Serena watched as a tall woman with grey cat ears and tail walked over to the siblings. She had sharp golden eyes and if not for that sneer on her face, Serena would've thought she was quite cute.
Although her hygiene needed some work. Not that Serena could say much, also covered in grime and wearing a matted animal fur. However, she would change that once she was done dealing with these bullies.
Behind the beastwoman was a group of four beastmen following her. They too had similar cat features as the woman, Serena noting their stripes.
Three with four stripes and one with five stripes. This would be troublesome.
But Serena wasn't going to back down. Now that she was going to defend her brother from being bullied, she'd stick to it until the end.
"That mark on his cheek says that someone hit him." Serena murmured as she gazed at the other woman with cold eyes. "Are you responsible for hitting my brother?"
"My cubs were just messing around with him." The woman scoffed. "What's a little roughhousing between males? Perhaps that's why your family died. You pamper males, allowing them to be weak."
Serena gritted her teeth at the woman's words, thinking about how harsh they were. Their family didn't die because they were weak, but because of this tribe. They had been forced to help rescue other families instead of their own.
Anger boiled in her blood as she soon realized who this woman was.
According to the original owner's memories, this beastwoman was called Sarah. She was the tribe's chief's daughter and Old Mary's granddaughter. A spoiled brat who saw herself above all the females within the tribe.
She liked bullying others and particularly enjoyed tormenting the siblings. Especially after Matthew, the original owner's dead mate, chose Serena over her. Sarah's pride was wounded and she took it out on the two.
Even going as far as requesting that Serena be sold off when the tribe became desperate for resources.
Serena was cautious at first, but now she knew she had to settle old scores before she left this dreaded place with Kiro. Otherwise, she would not be able to live well in this new body.
"S-sister…" Kiro turned to her and gripped her arm tightly. "Let's just leave this. I'm fine…"
Serena glanced down at him and gave him a small pat on the head. "It's okay, Kiro. I said I won't let anyone bully you and I meant it. Tell me. Was it just roughhousing?"
"I…" Kiro looked down, fidgeting with his hands nervously. He glanced over at Sarah and her mates before looking back down at the ground. "They were hitting me for no reason-"
"Look at this fool!" One of Sarah's beast husbands laughed. "You pamper him too much! So, what if he gets hurt? It's just messing around between males. Don't interfere in male business."
Serena raised an eyebrow at his words before she smirked. "Is that so?"
"Yes." Sarah declared, crossing her arms over her torso. "We females shouldn't interfere in male business."
"I suppose you're right." Serena mused, taking a step towards Sarah.
The group watched her in confusion as she edged closer to them, not understanding what she was doing. Taking advantage of the situation, Serena moved before anyone could stop her.
Slap!
She backhanded Sarah across the face, a sense of peace filling her as she did so. Serena then moved again, grabbing the other woman by the neck and placing a sharp nail on her jugular vein.
"How dare you slap me?!" Sarah screamed as the males around her growled in warning.
They were on edge, ready to attack Serena. Thankfully though, the laws of the beastworld prevented them from doing anything. Otherwise, this gamble of hers would've ended in death.
Still, she needed to be cautious. After all, they were cornered animals.
Around them, the beastmen who were passing by all stopped to watch the scene unfold. Some of them were frozen in shock, others keen to see where this would go. Whispers among the other beastmen soon filled Serena's ears.
"Are they fighting?"
"Serena must have lost it after losing her mate. Will she really harm Sarah?"
"Even if she's a female, she can't do that."
"So vicious."
As the beastmen around them spoke, Serena noticed one run off, clearly going to notify the tribe chief about what was going on. An idea popped into her head then, realizing she could kill two birds with one stone.
"I suggest you watch your tone with me." Serena murmured with a sharp smile, turning her attention back to a whimpering Sarah. "Otherwise my finger could accidentally slip and cut your lifeforce off."
"How dare you threaten our female-" One of the beast husbands edged closer.
But stopped when Serena dug her nail into Sarah's neck, causing the skin to break. Sarah went pale and screamed, "Keep quiet! You're all useless!"
Slap!
Using her free hand, Serena delivered another backhand across Sarah's other cheek, feeling a little satisfied by the action. Sarah cried, tears streaming down her puffy, red face.
"Now let's settle this matter between us females alright. No need to have males interfere." Serena said. She then glanced over at the beast husbands and added, "Don't interfere in female business. This is just between me and your mate."
The one with five stripes gritted his teeth and spat out, "What do you want?!"
"Didn't I tell you this is female business." Serena muttered, tightening her hold on Sarah's neck making her gasp her for air. "You say females shouldn't interfere in male business, but you think males should interfere in female business. What logic is that?"
"Urgh!" Sarah choked, her going pale as she weakly clawed at Serena's hand. "S-stop!"
"Serena, you-" The five striped male started when the tribe chief appeared.
The middle-aged man exclaimed, "Serena, do you wish to be expelled from this tribe?! How dare you lay a finger on another female?!"
"It's just some roughhousing." Serena shrugged her shoulders. "No one complains when Sarah hits the other females and cubs, so why are you acting up now? Why can't I hit Sarah a few times? She's hit me plenty of times before. Besides, this is a matter between females. Why are you, a male, interfering?"
"Tsk!" The tribe chief clicked his tongue, not expecting Serena to suddenly become quick witted. "You…"
The original owner was a pushover among females and easily taken advantage of. She would allow the bullying to continue, not wanting to cause trouble. But things were different now.
Finally the tribe chief muttered, "Let go of her now! Otherwise, you'll be expelled from here! This is not mere roughhousing between females. You cannot disobey me, the tribe chief, unless you want to be expelled."
He sneered at her as he shouted those words, thinking they were enough to scare Serena. What he did not realize was that he had walked right into Serena's trap.
"Fine, expel me and my brother then." Serena stated, glancing over at some tiger beastmen heading over to the scene. "We no longer have ties to this tribe and are wandering beastmen."
"Sister?" Kiro tugged on her animal fur skirt in worry. "We can't leave the tribe…"
Serena smiled at him. "We can. This tribe is not worthy of us."