Rise Of The Beast Queen: Elizabeth

Ch 52 Cave-In

At the time of Liz's arrival, Tabby's males were in a standoff with Serena's males, the ladder had been trying all night and day to rescue their mate from where she was still trapped under the rubble and Tabby's males were getting a kick out of preventing it. Tabby instigated and enjoyed the cruel show for a while as a way to distract herself after feeling the loss of some of her mates, which put her in an extremely bad mood, though she didn't even bother to look down to see who exactly she lost, she refused to knowing it would only upset her more, so instead she focused all her aggression and cruelty on the males in front of her.

Tabby's mates easily outnumbered Serena's, not to mention that four of them had three stripes and thats stronger than Serena's strongest male, the two striped Marvin. Even though they're weaker, Serena's mates refused to back down and as the fighting escalated Tabby's males wouldn't to let her stay where she could potentially be in danger, so four of her 18 males that stayed in the tribe accompanied her back to her cave, 2 three stripes and 2 two stripes, leaving 14 behind to bully Serena's 11 males.

Currently Tabby was bored and irritated that they took her away from her entertainment, she still had no desire to search her body to find out what mates she lost, though she did debate on it when she felt an especially sharp twinge of pain and wondered if Leon had fallen. The four males tried everything they could think of to appease her, but under seasoned roast meat, berry lemonade and the few other things they were able to steal from Liz's home, most of which they couldn't even identify, wasn't going to cut it.

Tabby was totally unprepared when one of her mates, a two striped tiger named Earon, came rushing inside and snatched her up, making her spill her berry lemonade all over herself and scattered the meat she was snacking on across the ground. The other males growled at him but Tabby snapped first.

"What's going on? What are you doing? Put me down!" She screamed but didn't wait for an explanation before she began smacking him all over his face and head.

"It's that female, Liz." Earon began and Tabby froze mid swing as her eyes lit up with joy.

"Really? Their back already! Where is she? What happened? Where's Leon and my cubs?" She fired off her questions, while Earon never stopped moving back into the tunnels.

"Leon's not here. The female is with another terra marked male." He explained.

"Another? Soren?" She asked but he shook his head in denial. "No! Not Soren? Then who? How?" Tabby snapped but her mates didn't have that answer. One of her males released a series of growls that echoed into the tunnel alerting the rest of her mates who only then finally ceased bullying Serena's mates and quickly made their way to Tabby.

They barely made it half way out before they had to stop, realizing their escape route was cut off by beastmen who were heading straight towards them. Six of her males rushed forward to attack and clear a path for them to get Tabby away, but there were just too many. They quickly realized they were severely outnumbered and although the males knew they didn't stand a chance they had to keep fighting to hold off the invaders and give Tabby a chance to get away.

After seeing two more of Tabby's mate marks disappear her other males had no choice but to retreat back to her cave, with the hope of somehow overpowering, bypassing or distracting the new unknown terra marked beastman so that at least one of them might be able to sneak Tabby away safely. Unfortunately when they made it back, Liz, Tairen and Eryk just reached the entrance. The males blood ran cold as they immediately realized that the unknown male isn't just terra marked but a feral.

Tabby's males knew that even if they all banded together they wouldn't stand a chance, even though three of them were triple marked. Left with no other option they fled back into the tunnel where Serena's mates were trying to dig her out. Although it was a dead end now, the way the rubble caved in made it an easy climb up to reach the ceiling, that's where Tabby's males began to dig a hole straight up to the surface so they could easily escape, completely bypassing all threats.

At first Serena's mates ignored them since Tabby's males weren't attacking them anymore, but because of the way the tunnel was collapsed the area was unstable and the careless way Tabby's males were frantically digging was about to cause another cave-in. Marvin didn't hesitate and lunged at the closest male, catching him off guard as he grabbed him by the ankle and yanked him down rubble pile, before jumpung up to the next.

Roars resounded through the tunnel at a defining pitch as the males began fighting, Tabby clung to Earon's neck while two more continued their frantic digging. At first no one seemed to notice the walls beginning to shake or the rumble in the ground until dirt started falling on their heads and Tabby coughed as dust tainted the air.

Everyone froze scared of getting caught in a cave-in, that is until Tabby looked back into the tunnel and saw Liz there being held in the arms of a dark eyed menacing looking terra marked male. She screamed at her males to keep digging! "Get me out of here NOW!" Her males immediately followed her demand and continued digging.

"No!"
"Stop!"
"Don't!" Males yelled at once, just as a tremor began to shake the ground and a cracking sound filled the air as more rubble began to fall.

Tairen quickly got Liz away before the first rocks hit the ground, Eryk was barely a step behind them, Serena's males were the next to retreat from the area, then only Tabby and her mates were left. Unlike the rest they couldn't flee, no, the males rushed into the collapsing chaos in an attempt to save their mate, but the air was fogged with a cloud of dust and dirt and falling rocks that made it difficult for them to see, let alone traverse.

The cave-in started where Tabby's mates were digging, one jumped out of the way in time but the other was crushed by an enormous boulder. Earon cradled Tabby as he lept forward to avoid more rubble, light flashed above them for a brief moment, showing a glimpse of the sky before the stones beneath his feet suddenly disappeared and they fell.

Earon tried his best to shield Tabby as they rolled down with the rocks and the rubble, it seemed to happen so slowly though it really wasn't, he distinctly felt something crack against his head and several other hits across the rest of his body. He heard a females scream but it sounded distant, yet close, though he didn't think it was Tabby but he couldn't be sure. Earon barely had a chance to comprehend anything or react and before he knew it everything went still. It took a few moments to get his bearings, but Tabby's whimper made him hop too attention like a soldier who's Commander just walked in.

His heart ached seeing the scratched up, dirty state his mate is in, not knowing what injuries she may have sustained, but his pity didn't last long since in the next second Tabby's tear filled eyes burst open and were filled with anger, scorn and blame. Earon was reassured of her health as she began screaming and hitting him with a very lively vigur that subdued his concern and gave him the assurance to look around and assess their situation.

It was still hard to see, with all the dust in the air but thanks to his enhanced vision Earon was able to gather that they had somehow fallen into another cave or more specifically they fell into the cavern where Serena and Hank were trapped. He confirmed this when his eyes spotted slight movement and he noticed the other female huddled down by the back wall, ducked behind a pile of large rocks and trying to shield something with her body.