Felicity's Beast World Apocalypse-Chapter 44: Ivans Team

Victor’s gaze locked onto the handshake, his eyes narrowing to slits.

Behind Felicity, Damien’s scaled tail coiled possessively around her ankle.

At her side, Voss’s fingers drifted toward her hair, hovering protectively.

Across from them, every member of Snow team went rigid, muscles tightening in unison.

The two teams regarded each other, seven men lined behind Ivan and Legend, Victor and his group crouched behind their vanguard. For all the grins, every hand was near a weapon, every smile a brandished blade.

Ivan did not release Felicity’s hand immediately. Not long enough to make it a challenge.

Just long enough that people who watched predators for a living noticed.

His grip shifted slightly instead of letting go outright. His thumb brushed once across the side of her knuckle as if he were testing the weight of something delicate.

Felicity noticed the warmth of his hand more than the gesture. His skin was rougher than Victor’s. Scarred across the knuckles. Heat radiated from him the way heat radiated from big predators that moved too much muscle through the world.

She looked up at him.

Just a fraction too long.

Ivan’s gaze sharpened.

Something in his posture changed without him realizing it. His shoulders squared slightly. His breathing slowed. The casual slouch he had been wearing like armor straightened into something more deliberate.

Legend noticed first. He glanced sideways at Ivan.

Then at Felicity.

Then back again.

Interesting.

Felicity withdrew her hand politely "Nice to meet you," she said.

Ivan did not answer right away.

His eyes stayed on her face for half a second longer than necessary before he looked away toward Victor again.

That was the moment Voss noticed. Voss noticed everything.

His eyes slid from Ivan’s face to Felicity’s expression. Her gaze had lingered longer than usual. Not flirtation. Not interest in the obvious sense.

Curiosity.

That bothered him more.

Curiosity meant attention.

Attention meant possibility.

His hand moved fully to her hair this time.

Not pulling.

Just resting there.

The weight of it was unmistakable.

Felicity leaned into the touch unconsciously.

Ivan noticed that too. He shifted his stance slightly. The movement placed him half a step in front of his own men.

Legend’s eyebrow lifted.

Ivan had not intended to do that.

He realized it half a second later and stepped back again, clearing his throat quietly.

Victor did not miss any of it. His gaze stayed level. His voice stayed calm. But the air around him cooled several degrees. The silence stretched just long enough for the hierarchy to become visible.

Victor stood unmoving.

Damien coiled tighter at Felicity’s side.

Voss adjusted his stance to block half her body from Ivan’s sightline.

Kai leaned casually against the tree behind them, but his eyes had sharpened.

He was not watching Ivan.

He was watching Victor.

Status.

Victor had not corrected Ivan.

Victor had not warned him.

Victor had simply looked at him.

Ivan felt it.

His posture adjusted again without conscious thought.

His shoulders squared.

His chin lifted a fraction.

Kai’s mouth curved faintly.

That was interesting.

Ivan did not realize he had just reacted to Victor like a subordinate predator recognizing a larger one.

"Let’s not be idiots," Ivan finally said, tone shifting from dangerous to bored. "If we fight, we all lose. If we don’t, we still might die but at least someone might make it through."

Victor nodded. A few steps closer, both teams relaxed their stances by half a centimeter. It was a massive gesture by apocalypse standards.

"What are you offering?" Voss asked, soft but not meek. "You could have rolled us in the night if you wanted."

Ivan shrugged. "You’re good. We’re light on bodies. You have children, and a woman."

The word sounded strange coming out of his mouth, like a foreign object rolling over his tongue.

"We follow, we stand in front when shit goes bad."

He looked at Victor.

"You get the plans, we get the scraps. And maybe.."

His eyes flicked to Felicity again.

Then away.

"something better."

Victor’s team tensed like predators scenting blood.

Damien’s tail tightened harder around Felicity’s ankle.

Kai leaned forward slightly against the tree beside him.

That movement alone was enough to draw several eyes.

Kai rarely leaned.

He usually lounged.

His attention had shifted fully now.

Not to Ivan.

To Felicity.

Because Felicity was looking again.

Not boldly.

Just another quiet glance in Ivan’s direction.

Kai’s mouth curved faintly.

Status.

That was the interesting part. Ivan was not part of the team. Which meant the team reacted differently.

Victor did not move.

Damien tightened.

Voss stepped closer.

Kai watched the hierarchy tighten like a net. That was compelling.

Victor’s team tensed like predators scenting blood, ready to tear Ivan apart for what he’d said about Felicity. A single sharp gesture from Victor halted them mid motion.

Meanwhile, Felicity had already slipped behind Voss, using his tall frame as a shield from the brewing conflict.

"Something better? ME?" Tommy’s voice cracked with feigned outrage, sending Ivan’s team into fits of laughter.

The tension shifted slightly.

Not gone.

Just redirected.

Ivan watched Felicity disappear behind Voss. His jaw flexed once.

He did not realize he had started standing straighter again.

Legend absolutely noticed.

Victor didn’t answer right away.

Felicity felt the tension return, like a string winding back up.

Instead it was Ash who spoke, surprising her.

"What about the thing just outside your camp. You know it’s watching."

Ivan’s eyes went narrow, then wide.

"You saw it?"

"Two last night. One’s circling now. Not a regular rotter," Ash said. "Could be a variant."

Ivan licked his lips "Bet you a packet of coffee it’s waiting for you," he said, but he wasn’t smiling anymore.

"Smart," Damien said. "Means we have time. Means it’s learning."

"Which is why we need to move," Victor said, locking eyes with Ivan. "You take the left, we’ll go right. Meet at the bridge."

"One more thing." Ivan’s voice cut through the dawn like cold steel "That fox. It’s why you’re alive, isn’t it?"

Felicity blinked rapidly, her eyebrows drawing together.

"Huh? What do you mean?" she asked, the corners of her mouth lifting in a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Victor’s hand tightened on her shoulder. His fingers pressed down just enough that she felt it through her coat.

Grounding.

Possession.

Warning.

Ivan noticed the touch. He looked away immediately.

Which was interesting.

The others circled in, and for a moment, the two teams formed a perfect ring, the fragile treaty sealed by mutual suspicion and the sharp, unspoken rule of the wasteland: live together, if only for another day.

Marx winked at her on the way out.

Ivan did not. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

But he glanced back once.

Just once.

And when he did, Voss saw Felicity looking too.

Voss’s jaw tightened.

Only slightly.

Enough.

That night, in the ruined shell of a supermarket, Felicity watched from her perch as Ivan’s men argued over cans of beans, and Victor’s team mapped the coming route with old business cards and road salt.

She let her laughter float up, careless and airy, drawing all their eyes at once. Most of them thought she was oblivious. Harmless.

Only her husbands clocked the lie.

Victor saw the calculation behind the smile.

Damien saw the bait.

Voss saw the attention she was drawing.

Sarge saw the hierarchy shifting around it.

Across the store Ivan stopped arguing mid sentence. His men kept talking. He was no longer listening.

His attention had drifted again. Toward the sound of her laughing. He realised it a second too late.

His jaw tightened.

He finished the argument louder than necessary.

Victor looked up from the map at that exact moment. Their eyes met across the ruined supermarket.

Neither spoke.

Neither looked away.

Between them Felicity laughed again.

Light in the middle of two packs of predators.

Ash leaned forward slowly.

This was going to get very complicated.

And no one here was stupid enough to pretend otherwise.

Tomorrow,

she’d have to be sharper.

Tonight,

she had to be the bait.