“We didn’t even learn their identities,” Bodi grumbled.
As the adrenaline rush faded, I knew with growing dread that I was about to get the scolding of a lifetime. I groaned inwardly as I saw my father approach me from the corner of my eye.
Before he could get to me, Koto cuffed me over the head. “What the fuck were you thinking, Raja? You could have been killed! You weren’t even supposed to be out here!”
As the chief reached my side, Koto bowed deeply to him, obviously ashamed of the coarse language he just used. “Chief, I am so sorry. I take responsibility for my cousin breaking the rules. Please punish me.”
“No, Koto,” the chief said, raising a hand to him. His gaze burned, and I couldn’t force myself to meet it. “This is Raja’s responsibility alone.”
Koto nodded respectfully and stepped away. I got to my feet, which felt like lead.
Every able-bodied person from the village had come to chase the poachers away and save me. My skin burned with shame. I wished I would just die on the spot.
In a deathly calm voice, the chief said to me, “Come, Raja. We will talk about this at home.”
* * *
“I won’t askyou what you were thinking,” the chief began, “because you clearly weren’t thinking.”
“No, he wasn’t!” my mother, Kali, added shrilly. If getting yelled at by my father wasn’t enough already, my mother was there to make it worse. “He obviously wanted to get himself killed tonight!”
My head hung low. I wished this chewing out would just be over already. I wanted to go to my hammock and sulk for the rest of my life.
“What have I always told you?” my father continued. When I didn’t respond, he prompted, “Answer me, Raja.”
I resisted the urge to groan. “That it’s not safe out there for me. Because I’m a black panther and an omega.”
“And what happened to you tonight?”
My throat was tight and hot. Admitting it felt like poison burning my mouth. “I was almost poached for being both of those things.”
“Who knows what would have happened to you?” my mother yelled. “Now we know our worst fears are true! There are poachers, not humans butshifterslike us, out there wanting to get their hands on you! Was it the Skrofa clan? Do you know?”
“No,” I admitted. “They wouldn’t say who they were.”
My father let out a deep sigh. Slowly, he sat down across from me on the straw mat on the floor. “Raja, tell me what was going through your mind tonight.”
I brought my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them, feeling like a petulant child. “Nothing different. I just wanted to get out.”
“I didn’t know leaving the village was so important to you.”
“Of course it is!” I blurted out.
The chief held my gaze steadily. “I didn’t know it was worth risking your life.”
“Well, what else can I do? I’m not a child and I don’t want to be treated like a breakable object anymore!” My voice came out whiny and frustrated, but truth be told, that was exactly how I felt. I didn’t know how to get my displeasure across any other way at this point.
“You can sit in the village like we tell you to,” my mother growled.
“But mom, I’m twenty years old! I’m a grown man!” I objected. “Koto and everyone else gets to do whatever they want and I can’t do anything!”
“Koto and the others have nothing to do with you,” she scolded. “It’s their parents’ job to worry about them, not mine. You’reourresponsibility.”
My father chimed in. “They’re not precious omegas like you, and they have normal coloring. They do not have to worry about the same things that you do.”
“Well, whatcanI do, then?” I cried, throwing up my hands in frustration. “Just sit here in this village until I die?”
My mother clucked her tongue. “No, Raja, don’t speak like that.” She huddled to my side and tried to give me a hug, but I was so not in the mood. I leaned away from her, which only angered her more. “Stop acting like a baby!”
