Wanderlust Beastkin, Beauty and the Beastkin-Chapter 101: Celebrating Festness with Mates and Elara

Then I scrolled down within the slots and found a picture of a turquoise fine cotton dress with cap sleeves. I pinched my fingers over the slot as if I was grabbing the dress and pulled out the actual dress. It was the softest material I’d ever touched, not cotton after all.

"What’s material is this?" I said.

"Star-silk," Titus said with a proud smile on his face. "I picked that up at the Adventurers Guild Store. You can find higher-quality items at that store because it’s exclusive to guild members. People without a license can’t shop there. Actually, I couldn’t find a lot of the things I wanted or the quality I wanted at the regular stores, so I shopped at the guild store after I registered for this area. I’ve officially registered this guild hall as my home guild, so I had to have my guild card updated, too, which does take some time.

Titus then walked around the table, handing out the other bags to everyone. Sam got the burnt orange bag, Ira got the pink, Milo got lavender purple, Oliver got the leaf green, and Titus got the yellow.

"I picked up another for Kai in dark blue since you said that he’s also your mate, he’ll find us eventually. There’s no way he could ever stay away, since you’re too special a female to ever get over."

I could feel my face flush uncomfortably at his comment. "About that...Kai is actually already here. He showed up while you were gone, and I was just about to ask Oliver how he was doing before you showed up. Oliver?"

Oliver gave me a gentle smile while holding his new light green bag in his lap. "He’s doing well, he isn’t a General for nothing. His body is damaged, but he has a strong constitution and a strong will to live. That’s half the fight right there. I opened the wounds, cleansed then, and was able to remove all of the rot. The only thing that would have made the situation better is if we had access to healing potions. I haven’t had a chance to purchase some potion crafting items, since I was unable to bring my large cauldron with me and my stove. He’s currently in a medically induced sleep to help him recover, so it’s best if he isn’t disturbed. I give him medicine broth every four hours and change his bandages. He doesn’t fully wake, but it’s enough to swallow down some broth and change his bed pans. That can sustain him for a few days while he recovers. He isn’t in any immediate danger for the time being, but he can’t be disturbed. There’s one other thing, though," Oliver said with a frown on his face.

"What’s that?" I said.

"I’m reluctant to tell you, but I also promised that I wouldn’t keep secrets from you anymore. It’s clear to me that Kai was exposed to ongoing poising, an aphrodisiac, and continuous bites with the goal to try and force a mating bond. There are deep tissue bruises on his wrists, throat, and ankles. Though fortunately, your mark is still visible, though barely."

I stared in shock while my heart beat wildly in my ears. "Who could have done such a horrible thing?!" Right after I thought that, an image of a golden-winged beauty flashed into my mind. "Lirit...who else could it be? Who else is that entitled? Unless it’s someone who met him when I wasn’t around. It has to be someone who wants him for herself enough to stoop to such a level. Someone willing to throw their pride away to force their mating bond on someone who doesn’t want it, someone who thinks highly enough of herself to think that their loud and insistent rejection is only them playing hard to get. He’s also a General, a famous and revered General whom most females wouldn’t dare capture, repeatedly bite, and drug. Really, who else could it be besides Lirit? Unless he caught the eyes of a spoiled royal who doesn’t take no for an answer."

"Who’s Lirit?" Asked Oliver

"One of those nut bars." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"Oh," Oliver said while nodding his head. "We’ll have to keep an eye out for her to make sure that she doesn’t come around; she sounds like a hassle."

"Yes, if I find out that she really is the culprit, we’ll have more than a mere conversation between us," I said with a fierce determination.

The other males seemed startled, noticing the murderous look in my eyes, but they didn’t comment on it.

"Did you see an apothecary in town?" Oliver said to Titus.

"They don’t have one, that’s the other reason why they’re so desperate for a licensed healer," said Titus. "I did stop by the healer’s building after securing it for you, and it’s set up to be an apothecary as well as a healer’s office. It would make more sense for you to train an assistant so that they can take care of the apothecary side while you’re treating patients. They also asked that you choose someone from their village who isn’t planning on going anywhere else to become your assistant if at all possible, because they’re afraid of being without a healer in the future."

"Hmm...that does seem reasonable. If there are any acceptable candidates, I won’t settle for someone who doesn’t have any talent for healing or at least a useful skill or magic type. I’m typically an easygoing male, but I am serious about my work. You have to be, or you’re likely to make mistakes and cause deaths."

Everyone talked while they ate and chatted. Oliver had neatly changed the subject, but my thoughts were still on Lirit with startling intensity and hatred. It’s fine to envy someone else’s man as long as you keep it to yourself; it’s not fine to abduct that man and try to force him to become your own. I considered Miko Vera to be a pleasant woman, but how did she raise her daughter so poorly?!

I swallowed my anger for now, forcing it down to take out later. This by far wasn’t the only time I had had to do so, but eventually, if I found out that she was the culprit, I would get her back for what she’d done. Males weren’t usually allowed to act against females, but I sure could! No one messes with my family and gets away with it; no one.

While we were finishing up our food and Sam actually managed to get seconds, I’m not sure how he has such a large stomach. We heard a loud and insistent pounding on our front door. I jumped up to go answer it, but Titus passed me by in just a few wide strides and blocked me while he answered the door. I pounded my fists on his back in annoyance, and he let out an amused chuckle while I then kicked his overly muscular shins, but continued to block the doorway. He opened the door, and I couldn’t see who was there, because he was too huge.

I had to bring out the big guns, or he was going to continue to ignore me. "Move it or lose it, Neanderthal!" I said while reaching around and forcefully pinching his nipple and twisting. "You brought this on yourself."

If I hadn’t heard what came next after that, I wouldn’t have believed it. He didn’t screech in pain, no, he let out a deep guttural moan, and his body shivered.

My face turned bright red as I processed what I’d just discovered: my man has a kink, and I’d just exposed it to whoever is standing at our door. I was about to go hide in my room when Titus moved out of the way, and I saw Elara standing there on the other side of the door with a flushed face and wide eyes.

"Elara!" I said and rushed forward, forgetting almost instantly about my embarrassment as I threw my hands around her.

"Perla!" She screamed in return and threw her arms around me, too.

"Finally, my family is back together again. I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too," Elara said, and then suddenly burst into uncontrollable loud crying. This triggered me to join her, and after just a moment, we were holding each other while bawling our eyes out.

We collapsed onto the front patio, and Sam walked out, seeing the two of us on the ground. He leaned down and picked us both up at once, carrying us inside. I abruptly stopped crying and started giggling.

"I knew you were strong, Sam, but wow!" I abruptly started giggling, which triggered Elara to giggle too, until we were having a hard time stopping. Sam gently set us down on the fluffy couch, and we scooted closer to each other, not willing to lose contact. Then walked in a beautiful man with light blue and platinum blonde hair, a man so beautiful with a sparkling golden horn that he could be no one else besides Ira’s brother, whom he’d sent to rescue Elara.

I gave him a radiant smile, "You must be Beck, Ira’s older brother. Thank you so much for bringing Elara back to us."

"It was my pleasure, Elara is a special female," he said with a shy look in his eyes while looking at Elara.

I looked at Elara and fluttered my eyelashes. "Reeeaaally?"

"Yeah, well, it kind of just happened. Beck agreed to become my mate, though he said that he wants to wait to take my marking until after we’ve settled down somewhere. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to settle us down, but since you’re here, I don’t see a reason to go anywhere else."

"Exactly what I was anticipating you’d say! This place is great and it doesn’t have a snatching ritual. Though I suppose that doesn’t apply to you anymore," I said and then gave her a large grin. It was so nice to see that she’d found someone, and if he’s anything like his brother, there’s nothing to worry about.

Elara looked around my new home. "This is quite the setup you have here. So comfortable, open, and pretty! What’s that over the windows?"

"It’s glass, it lets the light in and keeps the elements out," I said.

Ira walked over to a window and touched it. "Wonderful! How did you do this?"

"I described what I wanted and drew it out. Then my mate, Milo, made it for me. He’s an excellent crafter beastkin, and smart too," I pointed at Milo, who was sitting at the coffee table playing checkers against Sam. He looked up at us after hearing his name and then quickly averted his eyes while a blush crept up over his face.

"Would it be possible to purchase some items from you so that I can make our home like this one for Elara?" Ira said.

I thought about it for a moment and then looked at Milo. "What would you say to making Elara’s home like ours without payment?"

"I couldn’t! I have the gems to pay for whatever we need..." said Ira.

I cut off his speech. "Elara is my sister. We’ve both decided to see each other that way, so that’s how it is. If you really want to contribute, you can collect the materials that are needed for the crafting and bring them to Milo."

"But..."

Elara reached out him and he walked over putting his hand in hers. "Don’t concern yourself with it anymore. What Perla said was right, she and I are sisters.l, we’re family. You can get the materials together so that we won’t put Perla out.

"The house nextdoor is available and I reserved it for you."

"Really?!"

"Yes!"

"I’m so excited!" Elara said hugging me tightly and I noticed something that I hadn’t noticed the first time we’d hugged.

I paused while looking at her.

"Ira, why don’t you look around the house?"

"Milo, give him a tour and answer some questions for him," I said.

"Yes Dear!" Milo said and jumped up to start the tour.

Then Elara leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Later, I’ll explain everything to you, when we’re alone."

"Okay," I whispered back.