Chapter 181: Who Is The Real Pervert Here? (bonus)

Calis walked into the clearing, and the conversations among the females dimmed.

"Alpha!" One of them waved while adjusting a cub on her lap.

Calis gently smiled at them while also directing nods to the other wolves around who were greeting Calis.

Tera glanced up from where she sat beside Faelynn.

Calis looked normal.

More than normal. Tera couldn’t exactly place how, but he looked slightly more relaxed than before. Her thoughts trailed to a stop when she remembered why.

’Oh...’

With how his affection had increased last night, and how at ease he appeared this morning, Tera could make an educated guess about what had fuelled it.

Working her out of his system last night seemed to have done its job.

She shoved the thought aside.

She was glad Calis was feeling like himself again. He should touch himself more frequently, and for other reasons, Tera felt like a pause on this would be nice. Her mates didn’t completely like Calis. If she was going to make the wolf leader her mate, not only would he need to prove himself to her rather than moving around like a skittish beast, she would also like some cordial relationship between her mates.

Well, there was still time.

Faelynn shifted Luth on her lap and squinted up at her brother. "How was the night? You appear very relaxed."

A shudder passed through Calis’ body.

His eyes flicked toward Tera for a fraction of a second before he averted his gaze. Tera looked away too, feeling a bit flustered.

’Why am I being shy?! Nothing happened!’

[This system is enjoying the show]

[ꉂꉂ◟(˃᷄ꇴ˂᷅๑)༡]

[Well, something did happen]

[Not between you two, but separately]

[In different locations]

[With their own hands]

[(ʃƪ ˘ ³˘)♥(˘ ε˘ʃƪ)]

Mortified, Tera wanted to snap back at the system when she relaxed. Her lips slipped into a sly smirk.

’Awwww. Nice to see that my degeneracy is rubbing off on you.’

’You little pervert. Hope you enjoyed that show too.’

[૮₍ಠ Ⱉ ಠ₎ა]

[THAT IS DISGUSTING!]

Tera covered her mouth and let out a low, muffled laugh, catching everyone’s attention.

When the females glanced at her, along with a stunned Calis, Tera immediately sat up, a smile still lingering on her lips as she quickly found her way out and pointed at Luth.

"She was making quite an adorable face that I couldn’t help it."

Luth’s eyes widened, and she blinked rapidly, slowly pointing her own finger at herself as if trying to understand why her face had been funny enough to induce laughter.

The little cub did not understand what was happening, and she gave a slight jump when the rest of the females joined in gentle laughter at the cub’s baffled look.

Tera laughed again, nearly bursting into tears while also feeling sorry for what she had done to Luth.

[You meanie!]

[(ง •̀_•́)ง]

[Look what you did!]

’Quiet, you pervert!’

[૮(l|l• 0 •)ა]

[This system is not the pervert here!]

[HOST IS!]

Tera chuckled. ’Whatever makes you sleep at night.’

[This system does not sleep!]

[Is Host gaslighting this system?]

’I fear I do not know what that word is.’

[૮( `д´*)ა]

’Okay, okay. Lol. You win.’

Tera wiped a tear from her eyes and took the adorable cub into her lap to plant a kiss on the little girl’s head.

Luth pouted and tried to pull Tera’s lips.

This earned another laugh from the females while Calis looked astonished by what was happening.

Faelynn returned her attention to her brother, a faint smile on her lips. "Sorry, brother. Did you rest well?"

Calis recovered quickly, his composure sliding back into place as he dragged his attention to his sister.

"I was just checking the perimeter with the others. Nothing unusual."

"You look better rested than usual," Faelynn observed.

"I also slept a bit. It was fine."

She nodded.

Calis grappled with himself for a few more seconds before turning to Tera.

"Did you... have a good night’s sleep?"

Tera blinked, hugging Luth to her chest as she pulled herself together. If he could be normal about this, so could she.

"I did. Listening to the stream was nice."

Calis tensed, and she realised mentioning the stream might as well allude to that moment with him washing his body.

Tera’s lips spread in an apologetic smile. "I—"

Calis faintly smiled in return, his gaze falling to eye Luth just so he wouldn’t look at Tera’s eyes and be reminded of that moment. "It is a soothing sound."

Tera relaxed only for one of the females to tug at her arm.

"Tera, what was that thing you mentioned earlier? About the root that helps with sleep?"

"Oh!" Tera turned back to the group. "It depends on what is keeping you awake. If it is pain, you need something different from what you would use for—"

"Aia’s snoring is what keeps me awake," Flora cut in dryly with the shake of her head.

Aia gasped. "I do not snore!"

"Yes, you do!"

After a bit more back and forth, laughter rippled through the group, and the conversation folded back around Tera like warm water.

She was pulled into it easily. A question about preparing tubers for teething cubs led to a discussion about which herbs settled a cub’s stomach, which led to one female confessing that her youngest cub had eaten a big fat beetle and she hadn’t been able to stop him in time.

Tera was equal parts disgusted and terrified.

"A beetle?!"

"He was very fast."

"Was it at least a small one?"

"It was not."

Tera was very immersed in the females’ chatter, but she was still aware of Calis even though he had moved to talk to one of the other wolves.

Calis, for his part, was trying very hard to pay attention to anything that wasn’t Tera.

And it was quite hard.

Moving around the three other groups of resting wolves had briefly helped take his mind off her, but he was not one to chatter much, meaning he could not spend long with each group.

The final one made him slightly embarrassed, as several of the wolves exchanged glances and thought they were in trouble when the alpha asked how well they had rested the night before.