Warning: Sexual Content, Hinting Zoophilia, Violence, Blood.

(Skippers start at ***)

I have an announcement to make so no summary today

Luca:

It’s irresponsible of a doctor to be away from his village in this weather.

I know.

I still couldn’t bring myself to leave.

Spending daytime with my brother was me being polite to Kaywin. I only slept there because I got verbal apporoval to and, well, it’s hard to bear my nights without her. I tried not to take their meals also. But she keeps saving me a portion. How could I refuse such care?

O my love keeps soaring...

I was headed to her Elle, ardently rambling about today’s lobster dumplings, “They made a red oil with chili flakes and deities know which part of fish that they call the fish sauce. I didn’t eat anything all day to let the amazing taste linger.”

Brother was silent, too silent, until we reached the neighborhood; then suddenly he was grabbing my chin so tight, my lips puckered and he used the window to shove 2 fingers in. I couldn’t even groan properly before he pulled out and licked on them!                                                                                                                            

The shameless beast dares moan in approval!

“You! How could you-”

Brother shushed, “She hates me to the core. How will I taste her cooking if not like this?”

“Try it again and I’ll break that hand!”

“Wait on that, weakling. I’ll gain a 3rd stripe by the time you dare.”

So what? I know secrets you don't. Before your 3rd happens, I’ll gain a 2nd. Let’s have a fair battle then, humph!

Our banter came to a halt as a chaos of scents assaulted us.

“Zayn, QingQing, Kaywin and...”

Brother patted my back knowingly, “wanna stand guard for her? With all four engaged...”

As much as we were linked by blood, he too liked the same female after all.

However, we found Muhr at the fence entrance, glaring at anyone who passed.

Brother scoffed again, “that explains why the doors, windows and even the trees inside are void of eavesdropping brats. Pss~ He is confused between 2 females and now standing guard while both mate with someone else... what a fate.”

The pitiful eagle relaxed recognizing us. I nudged my brother not to, yet he just couldn’t help his mischievous nature and jeered, “Senior Muhr, we didn’t end our debate last time. Let’s have a test. Out of both couple, which female’s voice sounds more physically alluring?”

Muhr glanced at 2 sections once before turning to glare at us, “I didn’t stand here to have obscene conversations. If you want to stay, guard their yard. I’ll be here.”

“He looked at ‘that’ side first!” making a ‘told you so’ face, brother skipped off to the backyard, leaving me baffled.

“I see that young soldier always hanging around you. He’s your...?”

“Brother,” I admitted.

“Of different litter? You look surprisingly close.”

I would’ve admitted affirmatively but my brother’s retort came from nowhere, “Don’t be ridiculous, senior. I’ll kill him the very day he stands in my way.”

That might just be true.

With that we parted ways, each absorbed in our own thoughts.

Albeit we all commonly pitied Kaywin. The amount of agony in his relentless roars proved how much Ash was challenging his sanity.

Damn that enchantress.

Same thought was swirling inside said pitiful tiger’s mind. He was indeed in great agony as his mate, said enchantress; was hell bent on turning him into an insane beast, that’ll become a threat to her health.

“I’m so sorry, love. I got jealous of your blade and ended up being very rude to you.”

She looked up with glittering eyes, the smile stretched on her kiss swollen lips more enticing than usual, “Oh shush. You are so charming when jealous,” a groan formed in my throat as she turned on my lap to playfully rest her elbows on my shoulder, “I never knew you had it in you. It was so magical, like my own version of Zade Medows* came down to me. As I thought, only fictional men can live up to other fictional-“

A thin flicker of blood graced the beauty of her pale golden stomach as my palm unconsciously pressed on her blade. Her eyes popped in horror noticing the blade now snapped in pieces, slapping it away from my hold only to... lick and kiss the shallow nick on my palm?

“Aren’t you mad I broke a keepsake you carried from your home-planet?”

“What? That junk served its purpose enough! Don’t you ever grab the wrong side like that!”

“But it’s already...”

I showed her my smooth palm. Only a red line remains as reminder of blood’s passage.

She twisted her jaw as if envious of my fast healing, but glossed it over by melting in my arms.

“So," I asked after a pause, "who’s this Zade?” 

“Also a book character. He’s a giant like you, mismatched eyes, scarred face and a psychopath who likes to include guns and knives and cigars- wait. Did you break my blade jealous over a fictional man?”

I avoided her eyes, mumbling, “So was I until I wasn’t. Who says he won’t materialize...“ suddenly, rage was soaring in my blood.

Her pretty black eyes popped with mirth as she pretended to run from me again, sending me back into the loop of hip-thrusting mania I barely freed of.

Next she bit my ear, then she started prancing like a lazy feline- even licking her fingers and grooming her hair with her feet to play the part, then she found the audacity to chase my tail just so she could get me to take her again. And again. AND AGAIN!

Hung on the verge of losing my wits from the pleasure of her soft walls pulsing around me, I cradled her small body still wracked with tremors of ‘orgasmic euphoria’ -or so she calls it.

“Love, you like the eagle? I saw you on his back the other day.”

Let’s talk about repellent things. That should clear our mind.

“Um-hmm.”

“Or you might want the doctor? He’s very... cute right?”

“Cute? Hmm...”

Is she angry? Annoyed maybe?

“And you know Hue? That kid who was picking flowers now tries to pick a fight with me on your-”

“Sexy~” the corner of her eyes finally folded in merriment, making me wonder if she favors the wolf; only to be assaulted with, “your voice is so sexy, Kitten. The post nut charm sure working wonders~”

Ash remembers the pain and distress that accompanied her for years after she lost v!rginity to Jonas. She was so sure of never being able to engage physically again. Yet here she was, wanting a man with such a fervent urgent need- morality, rationality, sanity and all other ‘TY’-s in the world has left betrayed by her.

She pressed her body back on his torso, kissing his face wet as she announced, “Kitten! Beast up for me!”

“Hey! What type of demand is- "

"OHO~ Just turn into the beast and pounce on me la~"

"I’m not hurting you!”

“When has your tiger ever hurt me?”

“You mean my other form?”

Her whole demeanor sparkled as if I just presented her absolute ruling over the world, making my head spin.

Many years later, when someone asked Kaywin about the most conflicting moment of his life, he mentioned this night. It was the darkest yet the fondest of his memories. It was a night he never wanted to remember nor forget.

“I still remember yelling at her," he said, "have you gone crazy? Don't you know how much bigger I am in that form? She had answered- For you? I was long since. And if I’m crazy, I’m dragging you down with me. I had retorted with a scoff and a kiss and- I was far more crazier from the moment I met her. After that... the things I did to her that night... I had fully succumbed to my beastly nature and I can never admit those deeds to anyone. That was a wild night, with my wild wife, whom I’m still wildly in love with.”

***

“Jiejie! What the hell did you do to our house!”

Ash felt her eyes crying to snap back closed as she struggled to adjust to the light. The surface under her cheek felt hard- the woody scent helping her wonder if it was any of their tables. Over her was a cocoon of blanket, made warmer by the busy sun pouring through their window.

“Oh. Our Xiao Bai came too? Have seat, I made breakfast.”

Finally sensing her husband’s presence, her eyes raised a white flag, putting the fight to an end by opening wide.

Now that a spare kitchen has been built outside, QingQing’s living room was transformed into the dining room- and Ash was sitting in it.

She faintly remembered walking into the room herself but why and when was a blurry memory.

As if responding to her thoughts, her stomach twisted into itself.

Sloshing saliva in her mouth, she chased a taste of honey and char. Ash remembered having a blast from the particular flavor but when...

“Jeifu! You don’t say a word. There’s a broken knife beside your window, multiple stab holes on the freaking stone wall, a corner of your mattress is clawed and spilling cotton and the tub is in slabs! There’s water everywhere in your section with bouts of red and whites and who knows what else mixed in. What the hell did you two- Oh MY GOD-” Horror struck her whole body, roaming from the strands of her hair visibly down her limbs as she watched Ash stretch the blanket away from her body in belated yawn, “Did you guys get into a fight?”

“Mon dieu, Bai. Why so much noise early in the morning?”

“First of all it’s not early, the sun has been above our heads for hours.” Zayn mused from behind QingQing, helping the poor child in shock to reset her joints into sitting position, “Secondly, just look at you.”

Ash took a look at Kaywin. His torso, being visible due to beast-male’s usual half-naked attire, was strewn with red -a few blue bruises. The area around his neck, lips and nipples had faint bite marks so did Ash’s. Her condition was worse actually. Starting with bruises more blue or violet than red; teeth scratches mostly in the size of soft balls; the horizontal mark on her waist was still visible with the addition of a few dark hand prints on either side, as if someone had gripped her too hard or for too long ...or maybe both?

“We just-” Ash cleared her throat, “-had some fun last night.”

“Fun? Jiejie! This is too hardcore!”

“As if you’re any better? Nail marks are over your hubby and you’re covered head to toe in his tongue scraps. The hell did YOU do last night, huh? Why’re your lips bleeding aga-”

Kaywin slapped on the table, hard, muffling their banter into eventual stop.

“I think you’re misunderstanding something. Neither of you were conscious last night.”

Faced with their bewildered stare, he was ashamed, a bit abashed too, as he continued, “We mated for too long and caused you to faint. Luca knows and we’re being scolded for days. Right now, he is out searching medicines for you.”

“...Days?”

Ash’s stupefied gaze and QingQing’s big brown eyes were answered by Zayn: “From the night we started to now? ...It’s been 5 days.”

The girls lost face to ask how long they had been at it or out of it. Their self-esteem was crushing too loud behind their ears to even realize when the food was made, served and what they were even eating, not until Ash started thinking loud, “Was I possessed by a succubus? I initiated everything!”

As the only one able to understand the term, Bai choked on her food. Lucky for her, she wasn’t the only one. The rest followed as Ash added, “I loved that purple tiger d*ck tho. It’s so big, my stomach still feels full...”

This jolly awkwardness aired their Elle to the day Bai QingQing failed digestion. Retch and nausea tortured the poor thing until Luca called it quit with hot oil massages and salt water, storming away for herbs. He notified it will take a while so the family was mindlessly minding their business- when Hue barreled with him into their yard.

Blood marred both their forms, front and back, seeping in the thick leather clothing them through narrow slits of frantic claws. Except, Luca wasn’t conscious.

Thud.

Unsure if the sound was from him falling off his ride or the ride tripping from shock of seeing Ash charge at it, Ash still knocks the breath out of Hue’s guts.

“Every time,” the others rush to Luca, pulling subtle relief out of Ash before she focused her ‘knock’ on the wolf’s bruised neck, “every time you walk through our door, bad news follows!”

“Wha- I-”

Her elbow swerves to block his vocals, naturally blocking his windpipe as it pushes at his throat.

“How dare you do that to my doc? Why these sweet and kind people? Why do you keep coming after my-”

“Don’t!” On one hand Hue was being gifted another burst of energy from his beloved, holding him so close! But to be accused, abused, adding- “Don’t you call HIM yours! He- I-” his arm pushed her elbow to the side, twisting it to her back as the most painless form of defense he could muster; his words the only harshness against her ears, “I put in just as much effort as-”

“That f*cking love rivalry doesn’t give you ‘right’ over injuring him!”

Unable to free herself by jerking her small body, Ash hit his legs with her heels, the disturbing feeling of warm blood spraying out of his wounds lost in her rage.

“Of course it- injure? Luna, I save- ugh!”

As soon as his hold loosened, Ash served another blow to his side, causing the tall man to buckle.

“That moron killed a royal! A ROYAL!” Tears glided over the light blue marks on his face, giving the common evidence of every living thing’s sorrow an ethereal layer, “I endure all this to save him and you keep hitting me?! This is so unfair!” –his tone a rebel teen.

Kill? Who? Luca?

The angry !!!-s over her head crooked their heads into questions as he grabbed her shoulders to distance her just enough.

“The ape castle is a breeding ground of rare herbs as specialized doctors train and research there. A juicy leaf-bearing plant grows around my training hall that helps with indigestion. That weakling went there to pick some and saw mother waiting. I warned not- not go to her, but that stubborn fool... and Brent just had to...”

On the verge of losing consciousness himself, as Hue’s body sways back and forth, Ash lightly slapped his cheeks.

“Brent’s dead? Why? HOW?”

Hue’s finger pointed at the now empty place where he had dropped Luca, “Never knew he had it in...” before returning to envelop her entire lower face. “I know THIS-“ a tired smile formed on his lips as he recognized the emotion pouring into her eyes as concern, “-isn’t for me... still I’ll say... Luna, they won’t blame me, but they will find him... or worse YOU. Please...”

Kaywin’s arm blocks Hue’s body as it lunges forth in imbalance. Surprised, Ash twists her head, cognizing the person holding hers as Muhr.

“Careful,” his only word in that curt tone.

“Why is...”

“I called him,” QingQing brings out a jar of turmeric oil and another of honey, “guessed he could find and transport them to a hiding place the fastest.”

“And without trace. Good thinking! But-”

The group quickly got to work, wrapping wounds with the only solution they had at home and dried hides. Soaking in the words Hue shared now that it was quiet again, Ash had so many questions, she felt dizzy.

“I’ll assume for now that Hue and Brent’s mother went to the Ape training hall to meet Hue, which is totally normal. But why’d Luca want to meet her? What’s even wrong if he did? Who is Hue to warn him and Brent to-”

“They’re brothers.”

Another clipped answer.