Rise Of The Beast Queen: Elizabeth

Ch 21 Beast Friends

Hank and Serena came to check on Liz, she had only just heard about the attack and Hank was now in major suck up mode trying to appease her anger since he'd purposefully kept it from her. As soon as they arrived Serena wriggled out of his arms and ran towards the cave entrance.

"Lliizzzz...." She yelled but her call died as a fox beastman blocked her path. Serena skid to a stop, startled by his sudden appearance and nearly fell backwards but Hank instantly appeared by her side, catching her easily with one arm. Serena forgot her anger and half hid behind her mate, not liking the glare she was receiving from the unknown male.

"Who... Ah... Jin!!! Hehehe... Stooppp... Let me go see who's here..." Everyone heard Liz's giggled protest.

"Your feet are still injured." Jin protested

"I'm fine. Really... Eek! No! Put me down! You'll reopen your wounds! Jin!" Liz scolded as he carried her to the entrance. "Ah, Serena, hi! How are you?"

"Hi." She repeated and breathed a sigh of relief as Beau moved out from between the females, seeing that they are friendly with each other but he still stayed on alert and in his beast form. "I'm perfectly healthy, unlike you." Serena said with a sorrowful expression.

"No, I'm fine, don't worry. They're just little scratches, Jin's totally exaggerating." Liz explained then looked up at Jin. "Put me down."

"No!" Serena yelled before Jin even had a chance to react. "You should rest. Even if it's just scratches, you shouldn't push yourself. Give it time to heal."

"Its really not that bad. Jin's way more hurt than me..." She tried to reason.

"He's a male." Serena said with a look of confusion.

"So? His wounds are way worse than mine."

"But he's a male." She repeated. "He is strong. You don't need to look down on your male. You chose well." She said taking Liz by surprise.

"I... I'm not looking down on him!" Liz exclaimed but saw disbelief in the eyes of the people in front of her, even though she couldn't really read Beau's fox face she caught the condescending look in his big green eyes that said he didn't believe her and she looked up at Jin who was trying not to show his melancholy. "Jin, I'm really not looking down on you. I know you're strong, but... I worry."

"I know, Liz." Jin said with a small sad smile that about broke Liz's heart.

"I'm sure your family will only get stronger Liz. Your second male is very protective. Is he from the River Bend Tribe? How did you meet?"

"Beau? Uhh... He's not my male, he's just helping us until Jin gets better, because he's a healer." Liz explained as she tried to sneak a glance at the fox in question, but he obviously caught her since he was staring at her so intensely, but she still couldn't read his fluffy fox face.

"A healer, really. And you don't want him as a mate? But he seems strong."

"I... I didn't say that... I... He... We..." Liz stuttered and sighed heavily as her cheeks flushed. "It's not like that..."

"I don't understand, what is it then?" Serena asked purely curious and unaware of how she was embarrassing Liz, though she did realize the female seemed distressed.

"It's... Uhh... It's complicated... So what's going on with you?" Liz brushed it off and changed the subject.

"Me? Umm..." Serena was taken off guard by her question, not used to other females asking her about herself. "I... I wanted to visit you right after the choosing ceremony but my mates wouldn't let me because you were mating with Jin. And now I'm mad at Hank because he didn't tell me that you got attacked, I only heard about it when Teela came and asked me... But I didn't know, so I looked stupid." She said and turned to Hank who withered under her glare, but quickly looked back at Liz with curiosity shining in her eyes. "Is it true that Zephyr and Kephyr were in your cave?"

"Umm..." Liz hesitated nervously, not liking the direction this conversation is going either. "I think that's what they called themselves... It was the males form the choosing ceremony." Liz answered vaguely but Serena nodded in understanding.

"And you gave them permission to go inside?" She asked with a hopeful glint in her eyes but seeing Liz's sour face, her expression shifting into one of remorse. "That terrible. They're awful. No female here will accept them now, no matter how much they chaised after them in the past."

"What?" Liz questioned.

"All the females were after Zephyr and Kephyr because they're so strong, one of them was sure to take Chief Leon's position one day, their his cub's so he trained them himself... Tabby was so proud of them, too."

"What will happen to them now?"

"After what they did the males in the tribe will likely try to kill them or at least scar them up before chasing them away."

"Couldn't they just join another tribe?" Liz asked.

"That won't happen." Serena stated like it was a simple truth.

"Why not? How will the other tribes even know?" She asked and Serena looked confused.

"Tribes are very cautious about unfamiliar males. You never know if they might be a rootless beast." Hank answered.

"Unless they find a stray female who accepts them in the wild or they can snatch one from a feral." Jin said, glancing at Liz pointedly.

"True but that's not likely to happen." Hank scoffs.

"Why?" Liz asked and Hank looked at her like she was stupid.

"Because females are well protected. Every unmated male in the tribe would gladly die to protect any one of our females. The only females that would be out in the wild would be a female that has already been snatched by a feral or rootless beastsmen, but most females don't survive a single cold season after being taken."

"Ohh..." Liz said with a grimace and the group fell into an awkward silence until Liz changed the subject... Well sort of. "So you said all the females were after those brothers, are you going to be disappointed their gone?" Liz asked Serena with a playful wiggle of her eyebrows, but Serena looked at her in horrification.

"No. Why would I, I can't mate with them, their my kin." She quickly explained.

"Your kin?" Liz repeated. "Is Tabby your mom?!?"

"Yes." Serena answered with a shameful look on her face.

'WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!'Liz wanted to scream thinking about the way Tabby treated Serena but held herself back.