Chapter 13 – Solo Hunter
The decision to hunt alone for longer periods came naturally.
Luna did not oppose it. Her intention was only one of caution: careful. He answered with a mental nod and left before dawn, the stone tools fastened to an improvised skin strap, his body already accustomed to the weight of the claws and the immediate response of the muscles.
The first days were of almost mechanical efficiency.
Boars. Two smaller deer. A creature with twisted horns that tried to ambush him and died in less than a minute. He returned before nightfall carrying the meat already separated, the cores stored in a bag made of skin. Luna sniffed each piece, sometimes approved, sometimes merely observed. The trust between them grew in silence.
It was on the fifth outing that the prey changed.
The scent was different. Heavier. Older. The trail led him to a part of the forest where the trees were thicker and the light barely penetrated. Night vision turned everything into clear shades of blue and gray, yet instinct still screamed caution.
The creature appeared among the roots of a fallen tree.
It was larger than any boar he had ever faced. The body covered in dark, irregular plates, the head low, the red eyes gleaming with aggressive intelligence. When it roared, the sound made his chest vibrate.
There was no room for hesitation.
He moved.
Agility carried him to the side at the exact moment the creature charged. The claws tore the flank, but met resistance. Venom was spat directly into the left eye. The beast screamed and shook its head violently. One of the plates struck him full force, hurling him against a trunk.
Pain exploded in his shoulder and ribs.
He rolled, spat blood, and returned to the attack before the creature could recover. This time he used the absurd flexibility of his body to climb a low tree and drop exactly onto the neck. The claws found a softer point. The venom entered. The doubled strength broke the resistance. The beast writhed, fell, and remained still.
The silence that followed was heavy.
He knelt beside the body, breathing with difficulty. The shoulder throbbed. One of the ribs was definitely cracked. Blood ran from a deep cut on the left side of his torso. Even so he smiled. The new body had held. The human mind had calculated. The combination had worked.
Carrying the prey back was torment.
Every step sent needles of pain through his chest. He reached the cave when the sky was already darkening, dragging the heavy body behind him. Luna appeared immediately. Her intention was not approval. It was alarm.
Injured.
She coiled around him carefully, almost without tightening, and guided him directly to the Mana Pool. He did not resist. He entered the white water still covered in blood and pain.
The effect was immediate and undeniable.
The regeneration he already knew from his own body was good. The pool's was something else. The deep cut began to close while he was still conscious. The cracked rib stopped hurting with the same intensity within minutes. The shoulder responded again. He felt the difference with absolute clarity.
It was not only the Love Snake's core.
It was the Pool.
Luna stayed most of the time with her head resting on the edge of the water, blue eyes fixed on him. The intention came in waves: worry, relief, possessiveness. When the worst of the pain had passed, she slid into the pool and coiled around his body, the tongue touching the place where the cut had been.
He ran his hand over the blue horns.
"I'm fine."
Her mental reply was simple and heavy with emotion:
Don't do it again. Not alone. Not like that.
He did not promise.
But for the first time he felt, unequivocally, that Luna was afraid of losing him.
That night the lust came mixed with something deeper. She swallowed him with an almost anxious urgency, as if she needed to confirm that he was still whole. He came in her throat while gripping the horns tightly, and afterward fucked her slowly inside the white water, his body still tingling with the regeneration. When they finished, she did not move away. She remained coiled around him the entire night.
The solo hunter had returned injured.
But he had also returned more aware of what the Mana Pool truly meant.