The next sunrise Lyra woke up with a stomach ache and severe back pain, it was always like this during her periods, and she thought that females here were extremely lucky, think about having a period only once in a year, she would beg any deity for that to happen. Sigh
She went to the bathroom and saw Blake boiling water and filling it in a stone tub, so she asked "Are you going to take a bath"?
He turned towards her and smiled "No.this is for you, I'm a male I can just take a dip in the river" he flicked his tongue and said "it's going to rain heavily today, come and finish washing up before the water gets cold"
Then Lyra took a warm bath soaking up in the stone tub, after finishing she put on her tube top and skirt and saw that her used underwear was replaced with a new one with cotton. She instantly felt sweet inside but also somewhat awkward because she wasn't used to being taken care of.
"Lilly, come and eat something. I have cooked meat soup for you" Blake called her from the living room
"just a minute I'm coming" she hurriedly put on her clothes and went to the living room.
what greeted her by entering the room was the delicious smell of meat soup and she went to take a look. After she opened the lid she saw that he copied her recipe for vegetable soup but instead added meat to it, she took a spoon to taste it and was surprised because it tasted very good, it was nothing like a first-timer.
She moaned "mmmm it's so delicious, you are a great cook Blake"
He grinned and tapped her nose "As long as my Lilly likes" earlier before she woke up he caught a carnivore beastman with a female and threatened him to teach him delicious recipes for him to cook for Lilly, well she liked it otherwise he would go and kill that beastman
After finishing the warm soup, her stomach ache also got a lot better and she fell asleep, Blake carried her into the bedroom and tucked her to sleep, and laid on his side caressing her face.
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Meanwhile, in the forest, Noah was the first one to locate the cave where Lyra and Blake previously resided and took some of his people to enter inside the cave and found it empty, then following the scent they sprinted towards the horse tribe. It would take a week to reach because of the large entourage.
On the other side of the forest, Lucas was also searching for traces with his pack of silver wolves but because of heavy rain their sense reduced and they were not able to locate the cave
one of the wolves said "Your majesty this is the beginning of the rainy season and you have a task to exchange salt in two days with the mermaid tribe. You must return to the city, we will continue the search"
Lucas rejected "I'm not returning without finding my female, don't force me"
His mother's mate replied "You should go, Lucas, you shouldn't neglect your duties, and you have not yet become her mate so you cannot locate her, I will continue the search"
"But uncle what if she is in danger"? he was very worried, it has been three days, and his heart was being squeezed every second without seeing her.
" I'm a four-star beast and we have three two-star beasts with us, we can handle this matter. you go" he replied
After thinking for a while lucas returned to the beast city and from there left to waves city with preys for exchanging salt
Noah on another side was also losing the traces of Lyra because of heavy rain and he also had the responsibility to go to waves city because the mermaid tribe was extremely secluded and didn't interact much with the outside world other than salt exchange. They had the most beautiful females and had to protect them with their life because they were constantly attacked by stray beasts and other strong beasts to snatch their females. That was the reason why they only interacted with the royal families during the salt exchange.
so being a prince he had to go there to negotiate or his tribe would severely suffer without salt, but his heart was not at ease because his beloved was missing. After he visited the cave where Lyra was, he also detected the scent of a snake beast with immense power and was surprised because that power was even higher than his father. Then after surveying the cave, he saw remaining flint and some animal skin clothes for women, only then did he relax because it looked like the snake beastman was taking care of Lyra. He also returned to the beast city after this.
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In the fox king's castle, a female's scream echoed through the stone walls. The female was begging for her to let go but the group of men who were assaulting her didn't hear pleas and continued torturing her. They were stray beasts and after some time only muffled sobs from the female were heard.
The stray beasts came out of the room with a huge grin on their faces and sat opposite of fox king and said
"You always keep your promise, my king the female inside satisfied me this time"
The fox king chuckled and replied "I will always keep my promise as long as you keep yours"
The head of the stray beasts tsked "If it was not because of the friendship between wolf tribe and lions tribe we would have already finished our job. They are the ones making things difficult for us"
fox king sighed and said "We would need to worry even more in the future because both the princes of the wolf tribe and lion tribe like the same female and if we let them become mates with her then it will become more difficult for us"
"Then we should abduct that female and finish her off" the leader suggested
The fox king wore a displeased face and replied "Don't act recklessly, I think it is better to let them become her mates"
The leader was surprised "What are you talking about? Do you intend to strengthen their power"?
The fox king rolled his eyes "This is why you need me, you only know how to use that body of yours but not your brain. Think about it after they become mates with her we can find an opportunity to kill her off or forcefully remove her spousal mark and you other than anyone knows how a male drowns in agony after that"
The leader of the stray beasts didn't like this, because he knew how painful it is to be abandoned, even though he hated females and harmed them he didn't dare to touch his mate. She hated him now but he still loved her and he didn't wish to show this side of him ever to her and the only reason he was helping the fox king was that he was the father of his beloved and he could sometimes catch a glimpse of her.
Breaking his train of thoughts he asked "Should we really do that? Isn't it easier to finish her off before that?"
The fox king roared in laughter "Am I witnessing a stray beast showing pity? is the sky going to fall tomorrow?" he said sarcastically
The leader squinted his eyes "It's not that I pity, I don't wish more beastmen to turn into stray beasts"
The fox king stopped laughing and replied "If you do not agree then forget about seeing my daughter, Ah this is better! should I say what you do behind her back as a stray beast"?
The leader got anxious "Please don't do that, I'll do as you say" then he got up and went towards the entrance.
"How is the king of stray beasts doing?" the fox king suddenly questioned
The leader turned around and replied "He is the same, he does not involve in any matters of the world and always stay cooped up in his cave"
The fox king sighed "Why did you make him a king? he is not even a stray beast, to begin with"
"We did not make him, he became the king by himself and is ruthless to anyone who questions him" then he chuckled "You should try talking to him using your brain"
"I would have if that stupid bird just listened to me for a minute. He attacks before talking" he shaked his head
The leader chuckled, their king was from a vulture tribe, he was also one of the legendary figures who crossed five stars to become immortal. Vultures were normally vicious, ruthless, and unforgiving but their king was more than that, he killed before talking and no was able to move his heart. He was not even a stray beast but forcefully took the king's seat and didn't bother doing any duties.No one knew why he was living a life like that but no one dared to pry in that matter too.