Villainess is being pampered by her beast husbands

Chapter 480 --480

An arrow whistled past her head, clattering off the stone wall. Then another."They’ve found us!" Veer yelled.

Kaya didn’t waste breath responding. She just pushed forward, fighting the current, her muscles screaming with effort.

The gorge twisted and turned. The walls grew higher, blocking out the sky. The water grew deeper still, forcing them to half-swim, half-wade.

And all the while, behind them, the sounds of pursuit echoed off the stone walls.

After what felt like hours but was probably only minutes, the gorge opened up.

The creek widened, the water becoming shallow again. The walls dropped away, revealing open forest beyond.

Kaya scrambled out onto the bank, gasping, her entire body numb from the cold water. She reached back to help Veer, who was struggling with Ryn’s unconscious weight.

Together, they hauled the wounded wolf onto dry ground.

Cutie landed beside them, transforming back to human form—a slight young man with messy brown hair and those striking blue eyes. He was shivering, soaked through, looking terrified but determined.

"They’re still coming," he said. "I can hear them in the gorge."

"How far to this Nikala tribe?" Kaya asked Veer, already knowing what had to come next.

"Ten miles. Maybe twelve. Through dense forest." Veer looked at Ryn, then at the gorge behind them. "We’ll never make it on foot. Not with him."

Kaya understood what he was saying. What he wasn’t saying.

"Can you fly? With all of us?"

"My shoulder—"

"Can you fly?"

Veer met her eyes. Something passed between them—understanding, trust, desperation.

"Yes," he said finally. "But it won’t be pretty. And it’s going to hurt like hell."

"Do it."

Veer’s transformation was more strained than usual. Kaya could see him fighting through pain as his body shifted, bones restructuring, feathers erupting across his skin.

When he finally stood in his vulture form, his injured wing hung slightly wrong, the feathers around the shoulder joint disturbed.

But he spread both wings and lowered himself. ’Get on. Quickly.’

Kaya helped position Ryn first, draping the unconscious wolf across Veer’s broad back. Then she climbed up behind him, securing her grip in Veer’s feathers.

Cutie transformed again—that small brown rabbit with blue eyes—and scrambled up to perch on Kaya’s shoulder, his tiny claws digging through her wet clothes for purchase.

"Hold on!" Veer’s mental voice was strained. ’This is going to be rough.’

He didn’t wait for confirmation. His legs bunched beneath him, and then they were launching upward.

The takeoff was violent. Kaya felt Veer’s entire body shudder with the effort, his injured wing not catching the air properly. They dropped for a heart-stopping moment before his powerful strokes managed to gain altitude.

Behind them, hunters burst from the gorge, shouting. More arrows flew, but they were already too high, moving too fast.

Veer climbed higher, breaking through the canopy into open sky.

The sun was low on the horizon, painting the world in shades of orange and gold. Below them, the forest spread out like a vast green ocean.

And behind them, still visible through gaps in the trees, was the smoke from the fires.

’Northeast,’ Veer’s voice echoed in Kaya’s mind, tight with pain. ’The Nikala tribe is northeast. I can make it. Probably.’

"Probably?" Kaya shouted over the wind.

’Definitely. I definitely can make it.’

"That’s not more reassuring!"

’Just hold on and let me concentrate!’

They flew.

.

.

The first drops of rain hit about twenty minutes into the flight.

Kaya felt them on her face—cold, hard, driven by wind that was picking up rapidly.

"Veer!" she shouted. "Storm coming!"

’I know! I can feel it!’

The clouds had been building on the horizon, dark and ominous. Now they were moving in fast, swallowing the sky, turning the world gray.

The wind picked up, buffeting them, making Veer’s flight erratic. His injured wing couldn’t compensate properly, couldn’t make the micro-adjustments needed for stable flight in bad weather.

They started dropping altitude, Veer fighting to maintain control.

The rain intensified, becoming a downpour that made it almost impossible to see. Kaya’s grip on Veer’s feathers was slipping, her hands numb from cold and wet.

On her shoulder, Cutie was clinging desperately, his tiny rabbit body trembling.

Behind them, Ryn had started to slide. Kaya grabbed him with one hand, trying to hold him in place while maintaining her grip with the other.

"Veer! Ryn’s slipping!"

’I can’t—’ Veer’s mental voice was strained to breaking. ’I can’t control it! The wing—’

A massive gust of wind hit them sideways.

Veer’s injured wing buckled.

They dropped.

Twenty feet. Thirty. Falling through the rain-lashed sky, Veer’s wings beating frantically but unable to catch proper air.

Kaya’s stomach lurched. This was it. They were going to crash. Going to die in this godforsaken storm after everything they’d survived—

Then shapes appeared in the clouds.

Dark shapes. Large. Moving with purpose.

Eagles.

Dozens of them.

No—not eagles. Eagle beastmen. Massive, powerful, their wingspans easily twice Veer’s size.

They swooped in from all directions, surrounding them, cutting off any escape.

One of them—the largest, with golden-brown feathers and eyes like amber fire—flew directly at them.

’Down!’ Veer’s mental voice screamed. ’They’re forcing us down!’

But he had no choice. His injured wing couldn’t sustain flight anymore. They were already falling.

The eagles herded them downward, controlling their descent, forcing them toward the forest canopy below.

They crashed through branches, Veer’s body taking most of the impact, trying to protect his passengers.

Kaya felt herself being thrown clear, her grip finally breaking. She tumbled through leaves and branches, hitting the ground hard enough to drive the air from her lungs.

Pain exploded across her back and shoulder. The world spun sickeningly.

She tried to get up, tried to reach for her knife, but her body wouldn’t respond properly.

Through blurred vision, she saw shapes landing around them. The eagle beastmen, transforming to human form. Tall, powerful, wearing leather and metal that glinted even in the storm-dimmed light.

She saw Veer struggling to rise, blood matting his feathers.

She saw Cutie, tiny and terrified, trying to hide in the undergrowth.

She saw Ryn, unconscious, defenseless.

And then one of the eagles was standing over her. Not attacking. Just... looking.

"This is the one," he said to the others. His voice was deep, commanding. "The female. The one the prophecy spoke of."

"No," Kaya tried to say, but her voice came out as barely a whisper. "No prophecy. Not me. Wrong person."

The eagle crouched beside her. Up close, his eyes were startling—bright amber with flecks of gold. His face was sharp-featured, handsome in a severe way.

"You are Kaya," he said. It wasn’t a question. "The traveler between worlds. The one who carries death in her hands but mercy in her heart."

"How do you—"

"The Snake Lord wants you dead," the eagle continued. "But we—" He gestured to the other eagles surrounding them. "—we have other plans."

"Let them go," Kaya managed, her vision darkening at the edges. "They’re not... part of this. Just me. Take just me."

The eagle tilted his head, studying her with an expression she couldn’t read.

"How noble," he said softly. "And how foolish." He straightened, gesturing to the others.