Villainess is being pampered by her beast husbands

Chapter 464 --464

Veer stared at Cutie.Cutie looked back at him with those calm, innocent red eyes, the picture of gentle sincerity.

The mountain wind filled the silence between them.

Kaya bit the inside of her cheek. Hard.

For a moment, Veer’s face didn’t change. He just sat there, perched on the edge of a jagged rock, wings still half-folded from the flight, staring at the rabbit beastman like he’d just heard the world’s most offensive haiku.

Then, very slowly, his eye twitched.

"...What did you just say?"

"I said," Cutie repeated, tone still impossibly serene, "I’m not like you. I don’t eat dead things."[1]

Kaya turned her head slightly, pressing her knuckles against her mouth. Her shoulders shook once. She refused to let the laugh escape.

Veer’s jaw clenched. "You little—"

"I mean, it’s fine," Cutie continued, looking at him with that same soft, unbothered expression. "Everyone has their preferences. You prefer carrion. I prefer... not that."

Veer stood up.

Not quickly. Not dramatically. Just slowly unfolded from his seated position like a shadow rising at dawn, his amber eyes glowing faintly in the dim light.

"Say that again," he said quietly.

"Which part?" Cutie tilted his head. "The part where I eat fresh greens, or the part where you eat—"

"*Rabbit.*"

Cutie’s ears twitched, but he didn’t flinch. "Yes?"

Veer took one step forward. Then another. His voice dropped into something dangerously flat. "I could eat *you* right now and solve both problems."

"You could try," Cutie said mildly. "But I don’t think Kaya would be happy about that."

Both of them turned to look at her.

Kaya, who had been doing an excellent job pretending to inspect her gun, froze.

She glanced up. Caught their stares.

"Don’t drag me into this," she said flatly.

"But you’d stop him, right?" Cutie asked, blinking those wide, innocent eyes at her. "If he tried to eat me?"

Kaya looked at Cutie. Then at Veer. Then back at Cutie.

"...Depends on how annoying you’re being at the time."

Cutie’s face fell. "Kaya!"

Veer barked out a short, sharp laugh—genuine this time. "See? Even *she* knows you’re insufferable."

"I didn’t say that," Kaya muttered, sliding her gun back into its holster. "I just said I’d *consider* it."

"That’s basically the same thing," Veer said.

"It’s really not," Cutie protested.

"It is."

"It’s not!"

Kaya groaned, dragging a hand down her face. "Can you two *not* do this right now? We literally just escaped thirty snakes and you’re bickering like—"

She stopped.

Because both of them had gone quiet.

Not the comfortable kind of quiet. The *alert* kind.

Veer’s head snapped toward the tree line, his entire posture shifting in an instant. Cutie’s ears swiveled, twitching rapidly as he turned to face the same direction.

Kaya’s hand dropped to her gun. "What?"

"Movement," Veer said curtly. "Close."

Cutie nodded, voice dropping to a whisper. "Multiple. Coming from the east."

Kaya’s pulse kicked up. "Snakes?"

"No." Veer’s eyes narrowed. "Different scent. Sharper. Cleaner." He paused, then added grimly, "Wolves."

Of course.

Because why would the universe give her a break?

Kaya pulled her gun free and checked the chamber—still loaded, still ready. Her jaw set.

"How many?"

"At least five," Cutie whispered. "Maybe more. They’re moving slow. Watching us."

Veer’s wings shifted, feathers ruffling as he prepared to transform again if needed. "They’re not hunting for food," he muttered. "They’re scouting."

Kaya’s eyes swept the darkened forest. She couldn’t see them yet, but she could *feel* them now—that familiar prickle of being watched, of predators circling just beyond the firelight.

"Scouting for what?" she asked.

"For whoever sent them," Veer said. His voice was cold now, all traces of mockery gone. "Wolves don’t move in packs this far south unless someone paid them to."

Cutie’s face went pale. "You think they’re working with the snakes?"

"Or worse," Veer said. "They’re working for whoever hired the snakes."

The weight of that settled over them like a stone.

Kaya exhaled slowly, forcing herself to stay calm. Her mind ran through options—fight, run, negotiate. None of them looked good.

"Can we outfly them?" she asked.

Veer shook his head. "Not if they have archers. Or worse—sky hunters. If someone hired wolves, they probably hired backup."

"So we’re surrounded."

"Not yet." His gaze flicked toward the western ridge. "There’s a gap. Narrow, rocky. Hard to follow. If we move *now*, we can slip through before they close the circle."

Kaya looked at Cutie. "Can you run?"

He nodded, though his hands were trembling slightly. "I’ll keep up."

She turned back to Veer. "Lead."

Without another word, Veer shifted—bones cracking, feathers exploding outward as his body collapsed and reformed into the massive vulture. He beat his wings once, kicking up dust, then jerked his head toward his back.

Kaya vaulted up, Cutie scrambling after her. The moment they were seated, Veer launched.

But this time, he didn’t go high.

He stayed low, skimming just above the treetops, wings cutting through the air in fast, tight beats. Below them, shadows moved—quick, coordinated, splitting off into flanking positions.

The wolves were faster than she’d thought.

"They’re trying to box us in," Veer growled mentally. "Hold tight."

He banked hard left, diving between two jagged stone pillars that jutted up from the forest floor like broken teeth. Kaya leaned with the turn, Cutie clinging to her back with a death grip.

A howl split the night—long, eerie, echoing across the valley.

Then another. And another.

Not five wolves.

Dozens.

"Veer—" Kaya started.

"I know!" he snapped. "Just—*hold on!*"

He dropped suddenly, wings folding as he plummeted into a narrow ravine. The walls blurred past them, stone scraping so close Kaya could’ve reached out and touched it. Wind roared in her ears.

Behind them, the howls grew louder.

Closer.

Kaya’s grip tightened on Veer’s feathers. Her other hand rested on her gun, though she wasn’t sure how much good bullets would do against a coordinated wolf pack in the dark.

"We’re not losing them," Cutie said, voice shaking.

"I noticed," Kaya bit out.

Veer’s wings snapped open again, catching air as he shot out of the ravine and into open sky. For a brief, breathless moment, they were free—nothing but stars above, forest below.

Then something *screamed*.

Not a howl. Not a roar.

A shriek—high, sharp, predatory.

Kaya’s head snapped up.

And there, diving toward them from the clouds, wings spread wide and claws gleaming in the moonlight—

Sky hunters.

"*Veer!*" she shouted.

"I see them!" he roared back, banking hard.

But it was too late.

The first hunter slammed into them from above, talons raking across Veer’s wing. Feathers exploded. Blood sprayed.

Veer screamed—a raw, guttural sound—and they dropped.

Fast.

Too fast.

Kaya’s stomach lurched as the ground rushed up to meet them, trees reaching like skeletal hands, and all she could think was—

*Not like this.*

Veer twisted mid-fall, wings beating frantically despite the torn feathers and blood streaking across his back. He couldn’t stop the descent—not fully—but he angled it, turned the crash into something they might survive.

"*Brace!*" his voice roared in Kaya’s mind.

She wrapped one arm around Cutie, the other locked in Veer’s feathers, and tucked her head down.

They hit.

Not ground—*water*.

The impact punched the air from her lungs. Cold flooded in from all sides, dragging her down in a swirl of dark, churning chaos. Her grip on Veer’s feathers tore free. Cutie’s arms slipped from her waist.

For a terrifying moment, she couldn’t tell which way was up.

Then instinct kicked in. She kicked hard, following the faint glow of moonlight filtering through the surface, and broke through with a gasping, choking breath.

"Cutie!" she shouted, whipping her head around.

A splash to her left—Cutie surfaced, sputtering and flailing, his white hair plastered to his face. "I’m—*cough*—I’m okay!"

"Veer!"

Another surge of water, and the massive vulture form erupted from the river, wings spreading wide and shaking off sheets of water. He was already shifting back to human form as he waded toward the shore, one hand pressed against his shoulder where blood still seeped between his fingers.

"Move," he growled. "They’re coming."

Kaya didn’t need to be told twice. She grabbed Cutie by the arm and dragged him toward the bank, boots slipping on wet stone as they scrambled up onto solid ground.

Above them, shadows circled.

The sky hunters hadn’t followed them into the water—yet. But they were waiting, wings spread, patient as death.

And from the forest—

Howls. Closer now. Converging.

Kaya’s heart hammered in her chest. Her hand found her gun, but when she checked the chamber, her stomach dropped.

Wet. The powder was soaked.

Useless.

"Damn it," she hissed.

Veer staggered up beside her, breathing hard. His human form was lean and strong, but the gash across his shoulder was deep, blood running down his arm in dark rivulets. He didn’t seem to care.

"We can’t stay here," he said. "River slowed us down. They’ll surround us in minutes."

"Where do we go?" Cutie asked, voice tight with fear. His ears were flat against his head, trembling.

Veer’s amber eyes scanned the terrain—dense trees on one side, steep cliffs on the other, the river at their backs. Every direction was a trap.