Autumn and I had chosen our mates, so we publicly formed a contract with them in front of the white tiger tribe.

A female could have multiple male mates in the tribe, but only a male who had formed a contract with the female could live with her.

As for the other males, they were no different than concubines in ancient times.

However, unlike the concubines in human society, the male mates in the tribe were openly accepted by everyone. They were not hidden away in secret.

It was perfectly normal for a male mate to lose the favor of the female and get dumped.

Autumn relied on that in our past life. She knew that the serpent man she chose was possessive and obsessive, but during his hibernation period, she still shamelessly seduced the other males.

She had always planned to play around and then find an excuse to dump her male mate.

Unfortunately, she did not expect her plan to backfire.

Females were very rare in the tribe, so the males who managed to become mates would not let go so easily.

When the serpent man woke from hibernation, he was immediately surrounded by the males Autumn had flirted with. They demanded an explanation from him.

Autumn had told them the reason she rejected them was that the serpent man would not allow her to have other mates.

The serpent man learned that she had flirted with so many males while he was hibernating, and he exploded in anger.

He fiercely fought those males, then he dragged Autumn back to his serpent cave. He did not look happy.

Then, he tormented her in various ways until she became pregnant.

As a result, Autumn was forced to give birth to clutches of offspring.

She thought about escaping, but the serpent man did not let her leave.

It was not until the day the wolf man was to inherit the chieftain position in the tribe that she had a chance to get out with her serpent babies. All the elderly, the females, and the youngsters were required to attend the ceremony.

The chieftain ceremony included a sky-offering ritual, so it was held at the mountain cliff.

She realized that I, who was once inferior to her in everything, had become the wife of the chieftain, and she was filled with jealousy.

She seized the opportunity when everyone was kneeling to worship the sky and charged at me to shove me off the cliff.

"Lynn Jane, you've always been beneath me since we were kids. Why should you live better than me? Die!" she had yelled.

Our families used to be neighbors, and my family had been better off than hers.

However, my parents died in a car accident, and everything we had was taken by my biased grandmother and given to my uncle and his family.

I knew that to them, I was only a girl, an outsider, and unworthy of inheriting my father's properties.

Her mom had pitied me and helped me.

I later regretted countless times that I accepted their help.

Autumn would tell everyone that her family funded my studies and that without them, I would have been sent to an orphanage.

Therefore, I was always beneath her.

She disliked it when I did well in exams, so I had to deliberately do poorly to help her shine.

My friends gradually left me after she appeared.

She also stole my college boyfriend during the holidays.

"Don't be mad, Lynn. I just wanted to test if he truly likes you. You're my best friend, and I don't want you to get hurt by a player. See what I mean? He failed my test, right? You should thank me," she had said.

I smiled at her with fake gratitude and said, "Hm. Thank you, Autumn."

She immediately beamed with pride and said, "You're welcome. We're best friends, after all."

I sneered inside.

People like Autumn Cox had dirtied the term best friend.

However, the fact remained that her family had helped me.

I could not burn the bridge with Autumn and upset her mom.

However, that was all in my past life.

The moment Autumn pushed me off that cliff, I no longer owed her family anything.

The contract was quickly completed.

The chieftain smiled warmly at us and said, "Alright, now that the contracts are done, you may each return to your places. As for the other males, please don't be discouraged. You still have the chance to become their mates if you can win the favor of these females."

They looked slightly relieved to hear that. Their gaze was burning as they looked at me and Autumn.

The white tiger priest glared at them as he stepped in front of me to shield me from them.

He growled at the other males and said, "She's mine. I'll never share her with anyone! If anyone dares to try, I'll tear them apart."

The others looked disappointed to hear that.

They knew better than anyone how capable the priest was.

Competing with him for a female was hopeless.

However, dealing with that wolf man was much easier.

Every male present instantly turned to look at Autumn.

Their gazes toward the wolf man were filled with killing intent.

Capabilities mattered the most in the tribe. The power of the wolf man was not even in the top hundred of the white tiger tribe. They felt he did not deserve a contract with such a soft and delicate woman.

They understood how the priest could have a female all to himself. He was the most powerful male in the tribe, after all.

However, the wolf man was not worthy of a precious female.

Autumn smiled when she saw them get jealous and fight over her.

It was as if that was the treatment she truly deserved.

However, she had no idea that once she entered the wolf's den, leaving would not be so easy.

I gave her a brief glance, then turned to the white tiger priest and said, "I'm tired. I want to go back and rest."

The priest immediately looked worried.

Then, his arm, which looked thicker than my thigh, scooped me up effortlessly.

"I'll bring you back to rest right away," he said.

Then, he hurried off while holding me steadily in his arms toward his stone house.

The status of the priest was higher than the status of the chieftain.

Not only did he handle rituals, divinations, and the secret inheritance of the tribe, but he was also responsible for treating injured males.

Medical resources were scarce in primitive society, after all. Whether an injured male lived or died depended entirely on the sole heir to the medical tradition of the tribe, which was the priest.

The white tiger priest gently set me down on a stone bed covered with beast skins, after carrying me into his stone house.

His golden eyes never left me. He said, "Sit here for a moment. I'll get you a blanket."

I nodded to him.

Soon, he pulled a large beast-skin blanket from a wooden chest.

However, to my surprise, he did not use it to cover me. He spread it over the bed instead.

He neatly laid it down, then he stared at the skin exposed on my body and said, "Your skin looks so delicate. I'll add another blanket so the stone bed won't hurt you."

There had been other females in the tribe who tried to seduce him, but he had never shown interest in them.

He must have realized upon meeting me that his type was someone like me, petite and adorable.

Moreover, my scent must have been so pleasant that it intoxicated him, making him reluctant to be away from me even for a moment.

I had not expected that, despite his fierce and powerful appearance, he could be so meticulous.

"Yeah, thank you. What's your name, by the way? I'm Lynn Jane."

"I'm Sean Hovard. Just tell me if you need anything," he replied.

I nodded again and said, "Alright, I understand. I'm going to sleep now."

***

Autumn and I had stumbled into the unrecorded primitive tribe while hiking on a mountain trip.

We had been hiking for nearly two hours before males from the white tiger tribe found us and brought us back.

I was truly exhausted.

Sean watched me lie down. He lowered his voice and said, "Then I won't disturb your rest. I'll get you something to eat. What would you like for dinner?"

I thought about the lifestyle of a primitive tribe. I shivered and quickly said, "Some berries, and a pot of meat stew. Cut the meat into small pieces; otherwise, I can't chew it properly."

The males of the tribes could freely switch between beast form and human form.

Eating raw prey in their beast form was perfectly normal.

However, most of the time they stayed in human form. They would only transform into beast forms during battle.

They rarely ate raw meat in their human form. They usually boiled meat in stews or roasted it.

However, they were huge, so they prepared food in massive chunks for easy gnawing.

Every bone was longer than my forearm.

Chewing on such large bones was effortless for them, but it was highly challenging for my human teeth.

The meat was also tough to chew, even after stewing.

I could not get used to the food in my past life. I had survived solely on berries.

One summer rain had even left me severely ill, and I almost died.

Luckily, Sean did have some skills. He had given me water soaked with a black medicinal paste, and I had recovered.

Sean stared at me for a moment after hearing my request, then he nodded and said, "I understand. Go ahead and sleep."

"Yeah," I replied.

Then, I closed my eyes.

I quickly fell asleep because I was too tired.

It was dark when I woke up again.

I sat up abruptly from the stone bed.

"Are you awake, Lynn? Hungry? Come and eat something," he said in a deep voice.

I rubbed my stomach and got out of bed.

Two stone bowls had been set on the wooden table inside the house.

One had meat stew, and the other had unknown berries.

"Have you eaten?" I asked as I sat at the table.

Sean gave a short reply, but his golden eyes were locked on my face. His gaze was burning and intense. He replied, "I've eaten. You should eat."

"Alright," I said. I tightened my grip on the spoon, knowing he would not let me off that night.

I sipped the stew in small mouthfuls.

Sean was much more considerate than the wolf man. I only requested once, and he had cut the meat into thin strips, which were then stewed until tender.

It was seasoned only with salt, but still delicious.

Without realizing it, I had eaten more than half of it.

However, the portion was too large, and I could not finish the rest.

"I'm full," I said as I set the spoon down.

Sean glanced at my stomach, as if he wanted to confirm I truly had enough to eat.

Then, he looked at me with a burning gaze. He said in a low voice, "I'll clean up. There's a hot spring here, fed from the mountain. You can bathe in the pool."

His words surprised me.

I did not expect a hot spring in his stone house.

That meant I would not have to worry about bathing in the future.

Most males lived ruggedly. They would simply bathe in the river, but I did not dare to do that.

Sean left with the bowls, and I headed toward the place he mentioned, guided by the dim light.

Steam rose in the air. I took off my clothes and stepped in.

Before I could finish bathing, Sean entered while holding a torch.

He fixed the torch to the wall, then walked toward me slowly.

His burning gaze felt as if it could melt my body.

I could not help but tremble lightly.

The wolf man was nowhere near as strong as Sean, yet even in my past life, I nearly lost it to his torment.

I felt like I might die in bed if it were with Sean.

He pulled me into his arms with domineering force, even as I was still worrying. His body was hotter than the spring water, making my body weak under the scorching heat.