Reborn as a Side Character in the Beastworld

Chapter Thirty-one+

He did not let her go until she could no longer keep her eyes open. When he knew she could do no more, he laid her on the furs and gazed at the female who had become his mate. Her red hair clung to her glistening skin in sweaty strands. Her full lips parted softly in slumber and her eyelashes glistened with tears from their lovemaking. Her perfect breasts tempted him again as the nipples hardened from the cool air of the cavern. The planes of her flat stomach magnetically drew his eyes lower. She was covered in his seed and it gave him a strong sense of possessiveness.

He had waited many years to meet her. He wasn't quite sure how many as he had stopped keeping track after a century had passed. There were many females on the continent, but most were ugly both inside and out. It wasn't as though they were all born ugly, they simply allowed themselves to become that way as they feasted and festered on the backs of their males. Their skin oily, their hair greasy and their bellies always bulging with cubs or fat. Even their smell became as spoiled as their personalities. Those that took care of their appearance were worse. They demanded more and gave back little. They equated beauty to status and spared very little time on anyone but themselves. But even the most confident or the most kind female would shrink in fear at the sight of him. They would screech and flail even when he did naught but look at them.

If there existed a pretty female with a halfway decent personality, who did not immediately presume him to be a witless and violent beast, he had not met her. Until now. Bailey was that and more. She was beautiful, intelligent, and kind. And best of all, she did not allow the stereotypes of his race to prevent her from knowing him.

In all his memories and his ancestor's memories, such a female had not existed. His father and his father's father had taken their females by force and after reproducing with them, had killed them and then themselves. It was as though procreation was all that mattered and once that had been accomplished, it was better to end their own existences instead of forcing the female that they loved to exist together in pain and resentment. The memories he held allowed him to survive but they were also only filled with anguish, anger, and regret. He did not wish to pass such horrible emotions on to a next generation. To put it bluntly, it was illogical and stupid, and he lived desperately in a way that was different from them.

Not only had this female that lay before him accepted his selfish requests, but she had trusted him. She had only known him for a few days but in that time, she had watched and judged him to be someone of worth. Though he knew she had underestimated his strength at first, even after she discovered him to be stronger than her other males, she had allowed herself to be vulnerable but never weak. He had already been in awe at her treatment of her cub and mates but to be on the receiving end of such treatment felt too good to be true.

So, when she stood before him frail, naked and completely trusting, he could not believe it to be reality until he had held her multiple times. Even now he wanted to touch her, to make sure she was real and not a figment of his lonely imagination. But there it was, his mark. Like a delicate torc, the tail started at the collarbone, wrapped around her neck and slithered down her chest in search of her heart in the shape of an upside down triangle. Reliance. She not only cared for him but relied upon him as well. No one had ever trusted him enough to rely on him. But she did. In his heart, he vowed to never let her down.

Using a sea sponge her leopard mate had recovered from their destroyed hut and the fresh water from the underground river, he wiped his other marks from her skin. She moaned and turned away from the cold but did not wake. Once she was clean, he wrapped her in the warm furs and extracted his box from the fire. The resin had melted, and he could now open it. Inside were a tenth of the gems he'd amassed over the years and beneath that, one of his molted skins. He took one emerald and slipped it into her mouth. She mumbled and sucked his fingers as it melted, eliciting a reaction in his lower half. The scar on her face faded and disappeared. He shifted his legs into a tail and got comfortable. The clothes would be done by the time she woke. Even though he could not make her a queen, when the City of Beasts laid eyes upon her again, they would bow in envy of her beauty.

***

Note from the author-

Thank you for reading up to this point!

I have discovered that writing a chapter a day causes major eye strain and so, I must ask that you forgive me if I am not able to upload one some days.

I do not want the quality of my writing to get worse for the sake of speed.

I really love reading all of your comments. Sometimes I think your comments are better than the chapter itself! Shout out to those of you who post multiple comments on one chapter. You know who you are. I love you. ><

As always, I hope you continue to enjoy Bailey's story.

With love,

KT