Rejected by the Lion King, Claimed by the Leopard King

For generations, my family has produced high-ranking females who bring good fortune and bear top-tier beast cubs. But after marrying Lion King Emmett for seven years, I showed no signs of pregnancy.

During those seven years, his mother treated me like a slave, and the entire tribe mocked me as a useless woman who couldn't produce an heir.

Until that day when Emmett brought back a delicate white rabbit female. He drained a bowl of my heart's blood in front of everyone and kicked me off Sin Beast Cliff, where bodies are never recovered. "You're useless trash occupying the Chief's wife position. Go feed the vultures!"

I thought I was dead. But when I opened my eyes, I found myself staring into a pair of dark green, sinister vertical pupils. The legendary bloodthirsty, one-legged psychotic Leopard King was coldly watching me.

Later, when divine punishment struck the Lion Tribe and decimated their numbers, Emmett knelt at the cliff's edge, begging me to return.

I looked down at him from above, my pregnant belly protruding: "Get lost. Don't wake the little black leopard in my belly."

Wind swept across the Beast Platform like knives.

Two strong lion males pinned me against the sacrificial post. My wrists were slashed open, blood dripping down the rough stone grooves into the stone bowl below.

Drip. Drip.

My blood was almost drained. My whole body trembled from the cold.

"Emmett..." My cracked lips moved as I looked toward the man standing on the high platform.

The man I'd loved for seven years, served for seven years, and even sacrificed my heart's blood to cure. He wore the crimson tiger fur I'd sewn with my own hands, looking majestic and imposing. But in his arms, he held a petite, delicate white rabbit female.

"Don't call my name. It disgusts me." Emmett looked down at me with only revulsion in his eyes.

His mother, the tribe's old witch doctor, hobbled over with her cane and picked up the stone bowl filled with my blood.

"Bah! Useless trash who can't bear children!" The old witch doctor spat a thick glob of phlegm at my feet. "Seven years! Eating our Lion Tribe's food, drinking our Lion Tribe's water, and not even a shadow of a cub! Today, draining a bowl of your blood to nourish Grace's bloodline is the last bit of value you have!"

Grace leaned against Emmett's chest, saying timidly, "Emmett, she's lost so much blood. Will she die? I'm scared."

Emmett tenderly covered her eyes. "Good girl, don't look at this filthy thing. Trash like her isn't worth pitying even if she dies."

Filthy thing.

I laughed.

Seven years ago, he knelt before my father, swearing he'd treasure me like his own eyes for life. Seven years later, I'd become the filthy thing in his mouth.

"Emmett, what did you promise my brother?" I gritted my teeth, staring at him intently.

When I mentioned my brother, Emmett's expression changed, guilt flashing in his eyes before quickly turning to anger.

"You dare mention your brother? If he hadn't traded his eye to make me marry you, you think I'd want a useless woman who can't bear cubs?" Emmett suddenly drew the bone knife from his waist, pointing it at my nose. "Today, I announce before the entire tribe -- I'm stripping Sophia of her position as Chief's wife! From now on, whether she lives or dies has nothing to do with our Lion Tribe!"

The entire crowd cheered.

"Should've gotten rid of her long ago!"

"Exactly! Occupying the position without producing cubs, she's caused our Lion Tribe's fortune to decline!"

"Throw her off Sin Beast Cliff! Let her die!"

Sin Beast Cliff. The tribe's forbidden land, where poisonous mist lingered year-round at the bottom, filled with disabled, crazed beasts abandoned by the tribe. Fall down there, and not even bone fragments would remain.

Emmett walked up to me, his gaze as cold as if looking at a corpse.

"Sophia, for old times' sake, I'll personally send you off."

With that, he lifted his foot and kicked hard into my chest.

Searing pain struck. My body flew like a kite with a cut string, plummeting straight into the bottomless abyss. Wind howled in my ears. I closed my eyes.

If there's a next life, I'll never be anyone's stepping stone again.

Pain.

Piercing pain.

I thought I'd be smashed to pulp or poisoned to death by the toxic mist at the cliff's bottom. But I wasn't. I hung on a massive dead tree, its branches piercing through my thigh, blood gushing out.

Everything around was dark, the air thick with pungent rot and intense wild beast scent.

This was the bottom of Sin Beast Cliff.

I gritted my teeth and pulled my thigh off the branch bit by bit.

"Hiss--" I gasped in pain and fell heavily onto moss-covered rocks.

Before I could catch my breath, several pairs of eerie green eyes suddenly lit up in the darkness.

Hyenas.

The lowest scavengers at the cliff's bottom.

They'd caught the scent of blood and were drooling as they closed in on me.

I fumbled for a rock and gripped it tightly, staring them down.

Even if I die, I'm taking one with me.

Just as the lead hyena prepared to pounce --

"ROAR!"

A low, hoarse beast roar carrying terrifying pressure came from nearby.

The pack of hyenas fled whimpering with their tails between their legs, as if they'd seen some terrible monster.

I looked toward the sound.

A tall shadow emerged from the thick fog.

It was a man.

Or rather, a half-beast.

His upper body was bare, muscles coiled, covered with horrifying crisscrossing scars.

Most striking was his right leg -- below the knee, empty. He leaned on a crude black bone crutch, approaching me step by step.

He walked up to me, looking down from above. In the faint light, I finally saw his face clearly.

An extremely wild, handsome face, but with a claw mark on his left cheek so deep bone showed through, destroying the beauty and making it exceptionally fierce.

He had dark green vertical pupils.

A black panther.

I recognized him.

Dante Blackwood.

Once the greatest warrior of Beast Mountain, chief of the Black Panther Tribe.

Five years ago, while resisting the beast tide, he lost a leg and his face was ruined. Betrayed by his tribesmen, he was pushed off Sin Beast Cliff.

Everyone thought he was dead.

I never expected he'd survived and become the overlord of this cliff bottom.

"Lion Tribe scent." He spoke, his voice like sandpaper, ice-cold.

He lifted my chin with his crutch, looking at me like garbage. "Are those above throwing down trash like you now?"

I bit my lip and said nothing.

I didn't want to explain or beg for mercy.

He stared at me for a few seconds, seeming to find me uninteresting. He withdrew his crutch and turned to leave.

"Wait!" I don't know where I found the strength, but I lunged forward and grabbed his good leg.

His body stiffened. He looked down at me, killing intent flashing in his eyes. "Let go."

"No." I held on tight. "Take me with you. I can work. I know herbs. I can sew beast hides."

I knew that at this cliff bottom, an injured female like me wouldn't survive the night. Dante was my only chance at survival.

He sneered. "I don't need trash."

"I'm not trash!" I raised my head, looking straight into those terrifying vertical pupils. "I just can't bear children, but I can help you live better at this cliff bottom!"

He narrowed his eyes, seeming to assess my value. After a long while, he kicked me away.

"If you can keep up, come. Die halfway, and it's your bad luck."

With that, he walked away without looking back. I gritted my teeth, covered my bleeding thigh, and limped after him.