I nodded and gulped, my throat feeling a bit dry, "I guessed...that I'm replacing...a chick. I'm a sheep. We are almost the same in term of intelligence, so I thought...I thought... I had a chance to...to take a chick's place, if...if she failed to please you, which...which she did, I guess, since, I'm here."
"And you thought you could do better?" she asked.
"Madam's mates...like me more...than the chick...so I started to think that, yes," I shared my conclusion with her, "I know...I know it's not true, but...but they keep making me think that maybe I'm not...not a total failure, and I'm starting to believe it."
I needed a hard slap of reality, and Madam was the perfect person to deliver it to me.
High expectations lead to high disappointments, so I should be careful to not let my hopes rise up too high.
It was the only thing I had, and I didn't want to lose it by being unrealistic. Small hopes, small dreams, that was the way to go for me. I should aim low, so when I do fail, I wouldn't feel so bad about it.
Madam was quiet for a moment, and I thought she was thinking about the best way to put me in my place. I patiently waited for her to speak.
She was probably angry that I dared to even suggest that I could do better than the last chick.
I heard her take a deep breath and let it out, "Are you dumb?" she asked, "Because I am starting to suspect that you are, in fact, very dumb."
"I'm not...smart," I assured her, "Madam seem to prefer to keep...dumb mates, so I assumed...I fit the requirements. Please correct me...if I'm wrong, Madam."
She called owners stupid a lot. Dumb, idiots, dumbasses, morons, all of those words. I thought she liked them for being dumb since she never broke up her bond with them over it.
Madam stayed silent as Baron burst in laughter.
"What our spouse's preferences say about her?" Moyu asked with a chuckle.
"It's not her fault that she is attracted to the dumbest ones?" Baron tried his best to continue his sentence through his laughing fit. "I can't...I can't even...hahahaha!"
It took me a moment to realize that they were laughing at Madam. They were laughing. At. Madam.
I felt a sudden fear for the owners' lives. Madam wouldn't hit them, right?
Madam sighed, then hit the top of my head with her chin, "Did I unconsciously make you feel welcomed?"
Her words made the owners laugh even harder.
"You? Unconsciously? No way," Baron said, still laughing, "You don't do anything unconsciously."
He suddenly tensed up and I turned to see what happened.
Madam was holding his tail, her hand dangerously close to its base. She tugged at it, making Baron howl, his laugh dying into a pitiful whine.
"What are you starting at, Buttercup?" she asked me and I quickly faced forward again, "Oh, you are afraid I will bite my mates, huh?" she leaned her chin on my shoulder, "I can take a joke at my expense as well as I give one. Or do you want me to bite you instead?"
I shook my head, "I'm...I'm not worth it."
Madam's hand slid from my waist to my side, her fingers feeling up my ribs through the thin fabric of my dress. It tickled and I squirmed, the feeling of being a prey returning.
"Let's get moving, we have to drop our guests off," she patted Baron's neck and he began to move again.
I thought Madam would kick and beat them up like she would with Vick or Karrak, but she didn't. She knew how to control her temper, how far to go, and when to stop.
She even seemed to like their laughter, smiling to herself.
I never heard her laugh like they did, but it was enough that she smiled.
She caught me looking at her side profile, and her smile disappeared. Her hand went for my head and pushed it forward, "If you are not going to focus on holding on, then I will just throw you off."
I quickly grabbed Baron's fur tighter, "I'm...I'm focusing. Very focused," blinking at the path ahead.
My body started to heat up, making it hard to focus on anything but Madam's presence.
My chest was fluttering, my stomach full of something other than the berries. Worms. It had to be worms in my stomach, making me feel all itchy and tingly.
I tried to focus, hyper focus on the trees, counting them like I used to count the stars at night when I needed a distraction from the pain.
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We reached the outskirt of the Kushan City in three hours. The sheep village was further away from the city, closer to the meadows where the herd could graze.
Baron lowered himself to the ground and I carefully slid off him, "You took it surprisingly well."
Compared to sitting on a dirty cage while moving with the circus, this was a luxurious ride. It felt nice to have the wind hit my face and Madam's warmth at my back.
"She fell asleep in the middle of the ride," Madam said, giving me a smug smile, "I think she can sleep through an earthquake if she has a mind to do it."
I bowed my head, sorry that she had to hold me for half the journey. I didn't even notice I had fallen asleep. I was sure I was focusing on counting the trees the whole time.
Baron turned into his human form, and we walked the rest of the way, his hand holding mine, "Hm?" He sniffed at the air, "I didn't know we were marking a new territory."
I blinked cluelessly as Moyu sent the sheep and the rams inside the village.
"Remember you are alive because of your females" Moyu warned the rams, who nodded in understanding.
If the herd didn't need the protection of the strong rams, then there was no need for them to be alive. Madam drilled that into their heads before.
Baron sniffed again, "It's the mix I gave Little Miss. How did it travel all the way here?"
I was wondering about how the urine I had used to mark the berry bushes had gone all the way here too, "Ah," I remembered.
╔═══ Author's note ════╗
Thank you for the Golden Ticket and Powersoned, and helping the Black Sheep's front page look less dead! 😭🙏
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