settled next to his.
They did not touch.
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