B+Bs: To Stand In A Beast's World

89. Confidently

Cooper did not meet his end, he only envisioned it for a moment. Winston did not allow his face rearrangement to occur and instead coerced him with a steely, grey gaze to explain what happened.

Once he stuttered out his explanation, the glares eased up significantly. Cooper sunk to the floor and turned to Grace who was now crowded by her concerned family members.

She kicked them all out with a weak, "I just need to be alone."

They all vacated the room with varying levels of weariness, pity, and defeat. They couldn't help their mate with this. Other than giving her their continuous support, anyhow.

And they were right to give her that space. Because once she let it out and got some rest, she seemed completely rejuvenated. She even gave each one of them a big hug!

They were confused, but as long as Grace felt better, they were okay...

I was always better off once I knew what course of action I wanted to take. It was so much easier to throw myself into something if I knew what that something was clearly. That answer was something I had now.

This world—be it a book or a true world—was now the place in which I lived. The place where I made a family. The place where I made a meaningful difference to the people around me.

Feeling light on my feet, I faced my family and embraced them. They would stand by me come hell or high-water and I would do the same for them. Because they were mine and this was my place to protect.

One month later~

"What?" The ape king gulped. He heard everything Grace just said, but his eyes were still focused on the shiny, green thing Grace rolled around in front of her. The scene was quite similar to how it was when they first met. But the circumstances couldn't be more different.

"I want you," I focused on Bard with a clear gaze, "to kick Rosa out of this city." Grant remained stiff behind the ape king, but I did not pay him mind. This was between me and the ape king now.

"And?" Bard knew that wasn't it. Grace never asked for just one thing. And that was understandable considering the emerald's worth, but... To kick out Rosa means to kick out the wolf king. That's a significant loss of power for the city.

I'm glad he understood even if he was uncomfortable with the idea. I sent Shuu the signal with a flick of my finger and he disappeared. "I want you to use your abilities to confirm a future that I know of."

Bard's gaze flickered to the stripes that were covered by Grace's long hair. "...What future is that?"

Shuu returned, bringing the leopard king to the meeting table. This time, I hosted the trade in my territory. "One of the city's ruin."

Grant and Bard tensed up, but only one spoke. "...I will confirm it!" Bard did not need to be bought out for this. The city's livelihood was also his responsibility.

I waited for the ape king to finish, but his frown remained consistent.

"I see nothing... Are you certain that the vision you saw was correct?"

I did not blatantly correct his misunderstanding. "The tragedy I know of won't happen until the next rainy season roughly."

Bard's frown deepened. How could Grace see so far ahead when he had to focus to be able to glimpse that? Whatever the answer, Bard had something to do. He closed his and searched until his head throbbed and his nose bled.

I saw his expression change and knew he saw it.

"This! Why? The city will..." It will fall!

"Be destroyed," I finished for him. "But now that you know, we can avoid the worst by moving before then."