Villainess is being pampered by her beast husbands

Chapter 484 --484

A rescue.Or another capture.

The wings beat harder, arresting her fall, carrying her away from the cliff face in a steep glide.

Kaya couldn’t see who—or what—had caught her. Everything was darkness and wind and the disorienting sensation of flight.

They descended rapidly, the ground coming up fast, visible now as lighter patches against the darkness.

Then they were landing, hard but controlled. The talons released her and Kaya tumbled onto rocky ground, rolling to absorb the impact.

She came up in a defensive crouch, ready to fight despite having no weapons and being completely exhausted.

A figure was transforming in front of her. Large. Shifting from bird to human form.

Not an eagle.

The transformation completed, revealing—

"Veer?!"

He stood there, breathing hard, his amber eyes catching what little moonlight filtered through the clouds. His injured shoulder was clearly bothering him—she could see him favoring it—but he was there. He was ’real’.

"You," he said, his voice rough with exhaustion and what might have been anger, "are the most reckless, infuriating, impossible human I have ever met."

Kaya stared at him. "You came back."

"Of course I came back! Did you think I’d just leave you with those eagle bastards?"

"You were injured. You could barely fly. I thought—"

"You thought wrong." Veer took a step toward her, and Kaya saw the fury in his eyes—not at her, but at the situation, at everything. "We got Ryn to the Nikala tribe. Got him safe. And then I came back for you."

"How did you even know where I was?"

"I’ve been circling this mountain for hours, waiting for an opening. Watching. And then I saw you jump off that platform like a complete lunatic and—" He stopped himself, jaw clenching. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking it was better than staying there."

"You could have died!"

"I would have preferred that to what they wanted!"

They stared at each other in the darkness, both breathing hard, both furious for different reasons.

Then Veer’s expression shifted. "What did they want?"

Kaya looked away. "Does it matter? I’m out. Thanks to you."

"Kaya. What did they want?"

She was saved from answering by a sound in the distance. Screeches. Multiple voices. Coming from above.

"They’re coming," Veer said, his head snapping up. "They’ll search the mountain base. We need to move. Now."

"Where’s Cutie?"

"Waiting with Ryn in Nikala territory. About five miles east. Can you run?"

Kaya tested her legs. Everything hurt, but nothing was broken. "Yes."

"Then let’s go. Before they—"

A screech split the night, much closer than before.

"Run!" Veer grabbed her hand and they bolted into the darkness, leaving the mountain and its eagle clan behind.

But Kaya knew, as they ran through the night, that this wasn’t over.

Not even close.

They would come after her. The eagles, the snakes, whoever else wanted whatever prophecy nonsense they thought she represented.

And next time, she needed to be ready.

Next time, she wouldn’t be caught by surprise.

Next time, she would have answers.

But first: survive the night.

Run.

Find her friends.

Then figure out what the hell was happening and how to stop it.

One crisis at a time.

That was all she could handle.

They ran through the darkness, Veer half-flying, half-running in a strange hybrid movement that Kaya had never seen before. His form kept flickering between human and vulture, wings beating occasionally to give them extra momentum, then folding back as he landed in human form to navigate dense underbrush.

It was disorienting to watch, let alone keep pace with.

Kaya’s lungs burned. Her legs felt like they were on fire. But she kept moving, driven by the sounds of pursuit behind them and the knowledge that stopping meant capture or death.

"Why don’t you just transform completely?" she gasped out between breaths. "Turn into full vulture form and we can fly out of here faster?"

Veer looked at her like she was an idiot, his amber eyes flashing in the darkness even as he continued his strange hybrid movement.

"They are eagles," he said, his voice strained. "If I dare to try to race them in the sky, there’s a high chance I’ll lose—especially with your weight on my back. My shoulder is still injured, remember? I can’t maintain proper flight altitude or speed."

Kaya glared at him, offense cutting through her exhaustion. "Excuse me? My weight?"

He glanced at her and shook his head, a ghost of a smile on his lips despite the dire situation. "Sweetheart, I cannot fly properly right now. Let’s just focus on running and staying alive. And anyway—" He ducked under a low branch, pulling her with him. "—my vision is really bad at night in full vulture form. Eagles have better night vision than we do. Another disadvantage."

Kaya muttered under her breath, "Vision is not bad. Well, whatever."

They continued their desperate flight through the forest—running, dodging, occasionally taking brief gliding leaps when Veer’s partial transformation allowed it. The sounds of pursuit grew fainter, but never disappeared entirely.

Minutes blurred into what felt like hours. Kaya lost track of how many times she stumbled, how many branches hit her face, how many times she thought her legs would simply give out.

But they kept moving.

And somehow—impossibly—they survived.

Even they didn’t quite know how.

---

## The Breathing Space

When they finally stopped, both collapsing onto a fallen log in a small clearing, Kaya’s entire body was shaking with exhaustion. Her clothes were torn, her hands scraped and bleeding from catching herself during falls, her lungs felt like they were full of fire.

But they were alive.

And the sounds of pursuit had finally faded completely.

They sat there, taking deep, gasping breaths, neither speaking for several minutes.

Kaya’s expression remained grim even as her breathing gradually steadied.

Veer noticed, studying her face in the pale moonlight that filtered through the canopy. "You survived," he said finally. "You escaped from eagle territory, outran trained hunters, and you’re still alive. Most people would be relieved. So what’s wrong now?"

Kaya looked at him, her jaw tight. "I lost my gun. I can’t find it anywhere. It must have fallen during the fight at the rock formation, or maybe when we were running—"

"Oh," Veer interrupted, reaching into a pouch at his belt. "You’re talking about this?"

He pulled out her gun—that familiar weight of metal and composite materials from her world—and held it casually in his hand, his finger nowhere near the trigger guard but close enough to make Kaya’s heart stop.

She literally lunged forward and snatched the weapon from his hand, immediately checking the safety and proper position before glaring at him.

"Are you crazy?" she demanded. "You could have shot yourself! Or me! This thing is dangerous! And wait—" Her mind caught up with the situation. "What the hell is my gun doing with you? When did you even get it?"

Veer looked slightly sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, of course we knew a fight had happened at the rock formation when we came back for you. The evidence was everywhere—blood, broken branches, signs of struggle. I grabbed your gun and that box thing you always keep it in to make sure they didn’t fall into the wrong hands. Figured you’d want them back."