My Life as a Beast Keeper

---- Chapter 12 "Millions? You don't look like you're worth the price." Clayton stood, eyeing Salem with interest. "Do you know where to bite down on your throat to make someone quiet?" Clayton took a step forward. "Or how to make a beastkin vanish without a trace? Only a lowly beastkin like me would know, right?" Salem sensed the warning bells. He took a nervous step back, his tail flicking anxiously. "What are you trying to do?" "What can I do?" Clayton shrugged. "I'm just a lowly beastkin." No sooner had the words left his mouth than he lunged at Salem.

Terrified, Salem instantly shifted into his beast form. The black wolfhound instinctively lunged at Clayton, its sharp teeth sinking viciously into his arm. Clayton was knocked into the coffee table, shattering it with a sharp crack as glass shards scattered across the floor. Salem was stunned. He wasn't expecting Clayton's move ---- to bea feint. When Mom heard the commotion and rushed out, she saw Clayton pinned to the ground by Salem in his beast form, blood gushing from his wounds. "What's going on here?" Clayton clutched his bloodied arm, his face ashen as he struggled to rise.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Manfred. I've been too clingy toward Layla, and it upset Salem. I'll be more careful from now on." I feigned ignorance as I descended the stairs. "Clayton, what happened to you?" I asked in mock surprise. "Miss..." Clayton lowered his gaze and pursed his lips, looking weak and vulnerable. "It's fine. It's just a scratch. I've had worse in the arena before." I desperately bit back the urge to tease Clayton. Yesterday, he kept claiming he wasn't jealous or bothered, but he was scheming how to frame Salem today. Salem stammered, "N-No, Layla, he attacked me first!

He's framing me! You believe me, right?" "Framing you?" I applied pressure to Clayton's wound. " If he wanted to hurt you, why are you standing here unscathed?" ---- Salem was on the verge of tears again. "Layla... I didn't do anything wrong. Honest!" Mom snatched up her phone angrily. "I'm calling the vendor right now to return him!" "No need, Mom. I already checked. The return window's closed." I tended to Clayton's wound. " A friend of mine wants a show-quality beastkin. I'll just sell Salem to him." Mom hesitated, but relented. "Fine.

He's yours anyway." "Layla..." Salem's face was full of despair. "You're willing to sell me off for him? You clearly like me. You used to have nightmares often. You'd only sleep better clutching my tail. "In your diary, you wrote about how lonely you felt in your new home. You wrote that you were thankful for me, even though I didn't like you. You'd secretly touch my ears while I sleep. You once drunkenly asked why I didn't like you and always sided with Lisa. "Layla, I refuse to believe you feel nothing for me." I wasn't as carefree as I made myself out to be.

Despite being 23, I felt uneasy returning to this strange new home alone. ---- I still felt sad seeing my parents favor Lisa. The thought of her taking over the life that should've been mine still filled me with anger. When I learned my birthday present was a beastkin, I was genuinely overjoyed. I placed my hopes on Salem, but he ultimately crushed them bit by bit. "You're overthinking it." I met his gaze calmly. "To me, you're nothing but a disloyal hound." There was no harm in letting him go.