Reborn as a Side Character in the Beastworld

Chapter Fifty-two

A little bit of a fluff chapter, so here is a picture of Olly before her adult feathers came in. More posts to come in the next couple days.

After arriving home, I washed my body with warm water and a soft leather washcloth, too exhausted to do a full bath, and fell asleep. Unfortunately, the sound of something colliding with the front door woke me a mere two hours later.

Startled by the noise, I jumped up and ran from the bedroom, panic making me forget clothing. Pushing aside the fur that separated the bedroom from the main room, I was flabbergasted to see Winston's crouching form outside our now decimated wooden front door.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked both the crouching tiger and the Naga standing in the middle of the room, looking as angry as a dragon.

Flipping his long green hair that had unraveled from its usual bun over his shoulder, Lance answered, "Would you believe it my dear? After entrusting your care to this strong and capable mate of yours, I come home to find you exhausted and bruised. After all I did to keep you uninjured. Such carelessness deserves a little punishment, don't you think?"

"What?" Initially confused, I had to look down at my body to remember my short but intense tromp in the woods with Winston. On my thighs were deep purple hand prints, kiss marks littered my neck and chest, and my nipples were a deep burgundy from the attention they had received. I blushed intensely at the evidence of our love making. "Oh...I'm not really hurt though..." I said lamely.

Lance looked at me with mock surprise, "My beautiful Bailey, If I knew you liked it rough, I could have come up with much less damaging ways to give you pleasure." He moved closer and wrapped his arms around me, placing his chin on the top of my head and pouted. "Your perfectly moon kissed skin has been marred by that talentless brute." He glared at Winston who was looking thoroughly ashamed.

This had to stop. It was just a few bruises. I put my hand on one of Lances arms. "Lance. Really. I'm fine. Winston and I had a discussion about how careless I was today. I promised to be more careful in the future and then we made up. We just got a little overexcited."

At the mention of my near death, his hold around me tightened. "While I also do not condone placing yourself at the forefront of a battle, it is also our duty as your mates to prevent you from feeling the need to do so in the first place. It is NOT our place to restrict you."

So says the straitjacket, my inner voice sassily replied. I could see that nothing I said would have saved Winston from Lance's justice. It also looked as though Winston may have needed a little chastisement to alleviate any guilt he'd internalized. "You are both right and you are both trying to keep me safe. It looks like you've already given Winston a good whack over your difference of opinion. So, unless you want me to feel guiltier for how things went, fix my door and be done with it."

"I promise to make this door and every door I break better than the last." He quipped.

With pointer finger and thumb, I tried to relieve the pressure building between my eyes at the question of how often Lance was planning on throwing someone through a door. I changed the subject. "Harvey, Kit, Oliver and Shuu? Are they all over at the clinic?"

He loosened his hold enough to speak to my face instead of the air over my head. "Yes. Harvey treated them and all four cubs have been tucked in for the night. The two pups will make a full recovery in a week or so. Shuu will be taking them back to the tiger princess and her mate in the morning."

I nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Then I'm going back to bed." I turned, trying to slip from his grasp and head back to bed.

Lance released me but his next words made me halt my dragging feet. "Are we not going to discuss your amazing feat of exuding beast pressure for the second time?"

Looking at him, I crossed my arms and recalled the force and intimidation that high marked, male beasts could wield. "There isn't much to discuss. I don't know how or why it happened and I've never heard of a female exuding beast pressure before..."

He reached out and took a lock of my dark ginger hair, looking at it as though it might hold the answers to the universe and letting it slowly slide through his fingers, "True. There is nothing in my inherited memories either. You've given us quite the mystery to solve."

I shook my head. "I'll think about what the commonalities of both situations were later. Maybe we can come up with some possibilities. But I'm too tired right now." I turned back to the bedroom. My limbs felt like lead and my eyes burned from lack of sleep. "Am I sleeping alone or are you two done?" I asked over my shoulder.

Lance slithered to me and placed an arm around my shoulder, "When even lying next to you is a pleasure, how could I refuse? Your feline will fix a temporary door and can join us when he's done."

I looked back at Winston. I couldn't help the look of concern turn my lips into a fine line. He was already picking up the broken slabs of the door. When he felt my gaze, he looked up and gave me a confirming nod. Based on how he was slightly favoring one arm, my 'feline' might also need to see the healer before he makes it to our bed. As far as mate infighting goes for this world, this much was equivalent to only a slap on the wrist.

I didn't like seeing anyone hurt, let alone my sweet tiger, but beastmen, especially those that are mates to the same female, would often need to duke it out for a variety of reasons. They not only established a hierarchy that way, but also discovered each other's strengths and weaknesses. This in turn would help them better protect their female as a team. Where one male lacked, the others could compensate. Without such internal organization, chaotic situations could lead to a female's demise, no matter how many mates she had.

Tonight, Lance, though far too lazy to be an alpha male, had established himself as the enforcer of our family by punishing Winston. Even if I didn't see a need for such punishment, Lance had. I would only be undermining him if I protested when he had my best interest at heart. So, I had to let it go this once. I would allow them to resolve things their way so long as it didn't escalate to abuse and cruelty. That, I would never tolerate.

No longer able to think clearly nor resist the call of my quilt, I collapsed onto the feather stuffed mattress and let sleep claim my worries until tomorrow.

However, my body threw a wrench in my plan to discuss recent events with my family with a clear head. When tomorrow came, I had managed to catch a cold and was running a fever. For the next few days, my mates ran around like chickens without heads, doing their best to keep me comfortable and help me recover. Despite their excessive concern, or maybe in spite of it, I got less sleep than I needed which extended the duration of the minor illness.