My Beastly Fertility System Chapter 68: The Rogue Siege

Besides, that faint smell of blood clinging to Jeffrey put Zane on edge. He couldn't quite place it, and that bothered him even more.

Rufus scoffed.

"Who cares? Level 3 or not—if he makes a move on Claire, I'll take him apart."

Zane was already planning a visit to his brothers in the hunting team. Someone needed to dig into Jeffrey's background.

But the answers never came. Before anyone could learn a thing, the settlement was plunged into crisis.

"Zane! The guards at the gate say a massive force of rogue beastfolk is coming! What do we do?"

A hunting-team comrade came sprinting up, out of breath and wild-eyed.

Zane's gut clenched. He turned to Rufus.

"Stay here with Claire. I'm going to check."

Claire was terrified, but she knew there was no stopping him. She threw a heavy fur tunic at him.

"Be careful! Zane—come back alive!"

He nodded and was gone.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The alarm—sharp, urgent, relentless.

The settlement's warning signal.

Danger.

Claire's heart twisted into a knot. While one half of her mind worried about Zane, the other was already in motion—scanning the cave, shoving everything important into her storage space.

"Rufus, quick—grab the pups!"

Within moments, every scrap of food in the cave had vanished into Claire's space.

The space wasn't huge—roughly 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and a measly three feet of headroom—but she'd packed it floor to ceiling, filling every last gap.

She crammed in the table and chairs Zane had built, the pots, the bowls—if it fit, it went in.

In seconds, the cave was stripped bare.

Rufus bundled all twelve pups into a large fur pouch. The pups could sense the danger—they huddled together in trembling silence, not making a sound.

Rufus slung the pouch onto his back. On his towering frame, it looked perfectly natural.

Then, a wolf's howl split the sky.

Claire recognized it instantly—Zane.

The rogue beastfolk had begun their attack.

The two of them rushed out. Through the driving snow, shadowy figures darted between caves.

Beastfolk ran in every direction, their faces white with panic.

An elderly beastfolk was muttering to himself.

"It's over. It's all over. The fox clan is finished."

Hazel happened to be passing with a squad of fighters. Hearing this, fury flooded her face. She kicked the old beastfolk over.

"Shut your mouth! If you're afraid to die, get to the shelter cave!"

The shelter cave was in the hills behind the settlement. Through a hidden rear exit, a narrow path led to an enormous natural cavern.

Unlike the clan's regular caves, this one was a naturally formed cavern in the limestone—well-concealed and nearly impossible to find. Whenever danger struck, the females, pups, and elderly were hidden there.

Elodie hobbled over, urging Claire forward.

"Claire, come with me! Hurry! Go to the shelter cave! You stay hidden until it's safe."

Rufus flanked Claire as they followed Elodie.

Claire looked back toward the main gate. The roar of battle—war cries, bestial screams, the clash of bodies—crashed together in a deafening wall of sound.

"Zane will be okay, right? Rufus, maybe you should go help him!"

Rufus didn't even turn around.

"Relax. That mutt's got nine lives. He'll be fine. You, on the other hand, are pregnant. Nothing can happen to you. I'll get you somewhere safe first—then I'll go back for him."

Claire wanted to help Zane herself, but reality hit fast because she was visibly pregnant and a Level 0 female at that. Going to the front lines would only put everyone in more danger.

Please, Beast God—keep Zane safe.

The settlement's females were ashen-faced, hurrying toward the shelter under a handful of male guards.

Every beastfolk bit down on their lips and moved as quietly as possible, terrified of drawing the rogues' attention.

Claire looked around and felt a nagging sense that something was wrong. She couldn't put her finger on it. Just a prickling unease that wouldn't let go.

She'd grown up hearing stories about rogue beastfolk.

Bloodthirsty. Savage. Eaters of their own kind. And for females who fell into their hands, the fate was even worse.

Rogue beastfolk placed no value on females whatsoever.

Most rogue beastfolk were cold-blooded species—abandoned by their mothers at birth, left in the wild to survive or die. That primal abandonment had festered into a deep, burning hatred of all females.

An elder in the clan had once described what happened when a female was captured: the rogues passed her around. Bonding was impossible—rogue beastfolk had long since lost their first time, and without that, no bond could form.

Every female's story ended the same way—used until they broke, then consumed. Not even bones remained.

Claire's legs trembled beneath her. This wasn't just some fantasy-world apocalypse. These were predators.

An entire pack of them.

And she had no idea how many were attacking the fox clan right now—or what their highest level was—or whether Zane could hold the line.