"If you think he's a problem," Samantha said defensively to the two males facing her down, "then we do have a problem. I'm not leaving him here to die alone." She held the bear cub closer to her chest protectively. "So you want to mate with him when he grows up?" St. Benjamin asked her wryly, "Because the way you're treating him right now means you're agreeing to make him your mate when he becomes of age." As he suspected she might, Samantha nearly dropped the child out of shock. "You think I'm trying to make an actual baby my mate?!" she sniped back at the scorpion. Looking back to the cub, she changed her tone to something more soothing, but still obviously worried. "You don't want to be my mate when you grow up, do you, little guy?" she asked the cub, nearly forgetting that she couldn't understand the bear-speak response that was all he could give her. She looked into his little black eyes and wasn't sure what she saw there aside from a child in need. "He might be too young to understand you now, Samantha," Spencer interjected more calmly than St. Benjamin had, "but if we aren't able to locate his parents, if he bonds to you and you raise him, it would be much more unusual if he didn't develop romantic feelings for you in that situation."

Ignoring the adult males' protests for the time being, Samantha turned back to camp holding her precious, scraggly burden even more tightly. "Then our second priority will be to find his parents," she said decisively, "but first, this little one needs to be cleaned up and fed. I won't leave a child to die if I'm able to prevent it, even if that's what's traditionally done here. If either of you disagree, you can feel free to travel without me. The two of us will make it on our own somehow." Both Spencer and St. Benjamin looked at her, their expressions inscrutable. "He's not your cub, Samantha," Spencer tried again to dissuade her. "He's someone's cub, Spencer, and I'll treat him as my own until we find his parents," she insisted. St. Benjamin remained speechless, his mind transporting him, unwilling, to his own abandonment after the decimation of his family so many years ago. His shell hadn't even hardened before he was sent to fend for himself or die trying. If he had been given the same chance as Samantha was offering to this young beastman, how different might his life have been?

"I'll go with you," St. Benjamin said before he could even finish his thought. "I'll be your guardian beast from now on, if you'll have me; I saved you twice before, and I will protect you again whenever you need it." Spencer's jaw dropped, and now he found himself unable to speak while he tried to wrap his mind around Benjamin's proposition. "What is a guardian beast?" Samantha asked the scorpion, "And what do you mean you've saved me twice? I remember you feeding me in the cave, but I don't remember anything else," she admitted. St. Benjamin closed his eyes as if searching for patience, and explained, "A guardian beast is a beastman who protects a female without being her mate. He travels with her, ensures her comfort, and most importantly of all, will give his life to keep her safe." He sighed before continuing; he never thought he would pledge himself as a guardian beast to anybody in his lifetime, but this was hardly the first time he had acted out of character since meeting Samantha. "After what you had what you called a 'panic attack' in the cave, you had a seizure. I've only seen beastmen have them before death, and when I couldn't stop your convulsions, I paralyzed you with my venom and held you still until Spencer returned," he finally confessed to her.

Samantha was nearly overwhelmed by all the new information she was getting, but she looked at St. Benjamin and tried to keep the tears out of her eyes. "You helped me live knowing that I could have kept my word to you sooner if you hadn't?" she asked him, her voice unsteady. "Well," he responded, not making eye contact, "that was also part of our promise, that I would help you survive. So will you accept me as your guardian beast, or not?" Samantha turned to him and closed the short distance she had created between them, and did her best to hug his body with her own without releasing the quickly tiring bear cub. "Yes, I accept you as my guardian beast, Benji," she responded, smiling against the bare skin of his chest. "Thank you," she said quietly, hoping only he would be able to hear her. "Okay, that's it," Spencer interjected, "What promise is it that you two made to each other? Why haven't either of you told me about it, if it's so important?" Samantha huffed, beginning to make her way back to the path they had strayed from, "It's not really your business, to tell you the truth. But if you want to know, I don't mind telling you. Benji?" she asked, seeking his permission to divulge the information to the curious fox.

Benjamin scooped Samantha and the cub up to help increase their speed. It was getting late, and both Samantha and her new addition needed rest and care. "If he wants to know, you can tell him," he said absentmindedly as he shifted his passengers into more comfortable positions in his arms. Samantha reached an arm around his back and secured the bear cub with her other arm, subconsciously petting both males after getting settled. She looked back to talk with Spencer, and tried to explain the promise that had led to her complicated relationship with a feral beastman. "So he wants to eat you," Spencer repeated, confused, "but you told him that he couldn't until you were already dead. He actually agreed to this, but instead of letting you die, he saved you on multiple occasions." The fox's eyes were boring holes in the back of Benjamin's head trying to understand the thought process that occurred in there. "You also told him that you'd take back your promise if he ever hurt me," he half whispered, further bewildered but also touched by Samantha's consideration. "That just about sums it up," Samantha agreed. "I'll get around to eating her on my own time," St. Benjamin's low voice boomed, obviously trying to avoid digging into any inconsistencies in their agreement.

"Whatever you say," Spencer said, still trying to wrap his head around just how Benjamin was going to be a guardian beast to someone he claimed was a tasty morsel he was saving for later. He shrugged and began to set up a camp for the night in a hole he was digging into a hillside, while St. Benjamin set Samantha and the cub down nearby and announced that he was going off to procure a meal for them all. Spencer sighed at the thought of one more mouth to feed on their journey and how much more time caring for a young cub would take them. These thoughts quickly vanished from his mind when he turned toward the fire he and Benjamin had lit for Samantha and the little one. Samantha had the filthy, emaciated bear lying belly-up in her lap and was playing with him, trying to distract him until their dinner was ready. Her hands danced around his little body, her fingers tickling him and lightly pressing each of the pads on his oversized paws. The unbridled maternal love that shone from her eyes was indeed a welcome distraction for the cub, but it also gave Spencer a brief and tender look into what Samantha would be like as a mother to her own cubs. Longing filled the fox's eyes as the desire for a family of his own consumed him; he had known since he met her that he wanted to have that family with Samantha, but seeing her like this planted the idea in his head that maybe she would truly cherish that family. He wasn't sure what it would be like to have cubs who were more than just a means to an end, as most beastmen children were, but these few moments were enough to prove to him that he would do anything necessary to find out.