From Sugar Baby to the Hunter's Mate

The boyfriend I loved for years handed me over to a gang of vicious kidnappers.

He held the unconscious girl, his one that got away, tightly in his arms and turned his back on me without a second of hesitation. The gang leader set up a camera.

He unbuckled his belt, a sick grin twisting his face as he backed me into a corner. "This is what happens when you cross the wrong people." His filthy hand reached for me.

I let out a long, heavy breath. "Is Tristan gone?" I glanced around the empty space. My bones cracked and expanded.

I shifted into a massive, towering python and swallowed the terrified gang leader in one single bite. His goons collapsed to their knees. Their legs gave out completely.

I swallowed them down one by one, tossing them into my mouth like popcorn. Chapter 1 "Burp." I let out a loud burp. I didn't rush to shift back into my human form.

I lounged lazily on the ground, letting my heavy stomach digest the meal. Ever since I got together with Tristan, I hadn't used my true form for years.

Mom warned me since I was a hatchling. Never eat random trash. If I did, I would either get struck by divine lightning or hunted down by a monster hunter.

My aunt made that mistake once. She accidentally snacked on a guy with a golden aura. A monster hunter caught her and left her pickled in a jar.

Since then, the Viper Clan hid deep in the dense forests. We only started coming out again in the last few decades. Mom said the outside world was different now.

Illiterate snakes were useless. As soon as I learned to shift into a human, she shipped me off to school. That was where I fell in love with human food.

I eventually made it to college, moving from the middle of nowhere to a massive city. The food options multiplied. And that was where I met Tristan.

The first time we met, he stared at me for a long time. His eyes locked onto my face.

I didn't know it back then, but it was because I bore a striking resemblance to his one that got away. All I knew was that he chased after me like a man possessed.

My college roommates gossiped about him constantly. Tristan was a famous trust fund baby in New York City. He was gorgeous, and his reputation was spotless. No scandals.

They told me to grab the chance. I didn't care about the flowers or the expensive jewelry he bought me. I returned every single gift in its original box.

Then I turned around and took a job as a waitress at a hotel restaurant. I ate too much, too fast. Two months into the semester, my living expenses were already wiped out.

I called Mom. She claimed she was broke too and told me to get a job. "You are fully grown now, Lina.

If you want to stay in human society, you have to earn your own keep." What a useless ancient spirit. Hundreds of years alive and she didn't have a dime in savings. I had no choice.

I sneaked my way into the hotel staff. The internet said waitresses could sneak bites of the leftover food from the guests. Chapter 2 Getting full and getting paid.

It was the perfect job. But just as I was raiding the untouched leftovers in a private dining room, I bumped into Tristan. He had come back. He stared at me in shock.

Half a lobster tail hung from my mouth. Silence stretched between us before he suddenly laughed. "Lina.

Let me buy you dinner." That was the first time anyone ever offered to buy me a meal. He ordered a massive feast.

The table groaned under the weight of expensive seafood and exotic dishes. Tristan watched in utter disbelief as I wiped out every single plate.

The cigarette between his fingers trembled. "I couldn't tell. You really can eat." "Good thing I can afford it.

Lina, do you want to try dating me?" "Whatever you want to eat from now on, it is on me." The moment those words left his mouth, his face suddenly became incredibly attractive.

I wiped my mouth. The temptation was too strong. "Deal." After that, I moved out of the dorms and into a massive villa Tristan set up for me. It came with two professional chefs.

They cooked a huge spread for me every single day. I gnawed on a chicken leg while video calling Mom. "Mom, look. I got a boyfriend.

He bought me a house and covers all my meals." "I never have to work at that hotel again." Mom narrowed her eyes, instantly suspicious. "Lina, are you getting scammed?" I paused and pulled a completely clean chicken bone from my mouth. "I do not think so?

Tristan is really nice to me. Free food, free rent, and he gives me eighty thousand a month for pocket money." "He is way more generous than you." She scoffed. "Whatever.

Just be careful. You never know what humans are really thinking." "If things get dangerous, you run. Understand?" "Relax.

I know what I am doing." I waved off her unnecessary worrying. The crushed diamonds on my new bracelet caught the light, nearly blinding her through the screen.

She stared at me for a long time. "Did your boyfriend buy you that too?" I nodded.

Realization washed over her face. "Lina, you are a sugar baby for a rich guy." "A sugar baby?" I tilted my head.

I tried to dig through all the human relationships I had studied. "Isn't this just keeping a pet?" I wasn't completely sure. Because I was a snake.

Being a sugar baby sounded weird for a reptile.

But keeping a pet snake made total sense. "Who cares what it is called," Mom said. "Since he gives you eighty grand a month, transfer me eight hundred.

I just figured out online shopping. Send some cash." It was hard to imagine how she stayed so broke after living for hundreds of years.

I opened my banking app and transferred her thirty thousand. "Spend it.

Ask me for more when you run out." Tears welled up in her eyes. "Lina, you made it." We spent Tristan's money and lived a lazy, gluttonous life for four years.

There were rumors going around campus during that time. Tristan shut them all down with one sentence, declaring I was his girlfriend.

He treated me well, so I wanted to return the favor. Two years ago, Tristan's business rivals found an opening and kidnapped him.

Chapter 3 I broke into that abandoned factory alone and dragged him out. His right hand was a mangled mess of blood and torn flesh.

To heal him, I burned through every last drop of my spiritual energy. I couldn't even maintain my human form anymore. I had to carry him to a safe spot, then slither away to hide.

Luckily, Tristan was unconscious. He didn't see me turn back into a snake. He would have been terrified. I shifted my massive body now, looking up at the thick canopy of leaves.

My head was full of memories of Tristan. Not long ago, he took me to a gathering. He said he wanted to introduce me to his friends.

I still remember the amused, mocking looks on their faces when I walked into the private dining room. They joked right in front of me, not holding back at all. "See? Told you.

Tris still can't get over Nina." "Look at that face. She looks just like her. But Nina has way more class." "I heard Nina is coming back to the country next month.

When are you dumping this cheap knockoff?" I didn't understand all their words, but the malice radiating off them was thick. Tristan's face darkened. He snapped. "Enough.

I brought Lina here to meet you, not for you to bully her." "Anyone says one more word, we are done." The room fell dead silent. It seemed they finally realized he was serious.

They shifted in their seats and quickly changed the subject. I sat in that private dining room, feeling their eyes crawling over me, picking me apart.

Someone tried to force drinks on me, but Tristan blocked them. When I went to the restroom, a girl in a designer dress cornered me. "Don't think you can actually replace her.

Nina is the one he loves. You are just a prop to make her jealous." "Wake up and face reality.

Leave him before she gets back, or you are going to look like a complete joke." I blinked at her. "Who is Nina?" She froze.

Her voice pitched up in disbelief. "You don't even know who Nina is?" After her passionate explanation, I finally understood. Antonina. Nina. His childhood friend.

His one that got away. They had a massive fight years ago. She went abroad for school, and they broke up. Tristan didn't date anyone for a long time. Until he met me.

The girl sneered. "If you didn't look like her, why would he ever pick you? Know your place. Stop acting like you are his actual girlfriend." She turned and walked away.

My chest tightened. The air suddenly felt too thin to breathe. I remembered a night Tristan got drunk. He held me tight, his words slurring as he mumbled against my hair. Nina.

He didn't say Lina. He said Nina. A month later, Antonina actually returned to the country. Tristan changed. His mind was completely somewhere else.

Half the time, he stared right through me, not hearing a single word I said.

I rested my chin on my hand and looked at him. "Do you miss her?" Chapter 4 Through his friends' relentless gossip, I finally pieced together exactly how much Tristan used to love Nina.

He skipped classes for her and fought his parents. He secretly flew her out of the country for the most romantic eighteenth birthday. He was young back then.

His entire youth revolved around Antonina. When I brought it up, Tristan froze. He shook his head. "Don't talk about her.

We are completely over." "You are the only one I want now, Lina." He rejected her calls. He turned down invitations to parties.

He acted like his heart was made of stone, refusing to see her even once. Until the news of her kidnapping broke. Tristan's hands shook.

He shoved me aside and sprinted out of the villa like a madman. "Nina—" The kidnappers sent a video. Nina was tied to a chair, unconscious. Tristan's eyes were bloodshot.

He stared unblinking at the screen. Using a distorted voice, the kidnapper demanded thirty million in ransom. They also demanded a trade.

Me for her. "Let's see who matters more to the wealthy heir." Tristan's jaw clenched. His fist slammed into the table. "It has to be the Li family. They kidnapped me before.

They are still at it." "I am sorry, Lina. I can't let Nina get hurt." The next second, he ordered his men to knock me out. They shoved my limp body into a car.

Why didn't he just ask me? Nina was important to him. But he was important to me too. If he had just asked me for help, I wouldn't have said no.

But he didn't want to hear a single word from me. He handed me directly to the kidnappers. During the exchange, Nina was a mess.

She saw him and sobbed. "Tris… you finally came." Tristan's eyes shattered with heartbreak. He pulled her tightly into his arms, holding her like a lost treasure.

Nina closed her eyes and fainted against his chest. Tristan acted like nothing else existed.

He scooped her up and rushed to his car. "To the hospital!" The car sped away, leaving me tied up, surrounded by seven or eight vicious kidnappers. A piece of cake